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SOTW or SL?! Wish I could make up my mind!!


Murrayshire
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Okay....I know I sound like a broken record....yes, I still am weighing my options for History. :confused: I was planning this for history(I've said this soo much that you all have probably memorized it already)starting in July or August:

 

dd 7th & 8th grade: SL G then H History & some of their readers + adding lit. guides to some of them OR Start SOTW 3(meaning the WTM method) for 7th....then progress into SOTW 4(adding in Hakem books or Queens story of america books)?? Then I could start her in Ancients for 9th..... OR use History Odyssey level 2 Early Modern then on to Modern for 8th? Please help me narrow this down a bit! She really has not had much history (or doesn't remember it) from PS...this is our first year homeschooling her for 6th and she's using SL Eastern Hemisphere. Really worried about her high school subjects....so need to set her up for that!

 

dd 4th & 5th: SL D then E History & some readers with lit guides, a maybe on the guides, and adding in NC state history notebook OR use SOTW 3(AG) for 4th and then SOTW4 for 5th grade(with AG) then she can go on to Ancients logic in 6th at the same time big sis does it in 9th....not that keeping them on the same timeline is a major concern, but it does help with planning fieldtrips and RAlouds. She has SL B+C this year for 3rd.

 

dd 1st grade: Could just start SOTW 1 with AG so I can continue on that path through his education OR Let him listen in on SOTW 3 with dd 4th grade and add some activities? and history pockets? then he'll hit Ancients in 3rd grade.....

 

I just want to SIMPLIFY as much as possible and keep history as low cost as possible and throw more money to Math and other top priority subjects! Does anyone have the time to read through my confusion and narrow this down for me?? Big Hugs to those who are willing!! Thank you! Oh, I'm a little drawn to SOTW, but I'm drawn to anything I haven't done!!

:bigear:

Edited by Murrayshire
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Well you seem to be like me...I research until I actually get nauseated. :001_smile: For my search I wanted something that would hold our interest for longer than a few months. Someone on these boards created their own curriculum that uses STOW as the spine with library book selections to read along with it. We really like it and I rarely come across a title not available at our library. The book selections are a perfect fit for my dd.

 

http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com/grammar-stage-literature.html

 

They have both grammar stage and logic so you won't need to look for something else later. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

Penny

Edited by mystika1
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SOTW has been a huge winner here.

 

We have it on CD and my son has listened to the whole thing through more than once. Then he finds interesting things at the library that help give more information on parts he wants to know more about (Joy Hakim's work has been one of these used as extra information for more depth at one point).

 

I guess not everyone loves it, nor loves audio format, but here, it has been great. It gets played at home, and sometimes while driving, and when I posted a question about being done with SOTW, and seeking what might come next, the question got answered by my son himself who decided that what was next was to start over again at the beginning of SOTW.

 

We have also added on task cards which so far I've made up myself, but have ordered Creek Edge press ones. The task card (or activities or writing about history or actually reading it) are "school time" history--the CD time is not, since I think it may be too passive. That the CD's are chosen over and over to listen to even when they do not count toward official school time, amazes me. But I understand it. I like them too. I feel like I'm learning things I never before really grasped.

 

We did not do it as one book per year. We started at the beginning of the 1st volume, then did it over again, then on the third time just kept on going through number 4. And have now started again, and are on Vol. 3. More is getting added this time than the first time--a transition toward logic stage that seems to be occurring organically.

 

He also is young enough to greatly enjoy the Mag. Treehouse and fact trackers. And they too tend to lead to seeking more information about various subjects (the back of each book has suggested other sources.)

 

Maybe my child would have loved history anyway, I'll never know for sure, but I think the SOTW and Mag. Treehouse--along with NG resources and our local library-- have been greatly helpful in his coming to love it and wanting to pursue it more.

 

Your youngest, I think, would be best off with SOTW Vol. 1--it is most suited for a very young child. Your older children, like mine, might well go through the whole thing from start to finish. I think it would be very good prep for high school.

Edited by Pen
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SOTW has been a huge winner here.

 

We have it on CD and my son has listened to the whole thing through more than once. Then he finds interesting things at the library that help give more information on parts he wants to know more about (Joy Hakim's work has been one of these used as extra information for more depth at one point).

 

I guess not everyone loves it, nor loves audio format, but here, it has been great. It gets played at home, and sometimes while driving, and when I posted a question about being done with SOTW, and seeking what might come next, the question got answered by my son himself who decided that what was next was to start over again at the beginning of SOTW.

 

We have also added on task cards which so far I've made up myself, but have ordered Creek Edge press ones. The task card (or activities or writing about history or actually reading it) are "school time" history--the CD time is not, since I think it may be too passive. That the CD's are chosen over and over to listen to even when they do not count toward official school time, amazes me. But I understand it. I like them too. I feel like I'm learning things I never before really grasped.

 

We did not do it as one book per year. We started at the beginning of the 1st volume, then did it over again, then on the third time just kept on going through number 4. And have now started again, and are on Vol. 3. More is getting added this time than the first time--a transition toward logic stage that seems to be occurring organically.

 

He also is young enough to greatly enjoy the Mag. Treehouse and fact trackers. And they too tend to lead to seeking more information about various subjects (the back of each book has suggested other sources.)

 

Maybe my child would have loved history anyway, I'll never know for sure, but I think the SOTW and Mag. Treehouse--along with NG resources and our local library-- have been greatly helpful in his coming to love it and wanting to pursue it more.

 

Your youngest, I think, would be best off with SOTW Vol. 1--it is most suited for a very young child. Your older children, like mine, might well go through the whole thing from start to finish. I think it would be very good prep for high school.

 

This is great information to know.....Thrilled to hear how enthusiastic your youngest is with SOTW!! Gives me HIGH HOPES!

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Here's what you could do...

 

Start your oldest on SL G and be open to stretching it over a longer period. Here's why:

 

Get the SOTW AG. Then have all girls together for the SOTW part, giving the youngest the colouring and mapping, the middle one colouring (if she wants it) and mapping, perhaps some written narration. The younger 2 can choose crafts/activities to do and the oldest will have the addition reading from SL but you are keeping everyone together in the same history period with the same spine. The SOTW AG will have plenty of suggested reading for the younger 2.

 

That's what I would do, I think....:tongue_smilie:

 

Unless you really want to do US history by itself at some point...

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That does seem like the most simplest and sensable way to do it!

.....but I would like to start my middle on American History and have her do a state study....I know my oldest will be, and is somewhat at this point now, ready to be on her own with her own history...so maybe I should just let the idea of everyone "together" go. With that said, what if I just let my oldest go with SL G, middle go with American, and youngest just listen in and work on Geography and Map Skills?....Reading and writing are going to be more stressed with him anyways.

Thank you for chimming in.....appreciated greatly!

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You have so much going on! If I were you, I would have everyone on the same history cycle. Sounds like SOTW 3 time period is a good fit for everyone. Have you looked at Bibiloplan? It uses SOTW as one of its spines, but it adds in more reading for older kids and it's seems a lot cheaper than SL or some of those other programs.

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That does seem like the most simplest and sensable way to do it!

.....but I would like to start my middle on American History and have her do a state study....I know my oldest will be, and is somewhat at this point now, ready to be on her own with her own history...so maybe I should just let the idea of everyone "together" go. With that said, what if I just let my oldest go with SL G, middle go with American, and youngest just listen in and work on Geography and Map Skills?....Reading and writing are going to be more stressed with him anyways.

Thank you for chimming in.....appreciated greatly!

 

Ooops! Your youngest is a boy. :blushing: Sorry, but he's just so pretty.:D My ds has been mistaken for a girl a lot. You'd think that would make me pay more attention.:lol:

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I'm using SL G (we're almost done), and I'll be starting H as soon as we finish. I'm using it with all of my boys. We started last year, but due to some non-school-related hiccups, it's taken us longer than a year to finish.

 

It has worked so well for us. I tend to be pretty relaxed with history in the younger years. We used mostly SOTW from the time my oldest was in K, and I always just added new students in, so everyone has stayed on the same time period. We did coloring pages and map work, but not a lot of additional reading or projects. I realized that I wanted my older two boys to have one more trip through world history before we started Omnibus, so we went with SL.

 

Currently, I read Usborne if it's scheduled, poetry, the reader, and the read-aloud out loud. If SOTW is scheduled, they listen to it on CD and do the color page (we're using Map Trek instead of SOTW maps, and there is usually 1 map a week that we do). The older two boys read the Foster books on their own, and they answer a few questions I write for them using the notes in the IG (my goal is for them to be able to write a summary of their Foster reading by the time we finish H).

 

Before we switched to this way of doing it, I read the Foster books aloud, and my older two read the readers by themselves, and there was a period of time where I read everything aloud.

 

All of my boys really enjoy history this way. Last night my youngest two were playing a game, and they kept saying "Juan Olivar!" (a character from Shadow of a Bull, one of our current read alouds).

 

We often listen to SOTW on CD in the van when we're running around. I also have the books they can read if they like. I know that others disagree with using G & H for younger students, but I've found it to be perfect for our family. My younger 3 do the 4/5, 3, and 1 readers from SL, otherwise I might add in reading from the SOTW activity guide.

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You have so much going on! If I were you, I would have everyone on the same history cycle. Sounds like SOTW 3 time period is a good fit for everyone. Have you looked at Bibiloplan? It uses SOTW as one of its spines, but it adds in more reading for older kids and it's seems a lot cheaper than SL or some of those other programs.

 

Bibiloplan wouldn't work for us....though, nicely laid out, but looking for secular or something I can tweak, like SL.

Someone had mentioned to me about using SL 100 American for 7th while younger two are doing American but then where should I go for 8th then high school....unsure still at this point!:confused:

Thank you!

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Ooops! Your youngest is a boy. :blushing: Sorry, but he's just so pretty.:D My ds has been mistaken for a girl a lot. You'd think that would make me pay more attention.:lol:

 

Quite alright....We get this alot when we go anywhere....It's "Hi GIRLS" quite a bit! He is used to it and now speaks up that he's not who they think he is!:001_smile:

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I'm using SL G (we're almost done), and I'll be starting H as soon as we finish. I'm using it with all of my boys. We started last year, but due to some non-school-related hiccups, it's taken us longer than a year to finish.

 

It has worked so well for us. I tend to be pretty relaxed with history in the younger years. We used mostly SOTW from the time my oldest was in K, and I always just added new students in, so everyone has stayed on the same time period. We did coloring pages and map work, but not a lot of additional reading or projects. I realized that I wanted my older two boys to have one more trip through world history before we started Omnibus, so we went with SL.

 

Currently, I read Usborne if it's scheduled, poetry, the reader, and the read-aloud out loud. If SOTW is scheduled, they listen to it on CD and do the color page (we're using Map Trek instead of SOTW maps, and there is usually 1 map a week that we do). The older two boys read the Foster books on their own, and they answer a few questions I write for them using the notes in the IG (my goal is for them to be able to write a summary of their Foster reading by the time we finish H).

 

Before we switched to this way of doing it, I read the Foster books aloud, and my older two read the readers by themselves, and there was a period of time where I read everything aloud.

 

All of my boys really enjoy history this way. Last night my youngest two were playing a game, and they kept saying "Juan Olivar!" (a character from Shadow of a Bull, one of our current read alouds).

 

We often listen to SOTW on CD in the van when we're running around. I also have the books they can read if they like. I know that others disagree with using G & H for younger students, but I've found it to be perfect for our family. My younger 3 do the 4/5, 3, and 1 readers from SL, otherwise I might add in reading from the SOTW activity guide.

 

You have it all figured out it seems....

In SL G and H, do they read all the chapters in SOTW or do they skip around?

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You have it all figured out it seems....

In SL G and H, do they read all the chapters in SOTW or do they skip around?

 

They read them all the chapters, but it's not read every day. It's pretty much straight through, though there might be a time or two where a chapter is read out of order. There are some days where only Foster and/or Usborne are read.

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They read them all the chapters, but it's not read every day. It's pretty much straight through, though there might be a time or two where a chapter is read out of order. There are some days where only Foster and/or Usborne are read.

 

One more question: Is the Usborne book the same book as the one I'm using in Core B+C? If so, is it pretty simple to use Kingfisher(or different) in core G and H instead?

 

As anyone already lined up Kingfisher pages with SL Core G and H(?) already instead of using Usborne book? Would you be willing to share?

:001_smile:

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One more question: Is the Usborne book the same book as the one I'm using in Core B+C? If so, is it pretty simple to use Kingfisher(or different) in core G and H instead?

 

As anyone already lined up Kingfisher pages with SL Core G and H(?) already instead of using Usborne book? Would you be willing to share?

:001_smile:

 

It's a different Usborne World History. I've got Kingfisher on my shelf, but I didn't want to take the time to line it up--it takes me forever to do that kind of thing.

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