How old is too old for SOTW?

[helena]

I know some of you use it with your older kids and supplement with other materials, but when is it just too young?

Is level one to young sooner than level 4?

[prairie rose]

The SOTW series is used in Sonlight Cores 6 and 7 which are geared at ages 10 - 14 generally. They cover the first two books in Core 6 and the second two in Core 7. SOTW1 is a bit more simplistic than SOTW 4. They do get progressively more complex in story line and vocabulary.

[Macrina]

I've got two 14 yo's in our SOTW 1 "class." They are not too old for it at all.

[EKS]

I know many others like using SOTW in the middle grades, but my opinion is that the middle grades are for getting ready for high school history, which, if you do it the WTM way, is pretty heavy duty. I really like K12's Human Odyssey for the middle grades for this purpose, as it traces ideas as well as events through time but it is much more accessible and coherent than a standard history text (or something like the Kingfisher).

 

SOTW could be a fun supplement for a child who hasn't used it yet, but I would use a higher level spine for the middle grades.

[meet me in paris]

I know many others like using SOTW in the middle grades, but my opinion is that the middle grades are for getting ready for high school history, which, if you do it the WTM way, is pretty heavy duty. I really like K12's Human Odyssey for the middle grades for this purpose, as it traces ideas as well as events through time but it is much more accessible and coherent than a standard history text (or something like the Kingfisher).

 

SOTW could be a fun supplement for a child who hasn't used it yet, but I would use a higher level spine for the middle grades.

 

I think this is true if you have a child that is academically minded, but not every student can handle the WTM high school plan (or wants to). I think it really depends on the child and what your goals are. My 6th grader is using SOTW this year with SL Core 6, but we decided to spread it out over 2 years and do one SOTW per year. For her, it's perfect. She's using the books and the tests and maps, along with other reading and historical fiction. She's retaining a lot, and she loves it. It's perfect for her. History is one of the few subjects she really enjoys, but if I handed her a textbook right now, she would crumble (I tried it... didn't work).

[Laura Corin]

I will go back to using SOTW 4 with Calvin when he is 13. It won't be the centre of his curriculum any more, however. Instead, it will be a light introduction to each era, before he reads more in-depth sources.

 

Laura

[EKS]

...if I handed her a textbook right now, she would crumble.

 

This is why I recommend the K12 books so highly as they are decidedly *not* like a standard textbook.

[melmichigan]

It will really depend on your child and your goals.

[Rhondabee]

I know some of you use it with your older kids and supplement with other materials, but when is it just too young?

Is level one to young sooner than level 4?

 

As with everything, it depends on so many things.

 

I started homeschooling when my oldest was mid-5th grade, and we used SOTW as "extra reading" for 5th-8th along with maps from the AG, a timeline, KIHW for outlining, Robert Johnson's US History book, history-related read alouds and occasionally books from the library and primary sources. He is now a 9th grader, and doing well with the SMARR Ancient Literature course (which covers about 10 of the Great Books listed in WTM for 9th grade) and using TruthQuest for history, which helps us choose living books interspersed with history books from the 9th-grade Great Books list in WTM. For every topic I check what he is learning vs. the college-level Western Civilization by Spielvogel (the WTM recommendation in the 2nd Edition), and we are always on par or better. So, I think in his case SOTW worked VERY well, and alongside the WTM Logic stage literature, adequately prepared him for the level of reading and comprehension needed to study the Great Books in high school.

 

But....I am not using SOTW in the same way for my 2nd ds (who is now in 6th grade doing Ancients). I do *occasionally* pull it out because it covers some people and events that are just not addressed in library books here. In general, we prefer using library books (or just sections out of library books) to SOTW because they usually have pictures, and we like getting our information from a variety of sources. I am also making more use of primary sources and narratives other than SOTW (such as Story of the Greeks or abridged versions of Plutarch's Lives). The biggest factor of this change is that I was learning so much alongside my oldest ~ but *I* have grown and know more now than I did then. And, this child remembers quite a bit of what he learned from SOTW even though he was in 2nd grade when he did Ancients last time. (He is still using the WTM Lit list, and IMO the lit list is far more important than how you do history.)

 

Whatever you do, be sure you pick something your child can understand and enjoy!

 

Best wishes!

 

ps - Yes, I do think Level 1 gets "too young" earlier than Level 4.

Edited December 15, 2009 by Rhondabee

[dragons in the flower bed]

It's a good foundation from which to leap. I would use it alone for kids up to about eleven, supplemented, up to adult autodidacts.

[meet me in paris]

This is why I recommend the K12 books so highly as they are decidedly *not* like a standard textbook.

 

Not to hijack, but can you get the K12 books without registering? We went the K12 route one year, and didn't particularly like it. I didn't think you could buy their materials unless you were a subscriber.

[HollyBee]

Not to hijack, but can you get the K12 books without registering? We went the K12 route one year, and didn't particularly like it. I didn't think you could buy their materials unless you were a subscriber.

 

I got the the K12 The Human Odyssey Vol. 1 on ebay. I can't remember how much I paid, but it wasn't bad.

 

Holly

[Michelle T]

Starting in March, we will be doing world history. DS will be using SOTW 3 and 4 (he's done ancients and middle ages in the past, and isn't interested in covering them again) as readers. I will be adding in the Usborne history encyclopedia, along with a couple other supplements that provide questions, writing assignments, comprehension questions. I will probably also use a couple of the Genevieve Foster books, along with historical fiction.

 

I'm going to more-or-less follow the Sonlight Core 7 schedule, but substituting and adding a variety of books. I expect to take more than a year, probably 1.5 full (not school) years.

Michelle T

[Jilly]

Not to hijack, but can you get the K12 books without registering? We went the K12 route one year, and didn't particularly like it. I didn't think you could buy their materials unless you were a subscriber.

 

You can but the book directly from K12 without signing up with the school. I ordered it a few days ago. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

 

Here is the link:

 

https://ecomm.k12.com/ecommerce/public/itemDetails.xhtml?cid=109863

[EKS]

Not to hijack, but can you get the K12 books without registering? We went the K12 route one year, and didn't particularly like it. I didn't think you could buy their materials unless you were a subscriber.

 

Yes--you can get these books by themselves. There are no questions within the text, as these are in the course itself, but I prefer the books without them. We haven't used the courses either.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Not to hijack, but can you get the K12 books without registering? We went the K12 route one year, and didn't particularly like it. I didn't think you could buy their materials unless you were a subscriber.

 

I got K12 Human Odyssey Volume 1 on amazon used. There are 3 volumes so be careful which one that you buy. I would like all 3 eventually:) k12 sells them for a pretty penny almost;)

[EKS]

k12 sells them for a pretty penny almost;)

 

Yes. They are ridiculously expensive. Though the ones I have are hardbound which is helping them stay nice (apparently some versions are paperbound).

[helena]

Thank you for all the replies. :)

I wasn't expecting to see kids up to 14 using SOTW.

This year we decided to use WP Sea & Sky which covers both science and history. Everyone is having a good time with it, but when I popped in the Medieval cds last week the girls were so excited.

My eldest will be in 6th grade next year and we will be starting back at ancients. It looks as if ancients is the easiest level with SOTW, which I'm hoping will be fine because between the maps, WP timeline (that we will be doing for the next 5 years), CDs, AG, dvds, and loads of books, I'm hoping it will be fine. There's just something about it, that I guess some families respond to. I'm not wanting an overly complicated history for next year. S&S is a lot for us, I think everyone will be ready for SOTW by next fall, especially since it'll take us until then to finish S&S :D.

My girlfriend will be getting K12 history in the next couple of weeks, I look forward to seeing it, and will also check out Kingfisher History.

[Jilly]

Thank you for all the replies. :)

My girlfriend will be getting K12 history in the next couple of weeks, I look forward to seeing it, and will also check out Kingfisher History.

 

Actually I should have it tomorrow. You can spend the weekend looking at it! :)

[Peela]

I liked K12 History too for middle grades, but I used SOTW until we finished them, then K12 (just the History Odyssey book1). Because my dd15 only has one more year with me and we only just finished Medieval, and she wants to do Journalism and therefore really wants to do Modern History, I am considering using SOTW3 to rush through those times before we spend the rest of the year on Modern History.

I also really like ConnectTheThoughts history but its not as academic as some- we just used the Medieval and I feel both kids (ages 14 and 15) got a lot out of it. It includes multimedia- You Tube documentaries and movies.

 

I dont have a problem using SOTW for older kids, even into highschool. I think its better than what most kids at school use even at that age, personally, particularly in terms of the chronological history and overview. I would add to it, or put in research assignments and essays to go in depth in some areas, but if all a kid got their whole childhood was SOTW, they would be better off than most kids at schools. Of course, we can do better as well, but for some kids its going to be enough, particularly if they start late, and/or are not going to be strong in that area.

If you are starting from the beginning..well, its ideal to start with SOTW and move onto other things later, but still, SOTW is great to read through for an overview.

[brownie]

I'm loving SOTW 1 so I can see using this with older kids. Definitely better than I had in school! However, I do think the workbook is geared very young. Even with my 1st and 3rd graders, we basically use the maps and narration questions. There are a lot of coloring sheets which would be great if we had time...but we don't. We've used 1 so far and we're halfway through. I am looking forward to having them for my 5 year old next year when I am guessing he will join us for history. Brownie