ByGrace3 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Just thoughts going through my head as I process history for next year. I will be combining a 2nd grader and ker. We are using a SOTW/VP mix this year, and I had narrowed it down to Sonlight or Biblioplan for next year. When we were having some SOTW issues earlier in the year someone suggested just using the TOC as a spine and reading books. I love the idea, but have yet to "give" up on the SOTW text. Just when I get ready, we have a week like this one where dd liked the SOTW story :tongue_smilie: (for reference read about Ashurbanipal and the first library) she was very into it, did a great narration and great notebooking page. DD loves lit books, coloring, mapping, and projects. Does anyone do this without a spine? Just use a list of things to cover and read great books? Particularly we love SL books. There are quite a few SL books for middle ages, and I have considered doing some kind of combo with all of those (24 or so), add in a few more books about church history (following the VP cards if I have to do it myself). I know this is about exposure, so in theory it should work right. I love how when we were reading this SOTW chapter, dd's face lit up at the mention of Hammurabi bc she recogngnized him. These are the exposure moments we are going for at this stage. Another thing we don't love in SOTW is the jumping around, we would like a more "unit" approach-- not abandoning chronological order, just camping out slightly more :tongue_smilie: So, anything I am missing? could/should we just read those books and map/ color/notebook/project through them? anyone do history for lower grammar without a spine? What does it look like? or is there some kind of unit approach to middle ages out there? BP may be what I am looking for (and just add more SL books), but just wondering what else is there... and yes, I am very aware that I am over-thinking second grade history! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 :lol: I'm sorry, I laugh only because I've been through a similar thought process several times in the last year. :D Have you looked at All Through the Ages? It is a list of books broken down by time period and age groups. It pulls books from various popular lists (SL, VP, etc.). I'm going to use it to help me put together American History the next couple years (only doing that because DS whipped through all 4 SOTW volumes, with some retention, and I decided to just take a detour for a bit... otherwise, we'd continue with just SOTW, as I've been really happy with using that and the AG books that my library has). Just remember... simple is better! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 :lol: I'm sorry, I laugh only because I've been through a similar thought process several times in the last year. :D Have you looked at All Through the Ages? It is a list of books broken down by time period and age groups. It pulls books from various popular lists (SL, VP, etc.). I'm going to use it to help me put together American History the next couple years (only doing that because DS whipped through all 4 SOTW volumes, with some retention, and I decided to just take a detour for a bit... otherwise, we'd continue with just SOTW, as I've been really happy with using that and the AG books that my library has). Just remember... simple is better! :D thanks, glad someone understands this disease! :tongue_smilie: :lol: I have looked at All Through the Ages and have considered it. However, I would like a "spine" curriculum for projects/maps etc, just not so much a spine book perhaps :tongue_smilie: I put together our lit list this year and have been very happy with it, it just took a.long.time. I love the SOTW AG. The concept and activities are perfect. However, I have heard that SOTW 2 jumps around a lot, even more than SOTW 1, so I would not be ok with that. I know BP rearranged SOTW but not sure if it would be enough (though it might be) :tongue_smilie: Also, I have considered doing BP without SOTW, just the order, the extras (map, crafts, coloring, cool history) with good lit and add in more of the SL books than are scheduled. Honestly, I am just looking at the list of SL books for yr 2 of the cycle and they all look great. Would love a curric centered around those 24 or so books (plus a few more), with coloring, crafts, etc Honestly at this point I have spent so much time researching and debating that I could have written the curric myself at this point... I guess I am finally breaking down and considering it! :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 :lol: Have you looked at All Through the Ages? It is a list of books broken down by time period and age groups. It pulls books from various popular lists (SL, VP, etc.). I'm going to use it to help me put together American History the next couple years and um.... what happened to MFW??? :tongue_smilie: Glad to know I am not alone! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 and um.... what happened to MFW??? :tongue_smilie: Glad to know I am not alone! ;) I *may* use MFW for 5th grade... I'm not planning to use it or any boxed curriculum the next couple years though. :lol: We're still using MFW K... sort of. Not as written. I think I just don't do well following someone else's schedule... or my own schedule. SOTW works well for me in that regard. We just read one section per day, 3 days a week, and do that until we're done. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMom Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Yes, it can be done without a spine. (I have done it.) You can find all kinds of great books on just about anything! You can use those blackline history maps and coordinate them to your weekly topics, and schedule projects from online resources. And it's mostly free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I've got all four years of SOTW, so picking another spine was out of the question for me. That said, I don't find the flow of SOTW to be great for reading aloud, and it just isn't all that interesting. (Heresy, I know!) And yes, the second book does seem to jump around more often. That's not always a bad thing, in that you can get pretty tired of one thing and want to do another part of the world for a change. So, I decided to use SOTW as a reference spine. It's there to make sure I don't forget things, but it allows me to go find other resources that I like far, far better. Currently, we are covering the Anglo-Saxons in Britain with An Island Story by H. E. Marshall. The boys love it and ask for it. (SOTW didn't exactly cause tears, but it tended to be soporific in the late afternoon!) This was a free resource at Google Books. There are tons of history books in a story style for children there. Two other I love (but are a little too advanced for us yet) are the books by Marjorie Quennell, (Everyday life series) and also a book by Issac Asimov (no, not that Issac Asimov) called the Dark Ages. I also find topic books at the library for reading on history, along with the literature choices to go along with history. For maps I got the full set of the Blackline maps and I print off what I need. It may be reinventing the wheel, but history has become much more enjoyable for all of us since really broadening the base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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