history, literature, sonlight questions & planning

[mamamindy]

Sorry if this question has an obvious sort of answer... :001_huh:

 

My kids are young, and thus far we have mostly focused on the 3 Rs, and I feel like we're finally getting into a groove in that area. :D We add in History reading (using SOTW1), a storybook Bible (and a teensy weensy bit of TGS), some nature study and notebooks, and living science books from the library, art here and there or handicrafts, and we have a teeny bit of outside activities (ballet, church).

 

I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed at finding a good amount of age/ability level reading material (either for independent or read aloud) so I have been looking at Sonlight lists, and other lists on the net, here, etc. My girls love to read, and we visit the library weekly, but I haven't really guided them very much. I always have a classic, or fun, read aloud going at night. I feel like I go in circles with what to read next, I don't really have much of a plan, or I can't find the books that correlate to the chapter of SOTW we're in, my kids aren't interested, etc.

 

I am wondering if I might feel more confident in this area buying a Sonlight core of readers, read alouds, and history? I have been happy with SOTW.... perhaps I ought to look at the literature CHOLL and purchase those? I want things to be a bit easier for me in this area. (Don't we all! :lol: ) But I don't want to spend much money either. I don't have time or money right now. ;) I realize maybe I need to get more organized and plan a bunch in advance... Problem is, when I've spent time on that, I realized quickly that I planned way too much - or way too little - or it just wasn't working and my time planning was wasted. Since then we've pretty much just stuck to a routine, and done the next thing.

 

Hmmm...? Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I do want to stick to the basics with my main focus and energy. They enjoy History... How important is it to add extra history literature? Can we just keep reading the books that we find interesting among a list? How do you all handle "oral" or independent reading? Someone hold my hand. :)

[edeemarie]

If you have a decent library you could get the book All Through the Ages. It is a great resource and lists books by time period and tells you which level they are most appropriate for.

 

I struggle with the balance of history too. For next year I plan to have a book for my kids to read independently through the week (something like Magic Tree House). Then for our read alouds in the evening here is what we do. Science reading is one night a week (since they are mostly picture books). History reading is two or three nights a week. Then the rest of the nights we read something fun.

 

I have thought about Sonlight too but at this point I have more time than money:)

[mamamindy]

Erin, I appreciate hearing what you are doing, and I pay attention to it since our children are similar ages/levels. :)

 

Do you plan out your history reading in advance (prior to the year)? Do you have them do narrations after the evening read aloud? I will check out your blog to see what you are using for content. Thank you so much!

[edeemarie]

I do have everything planned out before we start because my goal is to have everything as open-and-go as possible for the school year. For me, if I go week by week my motivation to plan fizzles pretty quickly and we just end up doing the bare minimum.

 

As far as narrations, they only do them with the reading they do on their own. Sometimes it is just an informal retelling of the story and sometimes I have them fill out a narration sheet (like drawing a picture and writing a few sentences). SCM has some great narration ideas here http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/narration/. But our evening reading is really just for fun. I may ask them questions here or there to make sure they are paying attention or to see how their prediction skills are, but nothing formal.

[Incognito]

A bit disjointed, but I think I'm in a similar situation to you, so I'll share a bit of what we have done.

 

I have SL (Core B this year) and while it is nice to have all the books, we are progressing through SOTW slower than I had expected because it is 2 curricula (duh!).

 

We also get lots of books from the library. I find that with our library system, I do okay ordering a TON of books in about once a month or so. I can renew books up to 3x (so that's 6 or 9 weeks, depending on the book/DVD). I get the ones from SOTW and others about the history period/place. Whatever looks good or fits. I also order a bunch of books for reading that I think the kids might like. We've recently been doing the Moongobble and Me series by Bruce Coville, for example. Once I hit one we like, I order all of them. :)

 

HTH

We do our history reading during the day, and "whatever" reading in the evening. I have a shelf full of good read-alouds we haven't gotten to yet - so I never feel like I have to scramble, I can always just pick one of those if the random library books aren't cutting it.