tuzor Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Hello all, In late May or Early June we will begin our first grade year. This will be my first year teaching the Classical Method so here are my questions. 1. My history spine is STOW Ancients. My son is six years old. What living books according to the recommendations did you read with your six year old boy that they really loved? I know there are probably dozens of questions about this. In addition I love the concept of teaching history chronologically but how do you handle all the American holidays as they come up, Thanksgiving, Independence day ect.? This area has been a stumbling block for me? Call me crazy but I would like to teach Chronologically but it seems that teaching some American history alongside may be a choice here. But that may be too much for me with three children. (Have I said that I need help?) 2. I am using Pandia Press R.E.A.L Science Odessy (Life). I have ordered several of the recommend books an Anatomy coloring book, Usborne complete First Book of Nature and Usborne Encyclopedia of the Natural World. How did you incorporate science with your six year old son. I chose this curriculum because it is full of hands on experiments which my son loves. I am not sure if he will like observing all the critters though. :001_unsure: In the past he has been leary of creepy things so to speak. In addition did you find that incorporating a nature journal worked with with students who are not gifted in art. Any recommendations for living books in the area would be great as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuzor Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 The SOTW activity guide has a number of suggestions for books. I went to the library and picked up books that looked colorful and fun for each chapter. Just do a unit study on holidays as they come up. It really doesn't have to fit in with the timeline. Maybe find some lapbooks or projects and read a book about the holiday. I don't suggest trying to teach American History and Ancient History at the same time especially at that age. We used part of REAL Science here but it didn't work well with our teaching style. My library didn't have any of the suggested books, so I just picked up whatever was colorful and fun. Take it slow and go with the things he really loves and if he's not showing interest in something finish up quickly so you can move on. He'll do the topic again in 4 years and will be ready to go more indepth. So there is no reason to learn it all this year. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleladyintheshoe Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 We used the American Holidays to do do brief, extra, FUN lapbook studies thrown into our normal flow. With REAL, my daughter actually was super involved with the experiments/ investigations. They really are very fun for the child. That being said, some of the more complex things I had my 1st grader "observe' her 4th grade sister do, rather than actually do. For instance, there's alot of writing/ labeling in REAL. My 1st grader is learning to read this year so it's unrealistic to expect her to complete a project like that herself. So, sister did it while we all sat around the table and talked about it out loud. We also turned quite a few chapters into lapbooks so she had more involvement. I know alot of moms on here have comment neither they, nor their children, like busy work but my daughter could cut and paste from sun up til sun down and it would have been a great day;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Our favorite series for living books for history has been the "You Wouldn't Want to Be..." series. They are jam-packed with information. The layout is much more "busy" than I personally prefer, but ds loves them, and older dd asks to read them to him, too. We've also enjoyed the books by Demi that fit into the time period under study, as well as biographies by Diane Stanley. We talk about national holidays as a family rather than as part of school. For instance, for MLK, we read two picture books as a family and discussed MLK over dinner. For Presidents' Day, I did have ds read two DK readers (one on Washington, one on Lincoln), and we read two other books as a family. We continued right on with our regularly-scheduled history (ancients), as well. For science, we've enjoyed both the Let's Read and Find Out series and the Rookie Read-About series. Of course, Magic School Bus books are also a big hit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuzor Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 Thanks I will start going through the books to see what my library has and what I need to purchase. In addition I will look for the living books recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I can't remember the whole list of books we read during ancients. There were quite a few. But, I do remember that Mummies Made in Egypt was a huge hit. We also bought a couple of books of myths... big hits here. My kids also loved anything to do with King Tut, with the Romans running a close second! They also really loved Black Ships Before Troy and the Wanderings of Odysseus. For Halloween, my kids dressed up as Helen of the Fair Cheeks, Julius Caesar and the Sugar Plum Fairy (:001_huh:). As for American history. We bought the Liberty Kids DVD set from Amazon. Every Thursday night is movie night here. We get to eat supper in the living room and watch an episode of LK. We've seen it all the way through, and have now started over again. It was a no stress way of adding Am. history. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I Love America has monthly units on American History that are kid-friendly and don't really take all that long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I think I'm in the minority on this one, but I don't plan to teach chronological history until second grade at the earliest. I think my 6yo needs a base of knowledge to work from, so I'd rather talk about different times and places and record them on a timeline and world map as we go along (we're going to do this through FIAR books). This will allow her to get a sense of time and place, and we'll build on history from that base knowledge as she gets older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallory Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Thanks I will start going through the books to see what my library has and what I need to purchase. In addition I will look for the living books recommended. I would caution you not to spend much money. Unless your library is really terrible there are plenty of good books there about egyptians or insects or romans or plants. Pretty much all of the books in the children's section at your library will be living books. Some you'll like, some you won't, and while we could tell you of our favorites, chances are there is one just as good there. (While we did history from K on with my first two, I have also decided not to start formal history until 3rd grade for my next too ;)). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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