History Planning With SOTW Ridiculous Vent!

[pbt1294]

I HATE PLANNING!!!

 

I started a thread last week about lesson plans for SOTW and got some really great helps. Although some are soooo tempting none of them are EXACTLY what I want. I have downloaded at least 6 different lesson plans!

 

You have to understand that I was a Sonlight user for years. I LOVED the IGs. I really liked having my week laid out for me and I had confindence in knowing that everything was planned out. My kiddos wanted more activities, however, and I found myself saying that I didn't have time for any because there was sooooo much reading to do.

 

So what I want are weekly lesson plans using SOTW Vol. 1 as the main spine with one of the other books that are linked to it in the Activity Guides. I want the plans to include Activities from the Activity guide lined up for me. I have this vision of weekly scheduled pages with the read alouds that are listed in the activity guides along with maybe a few other great literary picks. I can see a completed notebook using the activity guide pages at the end of the year. I think it also might be cool to turn the student pages into a spiral bound "workbook" at the beginning of the year.

 

Every schedule seems to have SOTW scheduled with a diff. history or something. They all have aspects that I love, like one has the activities lined up for you. One has comprehension questions and vocabulary all there for you with the answers. One has scheduled just SOTW and one of the Usborne books (what I want) but doesn't use the activity guide.

 

I know, I know, I should just plan my own schedule, but I have 7 kiddos including a 2 month old who nurses constantly! Can't someone just read my mind and write it for me?????:tongue_smilie:

[redsnapper]

Have you looked at this blog yet? It looks very helpful...

 

http://satorismiles.com/curriculum/story-of-the-world-1/

[pbt1294]

Yes, I have looked at that one too. She has done a really great job. I guess all you would need to do is schedule it out for each week. I like the links that she gives too.

 

Currently this is my fav one that I just found today, but I wished it used SOTW's Activity Guide and pages. I might be able to use it anyway. I just like how it is scheduled out. http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic-myths-maps-and-marvels/

 

You have to choose the one that Shedules SOTW as the main spine.

 

I have also downloaded The "Barefoot meanderings" schedule and the one from Classical House of Learning. They are all amazing, but not exaclty what I want.

[LillyMama]

I'm not trying to be challenging, this is truly an earnest question from a mom who just has two first graders and doesn't know the intricacies of what it's like to have so many different kids at different levels... And I've never used boxed curricula, so I'm not sure what you're used to... But I guess I don't get what you mean by lesson plan?

 

I ask because I'm about a month into SOTW Ancients, and I just started blogging at the end of every week what we did, and I'm keeping a reading list. I would be happy to type out more details if I thought people would be interested. I like to write and type and make charts... :D Since I'm on a May-April school year, I could probably get enough done before the fall to stay ahead of people starting then.

 

Do you have a link or a copy of the kind of lesson plan, in another curriculum, that you like? What would you want included in one- a schedule? Specific questions? Step by step instructions? As I've said, I've never seen a lesson plan (outside of the ones I build in HST+) so I'm curious as to what people are looking for.

 

ETA- If you wanted to send me a copy of a generic lesson plan, with a schedule if you have one you want to use, I could try to fill in the blanks as we go these next few months.

Edited May 31, 2012 by LillyMama
After thought

[MamaSheep]

Yes, I have looked at that one too. She has done a really great job. I guess all you would need to do is schedule it out for each week. I like the links that she gives too.

 

Currently this is my fav one that I just found today, but I wished it used SOTW's Activity Guide and pages. I might be able to use it anyway. I just like how it is scheduled out. http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic-myths-maps-and-marvels/

 

You have to choose the one that Shedules SOTW as the main spine.

 

I have also downloaded The "Barefoot meanderings" schedule and the one from Classical House of Learning. They are all amazing, but not exaclty what I want.

 

That's kind of how it seems to go with homeschool schedules, isn't it?

 

The year I was most successful with SOTW was when I had a file folder system. I don't know if that would be helpful for you, or just more trouble.

 

What I did was decide which days we'd be doing what part of the history routine. So for example on Monday during history time we'd read the assigned chapter(s), go through the comprehension questions from the activity guide, and do their narrations (although that year I had the little one doing a minibook for a lapbook for each chapter, and the quizzes, instead of actual narration, but that's a longer story involving balance and accommodations for learning disabilities). Then on Wednesday we'd read the corresponding pages from the history encyclopedias (little one used Usborne, big one used Kingfisher), made notebook pages, and put up timeline figures. Then on Friday we would do an activity from the guide. But you could split up the work differently so you were doing history every day if you wanted. I've just found that we seem to manage better if we do history OR science in a day, but not both on the same day.

 

Anyway, after deciding that rough outline of how the schedule would work for history, I got a file box and a stack of file folders and numbered the folders 1 through 36, one for each week. Then I figured out which chapters would be assigned to which weeks (you could also just do a folder for each chapter instead of a folder for each week, and then just move on to the next chapter when you finish the one you're on). Inside each folder I put as much of what I would need to do history that week as possible. I don't remember exactly what was in there that year, but if I were doing it now I'd probably want to include:

 

• A print-out or copy of the comprehension questions from the activity guide for that chapter.
  
• A copy of the corresponding coloring page from the student pages for each student. Sometimes I'd encourage the kids to color while I read the chapter to them, other times we'd just color them on notebook page day, or just skip them altogether. If they're in the file I can choose to use them or skip them; if they are not in the file they never seem to happen.
  
• A short list of library books I want to add from the literature list in the activity guide (if you're feeling super ambitious and your library has online access you can look in advance to see if they have the books you want, and even write down the call numbers).
  
• Dates to add to the timeline, and/or relevant timeline figures. (You can always add more later if you or your kids find something else that "needs" to be on the timeline, but this way you've at least got the basics covered.)
  
• A copy of the chapter test for any students you're using them with.
  
• Any pre-designed notebook pages you want to use, or blank paper for notebook pages and/or narration. Also the printed, and possibly cut-out lapbook minibooks if you're using those.
  
• A sticky note stuck to the inside front of the file for each child with the history encyclopedia page assignment for that chapter, as noted in the activity guide. Then each week I would stick this on the front of the book so they would know what to read. They do better with sticky notes than checklists for some reason. If your kids are more check-box oriented you could print out whichever one of those schedules you've been looking at that comes closest to what you want, and put those in instead--you could cut the schedule into one-week strips if there are multiple weeks per page. You could do the same thing with assigned historical fiction book reading.
  
• A copy of the instructions for the activity I want us to do, along with any materials that will reasonably fit in the file folder. I would also make a list of materials that are NOT in the folder, and I would place that in the PREVIOUS week's folder so that I know what I will need for next week and can gather supplies ahead of time instead of running around at the last minute.
  

 

You get the idea. So then, each week during history time I would grab my folder and go. I liked it even better than having all the assignments laid out in a chart for me, because not only did I know which pages they were supposed to be doing, the items I needed were right there in my hand. And if (when) something unexpected happened and our schedule got all shuffled around, the prep work had still already been done. I could easily look in my file and say, ok, we've only got two days for history this week, so we're skipping the coloring page, and if I have to choose between a history activity and a science activity, the science activity this week is more interesting so we'll skip the history one, and we'll just do the notebook page and not the test this week--or whatever. On a really bad week I could just say, well we'll read the chapter, we'll stick the timeline figures on, and we're skipping everything else and starting fresh with the next chapter next week--and I'd still know where I was, and what I was "supposed" to be doing.

 

I actually had my weekly science stuff in there too, but I think if I were to do it again (our school arrangements changed the next year--this past year--and I decided to try a different arrangement; I'm seriously considering going back to the folders for next year) I'd have separate files for each subject in case we got off schedule in one but not the other. But whatever floats your boat. This arrangement seems to work really well for "content" subjects. For "skill" subjects, like math and grammar, we just do whatever lesson is next, and work through at whatever pace we wind up going. With my particular kids it's really hard to predict what that might be.

 

Anyway, I hope something in there is helpful. :)

Edited May 31, 2012 by MamaSheep

[kadesmom]

I'll be watching this thread...interested to see more lesson plans.

[LillyMama]

What I did was decide which days we'd be doing what part of the history routine.

Anyway, after deciding that rough outline of how the schedule would work for history, I got a file box and a stack of file folders and numbered the folders 1 through 36, one for each week.

 

We do things very similar. We do history on Mondays and Wednesdays with science on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I actually just posted our schedule on my blog, and you can see how I've broken up the various activities for history- reading/narration in the morning over breakfast, with afternoon blocks on Mondays and Wednesdays for the activities. Activities include map work and writing on Mondays and a project on Wednesday. We take pictures of the project, I put them in a blank Word document on my computer, then print it for them to write a summary on.

 

Every narration, workbook page, craft, picture and summary of projects, reading list, etc is put in their history notebook ala TWTM. We're using three ring binders. I think this is what you were describing regarding the AG pages in a notebook?

 

Instead of the file folder system MamaSheep uses, I use sheet protectors. I copy the various activity pages my kids will need for a few weeks at a time. Each week gets it's own sheet protector, each is placed in the back of their notebooks. On Sunday night, I pull the upcoming week's papers out and put them in the little pocket on the inside cover of the binder.

 

I initially did the same for myself with the review and narration questions, and the directions for the map work and projects. But I find it just as useful, and probably less paper-wasting, to just hold the AG and read directly from it. I think I feel like I have a week-planned-out lesson plan.

 

For me, the key was to look at SOTW as five different aspects: "Text" Reading, Narration, Map Work, Living History Reading and Project. Once I figured out how to split those five things throughout the week, it became less overwhelming. I think if you do something similar- figure out the main aspects of SOTW you want to do, realize that she really does do the same basic things week after week, and then just plan your week from there, maybe the written out lesson plans wouldn't feel so necessary?

 

A strange spin-off question- are you saying you've seen people post the review and narration questions out of the AG guide? Because I thought about typing them out to put them in my blog's weekly summary but then I thought it might violate copyright? The AG says not to print their reading lists, which I feel like I honor by, well, never being able to find the books they list and just finding my own. ;) But I'm curious as to whether it would be okay to type out the prompts...

 

I hope you find what you're looking for.

Edited May 31, 2012 by LillyMama

[mom31257]

I used Biblioplan this year which schedules SOTW with additional readers. It didn't follow the order of the book or give references to the AG. I just looked through the AG myself and decided what I wanted to do for each chapter.

[MamaSheep]

We do things very similar. We do history on Mondays and Wednesdays with science on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I actually just posted our schedule on my blog, and you can see how I've broken up the various activities for history- reading/narration in the morning over breakfast, with afternoon blocks on Mondays and Wednesdays for the activities. Activities include map work and writing on Mondays and a project on Wednesday. We take pictures of the project, I put them in a blank Word document on my computer, then print it for them to write a summary on.

 

Every narration, workbook page, craft, picture and summary of projects, reading list, etc is put in their history notebook ala TWTM. We're using three ring binders. I think this is what you were describing regarding the AG pages in a notebook?

 

Instead of the file folder system MamaSheep uses, I use sheet protectors. I copy the various activity pages my kids will need for a few weeks at a time. Each week gets it's own sheet protector, each is placed in the back of their notebooks. On Sunday night, I pull the upcoming week's papers out and put them in the little pocket on the inside cover of the binder.

 

I initially did the same for myself with the review and narration questions, and the directions for the map work and projects. But I find it just as useful, and probably less paper-wasting, to just hold the AG and read directly from it. I think I feel like I have a week-planned-out lesson plan.

 

For me, the key was to look at SOTW as five different aspects: "Text" Reading, Narration, Map Work, Living History Reading and Project. Once I figured out how to split those five things throughout the week, it became less overwhelming. I think if you do something similar- figure out the main aspects of SOTW you want to do, realize that she really does do the same basic things week after week, and then just plan your week from there, maybe the written out lesson plans wouldn't feel so necessary?

 

A strange spin-off question- are you saying you've seen people post the review and narration questions out of the AG guide? Because I thought about typing them out to put them in my blog's weekly summary but then I thought it might violate copyright? The AG says not to print their reading lists, which I feel like I honor by, well, never being able to find the books they list and just finding my own. ;) But I'm curious as to whether it would be okay to type out the prompts...

 

I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

Maps! I knew I was forgetting something important. :glare:

 

[And you're right, copying all the review and narration questions and publishing them on a blog or in a downloadable file would definitely violate copyright, unless the person had obtained permission from SWB to do that (which I doubt she'd give, because she's smart and wants people to buy her books so she can pay her bills). Even if the person is not making money from it (a common misconception). I was assuming whoever it was had made up their own questions, which would be fine legally, even if somewhat redundant.]

[pbt1294]

Great ideas, guys!!!

 

Mamalilly, if you are at all familiar with Sonlight, that is what I'm used too. Someone basically planning my life for me. I'm easily overwhelmed, but having my week planned out for me like they do really helped me. I liked having something to check off. I know you can fall into a trap like that, but it is what has worked for me in the past. The Sonlight schedules in a grid format all that that you are supposed to read in a week. The closest I have seen to what I want is the bringinguplearners.com guide that I found last night. I may use it and incorporate the AG into it.

 

The guide that I saw that had comprehension and vocab was awesome too. It wasn't copied from the AG though. The questions and vocab were for the scheduled read alouds in that particular program. I think that program was from Classical House of Learning.

 

 

I really LOVE the folder idea. I just want to have it all in a spiral bound book so that is is portable. We do a good bit of visiting family during the school year and I would love to say, "go grab your workbooks". I wonder if I could set up everything in a note book for each kid with pages from the AG maps and tests. My kiddos and I actually like notebooks. :tongue_smilie:

[pbt1294]

That's kind of how it seems to go with homeschool schedules, isn't it?

 

The year I was most successful with SOTW was when I had a file folder system. I don't know if that would be helpful for you, or just more trouble.

 

What I did was decide which days we'd be doing what part of the history routine. So for example on Monday during history time we'd read the assigned chapter(s), go through the comprehension questions from the activity guide, and do their narrations (although that year I had the little one doing a minibook for a lapbook for each chapter, and the quizzes, instead of actual narration, but that's a longer story involving balance and accommodations for learning disabilities). Then on Wednesday we'd read the corresponding pages from the history encyclopedias (little one used Usborne, big one used Kingfisher), made notebook pages, and put up timeline figures. Then on Friday we would do an activity from the guide. But you could split up the work differently so you were doing history every day if you wanted. I've just found that we seem to manage better if we do history OR science in a day, but not both on the same day.

 

Anyway, after deciding that rough outline of how the schedule would work for history, I got a file box and a stack of file folders and numbered the folders 1 through 36, one for each week. Then I figured out which chapters would be assigned to which weeks (you could also just do a folder for each chapter instead of a folder for each week, and then just move on to the next chapter when you finish the one you're on). Inside each folder I put as much of what I would need to do history that week as possible. I don't remember exactly what was in there that year, but if I were doing it now I'd probably want to include:

 

 

• A print-out or copy of the comprehension questions from the activity guide for that chapter.

• A copy of the corresponding coloring page from the student pages for each student. Sometimes I'd encourage the kids to color while I read the chapter to them, other times we'd just color them on notebook page day, or just skip them altogether. If they're in the file I can choose to use them or skip them; if they are not in the file they never seem to happen.

• A short list of library books I want to add from the literature list in the activity guide (if you're feeling super ambitious and your library has online access you can look in advance to see if they have the books you want, and even write down the call numbers).

• Dates to add to the timeline, and/or relevant timeline figures. (You can always add more later if you or your kids find something else that "needs" to be on the timeline, but this way you've at least got the basics covered.)

• A copy of the chapter test for any students you're using them with.

• Any pre-designed notebook pages you want to use, or blank paper for notebook pages and/or narration. Also the printed, and possibly cut-out lapbook minibooks if you're using those.

• A sticky note stuck to the inside front of the file for each child with the history encyclopedia page assignment for that chapter, as noted in the activity guide. Then each week I would stick this on the front of the book so they would know what to read. They do better with sticky notes than checklists for some reason. If your kids are more check-box oriented you could print out whichever one of those schedules you've been looking at that comes closest to what you want, and put those in instead--you could cut the schedule into one-week strips if there are multiple weeks per page. You could do the same thing with assigned historical fiction book reading.

• A copy of the instructions for the activity I want us to do, along with any materials that will reasonably fit in the file folder. I would also make a list of materials that are NOT in the folder, and I would place that in the PREVIOUS week's folder so that I know what I will need for next week and can gather supplies ahead of time instead of running around at the last minute.

 

You get the idea. So then, each week during history time I would grab my folder and go. I liked it even better than having all the assignments laid out in a chart for me, because not only did I know which pages they were supposed to be doing, the items I needed were right there in my hand. And if (when) something unexpected happened and our schedule got all shuffled around, the prep work had still already been done. I could easily look in my file and say, ok, we've only got two days for history this week, so we're skipping the coloring page, and if I have to choose between a history activity and a science activity, the science activity this week is more interesting so we'll skip the history one, and we'll just do the notebook page and not the test this week--or whatever. On a really bad week I could just say, well we'll read the chapter, we'll stick the timeline figures on, and we're skipping everything else and starting fresh with the next chapter next week--and I'd still know where I was, and what I was "supposed" to be doing.

 

I actually had my weekly science stuff in there too, but I think if I were to do it again (our school arrangements changed the next year--this past year--and I decided to try a different arrangement; I'm seriously considering going back to the folders for next year) I'd have separate files for each subject in case we got off schedule in one but not the other. But whatever floats your boat. This arrangement seems to work really well for "content" subjects. For "skill" subjects, like math and grammar, we just do whatever lesson is next, and work through at whatever pace we wind up going. With my particular kids it's really hard to predict what that might be.

 

Anyway, I hope something in there is helpful. :)

 

This is a great guide for planning!!! Thanks for writing it all out for me!

[pbt1294]

Here is the linkk to the last planned curriculum that I really liked again. It doesn't have the Comprehension questions for the scheduled read alouds, but it is still pretty cool!

 

http://bringinguplearners.com/myths-maps-and-marvels-download-sotw-version-selection-page-2/

[MamaSheep]

Great ideas, guys!!!

 

Mamalilly, if you are at all familiar with Sonlight, that is what I'm used too. Someone basically planning my life for me. I'm easily overwhelmed, but having my week planned out for me like they do really helped me. I liked having something to check off. I know you can fall into a trap like that, but it is what has worked for me in the past. The Sonlight schedules in a grid format all that that you are supposed to read in a week. The closest I have seen to what I want is the bringinguplearners.com guide that I found last night. I may use it and incorporate the AG into it.

 

The guide that I saw that had comprehension and vocab was awesome too. It wasn't copied from the AG though. The questions and vocab were for the scheduled read alouds in that particular program. I think that program was from Classical House of Learning.

 

 

I really LOVE the folder idea. I just want to have it all in a spiral bound book so that is is portable. We do a good bit of visiting family during the school year and I would love to say, "go grab your workbooks". I wonder if I could set up everything in a note book for each kid with pages from the AG maps and tests. My kiddos and I actually like notebooks. :tongue_smilie:

 

I think you definitely could set it up in notebooks or make spiral bound or comb bound workbooks. I use file folders because with my particular kids I've needed a lot (a LOT!!!) of flexibility built into what we do. Some days we plow through three days worth of work for a subject in half an hour and it leaves my head spinning, and other days there's just no way we're going to possibly make any real progress. (I call these "high autism quotient days"...har har.) The folders make it easy to drop things without anyone feeling bad about it, or to grab the next folder and fly ahead.

 

But if things were more predictable around here (and increasingly they are) I think it would be great to pull together all the same materials and make workbooks. I might use folders to collect all the stuff by week or by chapter, just to keep it organized until I was ready to put the books together. If it were me, I'd probably use colored paper to segment the student books into week or chapter sections (maybe with a weekly checklist on the colored page if I was feeling ambitious), and put a coloring page, narration/outlining/notebook page (probably with a space for a picture and lines for writing underneath), and map, and maybe a test, depending on the age of the child. And any other fun stuff I'd come across that I wanted to add in, like History pockets activity pages. I might add a page for photos of the weekly activity, or I might just include blank pages in the back of the book for a project photo gallery. Since I have the HTTA timeline figures on disk I'd probably also put the week's worth of timeline figures on a page that could be torn out of the notebook and cut up, and then have a multi-page foldout timeline in the front or back of the book.

 

Hmm....fun to think about.

Edited May 31, 2012 by MamaSheep

[pbt1294]

What timeline CD do you use??? "HTTA"????

[FairProspects]

Alright, I've done SOTW 1 in Sonlight format and I'd be happy to share it with you, with the caveats that we went slowly, did not cover the whole book in 36 weeks (but we were close), and the additional reading/books that I pulled from the AG are those that were available in my library. My plans also have the science & science materials we were using at the time included, so you'd have to ignore those rows.

Edited May 31, 2012 by FairProspects

[specialkmom]

Hmm, I started another thread about SL Core B and SOTW, and was assured SOTW was pretty open and go. After reading this it doesn't sound like it. Does Sonlight plan days and SOTW plan weeks?

 

I would like to see your plan Fairprospects.

[ktgrok]

Hmm, what I did was schedule, but not use page numbers. So I scheduled out the reading using one I found online, and put story of the world reading on Mondays and Tuesdays each week. Thursdays were for Kingfisher reading, and I just put in my lesson plan "do assigned pages in Kingfisher and write 5 facts". Fridays were timeline/map/activity. And that is all I wrote. It was easy enough to figure out which map/timeline figures/etc...I didn't have to have them written out.

[hsmom2011]

I used Biblioplan this year which schedules SOTW with additional readers. It didn't follow the order of the book or give references to the AG. I just looked through the AG myself and decided what I wanted to do for each chapter.

 

:iagree: This is what we did, and so far it has been dd's best year for history.

[MamaSheep]

Hmm, I started another thread about SL Core B and SOTW, and was assured SOTW was pretty open and go. After reading this it doesn't sound like it. Does Sonlight plan days and SOTW plan weeks?

 

I would like to see your plan Fairprospects.

 

Sonlight plans days (which would so never work here, though I look over that fence and drool on a regular basis), and the SOTW activity guide plans by chapter, but you have to decide when you're going to do which chapter. You CAN plan it out by day, or by routine (Mondays=reading, Tuesdays=writing about it, etc.), or you can just schedule history time, and when it's history time you can pick up the book and do whatever the next thing is. I have to do some advanced planning and prep work or things just don't happen around here. When ds was younger and we were doing SOTW I'd totally lose him if I had to go in the other room to make a copy of a coloring page or something. Not that I could ever get that child to color. He has a mind of his own, that one. Some days I'm not sure it's even the same species as mine. But he's a great kid, I just had to figure out a method of planning that allowed for his style of being. Sonlight would have been a nightmare. SOTW worked well for us.

[MamaSheep]

What timeline CD do you use??? "HTTA"????

 

http://homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/timeline.htm

 

It's available as printed materials too, but I knew we'd be using them a lot so I went ahead and bought the disk. I really like it. It has several different versions of each figure. You can print the same pre-arranged pages you'd get in the pre-printed package, or you can print individual figures, either with just a date and title, or with a little summary blurb. You can also make them any size you want, like two-inch notebook timeline figures, card sized figures for a larger wall timeline, or even full-page pictures for coloring. You can also add them to reports and things. I'm a fan.

 

Also, I tend to make my own timelines in Word so they'll wind up the size and format I want that year. There's a nice looking timeline book available through the same company that makes the figures, but I've never bought one.

[FairProspects]

Hmm. My schedules are in Excel and it doesn't appear the forum software will let me load an Excel file as an attachment. I can send a sample of the first week to those who pm me with an email addy.

[pbt1294]

Alright, I've done SOTW 1 in Sonlight format and I'd be happy to share it with you, with the caveats that we went slowly, did not cover the whole book in 36 weeks (but we were close), and the additional reading/books that I pulled from the AG are those that were available in my library. My plans also have the science & science materials we were using at the time included, so you'd have to ignore those rows.

 

I would LOOOOOVE to see what you did! I'm pming you my email if you have it to share!!!!:001_smile:

[acablue]

Ah, I was thinking we'd just go with the flow with SOTW this year, but you've scared me into figuring out a plan. Thanks. :tongue_smilie:

[pbt1294]

Ah, I was thinking we'd just go with the flow with SOTW this year, but you've scared me into figuring out a plan. Thanks. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Sooooooooo soooorrrrryyyy!!!! :tongue_smilie:

 

I will admit that I am one of those that likes to make things more difficult than they are.

[pbt1294]

Just got the plans! Can't wait to read through them!!!

[pbt1294]

Hmm. My schedules are in Excel and it doesn't appear the forum software will let me load an Excel file as an attachment. I can send a sample of the first week to those who pm me with an email addy.

 

 

I'm really digging on them so far!!! I like how when I print them out I have room at the bottom for notes and whatever. I can just delete the science too from the spreadsheet.

[QuirkyKidAcademy]

Sean, we tried to just go with the flow in SOTW v1 this year. It didn't work well for *us* but might for you. Try mapping out the first couple chapters and see what you think.

 

Amy, thanks for that mega-post about your file planning. I think that is what I need to do this year. Thanks!

[QuirkyKidAcademy]

Does anyone know of NOTEbooking pages for SOTW v1? Lapbooking makes my son's eyes cross.

 

TIA!

[pbt1294]

Does anyone know of NOTEbooking pages for SOTW v1? Lapbooking makes my son's eyes cross.

 

TIA!

 

Try these:

 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/kay-barre/sotw-i-workbook-pages-two-day-a-week-format/ebook/product-3018696.html

[MamaSheep]

Does anyone know of NOTEbooking pages for SOTW v1? Lapbooking makes my son's eyes cross.

 

TIA!

 

I didn't, but I just googled and found these:

 

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking_history_geography.shtm

[mrs.m]

Ah, I was thinking we'd just go with the flow with SOTW this year, but you've scared me into figuring out a plan. Thanks. :tongue_smilie:

 

Honestly, I do this. I look ahead to what we will be studying and load up on library books that cover the topics and then we start reading and reading. I feel like it's ok that they read a book about Tutenkamen yesterday but that we haven't even read the SOTW chapter yet. I look at the activity guide before I run errands each week and pick up anything I need for projects if we are doing a project. (we don't do many).

 

I found the online plans (and activity book) to often contain out of print books and books that we couldn't get at the library. I don't mind buying some really great books but our non-fiction collection is gettng out of hand! So I'm over trying to ILL books, I just take what's on the shelf. Some are duds and some are excellent!

 

I'm guess I work better in fly by the seat of my pants mode. :lol: Schedules always make me feel behind.

 

Pbt: has anyone linked you to: http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/history/ancient/books.html? It has SOTW, AG, and read alouds scheduled. Just ignore the Mystery of History parts. ;) (not yelling. I just didn't want you to miss it from my ramble above. LOL!)

[mrs.m]

Does anyone know of NOTEbooking pages for SOTW v1? Lapbooking makes my son's eyes cross.

 

TIA!

 

I love these posted in this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=387509&highlight=sotw+notebooking

[Joyoflearning]

Alright, I've done SOTW 1 in Sonlight format and I'd be happy to share it with you, with the caveats that we went slowly, did not cover the whole book in 36 weeks (but we were close), and the additional reading/books that I pulled from the AG are those that were available in my library. My plans also have the science & science materials we were using at the time included, so you'd have to ignore those rows.

 

I will PM you!

 

I HATE PLANNING!!!

 

I started a thread last week about lesson plans for SOTW and got some really great helps. Although some are soooo tempting none of them are EXACTLY what I want. I have downloaded at least 6 different lesson plans!

 

Every schedule seems to have SOTW scheduled with a diff. history or something. They all have aspects that I love, like one has the activities lined up for you. One has comprehension questions and vocabulary all there for you with the answers. One has scheduled just SOTW and one of the Usborne books (what I want) but doesn't use the activity guide.

 

I know, I know, I should just plan my own schedule, but I have 7 kiddos including a 2 month old who nurses constantly! Can't someone just read my mind and write it for me?????:tongue_smilie:

 

I know exactly what you mean and actually posted about the same thing a few months ago. I have been driving myself crazy trying to make my own schedule. I've tried to combine every resource. The problem is that I can never do it all and I have a hard time picking and choosing. This is why I have not taken on TOG. Instead of it planned out as a week for me to decide what to do each day, I need individual days planned. I want it "open and go" so I can't just wait until that day to decide which aspects to do. I want a schedule that says for example:

Day 1: Read ___ section of ch. 1 and do coloring page from ch. 1 AG and do narration pages for the section. Pick a read aloud from Ag and read one fourth of it. Make sure to have any supplemental lit available for child to read on their own.

Day 2: Read ____ section of Ch.1. Do narration page. Do map work for this chapter. Read a section of the read aloud. Have child pick a book to read on their own.

Day 3: Read a section of the read-aloud. Read supplemental lit. from Ch. 1 of AG. Do one of the projects listed in AG. (Say which project and supplies needed) or watch ________video about the subject.

Day 4: Read 1st section of Ch.2 and do coloring page and narration.

 

I don't do well when it's tied to a day of the week because if something comes up, then I'm thrown off my whole schedule. I like to just continue on to the next day. I don't think that what I want would be a copyright issue as it doesn't give the material being read, the specific questions asked, or the directions/ explanations of the projects.

[pbt1294]

I didn't, but I just googled and found these:

 

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking_history_geography.shtm

 

 

oooooh!!!! LOVE THESE!!!! Can't believe in all my searching over the past week, I haven't found these!

[pbt1294]

Honestly, I do this. I look ahead to what we will be studying and load up on library books that cover the topics and then we start reading and reading. I feel like it's ok that they read a book about Tutenkamen yesterday but that we haven't even read the SOTW chapter yet. I look at the activity guide before I run errands each week and pick up anything I need for projects if we are doing a project. (we don't do many).

 

I found the online plans (and activity book) to often contain out of print books and books that we couldn't get at the library. I don't mind buying some really great books but our non-fiction collection is gettng out of hand! So I'm over trying to ILL books, I just take what's on the shelf. Some are duds and some are excellent!

 

 

 

I'm guess I work better in fly by the seat of my pants mode. :lol: Schedules always make me feel behind.

 

Pbt: has anyone linked you to: http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/history/ancient/books.html? It has SOTW, AG, and read alouds scheduled. Just ignore the Mystery of History parts. ;) (not yelling. I just didn't want you to miss it from my ramble above. LOL!)

 

Yes, I drooled over those for awhile. These are one of the guides that was almost exactly what I wanted! LOL!!!

 

I wish I could fly by the seat of my pants. Maybe because I have so many kids I feel overwhelmed. I sometimes feel like I get left behind too with schedules.

[pbt1294]

I know exactly what you mean and actually posted about the same thing a few months ago. I have been driving myself crazy trying to make my own schedule. I've tried to combine every resource. The problem is that I can never do it all and I have a hard time picking and choosing. This is why I have not taken on TOG. Instead of it planned out as a week for me to decide what to do each day, I need individual days planned. I want it "open and go" so I can't just wait until that day to decide which aspects to do. I want a schedule that says for example:

Day 1: Read ___ section of ch. 1 and do coloring page from ch. 1 AG and do narration pages for the section. Pick a read aloud from Ag and read one fourth of it. Make sure to have any supplemental lit available for child to read on their own.

Day 2: Read ____ section of Ch.1. Do narration page. Do map work for this chapter. Read a section of the read aloud. Have child pick a book to read on their own.

Day 3: Read a section of the read-aloud. Read supplemental lit. from Ch. 1 of AG. Do one of the projects listed in AG. (Say which project and supplies needed) or watch ________video about the subject.

Day 4: Read 1st section of Ch.2 and do coloring page and narration.

 

I don't do well when it's tied to a day of the week because if something comes up, then I'm thrown off my whole schedule. I like to just continue on to the next day. I don't think that what I want would be a copyright issue as it doesn't give the material being read, the specific questions asked, or the directions/ explanations of the projects.

__________________

 

 

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joyoflearning]

 

Pbt: has anyone linked you to: http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/history/ancient/books.html? It has SOTW, AG, and read alouds scheduled. Just ignore the Mystery of History parts. ;) (not yelling. I just didn't want you to miss it from my ramble above. LOL!)

 

Thanks for this! I had tried to see that schedule in the past but it wouldn't open. This might work with a little tweaking.

[QuirkyKidAcademy]

Thanks for all the notebooking suggestions. I have lots to look at now!

[busymotherof4]

We are using the plans from elemental science for next year. It doesn't cover the whole STOW book from what I can tell but seems like a nice balance.

http://elementalscience.blogspot.com/2008/06/free-stuff.html

Having a new baby in Aug and 2 older children (6th and 8th) who are following state of CA curriculum I just wanted easy. I have a list of supplies for each week and a short list of books to get. The only book I have switched out is using Roman Diary vs Who are the Romans. I get my books from a charter school but was able to give a list and all were found on Amazon. Every thing is in a doable chunk. My soon to be 6 year old works for short periods of time best so this looks perfect for him.

I am also getting STOW on CD to let him listen to over the year so he will hear the whole thing but we will only work through the listed chapters and that seems fine with me for 1st grade.

[boscopup]

Ah, I was thinking we'd just go with the flow with SOTW this year, but you've scared me into figuring out a plan. Thanks. :tongue_smilie:

 

You can go with the flow. SOTW is very easy, open and go. It really doesn't *require* much planning at all. I think the OP may be overthinking things a bit (I've BTDT! :lol:).

 

Here is what I recommend:

 

-Print out any mapwork, notebooking pages, etc. that you plan to use. File them in order, so they're ready to go.

-Go through the AG book lists and check which books are available at your library. I made an Excel spreadsheet, and just listed the week, topic, and book. This list isn't useful to anyone else, of course, because it's completely library dependent. It's something that each person has to do for themselves (plus you can't share AG book lists due to copyright).

-Go through AG and pick ONE project to do for each chapter. Though I ended up not doing any projects after a while. :tongue_smilie: Again, which project you choose is going to depend on your family and what you like to do. My picks may not be the same as yours.

-Do history 3 days per week. Read one section each day, do the oral narration per the AG. If you are at the end of the chapter, do the mapwork and a project (optional). If you do one section per day, rather than trying to do a chapter each week, you can easily do all 42 chapters in a 36 week school year. I forget how many sections there were, but I'm thinking it was actually a little less than 36x3.

-Put history-related library books in a book basket and read them daily.

 

Really, SOTW is easy to do. Don't overthink it. Just do the next thing. If you have a routine, you don't need a schedule. Or if you need the one section per day thing scheduled out, just make it. It's pretty easy. SOTW is not as difficult to schedule as a bunch of living books would be.

 

Also, I put SOTW and Usborne into HST+, so it was all there for me, easy to know what to do. I labeled them by chapter and section (like chapter 1, section 1; chapter 1, section 2; etc.), and then I could just grab 3 assignments and submit them to the assignment grid for the week. It didn't matter whether they were spanning two chapters or not.

[FairProspects]

You can go with the flow. SOTW is very easy, open and go. It really doesn't *require* much planning at all. I think the OP may be overthinking things a bit (I've BTDT! :lol:).

 

With all due respect, I really think this depends on how much reading you want to get through, how particular you are about which books you want to read when, and how many projects you do.

 

If I'm doing a project that involves boiling walnuts to get secret ink, I need to know way in advance which week I need them because they are typically only sold around the holidays. More than one of our projects has been foiled because I wasn't prepared, so I like to have all the supplies written out in advance.

 

Similarly, if I want to read a book that has a 6-12 week hold at our library, I darn well better have it planned out when to request it so the timing is somewhat right. If you are more of a go with the flow type of person, it may not matter to you, but I like to have the week-at-a-glance with everything in front of me so it is more grab and go, and we get so much more accomplished when I plan ahead.

 

But then my kids' worst learning modality is verbal, and just reading the book aloud with no pictures would ensure zero retention around here. We have to do the supplemental reading and projects for them to make the connections and form the pegs.

Edited May 31, 2012 by FairProspects

[kadesmom]

Interesting links.. Going to check them all out.

[MamaSheep]

You can go with the flow. SOTW is very easy, open and go. It really doesn't *require* much planning at all. I think the OP may be overthinking things a bit (I've BTDT! :lol:).

 

Here is what I recommend:

 

-Print out any mapwork, notebooking pages, etc. that you plan to use. File them in order, so they're ready to go.

-Go through the AG book lists and check which books are available at your library. I made an Excel spreadsheet, and just listed the week, topic, and book. This list isn't useful to anyone else, of course, because it's completely library dependent. It's something that each person has to do for themselves (plus you can't share AG book lists due to copyright).

-Go through AG and pick ONE project to do for each chapter. Though I ended up not doing any projects after a while. :tongue_smilie: Again, which project you choose is going to depend on your family and what you like to do. My picks may not be the same as yours.

-Do history 3 days per week. Read one section each day, do the oral narration per the AG. If you are at the end of the chapter, do the mapwork and a project (optional). If you do one section per day, rather than trying to do a chapter each week, you can easily do all 42 chapters in a 36 week school year. I forget how many sections there were, but I'm thinking it was actually a little less than 36x3.

-Put history-related library books in a book basket and read them daily.

 

Really, SOTW is easy to do. Don't overthink it. Just do the next thing. If you have a routine, you don't need a schedule. Or if you need the one section per day thing scheduled out, just make it. It's pretty easy. SOTW is not as difficult to schedule as a bunch of living books would be.

 

Also, I put SOTW and Usborne into HST+, so it was all there for me, easy to know what to do. I labeled them by chapter and section (like chapter 1, section 1; chapter 1, section 2; etc.), and then I could just grab 3 assignments and submit them to the assignment grid for the week. It didn't matter whether they were spanning two chapters or not.

 

Ah well, one gal's overthinking is another gal's adequately thinking things through, I guess.

 

To me, using HST+, and checking ALL the books on the AG book list to see if my library has them is WAAAY overthinking things. It's so much easier just to toss everything I need for a week in a file folder, and to jot down a couple of topics from the chapter on a sticky note to take with us on library day, get whatever interesting books are currently on the shelf in the library on the subject, and jot down what we read, instead of planning it ahead (yes, you do get some duds that way, but that makes for some good lessons on why some books are better than others). It would drive me nuts to try and schedule supplementary reading only to find out the book I had scheduled for the next two weeks was already checked out by someone else, or that someone else has it on hold when I need it. Having the work divvied up by weeks helps me stay on track through the school year so I can get through all the material I'd like to cover instead of doing volume 1 for 3 years. But you could just as easily divide it up by chapter and just do whatever's next in the allotted time. It depends on what your personal preferences are. I can definitely see the appeal in having your daily work for a whole year worked out in advance. It would never work around here, we'd be off schedule by the first afternoon. But it doesn't really sound to me like more bother than putting everything into HST+. We all have our own planning styles, and we all have different strengths and weaknesses and mental processes that influence what we like to have prepared and in front of us when it's time to teach a lesson. I tried HST+ for a while and it drove me nuts. By the time I had all the information entered into the computer I was already tired of the subject matter and ready to move on, and I STILL had to go make the darn copies, and then teach the lesson. It was a recipe for burnout for me. But I know lots of people love it.

 

But absolutely you CAN just go with the flow. One of the things I think is really brilliant about how SOTW is set up is how flexible the planning can be. It can absolutely be an open and go, go with the flow kind of program, but there's also absolutely nothing wrong with planning things out in advance so when you're having one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad homeschool days you can just go on autopilot and not have to figure out where you left off and what you need to move ahead. That kind of planning derails me every time--as I have reminded myself this year by just making lists of assignments in order and assuming we could just do the next thing--ds and I just don't seem to work that way, as appealing as it is; we really need to be able to say "this week we'll study as much about X as there's time for, and next week we will move on, whether we've done everything on the list or not".

 

I completely agree with you about not trying to do all the activities in the book, though. We would never finish if we did that. What I've found works best for me is to first decide how much time during my school week I want to spend doing projects. For me, I've decided I have only one project per week in me these days, and that's it. And I need to split that between science and history. So we'll do a science project one week, and a history project the next week. And if there's extra time, or the kids are sitting around bored on a Saturday or something, I can always pull out one of the books and do an activity we skipped, and call it review.

 

Yep, we all have our own styles. I've really found that to maintain sanity I need to take the approach of figuring out how big my "time containers" are for each subject, and THEN deciding what assignments and activities I think will fit in the "containers", instead of finding every fun and interesting thing we could possible do relating to a particular subject, and then trying to find the time to do all of them. But I have noticed that other people think and work differently than I do, and it seems to work out fine for them.

Edited June 1, 2012 by MamaSheep

[boscopup]

With all due respect, I really think this depends on how much reading you want to get through, how particular you are about which books you want to read when, and how many projects you do.

 

An excel spreadsheet can tell you that. As I said, I put it all in HST+, and just assigned it every 3 days. Easy peasy. You can do that with a spreadsheet or something else also.

 

I put books on hold. It was never a problem. We didn't do many projects, but when we did, it wasn't a problem because I knew that it was x many sessions from now, and since we do history 3 days a week, it'd be y week.

[LillyMama]

Yep, we all have our own styles. I've really found that to maintain sanity I need to take the approach of figuring out how big my "time containers" are for each subject, and THEN deciding what assignments and activities I think will fit in the "containers", instead of finding every fun and interesting thing we could possible do relating to a particular subject, and then trying to find the time to do all of them.

 

That's what works for me, too. But then I've never done a boxed curriculum or seen a real lesson plan. So maybe if I had, I might love it, but I think I'd honestly go nuts as I'd want to check every box. And I wouldn't be able to check every box and the perfectionist in me would die a little bit.

 

I think that's what makes a switch to SOTW hard for some- it seems the boxed curricula provide things that will consistently take the same amount of time, and they tell you what time that should be. If you got used to that method, and then picked up SOTW, you'd see that sometimes the SOTW chapters are 2 pages, sometimes 6. So planning becomes a little more complicated. If you'd not comfortable shrugging your shoulders and saying, "Guess the reading will take twice as long this week, we won't do as much literature or a project" then SOTW seems less open and go. At least, that's what I'm getting from my friend who was telling me about her switch from SL to SOTW just today.

[boscopup]

Ah well, one gal's overthinking is another gal's adequately thinking things through, I guess.

 

Agreed. :)

 

To me, using HST+, and checking ALL the books on the AG book list to see if my library has them is WAAAY overthinking things.

 

:lol:

 

Of course, I go to a SMALL branch library that is part of a much larger system (several branches). There is probably a 10% chance of there being anything related to the topic we're studying at my particular branch the day I go. I have to put on hold anything I really want to use. I don't get concerned if someone has the books on hold. I just go through ahead of time to see which books they have and put those on hold before library day IF they're available. If they're not, no worries. If they are available, they'll be there within the week for me to pick up. We read them at our leisure. They are purely supplemental, so I'm pretty relaxed about it. I just do the library catalog checking ahead of time so I don't have to do it every week. I can't just walk into my library and find a book on xyz topic. It's too small to do that. Maybe if I went to the main library I might have a better chance, but that's twice as far away, and I'm already driving 20 minutes to get to this one. ;)

 

I can definitely see the appeal in having your daily work for a whole year worked out in advance. It would never work around here, we'd be off schedule by the first afternoon.

 

Me too. That's why I use HST+ - dates aren't attached. I just submit things each week.

[MamaSheep]

Agreed. :)

 

 

 

:lol:

 

Of course, I go to a SMALL branch library that is part of a much larger system (several branches). There is probably a 10% chance of there being anything related to the topic we're studying at my particular branch the day I go. I have to put on hold anything I really want to use. I don't get concerned if someone has the books on hold. I just go through ahead of time to see which books they have and put those on hold before library day IF they're available. If they're not, no worries. If they are available, they'll be there within the week for me to pick up. We read them at our leisure. They are purely supplemental, so I'm pretty relaxed about it. I just do the library catalog checking ahead of time so I don't have to do it every week. I can't just walk into my library and find a book on xyz topic. It's too small to do that. Maybe if I went to the main library I might have a better chance, but that's twice as far away, and I'm already driving 20 minutes to get to this one. ;)

 

 

 

Me too. That's why I use HST+ - dates aren't attached. I just submit things each week.

 

Yeah, but you still have to type it up. ;)

 

Part of my problem is I'm a little burnt out and just the thought of any sort of planning right now makes me want to crawl back in bed and stay there. I'm taking this week off, but next week I have to pull myself together and be productive. :glare:

[sagira]

Hmm, what I did was schedule, but not use page numbers. So I scheduled out the reading using one I found online, and put story of the world reading on Mondays and Tuesdays each week. Thursdays were for Kingfisher reading, and I just put in my lesson plan "do assigned pages in Kingfisher and write 5 facts". Fridays were timeline/map/activity. And that is all I wrote. It was easy enough to figure out which map/timeline figures/etc...I didn't have to have them written out.

 

This is what we do.

[sagira]

Hmm, what I did was schedule, but not use page numbers. So I scheduled out the reading using one I found online, and put story of the world reading on Mondays and Tuesdays each week. Thursdays were for Kingfisher reading, and I just put in my lesson plan "do assigned pages in Kingfisher and write 5 facts". Fridays were timeline/map/activity. And that is all I wrote. It was easy enough to figure out which map/timeline figures/etc...I didn't have to have them written out.

 

This is what we did with SOTW 1 and 2. To us it worked as open and go. The coming year I'm going to try History Odyssey Early Modern Level 1, which uses SOTW, but it is basically a checklist of things to do each day. It does include maps and activities, so perhaps worth taking a look for you. Pandia Press has a 10-week guarantee to try the pdf. This is what we're doing.

[Jungle Mama]

The year I was most successful with SOTW was when I had a file folder system. I don't know if that would be helpful for you, or just more trouble.

 

<snipped>

I'd probably want to include:

 

• A print-out or copy of the comprehension questions from the activity guide for that chapter.
  
• A copy of the corresponding coloring page from the student pages for each student. Sometimes I'd encourage the kids to color while I read the chapter to them, other times we'd just color them on notebook page day, or just skip them altogether. If they're in the file I can choose to use them or skip them; if they are not in the file they never seem to happen.
  
• A short list of library books I want to add from the literature list in the activity guide (if you're feeling super ambitious and your library has online access you can look in advance to see if they have the books you want, and even write down the call numbers).
  
• Dates to add to the timeline, and/or relevant timeline figures. (You can always add more later if you or your kids find something else that "needs" to be on the timeline, but this way you've at least got the basics covered.)
  
• A copy of the chapter test for any students you're using them with.
  
• Any pre-designed notebook pages you want to use, or blank paper for notebook pages and/or narration. Also the printed, and possibly cut-out lapbook minibooks if you're using those.
  
• A sticky note stuck to the inside front of the file for each child with the history encyclopedia page assignment for that chapter, as noted in the activity guide. Then each week I would stick this on the front of the book so they would know what to read. They do better with sticky notes than checklists for some reason. If your kids are more check-box oriented you could print out whichever one of those schedules you've been looking at that comes closest to what you want, and put those in instead--you could cut the schedule into one-week strips if there are multiple weeks per page. You could do the same thing with assigned historical fiction book reading.
  
• A copy of the instructions for the activity I want us to do, along with any materials that will reasonably fit in the file folder. I would also make a list of materials that are NOT in the folder, and I would place that in the PREVIOUS week's folder so that I know what I will need for next week and can gather supplies ahead of time instead of running around at the last minute.
  

 

<snipped>

 

Anyway, I hope something in there is helpful. :)

 

This was absolutely very helpful Amy. Thank you for taking the time to type out a detailed description. I can see that working for me.

 

As for the OP (still haven't read all the replies) have you tried Homeschool Tracker? It is very easy to create a schedule in it (known as a Lesson Plan) and put only the resources in that you want.

 

Best wishes

Jen in Oz