DD is bored to death with SOTW reading/history

[guateangel]

This is our first year homeschooling and first time dd has ever been exposed to history books (or any type of history, period.) She is an excellent listener, can comprehend and narrate stories (if interested) very well. However, when it comes to history books, she yawns, complains, spaces off, etc. It's so foreign to her and I can tell she's lost as I read aloud....

 

It's been an adjustment for her as we go down the path of a classical education. I want for her to enjoy history but it's my fault, I allowed horrible books in our house for the first 7 years of her life.....sigh.

 

If it matters, we are doing SOTW2 and I read a lot of the corresponding literature and history suggestions by SWB.

 

Am I the only one to experience this with a child? Will she eventually like it? Suggestion/ideas are welcomed.

[Mallory]

Why did you start with SOTW 2? Would she be more interested in Ancient Egypt or Colonial Times? Can you skip ahead to something more fun (knights or vikings or ????)

 

Have you seen this thread? http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219426&highlight=sotw

 

I'd say read books you enjoy this year and then next year start with SOTW 1 ;). (If you read that thread I talk about this more!)

Edited October 22, 2010 by Mallory

[guateangel]

She attends a classical school 2 times a week and they did SOTW1 last year, so they are on 2 this year.

[abbeyej]

You know, there's so much wonderful stuff in SOTW 2... Are there things she *does* love that you can grab on to and go from there? I'm thinking stories of knights and fair maidens, Robin Hood, King Arthur, the Arabian Nights... Can you look for movies she might enjoy that introduce her either to aspects of the time period generally or specific people within the period? Do you have the Activity Guide? Can you pick out activities she might particularly enjoy, or look more at the "literature" suggestions for the chapters and less at the "history" suggestions? Cook some of the recipes, make simple costumes out of scrap fabric, or build a model (like one of the "easy" paper castles), or play with Playmobil to recreate some of the stories...

 

It's hard not knowing her to know what specifically would draw her in. But if it's simply lack of familiarity, maybe seeing some movies would help her develop pictures in her head of at least *some* of the times and places you're learning about this year. And picture books. Give her a visual sense to go along with what she's reading.

[Halcyon]

I think if, as you say, she was exposed to "horrible books" for 7 years, then it will take some adjustment to get used to more well-written, deeper books. Those junk books do "rot" the brain, much like junk food turns a kid off of vegetables and whole grains LOL. I think it will take practice, and I think making it more "exciting" by using the AG will really help.

 

Do you use the AG?

[dsmama]

I have a DD who just turned 7 and one who is 4, and we do a modified version of SOTW2 (plus we do Classical Conversations, which has lots of history and memory work in it).

 

As others have said, there are wonderful things to find in SOTW2 to do and also to supplement, while not doing everything and every chapter. I look for things that are appealing as well as those things connect with what we're studying in CC or which we believe as a family. Hence, there are some things we skip and some things we focus on more in-depth.

 

So I jumped from chapter 4 to 14, for example, based on those above criteria (CC and family beliefs). I may go back and do a study of Asia/Africa later in the year, but for now, we are doing knights, castles, etc. I got the Usborne Time Traveler book, plus some others like Sword in the Stone and Minstrel in the Tower, and we are enjoying our time here for now. My kids are looking forward to our making castles next week (Chapter 16) -- the marshmallows are already in the pantry!

 

I also have the CDs and play them in the car sometimes, or we listen to the reading while we color a page or look at the map (and my 4 year old may just scribble on the map, etc.). I think you will be able to find something that works well for you while not dropping SOTW2 entirely!

 

Good luck.

[walkermamaof4]

can you do History Pockets from Evan Moor and choose some fun books off the Guest Hollow site to spice it up?

[snickelfritz]

We are using a different history program. My 7 year old tolerates the reading from the spine books and the notebooking. But, she loves the activities and books like " You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower."

 

So, I keep up the spine reading BUT I try to make sure I have at least 1 fun/visually interesting book to go along with the spine. And I make sure to do the fun activities, even when they might take a large amount of time.

[Hedgehogs4]

We LOVE IT, but we listen to it in the car (read by Jim Weiss). The kids enjoy listening to his rendering of the stories, and i have to admit that we don't do a ton of the activity guide...we just bring in other books and stuff to go along with it. we've done some lap books...whatever grabs our interest. I think the key is not making a big deal about it...it's just the thing we do, we love talking about it and learning more about it when questions are raised...it just becomes part of the fabric of life.

[Susie in CA]

You may want to approach history backwards. What I mean by that is don't read the book first. Start with a project, then a fun picture book (from the chapter selections in the AG), then read the related stories. This helps my kids sometimes not only in history but also for science.

 

Susie

[Stacy in NJ]

You may want to approach history backwards. What I mean by that is don't read the book first. Start with a project, then a fun picture book (from the chapter selections in the AG), then read the related stories. This helps my kids sometimes not only in history but also for science.

 

Susie

 

This is a great suggestion. I'd also suggest trying the audio cd's while you drive around doing whatever.

 

Reading a picture book or chapter book first provides context to SOTW. SOTW will make more sense if she has a connecting concept already in place. It's a bit like priming the pump. :D

[nd293]

Our history schedule is slightly muddled, but last year we did a bit of SOTW2. What worked for us was to focus on related literature - we read several versions of Beowulf, a lovely cartoon version of The Canterbury Tales and biographies of Joan of Arc. As someone else mentioned, there's also Robin Hood, King Arthur and the Arabian Nights. We also read various Viking tales, as I recall.

 

The great thing about the WTM history schedule is you know you'll be covering this again in four years. If all your dd gains from this year is a familarity with what I've listed about, then she'll still have gained a wealth of cultural knowledge and have knocked in a few pegs to relate later history studies to.

 

Nikki