SOTW not working

[Moxie]

I want my kids to have a literature based education. I like SOTW, I don't think my kids do. They enjoy the books we get from the library for each section, they like the crafts but they both "glaze" over when I read SOTW 1 with them. I'm also concerned that it goes too fast for them. They aren't retaining History like they are all of our other reading.

 

What to do, what to do? Switch to something more literature based? Sonlight? Mommy-made-it (so much work and I worry I'm not giving them enough)? Keep going for another year and hope they grow into it?

 

Melissa

[Crissy]

Melissa,

Have you tried reading a couple of sentences, or a paragraph and stopping for a bit of discussion?

I have the *worst* voice for reading aloud (and I hate to do it in the first place!). I've found that after a bit my boys start picking at the carpet, gazing out the window at the birds, and anything else that will take their mind off whatever I happen to be reading (I try not to take it personally:D ).

Unless I involve them. If I read a little and ask their opinion, or even ask for them to restate what I've just read, they are much more engaged.

Now that they're older, I have them take turns reading and they are even more interested than before, but in the early years, periodic discussion did wonders for their attention spans.

[kokotg]

honestly, my kids (same ages as yours) don't love it, either. I think, at least for my older son, it's that he's so visual that he really still needs something with pictures (although he does fine with fiction chapter books. I dunno). I finally bought the CDs--so for the rest of the year we're listening to it in the car and then I'm trying to focus more on the other things we do in history--actually getting some projects done from the activity guide, books from the library, reading the Usborne Encyclopedia more closely (I'm trying to use that more as the spine now, with SOTW as extra material, instead of the other way around). Next year we're taking a break from SOTW and doing Winterpromise's American history. I'll see if that's a better fit and reevaluate where we're at next year--right now the plan is to go back and finish up SOTW after American history, but we'll see.

[nmoira]

IMHO, SOTW is good as a starting place and for review. We use HO and supplement SOTW with lots of picture books and often an historical novel (in medieval, we strive for one each lesson).

[Mom2legomaniacs]

One thing that I don't expect with history at this stage is a great amount of retention. I simply want to whet their appetite for this subject. Mine really enjoy SOTW but after a particular section is done, they probably don't remember a great deal, only general stuff. That's okay for me.

 

Could they color or something while you are reading? Do they say they don't care for it?

 

After we are done with the reading, (and we read one section at a sitting) we discuss it. I ask the questions from the Activity Guide and go from there. If I have made it to the library, I will have them read some supplementary books on their own afterwards.

 

I don't know what to tell you other than to share what we are doing. But mine definitely like it.

[Beth in Central TX]

You could also try the H.A. Guerber's series rewritten by Christine Miller: http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber.shtml

 

I really like this series. The Story of the Ancient World was an excellent read aloud, and I found it more engaging that SOTW Vol I.

[chiguirre]

SOTW didn't work for us this year either. I do have high hopes for it in a year or two though. It's just so rich that my kids were a bit lost and weren't retaining anything.

 

I put SOTW on the shelf for now and made up a book basket for Ancient Egypt. I used the book lists in the Veritas catalog, SOTW AG, Sonlight and TOG and got a bunch of books out of the library. I added in a coloring book, sticker book and paper dolls for fun while I read. I'm planning on sticking with this about once a week or so for a month or 6 weeks more and then we'll move on to Ancient Greece and Rome and do the same thing.

 

I do think my kids will enjoy SOTW when ds is in 3rd and dd is in 1st, but for now I'll settle for fun history just to give them a bit of exposure.

[LadyR]

One thing that I don't expect with history at this stage is a great amount of retention. I simply want to whet their appetite for this subject. Mine really enjoy SOTW but after a particular section is done, they probably don't remember a great deal, only general stuff. That's okay for me.

I agree. Now that my first child is in 9th grade, I can look back to her first grade history lessons and agree that it was all about whetting her appetite. We revisited everything 4 years later. If my son (who is in 1st grade) does not remember a whole lot, I don't sweat it.

 

We are doing SOTW and what my son finds most enjoyable and what he remembers the most is when after we read a section, he'll pick something from that part to look up on the internet - pictures of the Olmec heads or the Nasca drawings, for example. He loves this and this is what he retains.

[TengoFive]

We've basically used SOTW as a jumping off place. We'll listen to the CDs in the car and if there's anything that strikes a chord with the kids, we'll pick up books on that topic the next time we're at the library. Then they'll read them independently. I wouldn't say they're remembering everything they hear on the cd, but they're learning enough to give them a rough outline of history. I love, love, love the cds and need to buy the next one now.

[Kate in Arabia]

I want my kids to have a literature based education. I like SOTW, I don't think my kids do. They enjoy the books we get from the library for each section, they like the crafts but they both "glaze" over when I read SOTW 1 with them. I'm also concerned that it goes too fast for them. They aren't retaining History like they are all of our other reading.

 

Why not just go back to the "original" WTM method? Use Usborne as a spine and do the library readings and all, since that it what your kids really get into.. You could still use the Activity Guide from SOTW, then you'd have review questions to give you an idea of topics to discuss as well as having the crafts, maps etc. Maybe read the SOTW text for yourself, so you can kind of introduce the topic to them before getting into the supplements...

 

I don't know that my kids retain so much from SOTW per se, but couched in all the outside reading, videos and activities we do I think they're getting the general gist.

 

Kate

[Aubrey]

Mine are the same age as yours, & they aren't loving it quite as much this year as last year, but they like to be read to, & that's the only thing that's guaranteed around here.

 

Like the others, I only read a couple of sentences up to a paragraph, & I stop to explain. We recently read about the Battle of...dude, *I* can't remember. But it was an important one that I read about in Med lit, & it was between the English & the French, which is important in itself, given their long history of rivalry.

 

So I kind-of illustrated their differences. Take a fairy tale. The English would add ogres and monsters & strong heroes who pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Then the story would travel across the water (the English chanel? I dunno.) to France, where they'd slay the beasts & add beautiful damsels in distress & romance.

 

When this got back to the English, they'd be in a tizzy over the fru-fru & start "fixing" it again. So you can imagine a war between them. An English guy is chosen by the English to be king, but a French guy claims *he* has more right to the throne. (And fwiw, I characterized the French guys as wearing pink shoes & frills. Dd4 loved this.) So if you're a bootstrap kind of country, do you want a pink-shoe-wearing king from FRANCE???

 

Anyway, you get the idea. It helps the story come alive. Then they pretend to be Vikings days later, & try to con ea other into moving to "Greenland," and I know they've gotten it.

 

Fwiw, we've started doing shorter blips of history everyday. I'm not sure yet, but I think it helps w continuity & retaining interest. Might be something to try.

 

GL!

[Mallory]

Although I am thinking about getting the CDs for this year, one thing that my boys really liked was acting out as I read.

 

Not all the sections work for this, but many do and they really enjoy it.

 

I've also been known to give a chocolate chip to whoever answers the review questions. We would just read them right after the section, and that inspired them to listen more carefully!

[chiguirre]

Hey Aubrey, hate to rain on the fru-fru French parade, but, they actually won that war in the end (it lasted about 130 years although it's called the 100 years war). And, umm, the French (okay, the Normans but they spoke French and Normandy is a part of France today) did conquer the English at Hastings in 1066. That's why we have so many French derivative words in English. So, they weren't always cheese-eating surrender monkeys :D.

 

Can you tell I'm a total francophile?

[KLA]

We love the audio cd's of SOTW here. It gives the kids a break from my voice and they listen better. Sometimes they have to sit together in a chair and follow along in the book (did this when they were early readers) and now they get to color their coloring page while the cd plays. Many times they play it back again that day or the next and they often chooses to listen to them in free time. In addition, we listen to them over the summer and on road trips for review.

 

I'm very pleased with their retention (shown in their narrations) and when i suggested not getting the cd's for next year - i was met with great opposition. Its been worth every penny (look for them used)!

[Tammyla]

:iagree: It sounds as if the real books are working. I'd run with that. The first edition of the WTM was our introduction to history and my kids were hooked.

 

Why not just go back to the "original" WTM method? Use Usborne as a spine and do the library readings and all, since that it what your kids really get into.. You could still use the Activity Guide from SOTW, then you'd have review questions to give you an idea of topics to discuss as well as having the crafts, maps etc. Maybe read the SOTW text for yourself, so you can kind of introduce the topic to them before getting into the supplements...

 

I don't know that my kids retain so much from SOTW per se, but couched in all the outside reading, videos and activities we do I think they're getting the general gist.

 

Kate

[Moxie]

Much to think about. For now, I'm going to print off the workbook that someone on this site created (can anyone point me to that thread, the workbook looks great!!) and slooooowly work through SOTW, concentrating on the other recommended books and the fun stuff. I really don't want them to think History is boring!!

 

Melissa

[katilac]

Your kids are young - - at 7 and 5, I'd have no qualms about using the supplemental reading and crafts in place of, rather than in addition to, many of the chapters.

 

I also agree with those who say to keep it quite short (break up the chapters), and focus more on exposure rather than retention.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We chose to simply use real books for 1st grade ancients and to limit our focus to OT history, Egypt, Greece, NT history, and Rome. We did notebooking and lapbooking for our hands on. I found SOTW to jump around to much for my daughter, so spending blocks of time with one civilization after another worked much better for us.

[Carol in Cal.]

some kids listen better when they are coloring at the same time. The AG has coloring pages for all or most of those stories, so you might try that.

 

Also, I used the old Usborne World History book at that age as well, but mostly for illustrations. So I would read the SOTW section, and then we would look at the pictures in Usborne and talk about how they related to the story. I also used the AG recommendations for IR books for DD to read instead of her regular read alouds, so she could read her own history stories. As an emerging reader, she really enjoyed this.

 

If I were doing this now, I would get the Kingfisher book to use for the pictures, because they are just as good as Usborne and then you can reuse the book as a spine the second time through.

[Hot Lava Mama]

With my ds8, reading SOTW was easy and enjoyable. When my dd6 turn came around, she wasn't getting it. My ds was probably a bit advanced for his age, so he was able to easily understand the chapters. My dd is probably about on key for her age. SOTW 1 was very hard for her at first. What I did was make her "act" out the story (along with her brothers if they were interested in doing it, too) and that REALLY helped her understand it. If she couldn't remember one of the review questions, we would talk about "what did your brother do when such-an-such happened" then she would remember. So basically, we followed this approach, read and "act" out the section, go over the review questions, then she would narrate (while I wrote) her story. It has gotten much easier for her now. We don't have to act out nearly as much as before. It worked to get rid of the glazed over eyes!

 

Good luck!

Hot Lava Mama

[WTMindy]

Do you do the projects? I know not everyone loves to do projects, but I found this really added to my kids' love of history. They have always associated history with fun, and that has carried over to now. We still do fun projects, but they really like it when we read history to them.

[Robin Hood]

One of my dd has always hated history from the time we started. She almost ruined a group field trip while we were in a museum, not only for our group but for everybody inside not related to our group. Because the other dd loves it and so do I, we just kept at it. Narrations were hard for both, still are. But the history hater, after 2 years, now loves it. And she could tell you anything from the previous 2 years that I thought she wasn't getting. Her narrations were so difficult to get out of her, as opposed to a good book, that I just put down what she gave and didn't work her too hard, like I did the other who I thought was more capable. They are terribly funny now to go back and read. Her focus was always into babies, so if any story contained a bit about a baby, that helped her draw a picture and tell a story. She could tell you any great hero's babyhood.

 

It is so hard when it seems so difficult, to know if you are doing it right, using the right books, the right curriculum, whatever. I stuck with it and can see results 2 years later. When I say, "OK, get your history books out.", both get physically and verbally excited now. They are 9.

[Allearia]

When my son was pretty young, before we started really homeschooling, I started playing the SOTW CDs in the car over and over. We usually listened to each CD multiple times before switching to the next, just because I was driving and couldn't get the next one out at the right time always. It worked out great for ds, though, because it took a few times hearing it before he started really getting and understanding the story. The second or third time he would start asking good questions that I could tell he was getting a lot more of the story. Now we are actually going through SOTW slowly and doing projects and extra readings and he is getting a lot more out of it than he would if he had not had that "pre-study".

[sadiegirl]

My boys didn't care for SOTW either. I wish that they had as I enjoyed the reading. As a kid, I always hated history so I want history to be fun for them. I now am using a hodge podge of audio tapes and readers. They seem to enjoy it more and I feel like they will retain more that way. I got tired of trying to convince them that the projects were supposed to be fun. I