SOTW with a 5yr old

[Flowergirl159]

My plans are to use SOTW Volume 1 as my spine for History next year, beginning in January. My children will be ages 9, 7, and 5. I am wanting to use all four volumes of SOTW each consecutive year.

 

Have others done Ancient times with their just turned 5yr old? She will be doing prep/kindergarten next year. By the time we get to volume 4, she will 8yrs old and in grade 3. I was really wanting to streamline by doing history with them all together. I can see that she may not be interested in all the extras that I add in for my older two. And my oldest will quite possibly do additional history reading on her own.

 

Anyway, just wanting to check that it is possible to do this with my youngest.

 

Thanks :)

[redsquirrel]

Well.... SOTW 1 with a 5 year old isn't the problem. It is SOTW 4 with an 8 year old that might be an issue.

 

I had a similar situation with my kids. I had planned to keep them in the same year even though one is grammar stage and the other is logic stage. I figured it would be best to keep them on the same cycle. So, when my older boy was back in year 1 (ancient history) as a 5th grader I did not have him using SOTW because we had already done it. But, I started my then 5 year old in SOTW 1. It went just fine.  But in the middle of SOTW 2 I realized that there was no way I could put him in SOTW 4 in two years. I have already done it with my older boy in 4th grade and it is a challenging book.

 

So, seeing as SOTW 2 is fun anyway I just did it again a second time in 'second grade' and put my little guy back 'on track'. He didn't care. I added in lots of extra reading for fun and did more of those fun projects we didn't get to the first time around. So, now I have an 8th grader in 4 year of history (modern) and a third grader in SOTW 3. I am really happy I am not teaching him about world war 2 for another year. Slavery is difficult enough.

[Amira]

I agree with redsquirrel. My middle son did SOTW 1 along with my older son when they were 4 and 6. He loved it and quoted large chunks from it. But he wasn't ready for SOTW 4 when it came around and that year was a bit of a dud. SOTW 4 is different from the rest. If I could do it over, I'd have repeated SOTW 1 because ds loves ancient history.

[SwallowTail]

We began SoTW when dd was 5 or 6.  We have loved it. 

 

I am curious to the pp's, why wouldn't they be ready for SoTW at age 8?  That will be when we do that one.  (If it is due to the rather sophisticated and complex issues of modern history, including the violence of the World Wars, that is not a problem for us).

[RootAnn]

I think SOTW is great for tag-alongs. I can see the issue down the line - but that is many years away! (I got around it by substituting a year of American History for SOTW4.)

 

I'm doing SOTW2 with dd#2, dd#3, and ds#1 this year. It is going great (except when ds#2 asks for a coloring page, too!). 

 

Will I have to deal with SOTW4 in a couple of years? Yep. But I'm taking it one year at a time.

 

Some people take more than a year to get through one volume of SOTW, so it is possible the OP might not have an 8 yr old doing SOTW4. I'd say to cross that bridge when you come to it.

Just let her listen (or not - my dd#3 didn't want to listen until she was closer to 6 1/2). Coloring pages go over well at our house, but I know not every kid likes to color. Make it optional at this point. If you keep doing it in a cycle, they'll get the info again.  :coolgleamA:

[EmilyGF]

I'd just let her listen in while playing with duplos. She'll get it again at age 9, or so!

 

Emily

[Harriet Vane]

It's fine to do SOTW1 with a 5yo.

 

One thought to consider:

 

I took six years to do SOTW with my kids. We read a ton of the extra recommended books from the library, went on field trips, and did lots of the activities. IT took time to do so much, but we loved it.

[reign]

I'll be doing SOTW1 next fall with my girls. They will be 2nd, 1st, and kindergarten ( turning 5 in September) this year we are doing prehistory and it is going well. My youngest is happy to listen to books, watch videos, and do hands on activities. I have my older two write a sentence or two and draw a picture about what they've learned. Gambit (4yrs) doesn't do this part. I usually write for her and she scribbles a picture or I'll draw for her.

[kiwik]

My sons hated it at 5 and 3 (I didn't expect the 3 year old to like it though).

[Coco_Clark]

My son started SOTW 1 at 5.  He had a huge interest in Greek myths and the sort, so we just started it in K.  He ADORED it, still does. It's one of his favorite parts of the week.  I say, go for it!

 

As for not being ready for SOTW4 at 8, I wouldn't worry about it yet.  We only do history 2x a week, and we take lots of "rabbit trails".  At the rate we move it will probably take us 5 years to get thru the 4 books, if not 6.  And many families take time off to study "American history", anything from weeks to a full year.  So starting at 5 doesnt necessarily mean finishing at 9 :)  Worry about that when you get there. 

[Garga]

Sotw4---there are no coloring pages. The maps are much more boring--no suggested colors (I made colors up when we did the maps.) The chapter sections are a lot longer.

 

My 10 yo did it last year and was disappointed about the first two and delighted about the last one. But my 7 yo could NOT concentrate during the longer readings. I read them aloud.

[Incognito]

We took about 1 1/2 years to finish SOTW 1 - I started it with a 6yo and 4yo.  It was very possible and great for us.  For me, it is about fun and exposure and me learning too - it isn't about testing them or expecting certain regurgitations.  It has been fascinating and we are looking forward to starting SOTW2 soon (I hope it doesn't take us 1 1/2yrs again, but if it does, oh well!).

 

 

[Amy M]

I did it this year with my young 1st grader. He was 5 for the first half of SOTW and turned 6 for the second half. It was hard for him to listen that long in the beginning, and hard for him to answer the question prompts for narration. I think he really likes it, but doesn't retain anything.

 

ETA: I have seen great improvement this year, though!

[boscopup]

I don't think any of my kids would have listened much at 5, BUT... I'm cool with that. I started my current 1st grader in history this year - modern times. We're not using SOTW this year, but we are doing modern history, and it's fine.

 

Also, I don't see a problem with SOTW4 at age 8. My oldest was reading through it at age 7 and enjoyed it. I think if the kid has enjoyed SOTW from 1-3, they'll probably be fine with 4 the next year.

 

Basically, don't fret. The kid will jump in when ready. Get picture books to go along with it, as that will be more interesting to a youngster.

 

Oh, and SOTW4 *does* have coloring pages: http://peacehillpress.com/history-geography/story-of-the-world-vol.-4-coloring-pages-pdf-download/

[Goldilocks]

I love being able to do history all together.  

 

If the concern is SOTW 4 at 8 years old, I wouldn't worry.  The tough subjects were treated so gently.

[MistyMountain]

I put the audio cd on for my kids in the car. My 4.5 year old listened to it and retained more knowledge then my 6.5 year old who did not listen to it at all.

[LEK]

I started sotw1 with my girls when the oldest one had just turned 6 (first grade), younger was 4.5 (pre-k). they love it and beg to do history daily (we do it twice a week). We are still only half way through volume 1 but i can see volume 1 and 2 will each take us a year and a half to finish, not sure on volumes 3 and 4 as i don't own them yet. at our current rate though I expect to take 5-6 years on total to get through all of SOTW so i expect by the time we hit the topics in #4 both kiddos will be old enough to understand and cope with it. SOTW1 has been great for my 4yo, she really loves it.

[SeaConquest]

We are about half way through SOTW1 with my son. He will be 5 next month. He asks to do history and is able to regurgitate much of what we listen to on the audio books. It's been great for us. 

[MotherOfBoys]

We finished SOTW1 in 12 weeks with my 5yr old. We did it everyday as a reward for getting his other school work done. We narrated and did copywork for every chapter. I colored the map and discussed while he watched and questioned. He hates to color so I only MADE him color every other picture. We did about 5 other books, out of the activity guide, for every chapter in the spine. Now I bought Drive Thru History dvd for him to watch to keep it fresh. We also read some of the other books, out of the activity guide, now that I couldn't get through the library when we were doing history just for fun.

 

I was hoping my 3 yr old would at least listen to the stories but most of the time he didn't. He did color a few times. He must have been listening alittle though because he pretends to be a roman and a gladiator now when he thinks nobody's watching.

[GSOchristie]

My four year old is doing it with my just turned seven year old. He listens to the story, answers the question orally, and does the fun activity on Friday. He only gets about 2/3 of the questions right, but he does like listening :).