staceyobu Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Do you put sections you want to read each day into some sort of planning device? Do you look up in advance what books your library has? Do you select activities ahead of time? Or do you just do the next thing as you go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I do virtually no planning. There are 42 chapters, and 135 sections. I figured out when I wanted to end, and approximately how many sections a week we had to do to get there and then started in. When we finished a chapter (reading, questions, narration, map work) I would look through the activities for the next one to see if there were any that I wanted to do and that we needed supplies for. Every Friday I put books on hold at the library to pick up the next Tuesday (not just history). Occasionally I will read aloud all or part of one of those, but mostly they are around for the dc to read or flip through on their time. That's about it for planning. In retrospect I would have gone faster through some of the early sections that "set the stage" - what is history, some of the ones focused on folk tales, etc., but other people do the opposite and stretch out the schedule. Whatever suits you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3Munchkins Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I just finished planning SOTW 1 for next year. I decided what chapter(s) I wanted to complete each week, made a list of books needed as well as a list of activities and materials needed. Instead of adding dates, I just put wk #1, wk #2, etc. If for some reason we have a busy week and limited time, we'll just do the reading and map work and will skip the activities or do them at a later date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 As I'm starting one chapter, I look ahead to the next chapter and figure out what supplemental books are recommended. I go on my library's website, look them up, and "reserve" the ones they have in stock (they call or email me when they're ready and I go pick them up). Ones that aren't in stock, I email the Interlibrary Loan librarian and ask her to order them for me. This is pretty much the only planning I do! We then read the chapter and do the review questions and narration exercises orally, read the relevant pages in the Usbourne Book of World History, and do the mapwork and coloring page. We spend the next few days reading books (when I get them, I decide which ones we want to actually read, and we read at least a few of them, some together, and some my daughter reads on her own as she's a bit older). On the last day or two of the week, we do 1-2 of the activities that we're interested in. We try to cover a chapter every 1-2 weeks. But we have been working our way fairly leisurely through the book and not determined to fit X amount in over the course of a schoolyear or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBanjoClown Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I have planned out what we do on each day. We have 3 days of history. The first day We read the first section of the chapter and do the review questions (orally) and the narrations. Then we do a lapbook activity for the chapter. The second day we read the second section (if there is one) and do the review questions and narrations for that section. We also do any mapwork and UILE of Ancient History on this day. I look on my library's online catalog to see what books they have ahead of time and check them out beforehand. The third day we read from the library books and do any projects that go along with the chapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I broke it down into chunks, pre-read chapters to decide what I wanted to cover and what I wanted to skip, checked which books my library had, decided what books I wanted to buy, what activities I wanted to do- then put it all in a spreadsheet for the year. I spent a lot of time planning it, and for the most part, it's been helpful. You can download that spreadsheet off my blog if anyone wanted to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I'm planning it in 6-week chunks, one chapter per week. We'll do three days of history, so I use an excel sheet to write down the chapter number for day 1 (we'll read the chapter, do the map work and coloring page), day 2 will be a project or another source (Usborne ecyclopedia or a read-aloud), and day 3 will be another source or another project. I plan on doing all my photocopying and purchasing of supplies once per six weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nov05mama Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I have planned out what we do on each day. We have 3 days of history. The first day We read the first section of the chapter and do the review questions (orally) and the narrations. Then we do a lapbook activity for the chapter. The second day we read the second section (if there is one) and do the review questions and narrations for that section. We also do any mapwork and UILE of Ancient History on this day. I look on my library's online catalog to see what books they have ahead of time and check them out beforehand. The third day we read from the library books and do any projects that go along with the chapter. This is almost exactly what we do as well. 3-day schedule. Day 1 is the first part of the chapter, discuss review questions, then we complete one or two of the activities in the AB. He might also do a copywork page, etc. Day 2 is the second part of the chapter, followed by review questions, mapwork, etc. Day 3 is our activity day (Fridays) and we get together with another family and do all the activities together! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Last year when we did Vol. 1, I followed the schedule set by our co-op class. Each Friday, the teacher would plan a hands-on activity to go with the chapter, complete the map work and do a little discussion with the kids. At home, we would read (or listen to the audio or both) the chapter, narrate, and read any supplemental books we had checked out from the library. We did 1-2 chapters per week. We did one research project/in-depth study each semester (my daughter chose ancient phoenician glass making first semester and Greek mythology second semester), plus a final project on a an ancient person of special interest to our child (she chose Cleopatra). It was nice having a class to present to, but the same could also be done with family. This year, we're using the same co-op class to study Vol 2. I could certainly do all this on my own, but it is very NICE to have one subject in which we follow someone else's schedule! If someone gives me a deadline, it is going to get done - that is just my personality! Not sure if we would have completed 3 large-scale projects/presentations if left to my own devices! So, I didn't really plan, but followed someone else's plan! If you think this would be helpful for you, could you partner with one other family and get together to share your work? Just an idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I put together a word doc to plan out each chapter, broken out by sections. I will include what we are reading aloud, what activities the kids are doing, what books they are reading on their own, and any "extras" like movies, internet activities, field trips, etc. We have a bad library so every few weeks I look at what books I need and either pick them up or get ILLs for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 We read a chapter a week, and do narrations. Twice a month we have art/history/music/science day and do the most interesting activities for the two chapters we have read. About 2/3 of our readaloud books are historical fiction related to the period we are studying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Do you put sections you want to read each day into some sort of planning device? Do you look up in advance what books your library has? Do you select activities ahead of time? Or do you just do the next thing as you go? We do a chapter a week, the rest is summer school. My library has a website (shocked me too being so rural & foreign country :tongue_smilie: ) when I access my account, it has "My lists" I made up a list for each week (weeks 1 -36) then I searched for specific books I was interested in (not that many were there ^ see above reason) then keyworded for whatever was useful that week (nile, mummies, ancient egypt) I added to my list anything of interest. I book it 2 weeks in advance of when I need it (one week for them to arrive, 1 week so that I have a safety counter) when I book, I go through and see whats on the shelf still and whittle the list down. I plan all activities ahead of time, and inputted them into my sonlight inspired planner (excel for the weekly template, word for the "notes" & directions). I plan a year in advance, I also keep on a lot of extra activities, I get my supplies (except perishables) a year in advance, so I have everything on hand. I pick and choose what I want to do the weekend before I do that chapter. Then transfer all supplies needed to the "schoolroom" aka dining room, closet. The library books are kept in a storage tub in that locked closet (precaution, I have little kids) so yeah. I plan....well in advance LOL. Otherwise it simply wouldn't get done, I would forget (mumma brain) and I wouldn't have all the supplies or on the day I would be like "p-shaw thats too much effort" :lol: so planning is an essential tool for me, if everything is already there and set-up, I'll do it. If I had to schedule every weekend or "go with the flo" it would be "Chapter 1: The people came, they saw food, yum, yum, they ate, they sat, the lived, they finally washed, everybodies happy, the end. ......go play with legos now like good children" :smilielol5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I use Donna Young subject planner sheets to plan the whole book out. Some chapters get one day/lesson, others get 2 or 3. I plan which days to do narration, maps, coloring, projects and important extra reading/library books. It took me about 3 hours to plan out SOTW 2, including making a combined SOTW/VP book list. Then I transfer the lesson plans to my weekly planner a week or two ahead in pencil. I try to reserve library books a week or two in advance (depending on availability). So after I've done these things, history is pretty much open and go. Except for big projects like the chx mummy in Ancients. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey Mom Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 This is my plan. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.