michelle l Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) Ok, I need your advice!! I am needing to scrap my WP Sea and Sky. There are some neat resources, and some of the books have great info, but I sadly did not realize it is not really a history program.:blush: So, with next "semester" looming, I am scrambling! We did SL last year, and now have a light Ancient/Medeival base form our S&S studies. Ideally I'd like to either do 2nd half of world history, or 2nd half of US history. I do have the Boorstein book from SL, so we are going through some of that. I'm looking at Beautiful Feet Western Expansion (just saw this....as in 5 minutes ago;), or just go with SOTW 3&4 (probably Jim Weiss DC's). I do like the living book approach, and we enjoy reading without having follow up worksheets, projects, or formal comp. questions. I don't need read-alouds or readers. I could also just to Abraham Lincoln's World I suppose....or just the Boorstein book...or the Boorstein book plus the Foster book. (plus the Audubon book put out by BF just because I think my kids would like it.) Ugh. Any help would be appreciated. :confused1: Edited January 20, 2011 by michelle l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle l Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 Anyone?;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 how old are your kids? I'm thinking a combination of SOTW 3&4 (on CD) and Abraham Lincoln's world would be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle l Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 My boys are 11 and 9. They did SL 3 last year. DD is 6. She's a great tag-along listener. I have CHOW I can use with her, and also the Usborn books, which she loves looking at, from last year so I'm not concerned about getting something specific for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffani Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I guess my first questions would be what's your big picture? It always helps me to know where I'm going so I can figure out what to do now. You did SL core 3 last year, then you went to S&S. Did you plan on stopping US History in the middle? Did you think S&S would cover more US History? I would think if you wanted to continue w/ US could you pick up the Landmark book from where you left off after core 3 (or is that the Boorstein book you menitoned? If you're wanting to start a 4-year history cycle could you just pick up MOH 1 and start there? Just throwing ideas out. We did S&S last year. My 12yo (at the time) loved it. We're in SL core 3+4 now and cruising right along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoyinIndo Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I am currently using BF Westward Expansion with DS 10 and DD 8, and we are really enjoying it. Some of the things that we are reading are a little over my 8yo's head, but for the most part we are having a good time. Last year we did the Primary American History BF, and I felt like I was needing to beef it up a bit for the older one. Now I feel like I am constantly trying to simplify the length of readings and the assignments in the TG. However, I really like the reading selections with BF (I am learning things I NEVER learned in school). We have also incorporated the California History books with it and we are LOVING those. I'd say we like Westward Expansion but LOVE California History literature selections. We are also using the Readers and Read Alouds from SL Core 4. I think that SOTW on CD would be a great option, especially if you added the AG to fill in if you ever wanted extras. I am not familiar with the Boorstein book, sorry. Hope that helps a little! Blessings, JoyinIndo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle l Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 (edited) I guess my first questions would be what's your big picture? It always helps me to know where I'm going so I can figure out what to do now. This is only our second year, so I'm only just starting to get a big picture.:blush: At this point we are still doing this on a fairly "year by year" basis. Last year was entirely a trial year, in that I knew I wanted to try hsing, but also gave myself permission to say it wasn't for us if that turned out to be the case. Now, I'm more invested, though we still aren't quite ready to take the leap and say we'r in this for good. As I look ahead, I think I would likely do SL 5, 6, and 7 in the next few years, or possibly go more toward Ambleside or something similarly CMish, but where I'm just moving through the books rather than following day-by-day schedule. Either way, the lit-based, living book approach seems to fit us nicely You did SL core 3 last year, then you went to S&S. Did you plan on stopping US History in the middle? Did you think S&S would cover more US History? Yeah, I intentionally decided to stop in the middle. That part of US History was the one thing I knew they had gotten in school. I think they must talk about a bit of it every year.:001_huh: It's the one thing they were already familiar with. Not knowing how long we will homeschool, I really felt some pressure to expose them to other time periods/cultures in case we did send them back to school next year. S&S seemed to offer that as a "whirlwind tour" through history. I'm just finding that it isn't the best fit for us, and I keep feeling frustrated as there isn't the amount of history I want. And, we like the Apologia books, so we're not doing the science exactly as scheduled. We're not using the program to it's full advantage, and I'm wanting to linger more over some of the history portions. It did a nice job introducing us to some ancient history, and I feel like they now have some "pegs" in place(so I don't feel quite as frantic)...but since we're in the 1800's right now anyway in S&S, I'm finding I'd rather dig in bit more. Whew, hope that made sense!;) I would think if you wanted to continue w/ US could you pick up the Landmark book from where you left off after core 3 (or is that the Boorstein book you menitoned? If you're wanting to start a 4-year history cycle could you just pick up MOH 1 and start there? That's sort what I've been doing the last two weeks -- just reading the Landmark book (yes, that's the Boorstein, I'd just forgotten the name) picking uup where we left off last year. I think I'm just really drawn to the Genevieve Foster book. My SIL is doing SL 6 this year, and they are loving Foster book that's in that core. I'm buying Abraham Lincoln's World (Foster) from someone on the boards, and just ordered book on James Audubon (part of the Beautiful Feet program--we did Apologia Flying Creatures last year and I think this will be a great follow up, as well as artist study) from Amazon. I think I'm going to end up just piece-mealing it all together.:001_huh: The more I think about it, the more it seems that Abraham Lincoln's World is a book I would regret missing. Just throwing ideas out. We did S&S last year. My 12yo (at the time) loved it. We're in SL core 3+4 now and cruising right along. Fun! Thanks to anyone who made it this far!;) I'm so grateful for these boards and the amount of wisdom and experience here![/QUOTE] :) Edited January 21, 2011 by michelle l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffani Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm "still" switching things. I find that each year changes, my boys, me anything. So I hope you find what works. It can be a fun journey, just an expensive one:eek: Are you the type that needs a schedule to have something to go by? It sounds like you're doing a good job putting things together on your own. For me, that was too overwhelming. I've heard many people enjoy Ambleside. If you're wanting to have a good list of books to simply move through, maybe that'll be your niche. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle l Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Thanks for your input Joy. Would you mind telling me a bit about the BF guides? Are they laid out similar to Sonlight with a daily schedule? How many books are you generally reading per day? Is the reading longer/shorter than SL? Are there assignments or is it just more of a schedule? I think I don't want assignments.:001_unsure: I think I feel pretty comfortable just reading and using some narration, getting out our maps and globes, etc. However, I did really like that the SL schedule had us reading books that seemed to go together (WP is a bit scattered IMO). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleinMN Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I could also just to Abraham Lincoln's World I suppose....or just the Boorstein book...or the Boorstein book plus the Foster book. (plus the Audubon book put out by BF just because I think my kids would like it.) Ugh. Any help would be appreciated. :confused1: Have you looked at Ambleside Online? Year 5 (I think) uses the Abraham Lincoln book and would give you a good starting point for a plan. Beautiful Feet Books has guides that might fit what you want. Last one; you might want to check out Biblioplan.net HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motherdear Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 http://www.christiannovelstudies.com/page8.html You'd probably like the second year. We loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann@thebeach Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Are your kids enjoying SS? Are they learning from it? If yes to both, keep doing it! You can pick up a more specific history period again when you're done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoyinIndo Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thanks for your input Joy. Would you mind telling me a bit about the BF guides? Are they laid out similar to Sonlight with a daily schedule? How many books are you generally reading per day? Is the reading longer/shorter than SL? Are there assignments or is it just more of a schedule? It is different than SL in that it just has the title "lesson 16" with numbered "to dos" under each lesson. For example, here is Lesson 17: Read pages 43-51 of The Year of the Horseless Carriage. 2. Study the map on pages 44-45 and if desired copy, color, and paste in notebook. 3. How did the Corps of Discovery know they had reached the Continental Divide? 4. What delightful discovery did the Corps make when they reached the Shoshoni tribe? In the beginning of the book, she lays out how you can do a lesson with the 4 R's: Read, Reason, Relate, and Record...meaning reading, narrating, discussing, and writing something down. We do a mixture of these things on any given day. Usually there is just one main book read per day, and then sometimes there's a little add on from either Abraham Lincoln's World or Frontier Living (things that go more in-depth from the books that we read). It's WAY shorter than SL, but I add in SL readers and Read Alouds, so in the end, it's about the same. Does that help? JoyinIndo 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.