So do you REALLY use your SOTW Activity Books? ;)

[Halcyon]

Okay, so I admit to purchasing the SOTW Activity Book 1 last year and then selling it as I realized we just weren't doing the more involved activities. I don't know why I found them time consuming and sort of draining. Perhaps because my son was also obsessed with doing various science projects and the thought of doing more projects was not appealing....

 

Anyway, wavering about buying the Activity Book for SOTW 2....don't want to invest the money if we're not going to do it. Do you find you do the activities, enjoy them, etc.? How often do you do them? We do love the maps, the coloring, and the simpler projects, which makes me think I should get the downloadable pdf....

 

Thx!

Edited January 22, 2010 by Halcyon

[m0mmaBuck]

I think the hard copy was a waste of money for us... I have him do the coloring pages and the maps but it would have been easier to print them from the PDF. We've only done 2 projects (mummified chicken and the pyramid) and those I could have printed off as well.

 

I do go over the questions and narrations with each unit BUT.... again... not worth the hardcopy price.

 

JMO.

[patchfire]

We have rarely done any projects, but we do use the maps, the coloring pages, and some of the activity pages that don't require too much crafty stuff. :) I also love the books. Even though the pdf might be more financially viable, I just have to have my hands on things.

[Halcyon]

I agree that I much prefer the hard copy, but given that my younger son always wants to color the same thing as my 7 yo, I think I have to go for the pdf...

[rookie]

Well, I used to but I do not anymore:

 

DC1 - Did it all the way through

DC2 - Did coloring pages/maps

DC3 - Just listens to the audio!

 

Honestly, it was just TOO MUCH. I do like the reading suggestions and have used those but the rest became busy work. My 3rd dc using SOTW is retaining it all by just listening to the audio (repeatedly - which he likes) and discussing it with me. I regret having obligated DC 1 and 2 to do all of the work in the AG.

[Halcyon]

Thanks for your honesty!!

[cara]

We use the coloring pages and the maps and the narrations but not the activities.

[krisperry]

Here is what we do:

 

Almost 7 and 8 year old boys - color the sheet for the chapter that I'm reading WHILE I'm reading. This keeps them focused better.

 

The day after (usually) we do the narration exercises (they like to compete to see who can remember the most) and map stuff.

 

Once in awhile, I will substitute books for some of the stories that are told. But I rarely use the reading list in the book. For instance, we read the Gilgamesh trilogy of books rather than the book's condensed version. Here is the first on Amazon: Gilgamesh the King. I plan on reading the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths soon.

 

We have done only a few of the projects - the easy things like making our own Pictograms or building an Assyrian Tower out of Legos. When it came to Mummies, we did this kit instead of tackling a chicken :tongue_smilie: Lift the Lid on Mummies It tied in nicely.

 

We've also kept our eye out for appropriate movies and such to tie in like The Prince of Egypt.

 

All in all, we use it. The most valuable part of the book for me is the narration exercises/map instructions. I did purchase separate copies of the worksheets so I wouldn't have to copy or print them.

Edited January 22, 2010 by krisperry
the longest run-on I've seen in awhile lol

[Mom-ninja.]

I plan on getting the pdf version from now on. We do some activities but not a lot. My kids hate to color so don't do any coloring pages. We do the maps, the questions and narration, and the suggested reading for library book ideas. We try to do the cooking activities, but I have to do a lot of tweaking due to allergies.

[Halcyon]

Thanks all-we'll definitely be getting the pdf, and glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't do the more involved projects LOL...

[WiseOwlKnits]

We'll be the oddballs. We use it religiously, LOL! Each chapter we do one of the activities (at least). DD loves to color while she's listening to the chapter. And I use all of the review questions in there as well. It has made my life so much easier!

[Narnian]

We rarely do the activities--I only use the AG for the review questions & maps. Sometimes I check out a few of the book recommendations, but that's not something that has to be in hard copy (especially since I get all of our books through the library, placing holds online). We are definitely going the PDF route this year, if we get the AG at all.

[Carol in Cal.]

We did very few activities, although we talked about more of them than we actually did, LOL!

 

I used the tests to some extent, and some of the coloring and map pages, but not all of them.

[Wendy Inman]

I think the pdf would be great, so glad this is an option now. We use it for the review questions, narration, maps, and a few activities. We're not huge on the activities or coloring pages... but we do use the reading list a lot. To me, that part is worth it. We love reading extra books to go along with the chapter :)

[RootAnn]

We do an activity every 3-5 chapters. We always do the review questions. I have found the literature book list to be wonderful. That has to be one of my favorite aspects. The kids like to do the coloring pages, but they aren't mandatory. We usually do the maps, but not always.

 

I love having the options available. We really liked some of the cooking activites this year and have enjoyed some of the other stuff (small crafts, games, etc.).

[mom2jjka]

I LOVE the activity book!

Yeah - we don't do all of the activities, but I try to pick one fun activity per unit and we usually do most of the mapwork and coloring pages.

[Macrina]

We have a blast w/ the activity guide!!! You can see all of our fun here :)

[Harriet Vane]

We always do the maps. We do activities from most of the chapters but not all. We only do the elaborate projects for some chapters. We do try to get at least some of the ancillary books from the library, so I appreciate the suggested reading lists. I have found it well worth the $$ to have the complete package at my fingertips.

[Chris in VA]

Big AG fan here. I have noticed, tho, that the 3rd one has less appealing projects. I also have to be careful of some of the book rec's b/c they are too easy for dd.

 

I do want the 4th one, tho, when we get there, b/c I want help with the outlining.

 

I'd recommend the first two very, very highly.

[MIch elle]

the discussion questions and maps! We don't look at anything else - no activities, projects or coloring pages. We also used the SOTW tests.

[MelanieM]

I wasn't going to get the AG originally, but am very glad I did! In fact, I bought the hard copy book and also purchased the student pages in electronic format so I could have the best of both worlds. (Printing is much easier than copying, but I like having the book to flip through.)

 

We're doing history with two other families, once per week. The kids do the colouring pages and a word search or crossword (I create them online when they're not in the AG for that chapter) while we read from a combination of SOTW, UILE, and library books. (We might be folding in CHOW as well.)

 

We do projects either directly from the AG, or something that is sparked by an idea we've found there.

 

We have been printing the maps, but are going to switch that up a bit by having the kids use a current map and draw in the ancient features on an overlay. (Just decided this today -- so excited to give it a try!) We have also had some fun creating maps on the floor with play silks, painter's tape, etc.

 

We're also going to start using the review questions to create a trivia game that we'll play each week (?), adding new questions to the game as we go along.

 

So yes, I'm very pleased with the activity guide and am very happy we purchased it!

[Guest janainaz]

We're almost done with SOTW 3 and I don't do the projects. I just read through them, sometimes there are little snippets of interesting info. We do the maps, but not the coloring pages. I ordered the Activity Book for the narration questions and also for the supplemental book suggestions. I could come up with my own supplemental books without the list. Often, my library does not hold most of suggested titles anyway.

 

What beefs up history for us is the extra books we read. I despise projects and they just seem to be a waste of time. I don't need to make a roman aqueduct to know what one looks like - I can just see it in a book (I'm still a bit sore about that failed project.... :glare:).

 

I've always thought that I would NEED to do the projects to get my younger ds interested in history (when the times comes). Someone mentioned a while ago that some of those projects don't really serve to accomplish what you are trying to teach them anyway. Maybe doing them paints a picture and helps the additional information stick. I'd personally rather look at and read books and skip them.

[brownie]

I have found that we pretty much needed to cut back to doing the questions and the map activity. Of course I've also scanned the book list for ideas. Does this PDF version have everything, just electronically? Brownie

[NancyNellen]

I've been teaching some level of SOTW for 7 straight years and I LOVE the activity guide. I use the review questions every time, have all of the recommended reading marked as to whether we own it, my local library has it, or I can ILL it. I use the recommended pages for our encyclopedias. We use the coloring pages and maps (the directions for the maps are in the book), and do a smattering of the projects and games. For us, at least, the activity guide is more than half of the program.

[Veritaserum]

We use it every time we read a chapter for the review questions and mapwork. Occasionally we do one of the activities. The additional non-fiction and fictions book lists are helpful as well. :)

[Mommy22alyns]

I use it all the time! I have to make myself do some projects because Becca likes them, but I love the map work, review questions, and book suggestions.

[laughing lioness]

No. My ds10 is not a project person, though I'm sure my 7 yo would love it. I've drooled over some of the blogs I've seen, SOTW coops, etc. but knowing my little guy, it's just not gonna be pretty. He does LOVE the CD's though and has them mostly memorized.

[Haiku]

I'm not a project person. We don't do projects. I use the narration questions, the maps, some of the coloring pages (although for the most part I find them lacking in quality), and some of the activity ideas. My AG was given to me for free. I'm dithering about buying next year's. I think it's sad that you can buy the bound copy on Amazon for less than the pdf on the PHP site.

 

Tara

[beezus]

No, we ended up rarely using the activity guides. I thought my artsy girl would like the projects but she didn't. Sometimes she would do a coloring page while I was reading, but only occasionally. I like some of the book recommendations, but we didn't really have funds to buy a lot of books, so we ended up just using whatever our library had as supplemental books. Sounds like lots of other people here are using the activitiy guides, but they weren't really worth the money for what little use we actually got out of them.

[KrissiK]

There's a PDF version? How do you get it? We just started SOTW1 and I don't use all the activities, so I'd love to be able to get just what I needed.

[rwjx2khsmj]

We love the AG and the projects. I usually let the dc pick one or two per chapter to do. Or they look at the activities and say, "That looks interesting. What if we ....?" and away it goes.

 

This week we enjoyed a dinner including tapioca pudding and Navajo fry bread. The dc made both and willingly tried them, even enjoyed them.

[abbeyej]

I consider it worthwhile, even if we don't do many (or even any) projects. The comprehension questions, student pages (coloring and maps), the additional reading suggestions... All of those things are worth having the AG for me.

[Laurel]

We are on SOTW2.

 

We use the coloring pages (they color while I read), the maps, and the narration/review questions for every chapter. I used the book list while making my plan for the year (though not heavily, as I mostly just coordinated what we own with each chapter). And we do a project most chapters, though if we don't get to it, or none of them seem interesting (to me, as the kids would be interested in any project), then I don't feel guilty.

 

I have a hard copy of the book (and I think I would always want a hard copy), and for both SOTW1 and 2, I got extra student pages. I will have to look into the PDF option, as there were so many templates in the student pages for SOTW2 that we aren't using that I felt it was a huge waste of paper. I'd rather be able to print off only what we actually use.

[MommyX8]

We listen to the audio, then do comprehension questions, map work and the coloring sheets. We've never done an activity.

 

I bought the student pages on PDF so that I could print up multiple copies of only the pages that I wanted faster.

[EKS]

I use them for the book suggestions and the map questions. Other than that I could just get by with the student pages.

[Satori]

We just started SOTW with AG this year, but so far we are totally using the Activity Guide. I have only one child, and we both love to do crafty activities. :) She loooves history too.

 

Here's all our blog posts relating to SOTW 1 and the Activity Guide:

http://satorismiles.com/tag/sotw/

[mcconnellboys]

I use the reading lists. I use the map work. In some years I use the coloring (when my son is inclined to do it). I have used the games, wordsearches, etc. and wish there were more of those (as opposed to coloring). We don't do craft projects much, so haven't really used those.

 

I have used the questions in past and may use them again for testing (although I have the test books now, too).

[Woodland_Mom]

I haven't taken the time to read all of the replies, but here's an idea:

 

If you like doing the maps and simple projects, maybe you could pull out what you want to do ahead of time and put it in a binder. I do that at the beginning of the school year in various subjects. It helps me to stay organized and less overwhelmed.

[Garga]

What?!?!? You guys DON'T do the activities?? If you've never done them, then you are so missing out.

 

We love doing them. It makes history come alive for us. My sons love history and adore the activites. We do at least one a week. At least.

 

History is the best part of our day and we save it for the afternoon so we have time to devote to the activies.

[In the Rain]

We use the maps, questions and supplemental book list. Dd might enjoy the projects, but I'm not a project person. We haven't tried any of them. :blush:

[lionfamily1999]

I did not get it for 2 (had it with 1) and I regretted it every.single.chapter.

 

We have it now for 3 and do use it, every chapter. We enjoy it, the activities bring it all home and knowing how to use the student pages (and what to do with the maps and what books to read, when) is making history a richer experience.

 

If I could do it all over again, I would have bought it for 2.

[StartingOver]

Does anyone know how large the PDF for the student pages SOTW 1 is ?

[Satori]

The PDF file for SOTW 1 Activity Guide is 59,546 KB.

[StartingOver]

The PDF file for SOTW 1 Activity Guide is 59,546 KB.

 

Thanks Angela. One of the downfalls of living so far out in the country is dial up LOL. I have been looking at this file download for 2 hours now, wondering if it will ever get done. Maybe I will just check it in the morning. ;-)

 

But being as I am going to use it up to 6 times, the file will be very handy. So I will suffer through.

 

I am hoping for better internet next year, or I may have to move closer to town.

[Satori]

I think you just took down the peacehillpress.com site, lol! It is down now. That could explain the slow download. Their server has always been very slow for me. I've downloaded SOTW AG, as well as Writing With Ease student book, and it takes soooo long that it took me a few days to successfully get the downloads. We have DSL in the mountains.

[StartingOver]

I think you just took down the peacehillpress.com site, lol! It is down now. That could explain the slow download. Their server has always been very slow for me. I've downloaded SOTW AG, as well as Writing With Ease student book, and it takes soooo long that it took me a few days to successfully get the downloads. We have DSL in the mountains.

 

It wouldn't suprise me, with my luck lately hehehe. Goodness, see ya next week on this slow connection I have. JOY ! JOY ! JOY !

[StartingOver]

I think you just took down the peacehillpress.com site, lol! It is down now. That could explain the slow download. Their server has always been very slow for me. I've downloaded SOTW AG, as well as Writing With Ease student book, and it takes soooo long that it took me a few days to successfully get the downloads. We have DSL in the mountains.

 

It is a good thing I wrote blog posts in advance. I am good till Wednesday !

[StartingOver]

LOL over 2 hours of my life I will never get back!!!! Thanks for letting me know it was down hehe. Restarted, and it says now it will only take 3 hours. Will leave it for overnight.

 

5.44 KB per second, blazing now. I HATE DIAL UP !

[Carmen_and_Company]

We picked and chose which activities to do, and preferred projects from Enrichment 4 You, http://www.enrichment4you.com/index.php, to the ones offered in the activity guides. I found the guides worth their weight in gold for oral & written narration and beginning outlining assistance, and would repurchase for those resources alone.

[ProudGrandma]

this is what we do: day 1 my oldest and youngest color the coloring sheet, my middle child (who hates to color) follows along in the book while we listen to the audio (which the kids love). I use the AG for questions and narration. Then my middle child does the map while the other two look on. The next day we review. Often we do one of the projects...not for every chapter, but we do at least one extra thing. I am putting together a scrapbook/binder of the coloring pages, maps and any pictures taken during the activities. The kids love to look at it and it is a great way to review what we have done so far. The AG is invaluable to me and I can't imagine doing SOTW without it.