Planning SOTW???

[Just Kate]

I will be using SOTW Volume 1 for the first time next year with a 3rd grader. I sat down tonight with the book and AG, with the idea that I would go through and choose supplemental books and activities. But then I got to thinking...we are moving this summer so I have no idea what books the local library will have. As for activities, I don't really know what ds will enjoy doing (I suppose I could guess, but it might be one of those things that I don't really know until we start).

 

I am really looking forward to doing SOTW and I know I will be better at it if I have a plan in place. So I am wondering... do you plan SOTW or just wing it?

 

Thanks! :)

[LEK]

We are starting next year, I am not going to plan it and am hoping that it will be fine to wing it, looks set up fine to get away with this. As with this year (galloping the globe) I will have a rough outline of what we will do each day so that I know in which direction roughly to wing each day lol, plan will look something like: monday read chapter and do narration questions, tuesday do mapping work, thursday do additional readings and research, friday do 1 fun activity.

[GothicHipChick]

I found a lesson plan/schedule online in one of blogs through this forum and we loosely follow that. It is a 2 day a week schedule and it works for us. I don't do the supplemental reading unless the 7 y/o is interested. He isn't the coloring-arts-and-crafts kind either so I skip that too. He is able to answer the comprehension questions and once in a while would come to me and say, "Mommy, did you know that King Narmer so and so..." or "Oh, so Mommy, is that why they call it Nile Delta...". That tells me he is interested enough to keep it going. :) As for the local library in this new place you are moving to, do they have an online catalog? We move a lot (military) so I would use the online catalog of wherever middle of nowhere-ville we will be sent to to check if they have what I needed. I buy the rest online (used). HTH.

[AmyontheFarm]

I used the suggested reading lists as part of my review. I would borrow the suggested books from the library the week we studied the topic and require the kids to read through them during their reading hour. Sometimes the books arrive from the library the same week we are studying that topic, but usually they arrive within two weeks. Then we keep re-reading the books until till it is time to return them to the library (approx. 2 weeks). So, they are constantly being reminded about the topics for up to a month after we actually studied it. For my dd, it definitely is useful, my son just wants to read the Usborne History encyclopedia, sometimes I have to hide it to get him to read anything else.

[lillehei]

With a third grader, I would really go through the AG and see if your dc would even want to do any of the crafts/activities or just pick your favorites. We schedule as follows:

Day 1: Listen and follow along in text to one chapter, some review questions, small narration

Day 2: Review questions, mapping, test

Day 3: Supplemental reading. My 11 yo reads from History Odyssey and my 9 yo reads Usborne Encyclopedia

Day 4: Video

Throughout the week: My 11 yo reads a historical fiction if we can find one and my 9 yo looks at books from the library or he reads a Horrible Histories or You Wouldn't Want to Be Series

 

We love it!

[3peasinapod]

I don't like to have the activities scheduled out, because when we get to the time of doing them, we may not have time or the kids might not like it anymore. I just make sure I read through the sections (probably a section a day) to finish it in a year. Then we pick and choose activities that we have time to and which look interesting.

 

What I do like to plan for are the extra lit/history books. When using just SOTW, I would like to always have a read aloud going. The AG has picture books, nonfiction books, and read aloud suggestions throughout. I might even purchase some read alouds that go along with the time period to make sure I have them. Can you go online to where you are moving and find their library system? Then you can go through all the books suggested and pencil in the library call number. This has saved me loads of time, as when library day comes, I just grab the book and don't have to mess around with call numbers or looking for books they don't have.

 

I hope that helps!

[cschnee]

Do you know the name of your new local library? They probably have an online catalogue where you can look to see what books they have?

[Susie in CA]

Since you have the activity guide I would say just do it. The way did it most of the time:

 

Day 1: Read a section in the book, go through questions orally, do short narration, do a project if anything sounds fun (we used to do all the clay and cooking once)

 

Day 2: Read a section in the book, go through questions orally, do short narration, complete map, extra reading

 

We always did history twice a week. Sometimes we got tired of using the same pattern. When this happened we just started with the project and then did the reading--whatever helped to get us over the slump.

 

We always watch videos as a family during 'free' time. These could be related to history or science or art or....

[mrs.m]

I am really looking forward to doing SOTW and I know I will be better at it if I have a plan in place. So I am wondering... do you plan SOTW or just wing it?

 

Thanks! :)

 

I just wing it. If I see a project and I don't have the supplies, we hit it when we can and use it as review.

 

I go to the library and grab whatever they happen to have on the subject we are reading. Our library rarely has the suggested books but I've found some decent ones on the shelf.

[Harriet Vane]

Sometimes we wing it, and sometimes we plan it. :)

 

For the supplemental books, when we make it to the library we get what books we can and the kids read them throughout the week. I figure any we pick up are a wonderful bonus. I don't schedule our use of them, but they do definitely get used.

 

For the activities, if I am really organized I might sit down ahead of time and mark possible activities for several chapters. Then once we actually get to that chapter, we try to do a few (or not) based on our schedule at that time. If it's an exceptionally busy week with other outside activities, we do less SOTW stuff. Other weeks we enjoy doing something every day. If I haven't had a chance to plan it ahead of time, then I just glance through the chapter on the first day and pick activities then. If there is an activity that is bigger and needs more planning and prep, we might do it on Sat with dh or carry it over to whenever I have time or am ready to do it. It's not a big deal.

 

We typically read half the chapter and do the map activity on our first day. The next day we read the other half and do some sort of activity. Another day that week the kid might read the UILE and KHE pages and perhaps we'll do another activity. The last day of a chapter, ds studies and takes the test. Now that he is in SOTW 4, though, that rhythm has changed to include his outlining the first two days, and ds is way more hands-on with setting up activities himself.

[Walking-Iris]

I used SOTW 1 for the first time with a 3rd grader this year. What I've done is have history 3 days a week. We just read a chapter (I read the whole chapter) and ask the questions in the AG at the end of a section and ask for an oral narration (sometimes he writes it down). I stop after a section if it seems he is tired but keep going with the chapter if he's not. Sometimes he does the coloring page at the same time that we're reading. We do the map after we've read the chapter. So that's one chapter in one day with map and AG pages or two days depending on length of chapter. Sometimes we get two chapters in in one week.

 

I interlibrary loan all of the suggested books. We don't read all of them. Don't let those books stop you from reading SOTW. Some of them are boring. Some of them are too long and complicated for a 3rd grader (much less a 1st grader) imo. Keep in mind that it's assumed you'll cycle back through the 4 books so if you don't read or do all of the activities, you'll get another chance. I don't schedule those books. If they seem interesting I may read one aloud, but usually my ds looks at them on his own, or I read them for myself.

 

One thing I've done is to make marks in my AG beside the books that we especially liked (a purple star) so I can remember when I use it again with my youngest which books were really good.

 

I don't schedule activities either. Some chapters we haven't done anything. Others we've done one or two of the extra activities. At first I tried to do all of them and read all of the extra books---but we got behind fast and so I just streamlined it to reading the text and answering the questions only.

 

You can also go can also go back and do an activity regardless of what chapter you'r eon. Some say that it would be weird to do things out of order but I haven't had it confuse my ds at all. It's a good and sometimes fun review.

 

You can change things too. No way was I going to mummify a chicken so we turned barbies into mummies--they can actually play with those.

 

I've also found that I can't let too many days go by without reading because, like any good story, the interest and mood is lost. I'm actually thinking of reading the next one straight through like an honest to goodness read aloud book. My ds might actually keep his interest level high that way.