Jayne J Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 This is a cross post, already posted on the k-8 boards, but I thought I might ask those of you who don't read that board... I am looking at both Augustus Caesar's World and Archimedes and the Door of Science for next year. I love the richness and the connection-based ideas behind these books, but I find myself having a hard time picturing exactly how we would use these. Just as read alouds? As spines, doing additional reading on topics that come up? Ds is moving into middle school, and while I have previously been content to read things together and just let whatever sticks be enough, I am hoping to begin requiring more of him with our readings, but I am not sure exactly what or how. These seem like such wonderful resources that I don't really want to just read aloud or assign it and leave it at that but I am not quite sure what else to require/how to go deeper with these materials. I guess, when it comes down to it that I don't really know how to pursue a "book study" with an older kid, whether it is a history or science or literature based book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Well, I don't think I am much help, lol. I assigned Mystery of the Periodic Table as a science assignment. I didn't really ask him to go 'deeper' because I found it to be more background material. I just assigned a chapter every day until it was done and asked him to give me a quick verbal rundown of what had happened in each chapter. He enjoyed it and we moved on. I didn't regard it to be a 'spine' just additional educational material. Our main material is The Elements by Ellen McHenry, and Middle School Chemistry. I also assign biographies, videos, books as needed. We do some science reading almost every day and hand on work twice a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 We absolutely loved Archimedes and the Door of Science. Also Along Came Galileo (very similar read). I used the books as read-alouds. We had alot of discussions about the books and my daughter (yeah, we're weird, OK) did some artwork based on Archimedes' drawings in the book. My son was very impressed with the chapter on war machines and the battles that occurred around Syracuse. It must have stuck in his mind, because he was telling people about it. I would treat it as a read-aloud, but that's because it was so interesting (I wanted to read it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 We read Augustus Caesar's World in about 6 weeks, and Loved it! We have a Jim Weiss' recording of Galileo and Archimedes that we enjoyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 Did you just read it aloud? Did you do narrations, or assign extra reading, or discussion questions or anything else? That is really what I am trying to figure out--after we read it, do we do anything extra? I could see being able to write up a whole unit study from just that one book (Augustus Caesar), studying the other people/places/ideas talked about. I am a little concerned that if we just read it, little will stick compared to what we might learn if we did a more planned study, but I don't want to spend all year just studying 80 years or so of history! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Anna~ Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 We will be reading both of these soon. I plan on just doing them as read alouds with discussion afterwards. This seems to be how things "stick" for my daughter, so I don't see any reason to do anything more unless your child shows an interest in doing so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 My middle schooler reads through the Genevieve Foster books alone, gives oral summaries to me on daily reading, chooses one historical figure or event to research further every month or two, and then spends a couple of weeks writing a research paper with MLA formatting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Did you just read it aloud? Did you do narrations, or assign extra reading, or discussion questions or anything else? That is really what I am trying to figure out--after we read it, do we do anything extra? I could see being able to write up a whole unit study from just that one book (Augustus Caesar), studying the other people/places/ideas talked about. I am a little concerned that if we just read it, little will stick compared to what we might learn if we did a more planned study, but I don't want to spend all year just studying 80 years or so of history! It depends on your student. How well does your child retain the info if you just read the books together? We discuss everything we read, but I don't use anything formal. If there's something interesting to talk about, I stop reading and we just discuss it. I wouldn't assign extra reading or narrations, but that's just me. Edited to say: Is this book for your 9 yro? If so, I wouldn't really add any assignments to the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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