Reviews of Build Your Library?

[Laura Cook]

Has anyone used Build Your Library? Or is anyone planning on using it this next school year? I am specifically looking at Grade 2. I am liking the looks of it and have read the reviews linked on the site but was wondering if anyone else can tell me if they liked/disliked it and why. Thanks!

[bpskowski]

I'm not helpful. I've never tried it. However, I like the looks of it too. I am going to do the evolution unit (8 week unit) this summer and take it for a test ride. I think I might somehow incorporate their grade 6 American History part II with SOTW4.

 

Hope someone else responds and gives an actual review.

[Mom-ninja.]

First time I've heard of this.

[Laura Cook]

First time I've heard of this.

 

I think that it is pretty new. This was put together by a member of these forums, but her name escapes me at the moment!

[nicklepede]

I just ordered this late last night (grade 2) and started going through the schedule and notes today. (Most of my books from Amazon -- the ones I didn't already have) should arrive on Wednesday.

 

The whole thing was very serendipitous to me -- we finished SOTW 1 last week and I have a first and third grader, so doing a second grade level based on SOTW 2 was right up our alley.

 

I can say that I like what I see so far, but I won't actually start it until Wedsnesday. I'll post more then.

 

Also -- it doesn't have extensive commentary/notes like, say, Sonlight, if you like that sort of thing. But I am very pleased that you purchase the books through a link to an Amazon Associates web store. There are a few books that I am iffy on, intensity-wise, for my kids and it's great to be able to just put off purchasing them for now to research and decide later instead having to buy an all-encompassing package upfront and have to get rid of them if I decide against.

[Chava_Raizel]

This is my curriculum! I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

[bpskowski]

This is my curriculum! I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

Hi, it looks great. I'm excited to try it out this summer. I haven't actually bought it yet, because once it's in my hands I don't know if I can't keep myself from dropping our regularly scheduled program and jumping right in to the new and exciting program! But I've been looking for an evolution unit since there was a whole big thread a while back about evolution. This is so up my ds's alley.

 

I do have a couple of questions.

 

1. It's an 8 week study. Could it be compressed to 2 or 3 days a week? And I'm thinking of having him do it with someone(s) else during the summer, do I need and why would I need the group unit plan?

 

2. Would it be too much to mesh Grade 6 American History II with SOTW4? My ds will be 4th grade next year, but history is his favorite subject and he would willing read and listen to history 24/7.

 

Thanks

[Chava_Raizel]

You could definitely do the evolution unit in 2 - 3 days per week - it's pretty flexible. I would suggest if you plan to do that, start reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate in week 1 instead of week 4, otherwise, it's a LOT of reading to cover in 2 - 3 days per week.

 

If you are planning on using it with less than 3 people outside of your family, you don't need to do the group plan.

 

I would be wary of using Grade 6 with a 4th grader - many of the books include mature themes (the horrors of the slave trade, life in the Japanese internment camps, a modern Jewish girl time-traveling to eastern Europe and living through the terrors of a concentration camp) , and might be difficult for a child of that age. But again, it depends on the child - some are more sensitive than others. Another thing to consider about Grade 6 is that there is an increase in writing assignments, including a 6 week research report project.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[Laura Cook]

This is my curriculum! I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

Oh good! My thoughts are sort of scattered right now so I hope my questions make sense! There are a couple of things that I am having a hard time figuring out from just the sample on your site and the Amazon booklist.

 

1. I'm having a hard time distinquishing which books are for history/science and which are for the literature. Even though I'm guessing they are

all tied together. Do some of the obviously history themed books get read as a part of history or as a part of literature?

 

2. Are the copywork and narration cards meant to take the place of using something like WWE? We use WWE and I want to continue using it.

 

3. Are the narration cards ever used for the history or science? We have been using SOTW 1 this year and I have been asking them the

questions from the activity guide but we haven't really done too many narrations to go along. We have also been using Elemental Science:

Biology for the Grammar Stage and we have been doing the narrations that go with each section we read.

 

I just wanted to say that I really love how the art follows along with the history. I like the memory work as well, we have been using FLL and what is there isn't enough for us. I can't think of any other questions at the moment! Thanks!

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[Chava_Raizel]

Oh good! My thoughts are sort of scattered right now so I hope my questions make sense! There are a couple of things that I am having a hard time figuring out from just the sample on your site and the Amazon booklist.

 

1. I'm having a hard time distinquishing which books are for history/science and which are for the literature. Even though I'm guessing they are

all tied together. Do some of the obviously history themed books get read as a part of history or as a part of literature?

 

2. Are the copywork and narration cards meant to take the place of using something like WWE? We use WWE and I want to continue using it.

 

3. Are the narration cards ever used for the history or science? We have been using SOTW 1 this year and I have been asking them the

questions from the activity guide but we haven't really done too many narrations to go along. We have also been using Elemental Science:

Biology for the Grammar Stage and we have been doing the narrations that go with each section we read.

 

I just wanted to say that I really love how the art follows along with the history. I like the memory work as well, we have been using FLL and what is there isn't enough for us. I can't think of any other questions at the moment! Thanks!

1. 
    
   

 

I'll try to answer all of your questions.

 

1. I have the reading divided up by history, then literature and tales (which is mean to be read aloud) and science. As far as everything tying together, the science is pretty separate from everything else, but the history and literature often go together. You read a few chapters in SOTW about the Vikings, then a picture book about Vikings (You Wouldn't Want to Be a Viking Explorer)as part of your history readings, and the literature selection is also about Vikings (Viking Adventure). It doesn't always line up like that, there are quite a few literature selections that have nothing to do with the history at all. And while it might be tricky to see on the amazon page (though the books are all in order there beginning with history, then literature, and so on), they are clearly labeled in the instructor's guide.

 

2. How you use the copywork and narration cards is up to you - I've never personally used WWE, though I understand there are a lot of copywork/dictation/narration exercises. You could skip the copywork assignments in BYL, but the narration cards are pretty intrinsic to the program. I would hesitantly say that you could do both, but since I've never used WWE, I can't be sure it wouldn't become overload.

 

3. I do not schedule the narration cards to be used with anything except either the literature in the 1st and 2nd grade programs and then the readers after that. However, you could definitely use them with the history and science if you so choose. Some of them may be more difficult to use in a science/history type of reading though as many are definitely literature-oriented (things like acting out a scene or drawing a character sketch might not work well with science). That's actually a really neat idea though, and I might sit down sometime and work on sets of history and science related narration cards to use as an add-on!

 

I hope that was helpful to you!

[Laura Cook]

I hope that was helpful to you!

 

That was very helpful, thank you!