SOTW 1 AG Question

[mymommy1]

I am thinking of using SOTW 1 for my six year old first grader next year. He loves to listen to stories and look at books like the Usborne encyclopedias. He learns lots this way.

 

I wonder if the AG will be useful for us. He doesn't color. We do globe activities and might use some maps. I would love the extended reading ideas, but also want to incorporate the SL readers and RAs, etc. In the WTM, there are many books listed. Would this be enough or is the AG very different?

 

He will do some activities, not really crafts. I can't say we have had luck doing activities in the past; he is usually not interested or it's just me doing the activity and him watching. He would be more likely to build things from legos. He likes science experiments. I can't really see him dressing up or things like that. Anyone else have a boy like this or an idea of what type of activities are in there for him?

 

Right now we are doing SL K and that fits us well. We want to move to a 4-year history rotation next year.

 

Thanks!

[~Kirsten~]

Well, that's a tough one! :D I'm a huge fan of the AG and usually recommend it wholeheartedly to everyone, regardless. I do think the reading lists included are much more extensive than the ones in TWTM. Further, I personally find the review questions incredibly helpful. We read a section, then I ask the questions listed in the guide. The guide lists sample narrations, but I ignore those. They are there, though, if you needed a brief summary as a reminder later.

 

In addition to coloring pages, which sound like they'd be useless for you at this point, there is a map for each chapter. We really like the maps. I don't require my 1st grader to be as precise and neat with them as TWTM suggests, but I do have her mark them as suggested in the guide, and she enjoys looking back over them. They've also increased her retention as far as geography goes, and they've helped her make some connections between the locations of the different peoples we've studied.

 

The activities aren't all crafty or dress up. Not even close, actually. Many are more building or project-related, in my opinion. In addition to the quite famous mummified chicken project, you could grow grass seeds and flood the Nile, build a Ziggurat temple from cereal boxes, erupt a volcano, and build a model of an aqueduct. Of course, there are foods to make and eat, and things like make a vase or bowl or jewelry that are definitely crafty. So it really depends on you and your son. I think you'd find plenty of things that could be turned into Lego projects, but you might be able to come up with those ideas on your own.

 

I'm sure others, especially moms of boys, will chime in and be more helpful. For what (very little) it's worth, my daughter suddenly decided she was "into" coloring right before we started SotW1. When I bought the AG, she wasn't, and I figured those would be mostly untouched, and now she loves them. But she's a girl, and I know that makes a difference.

[Satori]

It's still so very worth it!

 

We stopped doing the coloring and many of the project activity suggestions. I still use the Activity Guide all the time. We love the mapping. We use the review questions. The book suggestions always come in handy.

[mymommy1]

Thanks for the replies. That's very helpful. I forgot about review questions, but I think I"d use the narrations more. The activities do sound like ones he might go for, Kristen.

 

Satori, I love your lego projects on your blog. That is exactly what my son would like to do. Thanks!