Considering Revamping Next Year I need Your Help

[tuzor]

We are in our third year of hs and I still consider myself a newbie. Each year I learn a little more. I know that I like studying history chronologically and I have all boys so we NEED lots of hands on. Opening up books is great but we need to get out of the house DO and EXPLORE. Otherwise my boys are not interested and the last thing I need is boys at home not interested in what I am conveying.

Next year my middle son will be in K and though my main focus with him is the three r's. I have considered using unit studies as it seems easier that way, but I never seem to like the history rotation or books choices from certain publishers. Right now I don't think creating my own unit studies would be the best use of my time. So this is where I need your help.

 

Currently, I consider my approach ecclectic but have relied heavily on traditional text books for certain subjects, LA, Math and Science. I will probably continue to use traditional text for Math and LA (more as a guide in LA less of a do this page each day). As I continue my journey with hs I can see my desire to break away from traditional text and just use real books and teach from there. But how do I teach from real books without a plan a scope and sequence so to speak. One thing I like about STOW is that I use some of the literature suggestions in the activity book and add to our reading. I love the book list 1000 Great Books and we have read quite a few of the selections. But I am not sure that I am a strong enough teacher to just use a book list and bring all the information together. (Is any of this making sense?) If you teach in this manner from real books please give me so insight on your preparation etc.

 

Next would this be a good route for where I am or should I just continue looking for a unit study so that all boys are studying the same thing at the same time. In theory my middle son should be joining my oldest son but on many things he is not interested so he goes off to play. That's okay he is only four and I don't expect him to be on the level as his older brother but I feel that a planned unit study program would have more hands on ideas already included for his age group vs me coming up with the ideas myself.

 

Ideally I want our learning to all be on the same page with the exeption of LA and math. I'm just not sure how to get there will real books and hands on activities.

 

Any words of wisdom to help me out, would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.