So, if you use SOTW...

[mamamindy]

Do you check out the additional books in advance (like in the summer) to peruse, as you go week-by-week, do you buy them? How can I be more organized about this? Do you add any books? (Sometimes we don't.) We are enjoying SOTW on it's own and coloring here and there... but I really would like to add in the activities. I am trying to figure out how to best do this.... And consistently. (ha!)

 

Also, how much extra literature do you do? I would say we read more fictional literature than history reading. It's just what appeals to us.

 

I am always wondering if we're doing SOTW "right". I am not discontent or anything... Just thinking ahead to our next year - although we school year round - as my girls are ready for more. But I am not certain they are ready for more history exactly. Just wondering how everyone else does history, as I've looked at Sonlight, but not really wanting to venture anywhere else if we're really on the best path for us.

[Chris in VA]

I'm like WendyK. I used to try to find a lot of extra books, but then (around 2nd grade, SOTW2) I just picked a nice selection and didn't stress. We'd usually have 3 books going as read alouds--something history related/historical fiction, something just "good," and something for Daddy to read (not every night--things like Narnia Chronicles, or The Hobbit).

 

For planning, I'm a do the next thing girl, but I do find (did find) it helpful to pick projects ahead of time, maybe in the summer or so, and then get what I needed for them each week or so. If you know your child well, and you probably do (lol), you can peruse the SOTW AG ahead of time and pick, with reasonable accuracy, what is going to work for you. We never did the sewing/costume making stuff or the plays or stuff that required more than one child, but we nearly always did the cooking activities and the file folder games, for example.

 

Oh, and it never bothered me to be reading a chapter book to go along with a SOTW chapter and find we needed a little extra time to complete it. I didn't really count it as history time, so we would just keep going in the SOTW book and finish the extra reading whenever. If it was a spectacular book, I didn't want to rush thru it anyway.

[IrishMum]

We have only done STOW 1, and it was my first go at organising books to go with a curriculum. I bought all of the books, mostly in advance. I really went OTT on it!! I loved trying to find the 'best' books. lucky for me my boys are avid readers, so all the books got read. Have a look at what we used and you will see the extreme-ness of my planning. I am much more relaxed about things now, and will not get so many books for STOW 2, and won't spend 100,000,000 hours on here picking them, maybe just 100 hours ;)

[Five More Minutes]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm an extreme planner. Spreadsheets make me truly happy. :blush:

 

So at the beginning of each year, I have taken some time (maybe 2+ hours?) to list (in a spreadsheet) every recommended additional book for each chapter of SOTW. Then I use that sheet to send our amazing librarian a weekly list of book requests. I assume that almost all books will need to come via inter-library loan due to the extremely small size of our local library, and because ILLOs take at least 3 weeks to arrive, I make my book requests three weeks before we're going to study a chapter.

 

Every week we have a bundle of books to pick up at the library, and often they're pretty closely timed with what we're studying in history. I just put them in the book basket and let my girls read what they want. Sometimes they'll read a half-dozen extra books related to a topic; other times they won't read any.

 

I do keep my eye out for related longer novels that I know we'll want to read aloud together, and if they're not available in our local library, I'll buy them so that we can take our time reading them. This hasn't happened often, though.

[IrishMum]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm an extreme planner. Spreadsheets make me truly happy. :blush:

 

I wanted to be like you when I started homeschooling, turns out it was not my path. I'm too lazy, and disorganised :)

[Momma2Luke]

My library has an amazing hold system that allows you to suspend a hold until you need it... you still advance in the queue (if there are multiple people waiting for the book) - but if I know that I need certain books for 5 weeks from now, then I'll place a hold on them and then suspend it until then. I went ahead online (library website) and "booked" all of the books for the entire curriculum in this way, marking the weeks down in my agenda so that we don't fall behind...its amazing to have all of the books ready and waiting for me at the library WHEN we need them.

[cjgrubbs]

My library has an amazing hold system that allows you to suspend a hold until you need it... you still advance in the queue (if there are multiple people waiting for the book) - but if I know that I need certain books for 5 weeks from now, then I'll place a hold on them and then suspend it until then. I went ahead online (library website) and "booked" all of the books for the entire curriculum in this way, marking the weeks down in my agenda so that we don't fall behind...its amazing to have all of the books ready and waiting for me at the library WHEN we need them.

I am a little envious of this! What an amazing feature!

[Tillmalo]

My library has an amazing hold system that allows you to suspend a hold until you need it... you still advance in the queue (if there are multiple people waiting for the book) - but if I know that I need certain books for 5 weeks from now, then I'll place a hold on them and then suspend it until then. I went ahead online (library website) and "booked" all of the books for the entire curriculum in this way, marking the weeks down in my agenda so that we don't fall behind...its amazing to have all of the books ready and waiting for me at the library WHEN we need them.

 

 

Oh my gosh, that is just awesome! I think I need to go talk to my library...Maybe they have a suggestion box.

[mamamindy]

Thanks everyone! So helpful!

 

I have planned a lot like WendyK above, with the exception of following through with a project. I still haven't figured out how to actually get to those, and the toddler really throws us off. Maybe on a weekend when Daddy is around would be good to try. Especially if I've already got the supplies on hand. I cannot tell you how many times I've gathered the supplies, for them to wait in the supply closet for the perfect opportunity. It never occurs. And it seems so optional, that we'd all rather do something else at that point... :blushing:

 

However, we'd like to figure out to do more activities across the board, so it would be worth my time to figure out a system that works. Thanks again for the encouragement!

[amyrobynne]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm an extreme planner. Spreadsheets make me truly happy. :blush:

 

So at the beginning of each year, I have taken some time (maybe 2+ hours?) to list (in a spreadsheet) every recommended additional book for each chapter of SOTW. Then I use that sheet to send our amazing librarian a weekly list of book requests. I assume that almost all books will need to come via inter-library loan due to the extremely small size of our local library, and because ILLOs take at least 3 weeks to arrive, I make my book requests three weeks before we're going to study a chapter.

 

Every week we have a bundle of books to pick up at the library, and often they're pretty closely timed with what we're studying in history. I just put them in the book basket and let my girls read what they want. Sometimes they'll read a half-dozen extra books related to a topic; other times they won't read any.

 

I do keep my eye out for related longer novels that I know we'll want to read aloud together, and if they're not available in our local library, I'll buy them so that we can take our time reading them. This hasn't happened often, though.

 

 

I'm a lot like this with the spreadsheet-loving :) We're combining Connecting with History and SOTW and I just started SOTW vol 2 a couple months ago. My library system has 2 awesome features - we can request books (max of 30, although I use both my sons' cards too) and put a hold on them. 2nd - we can have up to 30 lists online. At each book's listing, I can click Request or Add to List. I have SOTW chapters grouped into units of a few chapters at a time. I made lists for each unit and it allows me to move the whole list into my requests at once when I need them (3 weeks in advance if I'm on top of it). I go through all the activity book's suggestions and pretty much add everything the library offers. Once I see them, sometimes I return some right away if the reading level isn't right for my kids, but often I'll leave extras in our book basket and might not assign them but they get picked up and read anyway. If there aren't many of a chapter's suggestions available, I'll see if interlibrary loan has any and mark those in my book as a reminder to request those by hand. So far I haven't bought any books. I do buy CWH books that aren't at the library because those are usually the Catholic saint books, which is the main reason I'm using the CWH program. I made a big spreadsheet last summer of the CWH book list, color-coding which ones I owned, which were at the library, whether I could find them used, and how much the new and used costs were. The main reason I'm going to the local Catholic homeschooling conference next weekend is to hunt down used history books cheap.

[Mama2Many4]

I've made some lesson plans that go along with the Middle Ages of Story of the World. Volume 2.

 

http://tendingourlordsgarden.blogspot.com/p/story-of-world-volume-2-resources.html

[HS Mom in NC]

This is a step-be-step walk through how I do SOTW as a regional unit study. (I'm working on developing a workshop.) We did the Ancients the last year and a half. My daughter will be 8 next month. SOTW is my spine but I'm very CM oriented and we make a lapbook for each unit out of all the activities we did.

 

 

Ancient China Unit Study: Living Books from the Library

Easy Section (E)

E + Author’s last or only name (Usually only the first part of it.)

These are picture/story books in the children’s section of the library. They’re usually meant to be read aloud to preschool-early or possibly mid elementary aged children in some cases. They typically take about 5-10 minutes to read aloud. Others are longer at about 20 min. maximum in rare cases.

These were found by using the local library’s online catalogue’s search engine. I typed in “Ancient China,†“China,†“Dragons,†“Kites,†“Silkworms,†“Silk,†â€Tangrams,†“Great Wall of China,†“Chinese Zodiac,†and “Ancient Chinese Inventions.†More books than the ones listed here showed up. These are most of the books I actually checked out and used.

E BOUCHARD

Dragon New Year by David Bouchard

E CASANOVA

The Hunter: A Chinese Folktale retold by Mary Cassanova

E CHIN

China’s Bravest Girl: The Legend of Hua Mu Lan by Charlie Chin

E COMPESTINE

Crouching Tiger by Ying Chang Compestine

E COMPESTINE

The Story of Kites by Ying Chang Compestine

E CZERNECKI

The Cricket’s Cage: A Chinese Folktale retold by Stefan Czernecki

E DEMI

The Greatest Treasure by Demi

E DEMI

Kites: Wishes that Fly Up to the Sky by Demi (Directions for making a simple kite in the back.)

 

E DEMI

Liang and the Magic Paintbrush by Demi

E DEMI

The Magic Boat by Demi

E DEMI

The Stonecutter by Demi

E GREENE

The Phoenix Fairy by Greene

E HONG

The Empress and the Silkworm by Lily Toy Hong

E LIN

Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin

E LOBEL

Ming Lo Moves the Mountain by Arnold Lobel

E NIEMAN

The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters by Christoph Nieman (Copy many of the Chinese characters neatly onto a page either in pen or with a paintbrush and ink to be included in a lapbook.)

E NOYES

Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China by Deborah Noyes

E TOMPERT

Grandfather Tang’s Story: A Tale told with Tangrams by Ann Tompert (Directions for making tangram art in the back.)

E TOMPERT

The Jade Horse, The Cricket, and the Peach Stone by Ann Tompert

E YOUNG

Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young (Caldecott Medal Winner)

 

 

Children’s Non-fiction section ©

These are fact books written at an elementary aged level. This section is usually separated from the Junior non-fiction section and the adult non-fiction section. Look for the C next to the number.

 

C+ Dewey Decimal Number+ Author’s last name (usually the first part of it) + Year of publication

C 595.78 SCHAFFER 1995

Silkworms: Lifecycles Series by Donna Schaffer

Junior Fiction Section (JF)

These books are for mid or late elementary to about Jr. High aged children. They can be read aloud by an adult or they can be read by the child depending on your child’s needs. They are organized by author’s last name.

None were used in this unit study.

Junior Non-Fiction Section (J) In larger libraries junior non-fiction and adult non-fiction are in separate areas. In smaller libraries junior non-fiction and adult non-fiction are mixed in together. Look for the J before the number. The adult non-fiction books have no J. They only have the number.

The Dewey decimal system organizes these books. Take a look at your copy of the Dewey Decimal system chart and notice how these books related to Ancient China are placed.

Dewey Decimal Number + Author’s last name (usually the first part of it) + year of publication

J 398.20951 FANG 1995

The Chi-Lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories retold by Linda Fang

J 398.2454 ZHANG 2000

A Time of Dragons by Song Nan Zhang and Hao Yu Zhang (Copy the dragon song on the last page for a poetry/handwriting assignment.)

J 394.26 FIESTA 1999

Fiesta! (A Series ) China: A Portrait of the Country Through It’s Festivals and Traditions No author is listed because this series was written by various people. (Directions for making a dragon head is on pg. 12-12 and a felt fish on pg. 21 along with other project ideas.)

J 509.51 WILLIAMS 1996

Made in China: Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China by Suzanne Williams

J 931 OCONNOR

The Emperor’s Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China by Jane O’Connor

J 931.04 FISHER

The Great Wall of China by Leonard Everett Fisher

Young Adult Section (YA) Teenagers are the target audience for these books. More mature themes are covered in some of these books, so different parents will have different convictions about the content in these books. Books are organized by author’s last name.

Ancient China Unit Study: Online Resources

Google the same keywords as used in the online library catalogue “Ancient China,†“China,†“Dragons,†“Kites,†“Silkworms,†“Silk,†“Tangrams’†“Great Wall of China,†“Chinese Zodiac,†and “Ancient Chinese Inventions.†After reading the Fiesta! Book from the library, I also googled “Dragon Boat Festival†and “Qu Yuan†because he’s the poet honored in the Dragon Boat Festival.

Coloring Pages- Google using the words “free downloadable†then a keyword. Be prepared to print out images on a smaller scale if you’re including them in a lapbook.

Live Silkworms (Plan A) Mine arrived alive but died 2 days later.

http://www.silkwormshop.com/index.html

Silkworm Life Cycle (Plan B)

http://www.enchanted.../silkworm.shtml

Silkworm Poem

http://wildrosereade...riatons-on.html

Dragon Boat Festival

http://www.familyhol...-coloring-pages

Chinese Zodiac Symbols

http://www.hellokids...-zodiac-rooster

Ancient Chinese Inventions

http://www.handipoin...nese-inventions

Selected Passages of Poetry by Qu Yuan

http://www.shigeku.c...nshi/quyuan.htm

The actual selections I had my child copy as a handwriting and poetry assignment were:

“Qu Yuan 340-278 BC

Long did I sigh and wipe away my tears,

To see my people bowed with griefs and fears…

…I marvel at the folly of the king,

So heedless of the people’s suffering…â€

Hands on Activities

Dragon Head

Directions are in Fiesta! China pg. 12-13. Take a picture and print it out so if you want it in a lapbook.

Felt Fish

Directions are in Fiesta! China pg. 21

Tangram Art

Directions are in Grandfather Tang’s Story by Tompert on the last page. I cut out the tangram shapes in black cardstock, my child arranged them following the pictures in the book, and I glued them onto Japanese (Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) origami papers with Asian patterns. You can simplify by using black tangram blocks (if you have them) on a brightly colored paper, taking a digital photo, and printing them out so they can be labeled in a lapbook.

Kite

Directions are in Kites: Magic Wishes that Fly Up to the Sky by Demi on the last 3 pages.

Potato Prints

Cut a raw potato in half and draw or scratch out a Chinese character on the white flat part. Scoop away the white flat part of the potato that isn’t part of the character about 1/4-1/2 in deep. Dip in paint or ink and print multiple times on paper-rice paper if you’ve got it.

Chinese Watercolor Landscape

Directions are in The Usborne Book of World History pg. 76. Paint a Chinese landscape on made or purchased rice paper if you can make it or get it. Glue it to cardstock as a cover for narrations.

Coloring Pages

See the online resources section of this document. Make mini book of Chinese inventions. Make Chinese Zodiac.

Night Sky

On black paper glue stars and a moon to make a cover for a narration about the lunar calendar or Chinese Zodiac.

Confucian Chart

Make a chart of relationships according to Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer Ch 35: China’s Wise Teacher pg. 251-253.

Ancient China Unit Study

Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer

Ch. 10: The Far East: Ancient China

Lei Zu and the Silkworm 66

The Pictograms of Ancient China 70

Farming in Ancient China 73

Ch. 32: China: Writing and the Qin

Calligraphy in China 239

Warring States 243

The First Emperor & The Great Wall 244

The First Emperor’s Grave 248

Ch. 33: Confucius

China’s Wise Teacher 251

Blackline Maps of World History by Johnson

China’s Shang Kingdom 1750BC-500BC pg. 27

Qin Empire of China 500BC-200BC pg. 45

The Usborne Book of World History

First Civilization in China pg. 62

Great Civilization in the East pg. 74-75

Writing and Inventions pg. 76-77

[Tanikit]

I go to the library about twice a week so will look ahead and see what we are planning to do in SOTW and then look for books on that subject - the chance of getting the ones on the list is almost nothing where I live, so I just get books that look suitable for my DDs level. It is much harder for me to find fictional ones and I have moved libraries to try to get some help from the people working in the library (there is no computer system in our library that we can use so we are reliant on the people behind the counters). I also pull activities, maps and colouring pages from the internet the week before and this has been enough for us.

[Maplecat]

My library system is fantastic and I have heavily relied on it for SOTW 1. Each weekend, I place holds for two weeks in advance. I usually borrow five or six books per chapter and end up reading the ones that appeal to my boys. The literature suggestions usually hold my guy's attention better. Some of the read-a-louds are much more detailed than my guys can sit still for, so we read a bit, look at pictures, or skip them. I have been very pleased with the reading suggestions. We do not do any activities from the guide and think it is worth it for the suggestions and maps alone.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We have very limited access, so I tend to buy my books and feel like I'm doing SOTW "lite" (very few projects, etc). But today I put together a list of the books we read for the year, and it's more than I thought! Here's how we did our first year of SOTW:

 

In addition to the map page (along with globe and Atlas of Ancient World) and coloring pages...

 

Books:

 

Archaeologists Dig for Clues

Discovery in the Cave

 

Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Egyptian Diary

Seeker of Knowledge

Boy of the Pyramids

Pyramid

 

Le Roi Gilgamesh

Le Revanche d’Ishtar

La Derniere Quete de Gilgamesh

 

D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths

The Trojan Horse : How the Greeks Won the War

Le Cheval de Troie

King Midas and the Golden Touch

The Aesop for Children

 

Roman Diary

City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction

Pompeii, Buried Alive!

Children’s Bible

 

One Grain of Rice

 

Projects:

 

Roman City construction with blocks

Aqueduct in salt dough

Apple mummy

Lift the Lid on Mummies Kit

Cuneiform Tablets

Ziggurat construction with blocks

 

Other Resources

• Mesopotamia YouTube Video
  
• Silkworm YouTube Videos
  
• Egyptian Treasures Audio Book
  
• Greek Myths Audio Book
  
• Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors Audio Book
  

 

 

When I write it all down, it sounds great!!!

[junepep]

I've got the planning down, my love of spreadsheets notwithstanding I wound up sticking it all into MSWord for history ;) I wish that I could figure out a better format for it all, but the plan is to choose some online activities, a hands-on activity or two, lapbooking & some coloring pages, and 2-3 books each week to read from the library -- I've set it all up together in files for each week. I'm still a bit nervous about how exactly it's going to work, but at least I've got a plan right... Right?!!?! ;)

 

It should be a ton of fun. Here's a link to the start of them - I've got 35 of the 45 weeks that we're going to be doing up so far:

http://lovelearnplay.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/week-1-the-earliest-people/

 

I just wish that I could have come up with more lapbook ideas, I got to about Sargon and my mind just went totally blank - but I've still got two months, so maybe I'll be able to whip up a couple more :D.

[HS Mom in NC]

Sargon was included in our Mesopotamia/Middle East lapbook. My daughter does a narration for each SOTW chapter. It was separate from our small What is Archeology/History lapbook and our small hunter/gatherer lapbook. Any activities that roll or crinkle when they dry can be left under a stack of heavy books for a day or two to flatten.

 

Here are the hands on activities we did for our Mesopotamia/Middle East lapbook:

 

1. Make a map of Mesopotamia. Watch the Meopotamia chapter of Mapping the World with Art on DVD and copy it onto watercolor paper (one step at a time. Take breaks as needed and get back to if that works better than doing one long session.) Paint it with watercolor paint and when dry, label with a sharpie marker. Add any cities or features not included on the DVD as you read about them in your studies. Put in the lapbook.

 

1. Make a signature seal out of clay. Roll out a cylindrical shape and carve designs into it backwards. Make sure it's hallowed out enough on the inside to run a corth through it for a necklace. (A skewer worked well for us.) Let it dry and roll it into wet clay. Talk about royal and common signature seals and how they were used in trade and food storage. Take photos and put them in your lapbook or since they were often worn around the neck, use them as a decorative element on a ribbon that holds the lapbook closed.

 

2. Make small simple clay pots. Talk about the importance of food storage as it relates to building civilization. Take photos and put them in your lapbook. Keep them handy for the trade game.

 

3. Make art with dried staple foods the ancients stored in clay pots. Beans, corn, rice, lentils, etc. Get a piece of cardstock and cover with a fairly thick layer of Elmer's type glue. Use a sponge brush for spreading. Place the staple foods in a design on the glued cardstock. Pour a thick coating of Elmer's glue over them and let them dry for 1-3 days. The glue dries clear. Put it in your lapbook.

 

4. Play the Trade Game. You need: something to be your river-we used a long scarf. Something to be your boat(s)-we used small tupperware lids. Something to be your domesticated animals-we used two dozen small plastic horses. Something to store your crops-we used the small clay pots. Something to be your mountains-we used large building blocks. Something to be your metals-we used a couple of handfuls or change. Something to be your ports (for the different villages and towns along the river.) We used flat plastic counters but you could use different pieces of paper, washcloths, potholders, etc. Something to be your crops-we used the leftover staple foods from the art project.

 

Decide where upstream is and put your mountains/blocks at that end of the river along with your coins and a town/village. Along the river set a town that specializes in animals and another that specializes in crops and pots. Now have your boats start at each port with a little of what they specialize in. Sail up and down the river trading what you have for what you need until each port has some of everything available in all the towns/villages along the river. Take photos and put them in your lapbook.

 

5. Draw and paint domesticated animals. (You could simply print some out if your child doesn't enjoy drawing or tracing or if you'd rather put your time and energy elsewhere.) Using a simple drawing book (like the I Can Draw Series) either draw or trace various domesticated animals to go into 2 categories: animals people breed to eat and animals that people use to help them work. To trace onto regular paper (as opposed to thin tracing paper) put a flashlight into a coffee mug and turn it on facing up. Then get a large clear plastic container without a lid. Put it upside down over the coffee mug and flashlight. The bottom of it should be the flat surface you use like a table. Put the image to be traced on it with the light directly underneath. Put a regular piece of paper (we used watercolor paper) on top of the image to be traced. It should be very easy to trace the image because the light is shining right under it.

 

Copy work reads, "Some domesticated animals are raised by people for food." The animals she traced and painted are: chicken, duck, pig, sheep, horse, rabbit, cow, goat on one page in the lapbook.

Copy Work reads, "Some domesticated animals are raised and trained by people to help with work." The animals she traced and painted are: horse, camel, goat, dog, cow on another page in the lapbook.

 

7. Build the Hanging Gardens of Babylon out of various sizes of shirt boxes stacked on top of each other and secured with lots of Elmer's type glue or a glue gun and then attach to a cake board (available at Walmart or at party or craft stores.) Paint it all a sand color. Buy a very cheap fake plant that can be cut up into pieces and stuck into the holes all over the hanging gardens structure. Paint pathways and flowers and the Euphrates on running on the cake board.

 

8. If I had had more time I would've also looked up on the internet for a very simple, inexpensive basket weaving project for Sargon, since the story tells of him floating down the river in a basket. When I was a kid we did one at Sunday School when we read about Moses.

 

My daughter loves the Ludmilla Zeman Gilgamesh trilogy. I must've read that aloud to her 5 days a week for month.

[saraha]

posting so I can find later

[Piper]

Like other posters, I rely on the library - very heavily!  I don't think I've bought any of the extra reading books for SOTW1.  I did go through the entire list of books from the AG on our library's online catalog, and checked off all the books they have.  Then for each chapter, as I wrote down my plans, I picked out two or three of the checked ones for each chapter, relying on the short summaries of each provided in the AG.  Now, as I'm going through the year, I will put the chosen books on hold at the library a couple of weeks in advance.  If, when I get them out of the library, I find I don't like the volume for whatever reason (too old, too scary, or not interesting to my kids) I just put it in a pile to be returned on my next visit, and we read one less book for that chapter.  No biggie! 

 

I do find the extra reading beneficial.  The books provide material the kids can (and do) pore over in their own time, reinforcing the lessons.  And it's nice to have a day where our history lesson consists of simply cuddling on the couch and reading aloud to them.  The stories really help them "see" the info from different angles.

 

I like the projects, too, but having picked out at least one for each chapter while I was planning lessons, I still find myself skipping them from time to time.  I think the map work, coloring, and building a timeline are less dispensable, although we do love us a fun project!  It's just that sometimes we just don't have the time or energy, YKWIM?  (And when I find the kids outside playing nomads or Egyptians or whatever it was we just learned in history, I'm not too worried about them having absorbed it!)

[chelsmm]

Wow, there are some great ideas here! I have been just looking ahead and ordering books and movies from the library a few weeks in advance. So far it has worked out well. We are moving slowly with SOTW 1 though.

[stayathomelibrarian]

Our library system is terrible.  Being a professional librarian, I feel comfortable in making that assessment ;) Of course, the public library system to which I became accustomed in VA spoiled me.  I had homesickedness just reading some of your wonderful library services.  I have no functioning hold system available to me, and anytime I've been to the library to get a book I've been told that it's  been years since it has been checked out, so that they assume it's lost. I guess they are behind on their weeding.  I could go on, but I won't.   I buy buy buy books. I try to get at least 1 book to be read during our 30 minute assigned reading time.  My 2nd grader has a kindle, so I search the Kindle store for cheap or free ebooks.  I went through the activity guide and made a note of the additional resources that were mentioned in several places.  I was sure to purchase "Famous Men of the Middle Ages" for this year.  I usually go for the more ready reference type books, but I couldn't pass on getting Beowulf.   I use Amazon often.  I usually buy $25 at a time to get free shipping, or I get books used for as little as a quarter.  I have to pay shipping, but it is still less than $5 for many of the books I buy. Since SOTW is such an affordable program, I build the cost of the extra books into my budget. One of the reasons Sonlight and other programs are so expensive is that they come with all the books.  With SOTW you're able to pick and choose the books yourself. 

As far as projects, I don't have plans to do a great many.  I day have the "Days of Knights" activity guide and we'll pick a few from there.  There are several cooking projects that I hope to be able to do. 

 

We have a local consignment homeschool shop.  From my observation, there seems to be a great many people who use SOTW level 1, but, so far, I've not run across any titles pertaining to level 2.