What is your SOTW routine?

[Moxie]

I need a routine to make SOTW work better in our home. We do one lesson per week.

 

~When do you plan the next lesson?

~When do you check out the extra reading books?

~How do you divide reading each small section, doing the maps, written narrations, fun projects, etc?

 

Anyone want to share their schedule?

[charlotteb]

We are starting volume 3 next year. SOTW is one of favorite school subjects!

 

This year, we will do history 3x a week.

On Monday, we will read the story and ask the questions (after each section). Then we will add to our timeline.

On Tuesday, we will re-read the story and do the map and coloring pages.

Wednesdays, we will do one of the fun activities.

To be honest, we very rarely read extra literature to go along with the lesson. I just haven't had time for it. But since DS is going into 6th grade this year, I will probably have him loosely follow the WTM Great books list that coorelate with our volume.

[Closeacademy]

~When do you plan the next lesson?

 

I plan them all out for the year allotting 1 chapter per week. Every 2 weeks, I write up plans for the next two weeks, gather all our printables and put it all together so we are ready to go.

 

~When do you check out the extra reading books?

 

Thursdays are library days and I check out books on this day for the next week.

 

~How do you divide reading each small section, doing the maps, written narrations, fun projects, etc?

 

I read a section per day a chapter a week. So some weeks we read history 1 day and some weeks we read 4 days. We do the coloring page one day and the map the next. When we are into doing projects we do them at the end of the school day and I gather supplies into plastic baggies once a month so that the projects are ready to go.

 

The days I don't read history we just don't do it that day.:001_smile:

 

Extra books are read at bedtime.

[Desert Rat]

I love SOTW! We're cycling back to year one this year.

We did skip 4 last year because my 8yo is very advanced educationally but not emotionally and I felt he couldn't handle that much war and sadness. So our history was based on amazing people of the last century and we left out the worst historical details.

This is what it looks like when I'm in SOTW full swing.

 

Thursday before I plan the next 2 weeks of activities and readings. I check our library's website for available books from the extra readings.

Friday before is library day. The "good" library is a bit of a drive so that's why we do every other week.

 

Monday I read the first section while ds does the coloring page. We do the map work and answer questions.

Tuesday we do a fun project and extra reading.

Wednesday - read the second section, answer questions.

Thursday- another fun project and extra reading.

Friday is our catch up day if we need it.

 

Of course, it may not look like this every week because we may have less reading or activities. History is not my little guy's most favorite subject that's why I break it down into 4 short days.

 

I love Charlotte's idea of rereading the sections. I may give that a try this year.

 

HTH

[Margo out of lurking]

~When do you plan the next lesson?

~When do you check out the extra reading books?

~How do you divide reading each small section, doing the maps, written narrations, fun projects, etc?

 

 

I plan the lesson out the Friday before, when I type up the following week's schedules.

 

I try to check out books online, usually 1-1/2 weeks before we covered a chapter. But if I forgot, we'd get to the library often enough (can I admit sometimes it used to be even twice a day!?), and I'd check out what they had a few days before the chapter.

 

For the past several years, we have loosely followed the same SOTW schedule.

 

M-read one section of the chapter, followed by oral narration, then written narration.

T-read any corresponding literature, and/or do a project from the book.

W-read the second section of the chapter, followed by oral narration, then written narration.

T-read any corresponding literature, and/or do a project from the book.

F-do mapwork; timeline cards if applicable.

 

This varies widely, however, depending on a number of things. I take into consideration what else we have going on that week. Sometimes there are more than two sections per chapter; often we don't do any sort of project. My ds is past the point of coloring pages, but when he was younger, he didn't do any written narration. My dd loved to read and be read to far more than my ds, so I often read more with my dd. My ds did the tests one year, on Fridays along with mapwork. We would also discuss the questions ahead of time, and then he would fill them in. (My goal was that he get everything right, not that he "test" perfectly, if you kwim.) We also might have a longer corresponding read aloud during several mornings at breakfast, and sometimes I will read any additional literature at lunchtime, instead of during a formal "history" period. When my kids were younger and both using SOTW, we also would easily tie in art, music, and science to our history reading, and it would count as both history and the other subject for that day.

 

What I've always loved about SOTW (which I've been using since 12/02!) is its flexibility. After Vol. 1 took us a year and a half, I knew I had to commit to one chapter per week, and I've been able to fit our history lessons around that. When we began, my dd was 8, my ds was 4. He would often sit in, but I didn't expect much in the way of his participation. He did fun stuff, like dress like a Greek. The following year, his big thrill was finding out that the Celts fought naked and painted themselves blue. (At least I think it was the Celts, lol.)

 

Your kids are at SUCH a fun age, and as long as you keep FUN in mind for them, they'll learn a ton, and you'll all have a blast!!!

[sagira]

We're going to be doing history 5x a week in first grade the following year:

 

Day 1 SOTW chapter reading

Day 2 Supplemental reading

Day 3 Supplemental reading

Day 4 Supplemental reading or project or activity

Day 5 Project or activity

 

Depending on the length of the supplemental reading, I would read one fiction and the other day (day 3) nonfiction (like DK series, etc). We will also be looking up information in the history encyclopedia, online, etc and count that as supplemental reading.

 

Why every day? We're doing CM-style, so there are short lessons (15-20 min). each lesson. This way we can still cover what we need to cover :)

[MandJsMama]

We are going to begin SOTW 1 soon. Here is my plan, though it is just a plan and may be changed as we work through it and find our rhythm.

 

Monday - Read UILE corresponding pages; read first section while coloring; Narration

Tuesday - Read next section; Narration; Timeline

Wednesday - Activity; supplemental readings

rest of the week - extra activities or readings at bedtime

[phathui5]

Monday- Read a chapter section and do a coloring page.

 

Wednesday- Read rest of chapter, do coloring page if there's another one. Map page.

 

Friday- Supplemental/literature readings.

[Osaubi]

We do history 3 days a week. I read one section the first class, review questions, and map work. I read the last section while my dc color the coloring page, review questions, and we look over the map again. The last class we finish anything undone, sometimes we review, and sometimes we use that time to read a go-along book.

 

I read a post online here about someone having a book basket. She said she put books in there for a couple of chapters before and a couple after the chapter she is currently on. That way if there is not much on one chapter or the kids really liked a chapter they just did, they could read about them. This really helped me out b/c I don't feel so pressured to get the go-alongs the week we are acutally doing the chapter. I usually request books from the library two weeks in advance, since some could take awhile to come in.

 

HTH

[Nestof3]

I do all of my planning in the summer. I search my library for books recommended in the Activity Guide and also other books which correlate with the chapters by using my library's search engine. I then go into the library and look at each possible book to see if I really want to use it.

 

I try to have at least picture books and folktale/cultural literature for each chapter. If there are some shorter nonfiction books, I choose these as well. I will also add in a few longer read alouds.

 

I type up these lists -- one chapter's worth of supplemental literature per page -- and insert into the hole-punched activity guide binder. I also insert the coloring pages and map pages into this binder. So, for example, chapter one of the study guide includes the study guide pages, the coloring and map pages, and the supplemental literature pages.

 

You can see my lists on my blog:

http://ournestof3.blogspot.com/

 

I read the chapter one day (sometimes over two days if it's longer), and have the boys color while I read. They then do the mapping exercise the same day. Then we read supplemental literature for the rest of the week. If I have very little supplemental lit, we begin the next chapter during the same week. We do history every homeschool day.

 

Keep in mind, my boys are only in Volume 2, and are 7 and 8, so this may change somewhat as they age.

 

I make sure I have my books checked out from the library in advance so that I have them when we begin the chapter. I go to the library at least once a week, sometimes more, so I try to return all materials as soon as we're done with them for other people waiting for the materials.