runningirl71 Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 I will have a 5th grader next year and I want to focus on topics more in depth, but not sure how it should look. I've "been there" with my 7th grader, but I'm not sure if I was pleased or not with what I did. I have been doing SOTW for history with both of them for the past 3 years, but my older had to do a longer narration or outline in the KHE. We also did narrations/short reports for Science, following the suggestions per WTM. But, I never felt like I was doing enough. AND I never felt we really did go very deep in history using SOTW. It seems I wouldn't get the whole book covered in a year if we stopped too often to focus on a certain person/event. What have you done that you can share with me? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim in ks Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 I can only give you an example ; We are studying 9/11 and my 1st grader wrote down 4 planes, where they were headed how many people were on board, New York, WTC, Pentagon and we touched the facts where, when , who,. For more indepth for my 5th grader ; we cover the WHY and WHAT? what are terrorists? where did they come from, why do they do what they do? what other countries have been attacked by terrorists? How many different Terrorists groups are there? have they changed through out History, when Did they start Terror? Another topic could be the World Trade centers History, when they were built?, facts about them, why the WTC?? This is how we handle the "more indepth" hope this helped kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 It does help! I wasn't classically educated :) and sometimes I find it difficult to ask those questions, when I wasn't taught to ask, just memorize the facts. And, I guess me not being so inquisitive would play a part in that too! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 Kim, what format do the questions you discuss take? Do your olders write reports? Is it discussion only? Research and display their info some way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 I tend to discuss and read pretty much in depth, even in the elementary years, but the last time my son did ancients was in first grade, so that took the face of many more picture books. This time around, we'll be reading more chapter books, instead. He'll be reading chapter books himself, too. He'll be outlining, so really paying more attention to the detail of what he's reading and ordering those details. He'll be keeping a timeline. He'll be doing report writing, rather than just talking about the books we read. Because the books will be more complex, the topics they cover will be more detailed and we'll be talking more about specifics than before. We'll be looking at more primary sources and talking about what those are, etc., too. We'll be doing a mythology study, analyzing myths to some extent as we read them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 I had teh same issues with jumping around countries with chronological history. This year, since we have finished SOTW, I am doing Ancients by the civilization rather than strictly chronological. It feels easier to go more in depth. I never did like outlining KHE as a way of doing history. The other thing is using lots of historical fiction or other types of living books like the Geurber books. I find its the stories that stick in my kids' brains, and that that we end up discussing, rather than our actual history program. Both of mine love Greek Myths, so they are reading a Greek Myth each week and then writing up their own version, and making a book of their own Greek Myths. Linking history to literature has been a fantastic benefit for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Here are some options that we have done to go deeper than the text... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My boys are 10 and 12 now but we have done these things during their various rotations in history and science (we are now on the 2nd rotation of medieval and earth science). History: -Read literature of the period -Had meals from the period- developed menu, shopped for food (discussing the differences between how we get our food and they would have gotten theirs. -made costumes and discussed dress of various types of people -diaramas of villages or castles -discussed weaponry, made clay models of weapons, deeper into wars and fighting (they're boys and this was their favorite). -watched Discovery or History channel specials (through Netflix it's easy to get them) -visited museums and living museums, amazingly King Tut just happened to be in town last year and it worked out well -attended war reenactments Science: -dissected various animals and discussed how systems become more and more complex -grew plants and subjected them to various experiments (lack/too much water, fertilizer or not, acid rain, lack of sunlight, etc...) -raised a garden -dissected plants and flowers -subjected their bodies to various conditions/levels of exercise then looked at breathing rate, respiratory rate, heart rate...compared to normal activity and discussed optimal conditions for calorie burning, etc... -dissected a cow heart to compare to human -chemistry kit experiments, built molecule models...I love the small book called Elements from Rainbow Resources that looks at the Periodic Table like a kitchen cupboard...great activities -physics experiments built simple machines and discussed work -magnet experiments -collected rocks (and bought some rock collections) to discuss classification and properties -looked at various things through telescope, learned some stars and identified in the night sky -built a volcano -I have also gotten activity books for different topics with crossword puzzles, word searches, experiments, etc...just to give them more variety than just the text Hopefully you can get some ideas from some of that. My kids learn so much more when it is hands-on plus it is more fun!!! Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 I had teh same issues with jumping around countries with chronological history. This year, since we have finished SOTW, I am doing Ancients by the civilization rather than strictly chronological. It feels easier to go more in depth. I never did like outlining KHE as a way of doing history. This makes sense. I know we could absolutely spend years just on ancients/medieval history! There is so much I felt like I wanted to cover and didn't for sake of getting through our spine. The other thing is using lots of historical fiction or other types of living books like the Geurber books. I find its the stories that stick in my kids' brains, and that that we end up discussing, rather than our actual history program. Linking history to literature has been a fantastic benefit for us. We do this too. I don't know why I relate "going deeper" with writing! I have heard so many things about the Geurber books. We will be finishing up our first rotation of the 4 year cycle of history. Would these books be a good choice for middle school, 6-8th grade? Thanks so much for your insight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 Here are some options that we have done to go deeper than the text... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My boys are 10 and 12 now but we have done these things during their various rotations in history and science (we are now on the 2nd rotation of medieval and earth science). History: -Read literature of the period -Had meals from the period- developed menu, shopped for food (discussing the differences between how we get our food and they would have gotten theirs. -made costumes and discussed dress of various types of people -diaramas of villages or castles -discussed weaponry, made clay models of weapons, deeper into wars and fighting (they're boys and this was their favorite). -watched Discovery or History channel specials (through Netflix it's easy to get them) -visited museums and living museums, amazingly King Tut just happened to be in town last year and it worked out well -attended war reenactments Science: -dissected various animals and discussed how systems become more and more complex -grew plants and subjected them to various experiments (lack/too much water, fertilizer or not, acid rain, lack of sunlight, etc...) -raised a garden -dissected plants and flowers -subjected their bodies to various conditions/levels of exercise then looked at breathing rate, respiratory rate, heart rate...compared to normal activity and discussed optimal conditions for calorie burning, etc... -dissected a cow heart to compare to human -chemistry kit experiments, built molecule models...I love the small book called Elements from Rainbow Resources that looks at the Periodic Table like a kitchen cupboard...great activities -physics experiments built simple machines and discussed work -magnet experiments -collected rocks (and bought some rock collections) to discuss classification and properties -looked at various things through telescope, learned some stars and identified in the night sky -built a volcano -I have also gotten activity books for different topics with crossword puzzles, word searches, experiments, etc...just to give them more variety than just the text Hopefully you can get some ideas from some of that. My kids learn so much more when it is hands-on plus it is more fun!!! Good Luck! Thanks so much for your thoughts! Maybe I'm not as bad as a teacher as I think I am! We do many, many of these things too, but I wasn't really relating them to "going deeper" since they are "fun" :) Yes, yes, I KNOW school can be fun and it is so much easier when it is! My kids have been very hands on, but Daisy seems to not want to do projects as much. Maybe I'll specifically plan a REALLY cool project once a month and make her do it, and then she will be doing more writing too. With us studying 1850-present next year, I feel there is so much out there to go over and I just don't know what to pick and choose! But, I know I have to if we want to study more in depth. Thanks so much for your insight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim in ks Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 My 5th grader usually feels out her notebooking pages on the subject in paragraphs, the same w/ her lapbooks. Where as my 1st grader just puts 1-5 words sentences; I've found Notebooking pages extremely helpful;http://www.historyscribe.com/ These notebook pages really helped us. http://www.thehomeschoolshop.com/ These are all really nice, because they have different layouts for different learning levels Hope this helps kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Wow! We've always just written on regular ruled paper. Maybe this would help! And, the fact that she could embellish it with pictures is something Daisy would like! Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Kim, I took a look at the notebooking pages. Do you use the middle school ones? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim in ks Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 yes ,I do for my 5th grader, and I use the gradeschool ones for my 1st grader. kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 We do this too. I don't know why I relate "going deeper" with writing! I have heard so many things about the Geurber books. We will be finishing up our first rotation of the 4 year cycle of history. Would these books be a good choice for middle school, 6-8th grade? Yes, that is the right age for them. Ambleside Year 6 has some good Ancients books. This term just for Greeks,we are using Geurber's Story of the Greeks, Augustus Caesar's World (split over 2 terms- it's Roman), Colum's Children's Homer(for review really, we have already done Homer to death!), Hawthorne's Greek Myths, a book on Socrates, 'String, Straightedge and Shadow' (a book on Ancient Geometry), and Plutarch. For writing, I make up a history assignment, and they rewrite a Greek myth. Their assigment this week was to outline a double page in KHE. Next week it will be a research topic. I haven't thought of it yet though :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.