A year behind in history. Anyone do SOTW4 in double-time?

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I am in the midst of planning. We are on chapter 30 of SOTW3 and I'd love to get through SOTW4 by January and start on History Odyssey Ancients. My students will be 5/6 graders.

 

Currently, we listen to the chapters, answer questions and do map work. We do a bit of supplemental reading and movies. If we do SOTW at 2 chapters per week (we currently do just one), we could get through it by January. I know retention would be low, but perhaps the familiarity of the subject matter (current times) would help it from being too low! I know that there are lots of movies and additional resources for this time frame. My kids won't miss the projects as we have never been crafty.

 

I'm really anxious to begin HO. What say the hive?

 

TIA,

K

[Oakblossoms]

We are speading up SOTW 1 by combining chapters. This is my 11 year old s first cycle. He knows a lot of the subjects from his own past studies (we were child-led before, so I don't mind).

 

Just look through and see which chapters that are in a row or pretty close and combine those for one week. Skip anything that you feel might be difficult for your children right now. My feeling is that they will see it again.

 

Do the maps, perhaps one or two coloring pages/worksheets and a narration that covers the entire section (so if it's 4 chapters than one narration for the the entire 4 chapters).

[Judy in WA]

All I can tell you is SOTW 4 is an intense year. My kids really took it to heart. Half way through the chapter about Indira Ghandi, my dd yelled, "STOP! I know what happens! Indira Ghandi gets killed because all the good people keep getting killed."

 

So I'm not sure rushing through it is a great option. It will just start sounding like "this person got assinated, then that person who did great things got assinated, then there was a war and more people died". I think it takes some discussion and sorting out.

 

Just my opinion.

[Kate in Arabia]

Hmm.. I've been arguing with myself over this issue as well, although we are "further behind" than you. What I have found for my 10 and 6 yr olds, they seem to need the "digestion" time -- time to read the extras, watch videos, play games they've made up about the topic, make reference to it and talk about aspects of it now and then, kind of work it into their minds, kwim? I've thought about speeding up, but I'm afraid of ruining something or losing something else by doing that. Is it really important that you get through it quickly, or your own personal preference? For me it was my own preference, so I think I'll keep going at our usual pace.

[mazakaal]

I've moved through SOTW fairly quickly with my 4th grader this year. I've gotten it scheduled out so that it will take about 24 weeks, doing history 4-5 days per week. We've basically just read through SOTW and done the outline and map from the activity book. For a few topics (Civil War, WWI, WWII, Depression, Victorian England) we took a few extra days for supplemental reading. I know ds is not getting a deep understanding of modern times, but he's only in 4th grade and we'll be covering it all again, so I'm not worried. He's getting a good basic overview.

[Testimony]

This book is very intense. There are no coloring pages to this volume. It is the facts and nothing but the facts. I did the narration and maps. We are doubling up these last 4 chapters, but the first several, we read and reread sometimes. Remember they recommend not to let a child under fourth grade read it because it is too intense. She is correct. You are talking World War II. You cannot sugar coat this stuff. I notice that there are a few curricula that recommended SOTW Vol. 4 as their modern history reader like Sonlight and Ambleside. It is one of the best modern history programs that I have seen. You are going to find it difficult to breeze through it. Some topics we spent extra time on like the Civil war and Martin Luther King Jr we compared to Ghandi's civil disobedience.

 

Blessing on your homeschool journey.

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Trivium Academy]

Find historical fiction that corresponds to the highlights that are age appropriate, I would briefly mention anything too disturbing. Enjoy the time and just start Ancients when you want. It's okay to skip this part b/c they will get it again 2x and with more understanding.

 

You can use SOTW 4's AG to help provide books to read and just skip SOTW 4 itself.

 

Just an option not mentioned yet...

[jesiwins]

Hello,

 

First, I think that you can do whatever you want! That is the reason we are homeschooling right? he he

 

But if you really want to start with the history odyssey why not do modern history level one?

 

Good luck on your journey!

[WTMindy]

Last summer I spent extra time on SOTW 4 finishing it so that I could start TOG 1 in the fall. It was great. It was our history-intensive summer with lots of reading outloud. I also read History of US that corresponded with SOTW4. We all love history, so the kids thought it was fun to just be read to. We didn't write narrations on the chapters (which I usually do). It went by pretty fast, but the kids remember some of it.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

Hum. Never thought of that. Great suggestion.

 

Hello,

 

First, I think that you can do whatever you want! That is the reason we are homeschooling right? he he

 

But if you really want to start with the history odyssey why not do modern history level one?

 

Good luck on your journey!

[two2homeschool]

We are a year behind in SOTW2 and what I have done is this:

1)Each week they listen to 2 chapters (Sometimes 3, depending on the topic) on CD. So on Monday they listen to 1 chapter and we do map work, coloring, discussion questions,narrations and any read-alouds. On Wednesday the same thing with the next chapter. If we can't get to everything on Monday or Wednesday, we do it on Friday.

 

2) After 8 chapters we have a review week. They listen to the 8 chapters again (usually while playing with Lego) and at the end we do the SOTW tests. I am not a "test" type of person, and because they are so young, we do the test orally and it is mostly a discussion. Then I get a feel for whether they have retained anything. If they have poor retendion on a chapter then I dig out another read-aloud to read on the topic.

 

Anyway, that's just what we do, hope it helps!

[Sunshine State Sue]

I discovered TWTM sometime in my ds's 1st grade year. We started SOTW in 2nd grade. Since I am anal-retentive, I wanted to begin 5th grade (or January at the latest) with the Ancients, so that we would be "on schedule". I debated many ways to get there.

 

I finally decided to just remain a year "behind" until further notice. This is why: We loved SOTW. I can't say enough good things about it. I can't even find one thing I dislike about SOTW, which is unusual for me. I knew that we would probably use History Odyssey for logic age, but there was no guarantee that HO would be finished by the time I needed it (not as much of an issue for you) and there was no guarantee that we would like it as much as SOTW.

 

I made that decision probably 2 years ago, and I am so glad I did. We will be finishing HO Ancients 2 next week. It has been a disappointing follow-up to SOTW. I am unsure whether or not we will continue with it. As far as I can tell, my only alternative is outsourcing to History At Our House, which involves $$$.

 

So, I vote to just remain behind. SOTW 4 is not as entertaining as 1-3, but *I* loved learning so much about modern history. It did no disservice to ds to remain behind either.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I made that decision probably 2 years ago, and I am so glad I did. We will be finishing HO Ancients 2 next week. It has been a disappointing follow-up to SOTW. I am unsure whether or not we will continue with it. As far as I can tell, my only alternative is outsourcing to History At Our House, which involves $$$.

 

So, I vote to just remain behind. SOTW 4 is not as entertaining as 1-3, but *I* loved learning so much about modern history. It did no disservice to ds to remain behind either.

 

FWIW, we do not do any of the crafts/projects in the SOTW AG. We just do the questions, mapwork and sometime do narrations. I was hoping that HO would force my students to do more without frustrating them.

 

I have HO Ancients and I'm now considering HO Modern Level 1 w/ SOTW4 (my kids are writing phobic) to ease them into HO Ancients while still getting a lot out of SOTW4.

 

I'd love to hear more about your HO experience. Thanks.

K

[Mrs. Readsalot]

We are taking the entire SOTW series much slower than most. We love history, and I don't find it a subject I want to rush. Currently we are spending 2-3 weeks just on the French and Indian War. I love the fact that we stall out on certain periods of history. This allows us to really dig deep into the subject matter. For me, what's the rush. Actually this is a bit funny because when I started homeschooling I used Sonlight and had to check off each subject everyday. I got over that pretty quick. We do history all year round because we enjoy it so much. When people ask my son his favorite subject, without even thinking he says history.

Consider that your excitement over something new (History of Ancients) may be driving your desire to rush through the old program you have been using. I tend to get this way with science and have had to force myself not to rush through the end of our current materials.

[Danestress]

Why not just finish at a pace that will allow for them to understand more fully, and start ancients in the fall? SOTW 4 is a wonderful wonderful resource. It's packed *full* of information though. You cover the Civil War, which surely deserves a lot more time then SOTW even gives it, then WWI and WWII, Vietnam etc. And even if you skipped some of the non-Western History, even if you just focus on American history in this era, I think it deserves a good hard look. I have worked through SOTW 4 with my 4th graders this year, and all of us have learned so much. There are many times that they can put movies and novels in historical context now, and I think it's worth the effort.

 

If I were to criticize one aspect of my education (as opposed to criticizing about 100 aspects of it, which I could easily do) it would be that no teacher ever spent real time on modern history. I graduated from high school without ever studying the Korean and Vietnam wars in any serious way.

 

So AT LEAST give them a good understanding of the two world wars. That would be my vote.

[Sunshine State Sue]

My biggest complaint about HO Ancients 2 is the use of the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. It really turns me off. It has little bits of information, then you have to look at all the pictures and read the captions to glean more information. I don't retain much from reading it. It may be a learning style issue, because I don't enjoy reading magazines for the same reason.

 

Here is my review. It may explain more.

 

I chose HO because it's the only secular history program I know of for logic age. Ds would be in 6th grade this year. We have completed 64/66 lessons. I have mixed feelings about it.

 

Pros:

• History is all planned out

• A large amount of history is presented

• Outlining is learned and practiced

• Map work and timeline work is helpful

• Can be done independently

• HO is secular

 

Cons:

• KHE is DULL (reading snippets of information and picture captions)

• No review/discussion questions to assess comprehension and/or retention

• Little supplemental reading

• Required literature is rarely discussed, only read

• History Pockets involve too much time for knowledge gained

• Expensive if you buy package

• Too much freedom for an unmotivated student to do a mediocre job

• This is picky, but the study guide in the 3 ring binder format is completely falling apart because of all the flipping back and forth that has to be done. We have to keep those little, sticky o-reinforcements right in the binder because the pages are constantly being ripped out.

 

20/20 Hindsight:

• Buy only the study guide (maps included) and timeline

• Do not buy the supplemental books – get them from the library, substitute from the library, or buy used

• Do not buy the History Pockets unless the child likes cut & paste & color

• Add Life in the Ancient World by Bart Winer

 

To be completely honest, I am not sure if part of my disappointment has to do with the fact that we used SOTW for 4 years and loved it. It's a hard act to follow, imo.

[hsmom]

Now I will tell you what all others tell/ ask me.

 

*What are you behind? Are you behind the ps levels? The levels of others?

*The beauty of home educating is that we are not behind, we are going at the pace and level of our children.

 

So, don't feel as if you have to cram, catch up, or any of that. Just work what you need to at your and your child's pace and have fun. Stop feeling rushed or behind, just enjoy it.

 

Now I know all of this is easier said than done sometimes, but I have to remember this is one of the reasons we do home educate. So, when I feel we are behind I just remember what all the others keep telling me.

[Lenora in MD]

It took me two years to get through sotw 4. It is quite intense. I would slow it down and enjoy it. There are some great read alouds that you can get into for that time period. You can always start another rotation when the oldest is in 7th grade and just aim for one more rotation, again taking time to savor the meal. You don't necessarily have to do three rotations.