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Sonlight Moms..help!


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I love Sonlight...and am so glad we went with it this year. We are doing Core 1/2 Condensed World History, and also using the Advanced LA for this level.

But...I am confused. I feel like I am flipping all over the book, missing when we are supposed to do timeline figures...confused about what exactly we are to do with the maps...help...please!

I want this to work...

 

Thanks!

 

Dawn

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I will tell you how I use SL and maybe you can get some ideas that might help. Every week I look over the IG to see what books I need, timeline figures, and map places. I cut out the timeline figures and attach them to the IG week page with a paper clip. I write on a post it the geography we need to mark and this also goes on the IG page. Fridays we do the timeline and geography at one time, reviewing past places and people after the new stuff gets added. I found this worked for us instead of doing one place at a time or one person. Another thing I do when using SL, I take 4 weeks of the IG out along with the notes and pages for the books covered in those weeks and put them in a working binder. I don't really use the questions from the IG but I glance over the book notes to the books I am not reading with my children so I can know if they are understanding the books they read.

 

As the pp said, going to the SL forums will give you great ideas also.

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Good Morning :)

 

I really like Sonlight too, but I have to say, this is the biggest thing I struggle with. I find that they do not give enough guidance with respect to timeline and map work. We are doing American History I this year and I am behind in the timeline work and am not impressed with the maps at all. This part of the curriculum is NOT "pick up and go" at all. I know the solution is as simple as preparing ahead of time, but therein lies the problem... TIME! :O

 

For now, I put up the map on the whiteboard and try to outline what's going on. The map I got with the SL curriculum is blank, which I find to be both good and bad. I think I'd prefer to have the map filled out so that I can just circle places and draw arrows... we end up using our own maps along with the blank map. It's just a bit cumbersome... especially since I don't have a classroom.

 

Down_the_Rabbit_Hole... Thank you for sharing what you do!

 

I look forward to hearing other's replies!

:lurk5:

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Calm down, calm down.

 

Okay, here's the key: when you see the tiny little globe icon on a lesson in the Instructor's Guide, it means that there is map work associated with that day. Then, here's what you do:

 

1.) Pull out your big outline map and your wet-erase markers.

 

2.) Turn to the information in the Study Guide on the book you're reading. (Note: like another answer, above, I too separate a few weeks from the big folder and put them in a smaller folder. I also make sure to separate out the book information I'll need in that segment from my History and Read-Aloud Study Guides.)

 

3.) Find your reading for that day. The map work it contains will be at the end of the section for that day, and look something like this:

 

(little globe icon) Oahu, Hawaii (number 9 in a dark circle) (map 1)

 

Memorize this line, or write it down if you're doing a whole lot of map work. (You can go ahead and scrawl it on your map, somewhere away from the center of action for that day.)

 

4.) Turn to the associated map, which is usually at the end of the section in the appendix for your book. (In the made-up case above, it would be the first map there, out of who knows how many?)

 

5.) Transfer the information from the little map in the book to the big map with the wet-erase marker. There are different ways to do this: if the geography covered is an entire country (like, say, Egypt a WHOLE LOT near the beginning of Core B) or other fairly large, already delimited geographical feature (like the Baltic Sea), and you can remember where that country is (whether you need to glance at the map or not), you can just do it on the fly during the lesson, or ask your child if he can find it (if you a.) have a big map on the wall for him to check or b.) have shown him the place on the map before). For cities, I usually would either put a dot in the right place and then fill in the city name when we got to the lesson, ro I would just go ahead and write the city names, so that my son had something more to look at while I read him the lesson. It really all depends upon what book you're doing that day.

 

So, that's map work. The timeline is somewhat similar: it, too, has an icon, the clock, in the instructor's guide. If there is a timeline figure available, a little black man will be standing next to the clock. This also requires you going to that day's reading in your book in the appropriate Study Guide, find the "Timeline and Map Activities" at the end, and go from there.

 

However, since there is a "cheat sheet" to the timeline activities, I often use this instead. Find the sheet with all of the timeline entries you are supposed to make for the year. (I often keep this with my timeline and so have no idea where its original home was, although I think it was near the end of the introductory materials.) Find your book and the page numbers you're doing that day. It's a little simpler (for me, at least) than flipping back and forth in the Instructor's Guide.

 

Either way, cut out your little paper figure(s) for the day, if available, and do the timeline at the appropriate part of the passage. Since my son still hates writing, I usually do the actual writing part, but I definitely require him to find the year!

 

I also try to "do" the timeline and map even when that work is not done in the IG, which means that I try to have my son locate where and when we are working (not that I necessarily write anything down). I think that grounds a lesson a little more and helps reinforce the map and timeline work. This doesn't always make sense, however, as in the opening history unit on cultures around the world, or the one we just finished on Knights and Castles from Time Traveller, where the actual location of the "castle" is almost anywhere in western Europe. (At least we got to do Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland in the Viking unit!)

 

Certain books, such as Window on the World, have their own maps which it's often easier to use. Usually, the Story Guide for that book will tell you when this is the case.

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ZooRho... Thank you for mentioning their forums... I've been meaning to get over there to see what others do! :)

you are welcome.

 

In fact they have a newcomer's forum for those who bought from SL for the first time. You have to ask to join it though, and I think you have to have bought directly from sl.

 

But there are seperate forums for the cores, sort of group for the study.

 

I too did more of my own thing with the maps and stuff

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Where is the "cheat sheet" for the timeline entries? I am unsure if I have this...I did buy a used curriculum.

I am extremely confused that there seem to be some timeline figures on the grid schedule, some mentioned in the notes for the reading, and some that there are not actual timeline figures for. That's confusing for me : O

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Calm down, calm down.

 

Okay, here's the key: when you see the tiny little globe icon on a lesson in the Instructor's Guide, it means that there is map work associated with that day. Then, here's what you do:

 

1.) Pull out your big outline map and your wet-erase markers.

 

2.) Turn to the information in the Study Guide on the book you're reading. (Note: like another answer, above, I too separate a few weeks from the big folder and put them in a smaller folder. I also make sure to separate out the book information I'll need in that segment from my History and Read-Aloud Study Guides.)

 

3.) Find your reading for that day. The map work it contains will be at the end of the section for that day, and look something like this:

 

(little globe icon) Oahu, Hawaii (number 9 in a dark circle) (map 1)

 

Memorize this line, or write it down if you're doing a whole lot of map work. (You can go ahead and scrawl it on your map, somewhere away from the center of action for that day.)

 

4.) Turn to the associated map, which is usually at the end of the section in the appendix for your book. (In the made-up case above, it would be the first map there, out of who knows how many?)

 

5.) Transfer the information from the little map in the book to the big map with the wet-erase marker. There are different ways to do this: if the geography covered is an entire country (like, say, Egypt a WHOLE LOT near the beginning of Core B) or other fairly large, already delimited geographical feature (like the Baltic Sea), and you can remember where that country is (whether you need to glance at the map or not), you can just do it on the fly during the lesson, or ask your child if he can find it (if you a.) have a big map on the wall for him to check or b.) have shown him the place on the map before). For cities, I usually would either put a dot in the right place and then fill in the city name when we got to the lesson, ro I would just go ahead and write the city names, so that my son had something more to look at while I read him the lesson. It really all depends upon what book you're doing that day.

 

So, that's map work. The timeline is somewhat similar: it, too, has an icon, the clock, in the instructor's guide. If there is a timeline figure available, a little black man will be standing next to the clock. This also requires you going to that day's reading in your book in the appropriate Study Guide, find the "Timeline and Map Activities" at the end, and go from there.

 

However, since there is a "cheat sheet" to the timeline activities, I often use this instead. Find the sheet with all of the timeline entries you are supposed to make for the year. (I often keep this with my timeline and so have no idea where its original home was, although I think it was near the end of the introductory materials.) Find your book and the page numbers you're doing that day. It's a little simpler (for me, at least) than flipping back and forth in the Instructor's Guide.

 

Either way, cut out your little paper figure(s) for the day, if available, and do the timeline at the appropriate part of the passage. Since my son still hates writing, I usually do the actual writing part, but I definitely require him to find the year!

 

I also try to "do" the timeline and map even when that work is not done in the IG, which means that I try to have my son locate where and when we are working (not that I necessarily write anything down). I think that grounds a lesson a little more and helps reinforce the map and timeline work. This doesn't always make sense, however, as in the opening history unit on cultures around the world, or the one we just finished on Knights and Castles from Time Traveller, where the actual location of the "castle" is almost anywhere in western Europe. (At least we got to do Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland in the Viking unit!)

 

Certain books, such as Window on the World, have their own maps which it's often easier to use. Usually, the Story Guide for that book will tell you when this is the case.

 

Where is the timeline cheat sheet? I've got Core 6 & 7 (purchased new) and I've never seen this cheat sheet.

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Where is the timeline cheat sheet? I've got Core 6 & 7 (purchased new) and I've never seen this cheat sheet.

It could depend on the year you have, but it was toward the front, Before the weeks, and it would have all topics covered during the week, it was about 5-6 pages.

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It could depend on the year you have, but it was toward the front, Before the weeks, and it would have all topics covered during the week, it was about 5-6 pages.

 

As soon as I read this post, I ran and grabbed my IG and there it was! :tongue_smilie:

 

Thank you so much! :)

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