SOTW:AG1 How does it work in Real Life?

[Ritsumei]

So, my husband and I prefer to buy our books: I'm just not good at managing library books, so I have small fines regularly, and large fines periodically. Plus, as has been noted in other threads, availability & timing can be a problem when working with the library. To further complecate matters, this is our first child, first year of the grammar stage: I have no idea what I'm doing. I've read all about it for years, but DOING it is different from READING it.

 

When I look at the list of suggested books in the STOW activity guide, I'm overwhelmed: does anyone actually DO all that stuff with your munchkin?? Is it somehow less than it appears as I'm looking at the books and trying to plan? What do you *actually* end up doing with these lessons? Anybody got some blog posts about how this looks in the real world? I know I'm not the only book buyer out there: are the rest of you independently wealthy?:tongue_smilie: There's got to be something I'm missing here...

 

No wonder people like boxed curriculum. <sigh>

[plain jane]

We use SOTW so I'll share how it works in our house. :)

 

My dd read the chapter to herself (when she was in grade 1 I read to her, but after that she's always read the chapter to herself). We then do the comprehension questions orally (in grades 2 & 3, I wrote them all out and she did written answers but I got lazy this year so we're back to oral) and she writes down her narration for the chapter. Then we do the map work together.

 

For extra reading, I get one selection from the Extra History section and one from the Literature section recommended in the AG. So, this works out to 2 extra reading books per chapter.

 

I also show dd the activity for the week. If she is interested, we do it, if not, we skip. Sometimes the AG recommends an activity book, such as Classical Kids in SOTW1 and we'll do some of the activities in there.

 

At the end of the week, I have dd do the corresponding test from the test booklet and I add that to her binder.

 

This is all broken up over the course of the week. Some weeks we do 4 history sessions x 1 hour each and other times we do 2, 2 hour sessions- it depends on how our other subjects go. I have her do the extra reading during her "assigned reading" time of our school day rather than during history time.

 

I get pretty much all the extra reading books from the library- I make sure to order them a few weeks in advance. If there are no books available for one week, we just do what's in the AG and move on.

 

We're in our 4th year of using SOTW and this has been pretty much how we've done it since we started.

[MaMa2005]

We do SOTW. In fact, we just finished SOTW2 yesterday :hurray:. Now on to geography for the rest of the year.

 

Here is how we do it:

We do 2 chapters a week - Monday and Thursday

DS listens and follows along with the CD. I stop the CD periodically and ask him questions. When we finish a section, he completes a narration (He dictates, I write.) Once all sections are done, we complete the map. Then he LOOKS at the pictures from the activity guide (DS hates to color). We discuss the pictures. I then go onto Discovery Streaming and find videos for him to watch pertaining to the chapter. That's it. Simple, streamlined, and it works for us.

 

I understand about the library. Our library is NOT homeschool friendly. I have also racked up fines so I went the Discovery Streaming route. (BTW, Discovery Streaming is free in our state.) We also have Netflix streaming (got it for Christmas).

 

DS has a good handle on what has been studied. I plan to continue SOTW3 and SOTW4 in the same manner.

Edited January 13, 2011 by MaMa2005
typo

[redsquirrel]

I always read the SOTW section to them. Well... not in year 4. But for the first three years I did.

 

We are doing year 1 again with my younger so I will talk about that. I do get library books out a couple weeks ahead of time. I don't do this for every week. Some weeks have more resources than others and my kids like some cultures more than others. For example, I kept reading about the egyptians even when we were doing babylon. I will read greek myths and history for months. I stay on schedule with SOTW but our extra reading is all about wallowing in the stuff he likes.

 

So, I read the selection on monday and do a narration. On wednesday I read the second part of the chapter and do narration. Then I do map work and the colouring page (my kids LOVE colouring pages). During the week, when I have some time in the afternoon, I pull a library book from the basket and read it to him. I also do it before bedtime. I don't do narration pages for library books. I guess I should but I don't.

 

On some weeks, not all by ANY means, we do an activity on friday from the activity guide.

 

Edited to add: IMO the first two years of SOTW are much more 'activity heavy' than the last two. it is worth it to do the stuff in year 1 and 2. It has a big impact and is fun. By the time we did year 4 we did a handful of activities.

 

FWIW, I spend time in august going through the activty guide and decided what we will do. I base it totally on what my kids will enjoy and what I feel like doing. Some weeks we don't do any activities. I make a list of what I am planning to do and see what materials are needed for each activity. I tend to lean heavily towards activities that require nothing extra. For example, this week we make a maze for the Minotaur out of blocks. Luke Skywalker will stand in for Theseus. A plastic monster will be the Minotaur. Easy Peasy.

 

I do all the photocopying onto card stock etc for puppets or games ahead of time. I buy any craft materials, paint, etc. Then I put it all in a big tupperware bin with a little organization. FTR, this is sounding much more complicated than it is. I just make some lists and a run to the craft store, spend some time with my copymachine, toss it in to a bin and that is it.

 

Then, on thursday night I look in the bin and get the stuff out.

 

If I don't do this, we will never do anything.

Edited January 13, 2011 by redsquirrel
forgot stuff

[Jayne J]

We generally end up reading only one extra book per chapter, if that. I do have access to a really great library, and so I continue to check out a few books for most chapters, but time-wise, the reality is that we don't read most of them.

 

When we did SOTW 1 last year, I checked out every book from every chapter and we never read more than one or two. It was too much. Don't worry about it. The readings from the AG are supplements and not integral to the program. If your dc wants to learn more, you have a place to start, but if not there is really no need to read more. Focus on the chapters, do the narration pages, the activities if you enjoy them, and use the coloring pages and maps. It really is enough.

 

(One more thought--maybe it would be possible to reserve any additional books you want to cover at the library and make a weekly trip in order to read it there, then leave it on the shelf. No fines and you still get to read the book.)

 

As for how it actually works--I generally read a section from the book, then we do a narration page. We'll look up the corresponding sections in the Usborne Internet linked Encycl. of World History, and if anything catches ds's eye we may do a page for that instead. We do the maps and coloring pages on the day that we read the section most relevant (we color Genghis Khan on the day we read about him, etc.) Generally we skip the crafty stuff--ds doesn't really enjoy it, but every now and then we will pick one out. I usually close each "era" with a party--We did an Egyptian party, a Greek party and a Roman Party last year, spending a week or so doing all the food/craft/clothing things from the AG. I like my crafts *concentrated* LOL

 

It can look really intimidating, but you really need to view the AG (not the student pages, but all the activities, games and crafts etc.) as *extras*--things you do if you and your dc feel inclined to, not have-to-dos.

Edited January 13, 2011 by urpedonmommy

[patchfire]

I try to pick out one extra history book per chapter and one or two extra literature books per chapter, but that's an average. There are chapters for which we read no supplemental books, and some for which read quite a lot. For instance, when we got to the chapter about the Greek gods and goddesses, we read a lot of different myths and retellings. Still, I'd like for the totals to come out to about the number of chapters, or up to double the number of chapters for literature.

 

We don't use our library enough to rely on their books; many times, they don't have the books we're looking for, as it is.

 

What has helped me is to remember that my focus is exposure and creating interest. For history, I specifically want to find biographies whenever possible, and for literature, I want to be sure we do lots of folk tales, legends, myths, fairy tales, and so forth. That helps tremendously in terms of narrowing down the book list.

 

I also take a look at the few books that make it into WTM as recommended resources. If I see a book in the AG & WTM both, I'm more likely to take a second look at it.

 

We don't really use the projects in the AG, but we do use the mapwork and coloring pages in addition to the booklist, which make it 'worth it' to me. In general, we cover a chapter a week. Short chapters or chapters with little to no supplemental books get combined to fit into a 36 week school year. We read a section, do a narration, and do either mapwork or a coloring page. If a book is long, we start reading it early in the week. Then we repeat the reading, narrating, and mapwork/coloring page with each section in the chapter. Sometimes we read out of the UBWH (ds loves it) and read a supplemental book.

[ocelotmom]

I don't think there's any way most people could read everything suggested! :) It's intended to be used across a broad range of interests and abilities, and you pick and choose what works for your family.

 

We're not using the activity guide this year because we rarely did the actual activities when I had it last year, and I can find supplemental reading suggestions elsewhere. However, when we did, I'd pick 1-3 books from the list. We got them from the library because, while we got fines, they weren't enough to add up to more than a handful of books a year, and we checked out way more than that.

 

As for implementation - we currently do one chapter a week. Sometimes we'll spread the reading in SOTW over two days if the section is particularly long.

 

I'm not happy with this. Some weeks have a lot of good supplemental reading options, while some weeks have next to none. Next year I'm going to schedule with that in mind, and take two weeks on some things. Since we'll be doing Volume 3, we may take some extra time on the parts related to US history, too. This will also spread it out through the whole summer, which is good, since DS loves our history reading and has no desire to take a break :)

Edited January 13, 2011 by ocelotmom

[DarlaS]

I used to have library fines. No more. Every Tuesday morning, google calendar sends me an e-mail reminder to renew or return library books (I check the website and renew online.). If we're done with a book, I put it into the tote bag kept by the front door and goes back. If not, I renew it (if possible).

 

It helps that my kids take piano lessons Tuesday mornings across the street from the library, but having a regular library day is worth the time. Even if we were to stop taking piano, or switch teachers, I'd do everything I could to continue that habit. I wish I'd started when my older kids were younger. (We always went--just not regularly.)

 

I've never liked all the books in any curriculum enough to use let alone buy them all. The suggestions are there for you to choose from.

[Ritsumei]

OK, I'm feeling a bit less like hyperventilating now! Thanks for the great suggestions & resources!

[Snowfall]

We do the Usborne pages and one extra book per chapter. We don't do all of the activities, but we do one every chapter. I buy all our books because, while I do go to the library pretty regularly, sometimes I don't, and have the fines problem. Plus, our library system is small and they frequently don't have what I want or a good substitute. I bought half the books at the beginning of the year and am about to order the next half. I try to get books that are part of the 4-for-3 promotion or used books to cut down on costs.

[~Kirsten~]

We're absolutely loving Story of the World here, and though you've gotten some outstanding responses already, I just can't resist. :D

 

We do one chapter per week (we're in Ancients, by the way). That usually works out to 2x per week, 1 section at a time. A few chapters are shorter or longer, and with the longer ones so far, we've just squeezed it into a week. My daughter loves the coloring pages, so she works on those while I read. I'm considering moving to an entire chapter at a time, because often there's only one coloring page. :tongue_smilie: After I read, she answers the review questions from the guide, and then she does a narration that I write down for her. We've done related projects for all the civilizations but definitely NOT for every chapter. I'd say they've averaged out to a little more than a project per month.

 

The supplemental reading is trickier, as you've noticed. First, the lists are extensive. They're also full of some outstanding choices, some so-so choices, and many longer read alouds. Now, we have a great library system, and I go frequently enough that fines are rarely an issue for me (which is nothing short of a miracle given my history before :D). Here's the thing, though: if I had chosen to purchase a select number of books at the beginning of the year, I would have chosen all wrong. I've completely misjudged which books would capture my daughter's fancy, which books we would actually get around to reading aloud, and which ones would bomb. Probably not all people have these problems, but she has really surprised me, and I've been quite thankful I didn't invest in a lot upfront.

 

For whatever it's worth, in our home, the recommended encyclopedia is completely unused right now. I'm not upset to own it, as I'm sure it will come in handy in the future and perhaps my younger daughter will prefer it. But if I had it to do over, I wouldn't have bought it for year one. Truly, you could have a very full and wonderful year with just the text and the activity guide. I think some extra books really round out the program, and it's been so fun to see what grabs my daughter. But I'd urge you to be very, very selective if you want to buy outright. There are a lot of lists floating around these boards asking for things like the top 5 or 10 books for each level (I believe for people moving overseas and for people in a similar position to you). Carefully consider what you want to do for read alouds. We're actually enjoying reading our way through the Writing With Ease books, which means we rarely have time for the longer history read alouds. But those might be a very good use of your history budget. Perhaps consider choosing one book per civilization. Or, buy a few for the first few chapters and see what's a hit before investing for the whole year.

 

But try not to stress. Story of the World is wonderful, at least for us, and history is my daughter's favorite subject by far, completely regardless of the supplemental books.

[ScoutTN]

Good thread!

I am in the same place that you are - looking ahead to next year with SOTW 1 - and saw a thread recently about read alouds that has helped me think through the AG a bit. The RAs were listed by culture/civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, China, Africa, India, Greece, Rome etc. I started list-making with these, matched to chapter numbers and that has helped me to simplify and not be as overwhelmed with the volume of detail.

Happy planning!

[Ritsumei]

We're absolutely loving Story of the World here, and though you've gotten some outstanding responses already, I just can't resist. :D

 

...

 

Or, buy a few for the first few chapters and see what's a hit before investing for the whole year.

 

But try not to stress. Story of the World is wonderful, at least for us, and history is my daughter's favorite subject by far, completely regardless of the supplemental books.

 

I think getting the first few chapters worth is a good, sound idea. My husband would like me to do the list of books sooner, rather than later, so he can get the money together for this - and as soon as that's done he wants the list of books for the following year, when we're doing medieval history! I understand: financing all these books is not a simple matter, and these days there's no counting on tomorrow's income just because we have steady money today. But it sure does make things complicated when trying to guess what Monkey's going to like 6 months and 18 months from now!

 

 

Good thread!

I am in the same place that you are - looking ahead to next year with SOTW 1 - and saw a thread recently about read alouds that has helped me think through the AG a bit. The RAs were listed by culture/civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, China, Africa, India, Greece, Rome etc. I started list-making with these, matched to chapter numbers and that has helped me to simplify and not be as overwhelmed with the volume of detail.

Happy planning!

 

I'd be interested in seeing this thread you speak of! The baby's had a touch of pneumonia, and I'm just not keeping up with much online these days to see such things! Those sound like lists worth looking at.

[KrissiK]

I do buy some of the books, others I get from the library, though I, too, am notorious for fines. In that first year, though, you're not going to find a ton of books on most of the subjects. I mean, you will on Egypt, Greece and so forth, but on a lot of the other ones... not so much. (and if you do find books, they might not be on your kids' reading/attention level, so you get the book, look at a few pictures and call it good!) So, you don't have to worry about it there. I supplement with the Usborne History Encyclopedia, which is good. But, in the early years, you won't really camp out on every subject. There may be a few that strike your fancy and you can go ahead and purchase those books, but in our experience, we read the section in SOTW 1, so the mapwork, color the picture, read a little more in Usborne and move on. I buy a lot of books on Amazon, they're pretty cheap buying them used, or their 4-for-3 deals. I have the Amazon credit card and so earn points for $25 gift certificate to Amazon a couple times a year, and I dedicate that to school books.