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elemental history


mytwomonkeys
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We are really enjoying it! It's perfect for a child that has never done history before. I am planning on using TOG with SOTW eventually, but I just felt like that might be too much for my DD5. I wanted to start teaching history though, and I am so glad this program came along. It is a perfect fit for my DD. She loves coloring, writing, crafts and maps, and you do those every week. The first day you read the text and then do a coloring page and narration. The second day you read the text, do copywork and there is a craft project to do (we have done 5 of the 6 weeks, so that's pretty good)! The third day you learn about 1 or 2 states, fill out a worksheet about each state, and then color in the state(s) on a blackline map of the US. It is very simple and easy to get done, but my DD is learning a lot and actually remembering what we have read!

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It is a perfect fit for my DD. She loves coloring, writing, crafts and maps, and you do those every week.

 

I have to laugh at how different all of our children are. The above sentence is exactly why this program would *not* work for my DS. Coloring and crafts make him roll on the floor shouting "No!!!!" :D

 

So thank you for confirming that this was not the right history program for us! I looked at it but it didn't seem like the right fit. Please don't think I'm being sarcastic--it looks like a great program! Just not for us anti-crafters at my house.

 

christina

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  • 1 month later...

Any more reviews? How's it working?

 

I pulled out the state pages and we're just doing those at the moment. The girls are enjoying it. After we finish doing our Native American History Pockets (different curriculum), we'll dive into the history portion (skipping Columbus and the Native American sections) and see how it goes.

 

I plan to combine with the Complete Book of US History to beef it up a bit, because I have an almost-7 and 8 year old.

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I had another state study that I wanted to do, so we dropped that part. I also wanted to read different books out loud. We are just using the history narrative. My 9yo enjoys it. We are flying through it and will continue with SOTW 3 when we are finished. I really liked the way it read, so we went with it even though I had already purchased A Living History of Our World.

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We're further into it now (10 weeks maybe?) and my 6 year old is still enjoying it (history and science are her favorite "subjects"). My 3 year old is able to participate too which makes things easier for me. The crafts each week are very easy to do although I have skipped a few and done my own thing in exchange. I like the read-aloud books that are scheduled, but I find the actual program portion that you read to the kids (written by the author I think) to be a little bit on the dry side (IMO, although my child hasn't complained). It's a good fit for us because I'm doing American History with my 10 year old this year, and it's just easier for me if I can keep them in the same basic time in history. It's not something that is on my "love" list when it comes to curriculum, but overall Ive been pleased with it. I'd buy it again for the price.

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Totally doable for a 5 year old. I do it in 2 days (not 3 as scheduled). While I read the 2 sections that the author wrote (on the same day), my 6 and 3 year old color the picture. I then have my 6 year old copy a sentence about what we just read (usually not what the author has written) and add a picture of whatever craft we do later to that page. That takes maybe 10 minutes? The craft maybe takes us another 15 minutes, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer depending on what we do. We do the state study part on the second day, and that takes maybe 15 minutes or so too. I'm just pulling these numbers out of the air as my sense of time isn't great, but it's really pretty short. There are usually 5 chapters assigned each week from a work of fiction and we do that whenever it fits into our day. HTH

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4th graders?

 

Is there something similar like this for the older bunch?

 

Personally I don't think it's a good fit for 4th graders as I think it's just not enough. It's very simple and nowhere near thorough enough for 4th graders IMO. I'm doing American History with my 5th grader and putting my own thing together (with another parent and her child). I couldn't find anything that did all of the things I wanted in a set program, but maybe there's something out there that I just haven't seen yet.

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4th graders?

 

Is there something similar like this for the older bunch?

 

i'm using this with my son in second grade and we love it (i was the OP asking about it, and we're in week 8 now). for my daughter i am using story of the US books 1-4. i just add in crafts and lots of books from the library (historical fiction and biographies). it's going great so far. after each story, there are comprehension tests, but you could skip those. we like them a lot though, so i include them. hth

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Hijack!

 

How far through history does it cover?

 

I'm doing US History with my olders, but it would be nice to fold in my K'er other than with read-alouds & coloring pages that the olders are doing.

 

However, if it only goes to the Civil War, I'm not sure it is worth getting as it won't work for very long with our schedule.

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We ended up putting it aside after the first couple of weeks. The readings made my (newly 5yo)ds' eyes glaze over. I just think he wasn't ready for it and we will likely come back to it next year in 1st.

 

This is what I'm afraid of. The author had a dd, and it seems pretty obvious to me from the way the curriculum is written. I'm planning on replacing some of the readings with picture books on the better known topics/historical figures.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We've been doing it for two weeks and my son (6) loves it. We only do history and science on weekends.

 

I'd say this takes maybe an hour, not including supplemental reading or projects. (We're afterschooling so our weekday spare time is monopolized with LA/math.)

 

I love that it's foolproof; I need serious hand-holding as a beginner at all this.

 

He colors and cuts out the picture while I read, then he answers the questions, offers a narration and pastes his colored picture onto the narration. Then I write something brief on the subject for copywork and he copies it and maybe draws a picture of it.

 

We started reading a chapter each night on the reading selection, "Pocahontas and the Strangers".

 

We haven't done any of the projects yet.

 

The "Smart About the States" book is brief and colorful and easy to read. Interesting facts about each of the state. The worksheet is a one-page summary for some of the state facts coloring the state at the top, and coloring the state on a central USA map.

 

We haven't really moved into the supplemental readings on the states.

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