Not ready for SOTW1?

[Guest]

Was anyone's child just not ready for SOTW 1 in 1st grade? And by not ready, I mean just not interested. What did you do instead? I'm going to leave this a bit vague because I'm just wondering. Thanks.

[Amber in AUS]

My DD started SOTW1 when she turned 5. My DS will be 5 in Jan and isn't ready to start. As I will be having a new baby next year we are going to continue to focus on Reading, Handwriting and Maths. If i wasn't having a baby then i think i would do cultural geography. I think it is SL Core K which does the world view?? Otherwise something like WP Children around the World or even MFW Exploring Countries & Cultures. I'd have to tweak because i need secular but that might not matter to you :)

 

I guess my focus would be to continue to build the foundation skills but also add some variety so that by the time the year was up they had the skills to narrate and take in the information from SOTW.

[Barb_]

Hey Monica!

 

We used K12 Kindergarten a couple of times and I love what they do with History for 5yo's. They take a world tour of each continent using the library, hands on activities, map work, crafts, food, etc. The curriculum was nice, but expensive when doing it on your own. Still, it's easy to replicate. Just spend a month or two on each continent except (obviously) Antarctica. Plan to spend more on Europe since every country has its own flavor and figures so heavily in Western Civilization study in future years.

 

Barb

[fastforward]

My middle daughter is starting her first grade work today and I have been concerned that she is not ready for SOTW. I used it last year with my oldest daughter (2nd grade) and my middle child showed no interest in listening to it peripherally, whether I read it or played the audio CD. I even tried having the oldest read the last few chapters out loud and I could tell that her interest waned about 5 seconds into the chapter. I'm disappointed because my goal was to have both my older and middle daughters "do history" together with SOTW 2, and that's just not going to work. (She has no retention of any of the information, either.)

 

FWIW, I think the issue is that my middle daughter doesn't enjoy history like her older sister, plus she is does not learn best by auditory methods. She tends to learn best when we do hands on activities, so perhaps doing more in the activity book will cement the information?

 

I haven't found something else I will use for her, but I'm all eyes and ears on this thread for ideas other than using the activity book!

[Carrie12345]

My younger dd (now 2nd grade) has definitely not been as interested as the other two. She finds it rather boring. I think the only reason she doesn't pitch a fit is b/c it's a subject that requires almost no writing from her, yet manages to involve crayons. :tongue_smilie:

 

I chose to keep going. She picks up more than she realizes, and winds up really getting into the myth stories. I don't expect a high level of retention from her (or even from my 3rd grader, though she does retain a bit more), but that was never my intent with world history at this age, anyway. For me, it's more about getting a feel for things, and that's working just fine.

[NanceXToo]

I didn't start homeschooling til toward the end of third grade, and that summer was when we found and started using SOTW1. To be honest, I thought she was of a good age for it, and I definitely cannot imagine her having been interested or ready in first grade, for anything other than some of the fun craft projects and THE youngest supplemental reading books. But to get anything out of the story, the supplemental reading books that weren't like kids picture books, I don't think she would have had an interest or retained any of that.

 

Maybe it's just me but I found third grade a good age to start. MAYBE 2nd, depending on the kid, since there are a good amount of younger kid books and activities.

 

But I just don't see it for a first grader, myself, so if I decide to do SOTW with, my younger son (who hasn't even turned 5 yet), I'm sure I'll be waiting til 2nd or 3rd grade, depending on him. Then again, I might be on this forum asking for suggestions on a similar history program to do with him instead, since it might be too boring for me to repeat SOTW after doing it already with my daughter lol. We'll see!

[Mallory]

with my first we started SOTW 1 when they were 5 and 6. I thought it was okay. They don't like to color, the maps were over thier heads and most of the activies were just too much for me to bother. We didn't write narrations, but they were okay at answering questions and talking about the passage.

 

We are doing it again this year; they are 9 and 10. It is going to be so much better! Almost every activity looks like something we want to do. Making chicken mummies and a model of the nile? Sounds like fun!!! The "costume" activites I think they can do on thier own and I think they will really like the games. (Although I still don't see the coloring pages as big hits ;)).

 

I also have written narrations (changing to outlines for the older as the year goes on) planned and think we will end up with great history notebooks.

 

I don't regret that we used SOTW in 1st, but, in retrospect, I can see that it wasn't really 1st grade material for my boys. I should have waited a year or two.

 

And because 1st grade was over their heads and the series increases in dificulty each year it was over their heads all 4 years. The outlining expected in SOTW 4 was to much and the book recomendations were too hard.

 

I think second or third would be much better ages to start.

[Sahamamama]

My oldest will be just 6 next year for first grade. I'm certain she would learn about Ancients with gusto, BUT... :Angel_anim::willy_nilly::willy_nilly: My angelic student has 3.5 year old twin sisters who are not so studious, LOL.

 

We are going to wait, because next year I want to focus on Phonics/Reading and Handwriting (twins, 4 years old), and Reading, Cursive, WWE, Spelling, Grammar, and Math for the 6 year old. All that, plus Memory Work, Bible, Doctrine, Music, Geography, and Science is enough!

 

For Geography, we will be doing an "Around the World" type of course (i.e., read library books about countries and cultures, cook a few things, Wee Sing songs, coloring pages of flags). After that, we'll see. We may spend two years on American History (my preference) or go into a four-year World History cycle (WTM recommendation). But next year, no Ancients for us. I really do believe that geography (for K and/or 1st), Bible stories, and two years of your country's history are better for the early years than a 4-year cycle, but that's just my opinion.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Sahamamama

[mama27]

None of my 4 oldest kids ever got anything out of SOTW any of the 4 or 5 different times I tried it. The latest try was my 10 yo dd who understood The Golden Goblet being read to her at 6 years old. I have given up trying to use SOTW in almost any capacity.

[Daisy]

If my child wasn't ready, I would just stick with checking out library books on American holidays and symbols, community workers, etc. We'd let it be interest- and holiday-driven.

[Disney Dreaming]

I tried last year with my 1st grader and it just didn't work. We read about 6 chapters before I gave up. There were a few stories she enjoyed but the narrations and maps she hated. I know Sonlight doesn't use it until 6th grade, maybe that is when I will try again:D.

[mommy4ever]

I started dd6 with SOTW last spring.

 

We started a little different. I started with story books about the era(recommendations in the SOTW AG). It got her asking questions. So then we did the SOTW, and an activity. We lucked out as well, that locally their are art classes that sometimes offer different things. We are going to do Egyptian Scroll painting this fall. We will review Egypt, to make it relevant again. There is also a Greek pottery being offered.

 

DD is very excited to do Ancient Greece and learn about Greek Gods that the ancients of Greece worshiped, she watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Why on earth it was rated G is beyond me..lol. But after watching it a second time she is enthralled with it, asking about those Gods and Myths. DD13 is reading the book to her now. So Ancient Greece is much anticipated :lol:. Again, we'll do stories recommended, and whet her appetite a little, and start into it.

 

I am not doing SOTW with the older 2 girls, they are doing a different program, but dd11, last year, would sneak in to :bigear:, and ask if she can do the activity with her sister. So I figure the older girls will join in again.

 

If you don't feel history is essential at 6, then I wouldn't stress over it. My dd is in grade 2 this year, and we are just doing SOTW1 since we only did a few weeks of it last year. There is time to learn :) And in the end, not all kids are interested in history so you may end up only doing basic history.

[kokotg]

My oldest wasn't at all interested in SOTW at that age. We're starting the second go round now, and he's finally getting into it (at 9). Listening on CD was a little better than hearing me read it. What I finally did was just spend a couple of years picking really appealing picture books for history and keeping it very low pressure. He's pretty into history now, but it took quite awhile.

[Mommamia]

Wow, this post thread has been very encouraging. Thank you(OP) for starting it! I wanted to follow the WTM history cycle starting in 1st grade. Unfortunately, SOTW did not work well for us that year. I waited a few months and tried again....and failed again. We opened SOTW 1 again this summer and have been slowly reading it. I still notice that my dc(8) glaze over while reading, but I'm determined to finish it. I skip over some of the mythology stories because it seems to be hard for them to differentiate between real and pretend(in this book). After we read a short chapter, I grab my Usborne Ancient picture books and show them some colorful pictures about what we just read. We also look at the globe if applicable.

 

I have a feeling that waiting until they are 10-12 to cycle through would work better for us.

[Momling]

We've got the same thing here. I bought it with high hopes... My 8 yr old just loves history and would spend all day curled up with various historical fiction or non-fiction books. She actually learned about ancient history last year (with a different text), and she has begged to do it again. I thought it'd be great to combine the two of them and go ahead.

 

So we started last week and my 6 yr old just couldn't care less. She's into the coloring and isn't particularly disruptive, but she has literally no idea what I just read about. In terms of retention or understanding, I honestly might as well be reading to our family dog.

 

 

It's very weird to have a super motivated academic child and then one who is oblivious to books (but, of course, awesome in other ways).

I think I'll probably just plow onwards, lower my current expectations for her and keep up my hope that she'll begin to catch on as she matures.

[naturegirl7]

My DS is 5 and only starting K - but is obsessed with ancient cultures - Egypt, China, Greece. He loves teh history, teh mythology, and the cool monuments....We have been just reading books up until this point. Usborne and DK books are great resources. Also the Magic Tree House books are great for this age - especially when paired with the matching Research Guide. I honestly think he likes the Research Guide better. This is what we have done the last 6 months to feed the little sponge.

 

Now I think he is ready to move on, and we chose SOTW Ancients - I did get the audio book CD, cuz I have a feeling he will enjoy listening to that more than sitting and listening to me read it. Especially in the car. But we will do both. I think the acitivities will be fun and keep him interested - and have no problem watering it down for him this year, and then repeating it next year more in depth. Or working really slowly and using it for 2 years.