Aah! Confused!

[TandLMommy28]

OK, so I'm a cheapskate. And we have an AWESOME second hand book store in town that I'm addicted to... and so I found a copy of The Well Trained Mind there for $8 (woohoo!) but it's not the newest version so it doesn't mention Writing With Ease or Story of the World.

 

I'm just wondering if someone could explain to me which books mentioned in the older version can be replaced with these???

 

We are starting first grade in September so I am planning to collect the books and stuff over the summer and my head is spinning a little!

[Sasharowan]

Writing with Ease (WWE) is a writing program for 1-4 grades. You start it when your child is writing letters easily. It combines copywork, narration, and dictation.

 

Story of the World (SOTW) is a history spine, also for grades 1-4. You read the book to your child and/or have them read it (usually in upper grades) and then do activities or extra reading from the Activity Guide.

 

I'm not sure what the recommendations in the first book were, but these two would be your history and writing.

[TandLMommy28]

OK, So WWE doesn't cover grammar or handwriting? That is what I was mostly confused about. And I am guessing based on my reading so far that even with SOTW, plenty of supplemental reading should be done?

 

Thanks!

[Sara in WA]

If you loved WTM, then I would suggest you buy a copy of the newest edition. This will answer your questions and give you the most up-to-date recommendations. The older version still have the same theory, just not the most recent book titles. I find spending money on educating the educator (the parent) to be vital. You can buy it through Peace Hill Press to best support the authors or through Amazon to get a great deal.

[Brindee]

OK, So WWE doesn't cover grammar or handwriting? That is what I was mostly confused about. And I am guessing based on my reading so far that even with SOTW, plenty of supplemental reading should be done?

 

Thanks!

SOTW has the AGs, which, in my humble opinion, you shouldn't do without! They have books lists in them, plus maps, activity ideas, and really enhance the learning!

[TandLMommy28]

Thanks! I was just eyeing those a few minutes ago. I am a product of public school "social studies" and teaching history is the one part of home school that scares me to death. I think these books seem interesting and non-intimidating since we will really be learning history together!

[Brindee]

We LOVED SOTW with the Activities, especially the Ancients! We brought in more things, just because we wanted to and it was fun, and my kids were a little older.

 

National Geographic Kids had a website (they still may, you can google it and see) that happened to have an Egypt tomb projects just as we were studying ancients. If NGK is still up, check the archives for it, hopefully it's still there. Neat project. We compared the SOTW stuff about the world to what is talked about in the Bible, and put both things on the Timeline, which was so fun to compare!

 

Take pictures of the projects, it's neat to look back and remember the fun times, yet my kids STILL remember a lot of what they studied that year!

[kalanamak]

I like all the editions. The very first one has some OOP resources that I got used on Amazon and have been our favs.

 

Ask your library to get or borrow the latest and compare it to your version. I have written all over my old edition.

[ncmomo3]

SOTW has the AGs, which, in my humble opinion, you shouldn't do without! They have books lists in them, plus maps, activity ideas, and really enhance the learning!

:iagree:

[Jen+4dc]

If you loved WTM, then I would suggest you buy a copy of the newest edition. This will answer your questions and give you the most up-to-date recommendations. The older version still have the same theory, just not the most recent book titles. I find spending money on educating the educator (the parent) to be vital. You can buy it through Peace Hill Press to best support the authors or through Amazon to get a great deal.

:iagree:

 

SOTW has the AGs, which, in my humble opinion, you shouldn't do without! They have books lists in them, plus maps, activity ideas, and really enhance the learning!

:iagree:

[Carol in Cal.]

You don't actually NEED anything else. Most kids do not learn world history starting so young, so SOTW is, technically, overkill. But it's so fun that your kids will probably love it. It's well-written and engaging.

 

If I were just starting SOTW1 with my child, here's what I would want:

1. A good world history encyclopedia with colored pictures. Use this now for illustrations, mostly, and later for outlining. For this, the best one is the old white edition from 1993 of Kingfishers "Illustrated History of the World". You can find this used all the time on the boards or Ebay. It's out of print, but the demand has dropped enough so it's not crazily expensive. It comes as either one fat volume or a 10 volume set. Those are identical to each other.

2. A good study Bible, if you want to intersperse Bible history with SOTW1. I did this, and it was great (it did extend the time we spent on SOTW, though.) I used the Concordia Self-Study Bible in NIV.

3. "Black Ships Before Troy" and "The Wanderings of Oddysseus"--these are beautiful renditions of The Illiad and The Oddeyssey (sp). "In Search of a Homeland" is a roughly comparable version of The Aeniaid (sp).

4. Good books of Roman and Greek myths. There are so many versions of these.

 

 

I also really like the Miriam Greenblatt books about historical figures. The ones about Hatshepsut and Julius Caesar are particularly good for this year. And "Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors" is a great book with activities. I like that series in general.

 

DD was given an archeologists' kit where you slowly chip away a sandstone pyramid to get several artifacts out. She LOVED this.

 

We like the AG's book recommendations. The IR books were especially nice for DD when she was learning to read--they were exactly right for her reading level, which was really nice. We didn't do very many of the crafts, but they were interesting to consider. The activities would be wonderful for a coop.

[mommy4ever]

Writing with Ease writing through copywork, reading comprehension(initially you write), narration to start the natural progression to putting thought to paper. Actual grammar coverage is First Language lessons, it includes poetry, stories etc, and actual grammar. Reading and phonics is the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading.

 

We have all of the above. :lol: as well as SOTW 1 and the AG. So other than math and science... we're pretty much covered!