How do YOU do Story of the World

[CheerioKid]

I'm having a hard time coming up with solid facts to work with in Story of the World. We started with the Ancients, and am just not grasping exactly what we're supposed to do. I know the text is just a starting place, and that we're supposed to find more info about everything, but I just don't know where to start.

 

We checked out several books from the library (Ancient Egypt) and have each read the appropriate parts, but then what? I tried having them make a notebook page about what they learned. W drew a toilet and a mummified cat. J drew the double crown and wrote a decent paragraph about Narmer.

 

There's got to be more to it than this. Part of me is wishing I had just bought a "regurgitated" history text book...

[angelmama1209]

there is a sotw lapbook and a blog that has videos matched up with each chapter. those have been my dd's favorite.

[rwjx2khsmj]

First, we use the map and globe to find the area we are studying in the reading selection. Then I read the information from one selection aloud. We use the discussion questions which usually leads to more discussion. I assign reading from other sources to my older two children. I also assign selections to outline from our spine. We write a summary sentence or two in our notebook. My ds10 likes to illustrate the summary. Sometimes we pick an activity but sometimes we just move on.

[DarlaS]

Are you using this with 7th and 8th graders? SoTW is intended for grades 1-4.

 

That said, I am finishing volume 1 with my youngest, and he will be probably in grade 6 before we're done with them.

 

For middle school though, you might want something more like K12's Human Odyssey:

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Human-Odyssey-Vol-Prehistory/dp/1931728534 (Christianbook.com has them new also.)

[rwjx2khsmj]

Are you using this with 7th and 8th graders? SoTW is intended for grades 1-4.

 

That said, I am finishing volume 1 with my youngest, and he will be probably in grade 6 before we're done with them.

 

I like to keep my crew together. I've found that by increasing my expectations with outlining and additional reading SOTW still works beautifully for us.

[CheerioKid]

Are you using this with 7th and 8th graders? SoTW is intended for grades 1-4.

 

After reading The Well Trained Mind, I was under the impression that the idea was to go through them in sequence, adding to it according to the student's ability/grade level. Ideally, they go through the series in grades 1-4, again in grades 5-8 and once again in 9-12.

 

I knew the text itself was geared toward the younger group, but my intention was to supplement for the older kids. This is our first year, so we started at the beginning.

[MeganW]

You NEED the Activity Guide!

[PeacefulChaos]

We read each section of the chapter and answer questions about it. We do narration on one of the sections and look at the map (my kids didn't like the map work, so I did it in advance, laminated it, and have it up on the wall next to our big world map - we look both at the map from the AG and where it is currently), and if I think there is a picture worth coloring, we do that.

We do history 1 day/week.

Oh, and before we start on the chapter for the week, we do a test on the chapter from the week before.

Also, IF there are any books that we have at the library and such, we have those for the kids to read on their own.

 

ETA: Mine are younger than yours, though. I also just wanted to throw out there that TWTM recommends history encyclopedias, timelines, and Jackdaw 'original document' type things for history in the logic stage. :)

Edited September 28, 2012 by PeacefulChaos

[DarlaS]

After reading The Well Trained Mind, I was under the impression that the idea was to go through them in sequence, adding to it according to the student's ability/grade level. Ideally, they go through the series in grades 1-4, again in grades 5-8 and once again in 9-12.

 

I knew the text itself was geared toward the younger group, but my intention was to supplement for the older kids. This is our first year, so we started at the beginning.

 

I've read the Well Trained Mind more than once, and never saw her recommend SoTW for high schoolers. A four year history cycle, yes, but not SoTW specifically.

 

If using for an older child, you will want to add quite a lot. So much, in fact, it might be easier to go with something else entirely. There are a few here who use the series I linked for logic stage. It has the advantage of covering the cycle in 3 years allowing time for a little more US history, geography etc.

 

Anyway, since you already have SoTW and the best curriculum is the one that gets used, the easiest way to supplement these without re-inventing the wheel would be to look at Sonlight's website. They use it for those ages at a faster pace in cores G and H. I am just now adding in some of their readers and read-alouds from core G for my youngest.

 

Here are the read-alouds for core G:

 

http://www.sonlight.com/GA5.html

 

readers:

 

http://www.sonlight.com/GRP.html

 

If you can get hold of an old instructor guide (It used to be core 6.) it will correlate them for you to line up with the SoTW books. Core G (old 6) covers the first two volumes.

 

I wouldn't bother with the activity guide for these ages at all. You may get some use out of the instructor portion, but I'd be surprised if young teens were into the idea of crafty history projects. (And if they were, they'd be doing it on their own time.) Maybe get the tests though and add a few essay type questions.

[The Crazy 4]

I use the activity guide. We read the chapter, answer the questions, sometimes do the narration. Then we do the map work. I pick out a few books from the lists of recommended books (ahead of time). We read those (sometimes out loud, sometimes not). Then I let my kids pick out an activity if they want to.

 

This is what I do!;)

[WIS0320]

We use the text as a jumping off point. I am following Classical House of Learning's grammar level literature schedule to go along with SOTW 1. I use the Activity Guide for map work, review questions, project ideas, etc. Sometimes I read aloud the corresponding text from Builders of the Old World so it is reviewed a bit and slightly different information is presented.

[Entropymama]

I used SOTW without the activity book the first year and had the same issue. The activity book is definitely worth the purchase. Here's a tip: for $7.95 you can buy the activity pages from the book instead of making copies. It is WELL worth it. You can get them here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/student-pages-vol-1-revised-edition-pdf.html

[mom31257]

We read the chapter, do the map work from the AG as well as some of the crafts or activities. I am using Biblioplan with my high school dd, so the guide has pages from other books to read along with SOTW (Usborne's Encyclopedia, Trial and Triumph, Famous Men of the Middle Ages, etc.). I don't read Biblioplan's Companion with ds because I think it would be information overload for a 4th grader, but I would use it for middle school or higher.

[SilverMoon]

WendyK said:

 

 

rwjx2khsmj said:

 

 

CheerioKid said:

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by SilverMoon

[KathyBC]

What you did sounds great: used SOTW as a starting place, read additional library books, and had your older child write about it.

 

 

I like to keep my crew together. I've found that by increasing my expectations with outlining and additional reading SOTW still works beautifully for us.

 

:iagree:

 

In our house, when my oldest did SOTW I and II again in grades 7 and 8, it made a great read-aloud for everyone, and we used the Sonlight history core to add in novels and a timeline, as well as IEW history-based writing lessons (they were a good fit for him). We're now doing SOTW I for grades 5 and 7, and the grade 7 fellow supplements with some of those historical novels, selections from K-12 History Odyssey and IEW.

[KathyBC]

I wouldn't bother with the activity guide for these ages at all. You may get some use out of the instructor portion, but I'd be surprised if young teens were into the idea of crafty history projects. (And if they were, they'd be doing it on their own time.) Maybe get the tests though and add a few essay type questions.

 

I disagree. Depending on how much time you have, your grade 4 student might really enjoy some of the ideas from the activity guide, and it does contain lists of supplementary reading for each chapter at that age level.

[bttrflyvld]

Bump for later.

[DarlaS]

I disagree. Depending on how much time you have, your grade 4 student might really enjoy some of the ideas from the activity guide, and it does contain lists of supplementary reading for each chapter at that age level.

 

You'd think so, but I tried. Repeatedly. (I've bought and sold the AG twice. :tongue_smilie:)

 

We did do a couple last year from one of the Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors book. Most of them did not appeal though. Recipes, he likes. Thinking of getting Eat Your Way Around the World.

 

Crafty history projects? Not his thing. Even less this year. I am hoping to get him going on Mapping the World with Art soon though as he does like to draw (and the activities are geared toward a wider age range... so... maybe he'll want to do some of those?).

 

The Sonlight readers from old core 6 are receiving a warm welcome from him though (because I felt like we needed to add *something*). And he LOVES doing the tests.

[KathyBC]

:D Yes, crafty projects are not for everyone. This is true at our house, too.

[TengoFive]

I highly recommend the Activity Guide, for the review questions, the map work, the book lists, and the correlating pages in a history encyclopedia. I think its completely doable with a 7th and 8th grader. Mine at that age listen to the text. It gives them a starting point for the other work they do, reading and working from the encyclopedia. They should be outlining either SOTW or the encyclopedia. My kids are not hands-on at all, so we skip all of the hands on stuff in the activity guides, but they're still well worth the expense.

Edited September 28, 2012 by TengoFive

[Shellydon]

After reading The Well Trained Mind, I was under the impression that the idea was to go through them in sequence, adding to it according to the student's ability/grade level. Ideally, they go through the series in grades 1-4, again in grades 5-8 and once again in 9-12.

 

I knew the text itself was geared toward the younger group, but my intention was to supplement for the older kids. This is our first year, so we started at the beginning.

 

 

 

No, the WTM does not recommend SOTW for the middle and highschool grades. That is likely the largest part of your problem.

[Mystie]

We listen to the audio version for 15-20 minutes 2-3x a week and then my 2nd grader writes 2 sentences about what we listened to and my 4th grader writes 4 sentences.

 

I get some supplemental books at the library, but those are just for free reading.

 

That's it.

 

No crafts, no projects, no tests, no reports, no glue, no scissors.

 

They have been using examples of historic people and events to make connections in regular conversation and when they draw they often draw ancient battles. So they are retaining and, most importantly to my mind, they are interested.

 

At the 20 minutes 3x a week rate, we'll make it through all 4 volumes in one year, and I plan to do that every year. Since my last student is not even born yet, the plan means we'll listen to the entire Story of the World every year for the next 10-12 years. I have a friend who did this with her kids just listening whenever they were in the car (she started older and had fewer, so they listened to all 4 every year for 4-5 years) and she said her kids knew their history through and through.

[NittanyJen]

I used History Odyssey for both my younger/grammar stage son-- this uses SOTW as one book among many, plus guidelines for how to get the most out of it, including mapping, summaries, additional reading, in a way that was more appealing to me than the activities in the Activity Guide, and the level II program for my logic stage guy, which uses different reading spines (and I added in the K12 Human Odyssey, a great history text) to that as well.

 

My logic stage guy would not hang in there with me if I made him use SOTW for middle school history.