SOTW and Retention

[joannqn]

How does SOTW look like in your home?

 

We read the chapter, discuss the questions in the AG, do the map page, try to do at least one of the activities from the AG, and take the test. My kids are doing horribly on the tests. History is by far their worst subject, retention-wise.

 

In contract, with Apologia we read the much longer chapter, do the try this activities, do the experiment, and maybe do a notebooking page. They do well on the tests I write for each chapter, and I think they are difficult.

 

I need to do something different for history apparently.

[rootsnwings]

I type out the review questions (or write them on the board for ds to copy) before he reads the chapter. That way he's looking for the answes while he's reading. We read/answer ?s for 1/2 the chapter on Monday, the other 1/2 on Tuesday. Wednesday we do mapwork & he writes a narration using his questions, answers & reader. Thursday I give him a (fill in the blank type) study guide based in the test questions & Friday we take the test.

 

The tests are BAD about throwing a few random facts in that weren't discussed in the review questions, only mentioned in the text. So without the study guide portion of the review he would almost always miss 2-3 questions on the test.

 

I've found this system to work the best for us and we only spend about 45min/day on history (or less, some days).

 

HTH!! :)

Edited September 24, 2010 by rootsnwings

[micheller1]

I also find the tests ask questions that were not really "important" during the text. At least it wasn't something I would have high lighted during reading or chapter discussion unless I knew it was on the test.

 

I've learned with these tests, to read the test first and use it as a guide for our discussions/writing portion. I don't lead them per se but I do try to re-emphasize and highlight those things that were obscure, yet on the test.

[patchfire]

I don't use the tests, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

 

Overall, I'm looking for a general understanding. Ds remembers that there were two kingdoms in Egypt and that they were united by King Narmer. Can he remember which one was the White Crown and which the Red Crown? No, but he remembers that there were two crowns that King Narmer combined - to me, that's great!

 

Dd used SOTW all the way through SOTW 4, finishing the series last year. Today in Essay Voyage we discussed Ralph Waldo Emerson and that he was an abolitionist. Dd didn't remember what that meant. When I reminded her it was someone who was against slavery, she could give me the names of other abolitionists and what they did. To me, that is a fantastic foundation for moving forward into logic stage history. I'm more concerned with an understanding of the scope of history than the nitty-gritty. YMMV. :)

[StephanieZ]

The tests are pretty random, IMHO. I use them, but we use them as worksheets. The kids listen to the CD (love those!) once (dd13) or twice (ds11) and they do the tests as worksheets while they listen. This year, I thought I'd have them do them as tests instead of worksheets (as we'd used them for vol 1 & 2 last year). . . and then I happenned to be listening along with the kids in the car, and the test had all these crazy Japanese names, putting them in order, and so many details that I would have failed miserably, even after listening twice. After that, I decided that for sure, we'd always use them as worksheets (sort of a guided listening/reading exercise) instead of as tests.

 

So, FWIW, I would NOT use the tests as tests.

 

I think of SOTW as a spine. . . as a nice scaffolding upon which to build learning. . . but not as something to be memorized. Reading additional literature on key topics will help cement the more important elements, IME.

[imhim]

My 7 yo does terribly with the tests. I think I will drop them. They are pretty hard for a 7 yo. Sometimes even I have to look up the answer.

[anneofalamo]

The test are a worksheet done as a group in our home, they have the book and all three get into some lively discussions together to complete the ONE test together...each test (we are adding evan moor ancients and a few other things with SotW),

[ProudGrandma]

I also think that SOTW is a great place to introduce historical concepts...if you think about it...in the PS the kids get "social studies" for the first 3 years or so...so I figured any of the information from SOTW that is retained is fabulous. And whatever we do next will just build upon that.

 

FWIW, we don't do the rests either. We listen to the story, go over the questions, share what we learned with dad at supper, do an activity or 2, and move on the the next lesson. I hope to begin doing more of the narrative part...especially with my oldest child.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Well, I don't use the tests either.

 

I wasn't getting a lot of retention last year so, this year I printed out the notebooking pages from Paula's Archives. Right after I read the review questions for the section of the chapter we just read, I will ask her to tell me one important thing she remembers about the section. I will help her write it down and then she will draw a picture to illustrate her narration. She is so proud of it that she will read her narration to me, then to her sisters, then to daddy when he gets home, she even reads it to herself.:001_smile: Every time we start a new section I will have her read the previous days narration and before we start a new chapter I will have her talk about her illustrations and read her narrations once more. Usually at that point she will even recall a few things that I didn't think she had remembered, and want to add them to her "story". We also do the maps, coloring pages and a few activities but I think it is the use of the notebooking pages and reviewing those that has helped her retention the most.

[Rosy]

I don't use the tests, and I'm not necessarily looking for retention. DD9 will be able to tell back generally what we learned the next day. History is abstract so I'm not looking for them to retain specific information, just general concepts like fighting to retain power, gain land or promote religion; following personal principles/morals; certain events lead to other events; nothing happens in a vacuum, etc. I figure they'll be learning all of it all over again in the logic and rhetoric stages, they'll be able to grasp the specifics a little better then.

[Mallory]

The tests are only recommended in 3rd grade and above. My SOTW kids this year are in 4th and 5th and what we are doing is much different than we have done for the past 4 years. This is the first time we have used tests, and if it was just my 9yo I probably still wouldn't use them.

 

The boys listen to the section on the CD, each of them have thier own book to follow along in (especially important for my older, the younger is a great auditory learner). Then we talk about and go over the questions, do the map, then they write thier narrations in thier notebook. They might draw a picture or color the coloring sheet and cut and paste that in, or they might not.

 

We read together or they read or look at the stack of books we got from the library. Sometimes we read lots of books, sometimes picture books, sometimes chapter books, sometimes hardly any.

 

We usually have another day or two of history (we do history 4x a week) for each section. We will do a project or two (usually from the AG or History Pockets) or read some books or watch a movie from the library.

 

Every two or three chapters we have been doing the tests for the past few chapters. I have been very impressed at how well they are doing. They usually get all the multiple choice and T/F correct. My 11yo usually gets all the fill in the blanks too, the 9yo not as good.

 

BUT here is the biggie- our history topics usually figure in thier play time. I really think it is the never ending hunts along the nile, or scouting trips for the best site for the tomb, or taking over of nearby city-states that really get history in thier minds. When they were younger they would often act out the chapters as I read. They also enjoy the Professor Noggins games we have.

 

I also have seen a huge improvement in my oldest's memory this year. I have always felt that we would be better at memorization in the logic stage and, at least with him, the changes in the way he learns and processes information have been amazing in the past year.

[Kate in Arabia]

BUT here is the biggie- our history topics usually figure in thier play time. I really think it is the never ending hunts along the nile, or scouting trips for the best site for the tomb, or taking over of nearby city-states that really get history in thier minds. When they were younger they would often act out the chapters as I read. They also enjoy the Professor Noggins games we have.

:iagree: We just read about the Sepoy Mutiny and watched a related movie -- afterwards their battle play was using all those players/characters.

 

I read the chapter aloud while the kids start the coloring page; I try to find correlating music on YouTube that we can listen to as we're working; we do map work; I read any additional read alouds I have while they continue to color or work on a puzzle. Then they write their narrations. I try to find a related movie or cartoon to watch. Ds 12 has to do an outline/summary from the Kingfisher encyclopedia in his own time. Since most chapters are divided into two sections, I'll do a section per history day, twice a week; so one chapter a week... oh, and we also don't use the tests.

 

We don't have a suitable local library, so I buy all our supplemental books. This means they're always available, and I often find the kids pulling books from different time periods for their leisure reading. We also have computer games and movies/cartoons that they are welcome to play or watch anytime.

[Smithie]

I am very much looking for retention. My ds is six years old and in first grade.

 

We read the SOTW chapter, do the map work and the coloring page, tie-in historical and/or fiction readings, and maybe some online videos or small-scale educational games. We read the corresponding Usbourne spread and he does his narration off of that for our history notebook. We do history every day that we're not at co-op - it's our central subject this year.

 

I am finding that if I want him to answer the study guide questions easily and well, we need to read the SOTW chapter twice. So far, this is no big deal. With a kid who needed to hear it more than twice to retain, I might invest in the audiobook.

[robsiew]

I don't use the tests, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

 

Overall, I'm looking for a general understanding. Ds remembers that there were two kingdoms in Egypt and that they were united by King Narmer. Can he remember which one was the White Crown and which the Red Crown? No, but he remembers that there were two crowns that King Narmer combined - to me, that's great!

 

Dd used SOTW all the way through SOTW 4, finishing the series last year. Today in Essay Voyage we discussed Ralph Waldo Emerson and that he was an abolitionist. Dd didn't remember what that meant. When I reminded her it was someone who was against slavery, she could give me the names of other abolitionists and what they did. To me, that is a fantastic foundation for moving forward into logic stage history. I'm more concerned with an understanding of the scope of history than the nitty-gritty. YMMV. :)

 

:iagree:This is my philosophy as well. I do not use the tests, we do answer the questions at the end of the sections. I notice your oldest is my oldest's age. To me, history at this age is more creating pegs that more information can hang on later. I know my 5 and 6 y/o will probably not remember a great deal of what we're learning right now. What I do hope for is some recognition in the future of basic concepts. That they will be able to say, "Oh yes, I vaguely remember that..." and that will lead to greater understanding and retention as they get older. Also, remember... none of us remember **everything**. And, less in areas that aren't as much an interest to us.

 

If you feel you need to do the tests I would for sure preview them and make sure you cover everything on the test well. I don't think it's fair to young children to be "surprised" at what is on a test. (Actually, I don't think surprises on tests are a good way of testing in general... but I digress!) :D And make sure the tests pull out the information YOU would like them to remember.

[UmMusa]

Hi, this is my first post here, but I've been lurking for a few weeks.

 

I just started using SOTW I with my 3rd and 4th graders. We use it 3 times a week and seem to have gotten through the first 2 chapters rather easily. I read to them, we discuss using the question in the teacher's book. We do a coloring page, map page, and maybe an extra activity. I asked them to narrate back to me what they learned, and I wrote it on notebook paper and put it in a folder.

 

Am I on track?

[Mallory]

I just started using SOTW I with my 3rd and 4th graders. We use it 3 times a week and seem to have gotten through the first 2 chapters rather easily. I read to them, we discuss using the question in the teacher's book. We do a coloring page, map page, and maybe an extra activity. I asked them to narrate back to me what they learned, and I wrote it on notebook paper and put it in a folder.

 

 

Welcome! This souds good!

 

I don't know how much other writing you are doing, but by 4th grade my oldest was writing his whole narration (usually about 3 sentances) and in 3rd he was writing the first sentance.

 

My current 4th grader is only writing the first sentance and only wrote sometimes last year when he was in third (usually only on days he hadn't done writing in some other subject).

 

If it is working for you, great! If you feel like you need or want more then adding in the history encyclopedia readings (there are page numbers for several in the teachers activity guide) or extra books from the library can really add some depth to SOTW.

[Classically Minded]

We are doing SOTW1 with my dd6. We always do the tests, and she only misses 1 or 2 usually. Here is how we do it:

 

 

1. Read chapter
   
2. Narrations
   
3. Question & Answer
   
4. Worksheets - maps, color pages, etc
   
5. Test
   
6. Projects/crafts
   
7. Library books or encyclopedia; Videos
   

 

Most of the time, I read one part of the chapter and then we do the narration and then we do the next part, narration, etc. As I'm reading to her on the couch, I make sure she is paying attention by asking "What did I just say?". She also knows she will have Q&A and a test so she has learned to listen. When reading, I try and make it exciting and interesting by changing my voice up a bit - not monotonous! We also listened to the whole SOTW1 audio on vacation trips this summer. Sometimes she listens to the chapter on audio before the test if she didn't do well on the Q&A.

 

We also add in videos online or from the library, lots of library books and sometimes we use the Usborne encyclopedia.

 

HTH!

Edited September 25, 2010 by Classically Minded

[UmMusa]

Thanks Mallory! We do also look at the Kingfisher page that corresponds with the chapter. I will have them write their narrations from now on; I just did it myself last week 1)b/c we were short on time, and 2) I want them to see how I want it to be organized. Thank you for your encouragement! Means a lot to a first-timer!

 

Btw, where are the tests? I didn't see any in the textbook nor the activity book. Is it a separate book?

[Kates]

Personally, I'm not too intense on making my son remember dates and places, or obscure details; I want him to have a working understanding of how history flows together, how causes and effects worked together (and still do). IMO, tests are not going to evaluate that. Narrations, projects, research, presentations, discussions, and writing assignments will.

[rootsnwings]

The tests come in a seperate book.

 

I agree we are just setting the pegs to build upon at this age and retention is less impotant to me than a thorough exposure to the material.

[naturegirl7]

We use SOTW as a starting point, get him hooked with the chapter. Then go to our books and videos. And then do exeperiments/activities/art projects (while talking about details and reviewing it).

We use the Usborne encyclopedia. ANd then other books that I have found to pull in for that particular chapter. I did download the History Odyssey free trial and we are doing it that timeline - I like the extra books and websites that it has listed. We hit up netflix for various movies to go with our reading. Then some creative play time, art time, science experiments that can be related to it, maps, and history pocket activities - just to round it all out. LOL Seriously though, the play and projects helps him retain sooo much more. So do the various documentaries we watch - he loves history and *I* am learning more and more as we go.

 

ETA I didn't buy the testbook, DS is still young and I really don't like testing littles. I think that you get a much better understanding of their retention thru discussion than paper tests.

Edited September 26, 2010 by naturegirl7