Is SOTW 3 too difficult for first graders?

[ksummer]

I have always used SOTW 1 (ancients) with my first and second grade students. This year, though, I am trying to add my 6 year old son to the history class I have with my daughter (who is 10). Today was our first day, and it seemed hard. Talking about the Holy Roman Empire and Charles V, etc. seemed complicated, especially when it came to writing a narration.

 

My son has sat in on the past two years of history, has demonstrated that he is listening to the stories, and at times has even answered the review questions better than his older sister. :D

 

Any experience with this? I don't want to frustrate him.

 

Thanks,

Kimberly

[WeeBeaks]

It is too hard for my particular 1st grader. We are near the end of SOTW 3 with the 4th grader, about to transition to SOTW 4 for him. My 1st grader doesn't get a lot out of it honestly. He listens, which is fine. I get him picture books or additional resources on the same time periods/topics. My 4th grader listens to those too, and my 1st grader is thus kept in the same cycle.

 

My 1st grader though struggles with some concepts quite a bit more than my older child did in 1st grade. SOTW 3 would have been fine for my oldest when he was 1st grade, but is quite a bit above my 2nd son now.

[higginszoo]

He's obviously not going to get as much from it as your 10 year old, but it sounds like he's enjoying listening in. At that age, I wouldn't worry about retention; exposure is enough. He'll have plenty of opportunity to have the material presented again later when he'll understand it better, but he might even retain it better then, having been exposed to it now.

[ksummer]

would you recommend finding a new plan, or deal with the fact that your first grader is not getting what he could out of the year?

 

Since I still have time, i don't know if I should make a change.

 

And to what...we have finished SOTW 1 and 2.

[ksummer]

that the next go around, this would all stick better. I "feel" like I am cheating him, because both of my girls loved their first grade histories. You know, all the fun you can have with the ancients. Ice cream ships, mummified chickens, and the like.

 

I want him to have a really good experience now, so I am doubting my year's plan. The reason I did not do SL Core 3, which is what I used for my oldest daughter, now 13, after SOTW 2, is because I thought it would be too difficult for my son. This is not what I thought would happen!:confused:

[higginszoo]

You can still have fun with all of the ancients projects in third grade, if you continue through the current cycle and repeat. Not doing them in first grade doesn't mean that he'll never get to do them.

[boscopup]

that the next go around, this would all stick better. I "feel" like I am cheating him, because both of my girls loved their first grade histories. You know, all the fun you can have with the ancients. Ice cream ships, mummified chickens, and the like.

 

Won't he get to have that fun in 3rd grade? It'd probably be more fun for him in 3rd grade too, because he can participate more in the activities. We mummified the chicken, but I had to do all the work for my 6 year old. :tongue_smilie:

 

My DS2 will be 1st grade when we hit SOTW4. I don't yet know if I'll do something else with him or just not concentrate much on history with him that year. He isn't listening into history right now, as he isn't at all ready.

 

Options I'm toying with (and I'll make a real decision when the time comes):

 

1) Just give him readers related to the SOTW reading, but not make him answer questions about SOTW.

 

2) Do something like Elemental History that year and let him start the SOTW cycle the next year.

 

I'm ok with either option. We'll just see where he is at that point, and what I feel like I can handle doing. If he doesn't have formal history for first grade, I'm cool with that too. I don't think it will adversely affect him.

[zenjenn]

I am doing SotW1 with my 3rd and 1st graders and honestly though my 1st grader is enjoying it, I feel like it is way more at the level of my 3rd grader. My 1st grader gets sidetracked/bored a lot (not with SotW book itself, but with the associated stuff we do.) My 3rd grader meanwhile just is perfect.

 

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably let the 1st grader just hang out, get him some age-appropriate picture books or easy chapter books (when ready) and crafts associated with what you are doing with the older kids, and not particularly worry about him absorbing much. Make sure he still picks up on the basics like basic geography and map-reading and such. Then when your older kids spiral back to Ancients, do him on SotW in 3rd grade.

[2_girls_mommy]

I just did SOTW3 with a 1st grader and 3rd grader. Yes, my 3rd grader got more out of it. Yes, there were a few sections of some chapters that I didn't care if my 1st grader understood much, but in all the year went well.

 

To be honest there weren't as many "fun" projects this year. There was more memory work for my 3rd grader, etc.

 

To make sure that my 1st grader was getting a lot of good first grade history we went deeper into Am. History with her. I got a lot of videos on the revolutionary war. There are TONS of cartoons of all of the major players. She loved those. We did coloring sheets and read a ton of good books on these people. I kind of used What Your 1st Grader Needs to Know American history section as a guideline of people to cover for her. It was all stuff covered in SOTW3.

 

I did have her give simple narrations most weeks from SOTW3, or I gave her simple copywork of sentences like "A monarchy is a country run by a king." to put in her history notebook.

 

And for her mapwork, I had her do it all. But I spent a lot more time with her helping her to learn the continents and directions, etc.

[ksummer]

and how the kids see things. Tonight at dinner I asked the six year old if he liked history (thinking he would answer in the negative), and he gave a positive yes. (Actually, according to his account, he liked everything about his first week of school EXCEPT the copywork required with phonics--no surprise there!) And while we picked up Little People and got ready for bed, he and I had a solid conversation about Charles V. I asked him if he thought Charles was a good king. To my surprise, he said yes. He explained that all those people needed a good leader. But then I asked him about the wars Charles started selfishly, so as to grow his empire. Then my son said, Well, except for that, he was a good leader. :D

So I as I think about the year, I think I have to RELAX, let it happen, do the stories and let stick what is going to stick, and let go of what doesn't. Have fun with the fact that we are hanging together--how good is that--and enjoy it when My Little Man expresses his opinions!

 

Thanks for your suggestions. And sharing your experiences. It helps to hear about how you made it work. I think I have lots of fear when I do something differently with one child than I did with a previous child. Somehow it feels safe when I follow the path already laid. But it is a new journey this year for us.

 

Thanks again.

[boscopup]

That's great! :D My son who turned 7 this summer has read most of SOTW3 and SOTW4 himself and loved them both. He clearly understands a lot of it. DS1 is a history buff though. He was excited to get to the part about WWII because that's his favorite history time period (after checking out a book for Roman info that had bits and pieces of various major history time periods, from ancient to modern). I'm always surprised at what he'll randomly tell me as we're going to bed and something historical pops into his mind. :001_huh: