Blossom'sGirl Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I am attempting to make some decisions for our Medieval studies next year. I own the original SOTW 2 Activity Book minus the student pages. Our 1st time through 5 years ago, we used just the audio cd and the activity book. I am planning on buying the new activity book because I need new worksheets anyway and they are much better. As I was comparing my old activity book to the revised, I noticed that the list of additional history and literature reading suggestions for the sample given is greatly reduced in number in the revised edition. Does anyone know why? Are these books now OOP or are they just not really that good? It would actually benefit me to have less choice and use only the well-loved books. I am using Biblioplan this year with ancients because I thought my brain would explode trying to schedule readers and read-alouds for 3 levels of children. It has worked out well except that I really like doing SOTW in order and BP jumps around. My 6yo doesn't care for anything but listening to SOTW and coloring his sheet. BP may spend weeks with no SOTW and then you will have 2 in one day which doesn't work with the younger kids. I thought maybe next year I could loosely make my own schedule but I start looking at all the choices and I am ready to order BP just for the reading schedule. Even with using BP this year, I still get (from the library) many of the additional history reading and literature suggestions in Activity book 1 but I am glad I have that schedule to work around. I am also hoping to reduce history to 2x per week except for read-alouds which are squeezed in all week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland_Mom Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Why is it that coordinating readers & read aloud choices brings well intentioned homeschool moms to a near insane state? I just completed a week worth of late nights and early mornings to "plan" history! I am not familiar with the older version of the SOTW activity guide, so I can't speak to that. But . . . I do have the new guide as well as Biblioplan for the Middle Ages, Renaissance & Reformation. The Biblioplan schedule uses SOTW most weeks, except when they do the unit on the Renaissance. Biblioplan uses "Rats, Bulls & Flying Machines". It appears there are 6 weeks with no SOTW because they go into more detail into this time period than SOTW does. Biblioplan spends a week on Renaissance Culture and then spends dedicated time learning about various contributors to art, music, science and literature. I must say, these look like very nice lesson plans, but those weeks could easily be skipped. There are still a few occasional weeks with no SOTW. If you decided to use SOTW alone, you could make a list of read aloud books you'd like to use for the year and work your way through them. Then do the same thing for each of your kids. -- I know, I know!! That's the part that is so maddening!!:tongue_smilie: Here's my list of read-alouds. They are listed in the order I plan to read them. Most of these book were listed in SOTW, Biblioplan, Sonlight or the Veritas Press catalog. Read Aloud Books: § Saint Valentine, Ann Tompert § Saint Patrick, Tomie DePoala § White Stag, Seredy § Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morpurgo § Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights, Tenggren § The Shadow Spinner, Flecher § Beorn the Proud, Polland § The Door in the Wall, D’Angeli § King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, Green § Saint Francis, Wildsmith § The Kid’s Book of Chess, Kidder § Tales of Robin Hood, Allen § Dangerous Journey, Bunyan § Joan of Arc, Stanley § Adam of the Road, Gray § Secret of the Andes, Clark § Spy for the Knight Riders, Jackson § Michelangelo, Stanley § Fine Print, Burch § The Queen’s Smuggler, Jackson § Good Queen Bess, Stanley § Leonardo Da Vinci for Kids, Herbert § The Shakespeare Stealer, Blackwood Note: items in bold denote picture books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom'sGirl Posted January 30, 2010 Author Share Posted January 30, 2010 Thank you so much for your input and understanding. I am feeling more confident today that I can do this and make it work. Thanks also for typing out your list. I too have also have checked out to see what SL and other "packaged" curriculums are using which helps. I did see that BP used the Rats, Bulls, & Flying Machines so I got it out of the library to check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 And their suggested resource is a great one. I would also suggest looking for a good art history book at the library, one with lots of large colored pictures of Renaissance art. The Reformation is covered sensitively in RBFM--I have never seen a resource that was a thorough and yet really didn't take sides at all. "Luther" by Paul Maier, would probably tick off some Catholics. "The Reformation" recommended in the AG was biased in favor of Catholics, very very strongly, and IMO ahistorically. SOTW covered the Reformation quite well, but I thought that the Renaissance deserved much more play than it got. There was a major Leonardo DaVinci exhibit here in town 1 1/2 years ago, and I bought a Renaissance painting art book there. I used it as a source for Lenten meditation that year--I would study one picture every day, try to figure out the symbolism, think about the Bible story that it reflected, and pray about it. Sometimes my DD joined me, and it was a nice easy way to get more familiar with the art of that period. So, bottom line, you don't really have to make this too hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Here's a thread that you can get lost in. :tongue_smilie: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118063 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 :lurk5: Planning year 2 out right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom'sGirl Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 I have been busy all weekend but just wanted to make sure that all knew I saw the replies. I do have the DK book called ART out right now. I really like it as far as a reference for an art dummy like me. I do have to say that I have a hard time leaving it lay around with all the strawn out nudes in it but the boys don't seem to pay it much mind. I also think the medieval/ renaissance studies are a great time to beef up my art and music studies. I still have not had time to work on it but I have quite a compilation of ideas. I never did find out what was up with the AG. I am assuming they may have eliminated OOP books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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