abrightmom Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 We have used Core 1 this year and it has been a good first year of history for us. I think using Core 2 would be sensible and an easy way to have a history "cycle" (and give me some more time to plan :001_smile: and to get those basic skills strengthened). However, I don't do well with Sonlight schedules. I ALWAYS get off track and I hate flipping around in there for notes. :lol: Makes me looney! Anyone else use SL but NOT use the IG? I'd want the flow of history to make sense and for the lit selections to be read at the appropriate junctures. I hate the thought of springing for an IG just to have that basic structure laid out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jentancalann Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 If the notes/discussion questons are not valuable to you (meaning you don't use them) and you feel like scheduling the readers/RA's yourself you could probably do it. Core 2 is just a continuation of core 1, progressing through CHOW in the same manner. I would think you could do CHOW and read the corresponding Usborne on your own. However, the one time I tried this (Core 4) I never made it all the way through. I really need the schedule to keep me going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Oh, you can! We are doing Core 2 without the IG this time and we're doing fine. I have added hands-on activities to the History selections and I add discussions, a few writing assignments, etc to the Read-Alouds. I felt like I had to add/change some stuff because my son is not much of a sonlight fan. I added hands-on activities...for example, with Houses and Homes, each kid "built" a wooden house from a different culture and painted it. He seems to respond better to the books that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abrightmom Posted May 3, 2010 Author Share Posted May 3, 2010 :D This makes me happy. How did you go about "planning" this? Any quick tips? I just want it to line up appropriately (not perfectly, just close :D). Have you seen this http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/sonlight2.htm ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneP Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 :D This makes me happy. How did you go about "planning" this? Any quick tips? I just want it to line up appropriately (not perfectly, just close :D). Have you seen this http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/sonlight2.htm ? I have not seen that link before! Thanks! Let's see....how do I do this...for the Read-Alouds that are non-history, I just pick in random order. I can usually find almost all of these at the library, like Ginger Pye (rented the audio book and listened in the car), Aesop for Children, Kildee House, etc... Whenever one is available at the library, we just go check it out. We read through the book, stop for discussions, etc. I'll add some stuff like...for Henry Huggins, we bought a big box of donuts (because he had a donut machine) and had a many-calorie-donut party while we finished the book (OK, it's disgusting for me, but my 45 pound son thought it was awesome). For Strawberry Girl, we could eat strawberries and I'll assign a writing assignment on something like "if you could live on a farm, what would you like about it and what would you grow?" or something similar (OK, that's dorky, but my son is only in 1st grade). For the historical read-alouds, I go in chronological order...so we ended Core 1 with the Goths taking over Rome...I'll continue reading through CHOW, one chapter at a time while we're making our way through the read-alouds. If something in CHOW interests us...we will spin-off into a week-long Unit Study about it (like we did with the Great Wall of China chapter). We'll also stop and do lapbooks if we are interested in something. So, say we do the book Michelangelo...I'm going to read through the book, have the kids look through his paintings and sculptures and then each kid will create their own painting inspired by one of Michelangelo's paintings (we did this with da Vinci). Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky...I plan on having the kid make a model boat from a kit...hopefully I can find something that resembles a Viking boat, but you could always buy the $5 Boy Scout boat kit and they would have a lot of fun painting it/putting it together. I'm probably going to skip Explorer News (the Greek News made my kids foam at the mouth), Window on the World, Castle Diary (I saw wishy-washy reviews on that one) and The School Story (my son probably will not make it thru that one). We're reading through Misty of Chincoteague right now (that's one of the Readers, but my kids wanted to include it as a read-aloud) and that one is awesome... I heard White Stallion of Lipizza is great, too. We could do something with horses, but I don't have any ideas yet... Good luck. I hope that helped you a little. I have to do a lot of hands-on stuff with my 1st grader because he just can't focus for more than 28 seconds. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abrightmom Posted May 4, 2010 Author Share Posted May 4, 2010 This is actually very helpful! I do feel that I have the confidence to go it on my own so we can finish a brief sweep through history (and save some $$). I will also pay attention to reviews on the read-alouds and consider readers in their place. THAT is a fantastic idea as well . . . . Using the library is a good idea too, especially with the RAs. If we don't need to read them in any particular order then the library would work out just fine. I'm liking this option more and more. :D THANKS so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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