SOTW...I am starting to feel panicy (sp?)

[Ohio12]

I love SOTW and it is a big part of why I am homeschooling. We did the first 6 chapters this summer and it went beautifully. DD loves it and asks to do it. BUT...we just hit all the India, China etc stuff and I am feeling like it is getting to be so much information and so many books from the library to keep track of.

 

Anyone else been there? Please give me that push I need to keep going!

[nukeswife]

I'm guessing you're using the SOTW activity guide, since you mentioned library books. Are these the "suggested reading" ones listed in the AG? If so, just cut back, you don't have to read them all. That would be a ton of books. Just pick a few or none at all if you want. I used SOTW for Ancients and Middle ages and all we did was

1. read the chapter

2. do the coloring page

3. answer some of the questions orally

4. do any mapwork

 

You can also spread it out and cover a chapter in more than a week if you want. You may not finish the whole book in a year but that's ok. It's your school so make the materials fit you, not the other way around.

 

It took me a while to not feel that I had to "do it all" to make it worth it.

 

 

HTH

 

Just wanted to add your kids are so young yet, this should just be an overview of history. They don't have to remember it all, if you're following the WTM or another classical education model you'll hit these time periods again 2 more times before they graduate, so they'll get a little more each time you rotate through the history cycle

[NancyNellen]

I think you can go ahead and relax. It's all going to be OK! Since your daughter is so young, I would really just focus on the SOTW reading and one or two great books with pictures per chapter. Do some of the fun projects and call it a day. She doesn't need to remember everything (and she won't!), she just needs to have her appetite for history whetted. And SOTW will definitely do that!

 

Take a deep breath and dont fret one more minute!

[Ohio12]

I'm guessing you're using the SOTW activity guide, since you mentioned library books. Are these the "suggested reading" ones listed in the AG? If so, just cut back, you don't have to read them all. That would be a ton of books. Just pick a few or none at all if you want. I used SOTW for Ancients and Middle ages and all we did was

1. read the chapter

2. do the coloring page

3. answer some of the questions orally

4. do any mapwork

 

You can also spread it out and cover a chapter in more than a week if you want. You may not finish the whole book in a year but that's ok. It's your school so make the materials fit you, not the other way around.

 

It took me a while to not feel that I had to "do it all" to make it worth it.

 

 

HTH

 

Just wanted to add your kids are so young yet, this should just be an overview of history. They don't have to remember it all, if you're following the WTM or another classical education model you'll hit these time periods again 2 more times before they graduate, so they'll get a little more each time you rotate through the history cycle[/quoT

 

Thanks, I know you are right. I am not trying to do all the books because many of them are over her head. But even the maps seem like a lot. I think it looks like a lot when I am planning and then it ends up being ok.

[Starr]

:iagree: Take it easy. If some chapters just are read or listened to in the car that's okay. She'll learn plenty and have fun.

[Trivium Academy]

I found that it was great to have anthologies to read from instead of the separate books, using the Usborne History Encyclopedia was perfect for visuals with SOTW, if not getting more information. There are several fairy tales, myths, etc. from around the world type books, or use the Dover Fairy Tales series that are super cheap. Have them, the Usborne History Encyclopedia and SOTW and I think you're good to go. The suggested list can be cumbersome, I felt like we HAD to read at least two titles to reinforce what we read in SOTW but really I wish I would have simplified instead of making it more complicated & heavy with all the different reading going on.

 

The one thing that has been valuable for me to learn is to feel free to change the approach of a curriculum or subject without changing the main spine, there's so many different ways to skin a cat. :) You will study the same subjects 2 more times and at greater depth, just have fun now.

[jedbel]

I have been going through this also and can totally understand. I am especially having a tough time keeping up with all.those.library.books. uuhhh!:tongue_smilie: We are on SOTW 2 and after this I will be doing Sonlight 3 for history (for that reason) and SOTW3 as a read aloud only. I am taking notes on others responses.:D

[Mrs Mungo]

One thing to keep in mind with regard to the suggested reading is that when you come back to the culture in question (and you will) the same books will be recommended *again*. So, you don't have to read them all the first time you study a culture, even if they are great because you'll get another chance!

[Snickerdoodle]

We didn't have access to a library for SOTW 1 and so I only purchased a few of the more notable books in the reading lists. I did buy the audio book of Little History of the World and my son listened the ancient parts over and over again as well.

 

I wished we had access to more books but in the end I think it worked out OK. My son absolutely adores history and at 5-6-7 years old isn't that what it's all about?

[Arch at Home]

Library books are a big thing. I really had to come up with my own system on how to deal with them. Now I request them at least a week in advance over the weekend and we pick them either during the week or the following Saturday as we are doing errands. I have a bookshelf just for library books where they all go back to when they are not being used. I renew any that come due in this coming week at the same time as I request books. This also alerts me to the books that need to go back because they have no more renewals. Once a week I go through the shelf and determine which books go back to the library and make sure to get those that have no renewals left. Books get returned while we run errands.

 

This may seem a lot but for us necessary. My daughter thrives on the books I get from SOTW supplementary reading list.

 

The big thing is finding what works for everyone in your family.

[Michele B]

One way to "fix" a culture in a young girl's mind is to focus on the Cinderella story from that culture. Almost all cultures have some variation. Scholastic or someone publishes a "teaching Cinderella stories from around the world" book. You make a chart and write in the different shoes or fairy godmother-figure to compare the variations. These variations usually highlight some important cultural idea. You also keep track of the different cultures on a map. This worked really well for my dd. The idea of Cinderella got her excited about the cultures. That way you have one really nice picture book for a country, and then you could read a fairy tale a day from Dover or from google reader online. I admit, I was fascinated by the variety of Cinderella stories! The Jewish version is called Raisel's Riddle and it mentions Queen Ester a bit so that is a good tie in. Also there is an Egyptian, Korean, etc. We did this with SOTW.

Have fun

 

Michele:D

[Michele B]

Oh! When India comes up, I always get excited. That means a trip to the Big City for an Indian dinner! Sometimes we go to a museum that has a small India exhibit. They have a great Greek, Roman and Egyptian Exhibit. Trying a culture's food is also a great way to "fix" that culture in a young child's mind. Going to a restaurant, seeing the people, hearing them speak the language (even if it is a modern version) - that's almost as good as a library book! Even one food - eating some figs while you study Egypt- might help. It is good that SOTW frequently comes back to a culture - the child may begin to anticipate the familiar. And may even be excited!

 

Michele

I cannot wait til we do India again.

 

Also - besides Cinderella stories, I think the most important library book for us has been the Ticket To series. They are small, short books with big pictures of children in the modern company. Dd loves looking at the images.

[WTMindy]

I agree with the others. DOn't let it stress you out. YOu really don't have to read ANY extra books if you don't want to or have time. At the stage, I would suggest going to a Chinese (or Indian) restaurant. This will give them a little taste/feel of the culture (albeit an Americanized version). Do a few projects that will give them an appreciation of the culture and call it good!! I loved SOTW!!!

[sagira]

You can also try making some food from the country. I know my ds is more likely to try something f he has helped make it himself. I made Palak Paneer once and it was delicious. Indian cuisine. I grew up eating International dishes my mom prepared, a great way to grow up global :)

[Janice in NJ]

Hi! It sounds like you really want to give your kid(s) a great education. Woo-Hoo!

 

But I've found that SOTW via TWTM is really all about process. There is no way to "cover" a historical period completely. There are individuals with a Ph.D. who specialize in ONE area of Ancient History. THEY don't even try to master it all. :001_smile: I think of Bob Brier who offers some TERRIFIC lectures through The Teaching Company.

 

His bio on their site says,

 

Bob Brier

Long Island University

Ph.D., The University of North Carolina

 

Bob Brier is an Egyptologist and Professor of Philosophy at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and Ph.D. in philosophy from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 

From 1981–1996 he was Chairman of the Philosophy Department at C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. He has served as Director of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “Egyptology Today†program.

 

Professor Brier has twice been selected as a Fulbright Scholar and has received LIU’s David Newton Award for Teaching Excellence in recognition of his achievements as a lecturer.

 

In 1994, Dr. Brier became the first person in 2,000 years to mummify a human cadaver in the ancient Egyptian style. This research was the subject of a National Geographic television special, Mr. Mummy. Dr. Brier is also the host of The Learning Channel’s series The Great Egyptians.

 

Professor Brier is the author of Ancient Egyptian Magic (1980), Egyptian Mummies (1994), Encyclopedia of Mummies (1998), The Murder of Tutankhamen: A True Story (1998), Daily Life in Ancient Egypt (1999), and numerous scholarly articles.

 

He is a WONDER when it comes to info regarding Ancient Egypt. Hmmmmmm....... I wonder if he considers himself an expert on Plato's philosophy or Rome's architecture or _____ or ______ or _______.

 

I bet he offers deference to others in those fields.

 

So please don't try to "cover" ancient history with your little ones. You'll exhaust them and you'll lose your own focus; you'll both become swamped in minutia. BTDT. Personally I hate being there. Very murky. Very muddy. Very messy. :001_smile:

 

When my kids were little and that happened to me, I had to re-acquaint myself with my goals: to raise educated kids who know how to learn.

 

I love TOG's method for training a child in the art of education. They call it "Read. Think. Write." SOTW uses the same method; and it doesn't suggest that you read everything on that topic; there's no way. You'll exhaust yourself trying to locate books and you won't have the time to spend together (I call it face-time) over a few good books. THAT's where education takes place with little ones. It's during that face-time that you slowly help them start to "see" what's in a book. Through reading together and talking about what you have read, you are modeling the process of learning from a book - something that readers go on to do at deeper and deeper levels throughout their wholes lives. Eventually they will become adults and they will read on their own, think about what they have read on their own, and write about what they have read on their own. (Writing actually helps with the reading/thinking steps. When I force myself to write about something, I force myself to think clearly. Good writing comes from clear thinking.) Read. Think. Write. Same process for little ones; it's just at a deeper level for the "bigger" people.

 

Possible Options:

 

Read. From SOTW.

Think. Narration or Comprehension Questions.

Write. See WTM for stages on this one. If they are pre-writers, they can tell back one sentence and you can copy it down under the picture they have colored. If they are writing, you can write the sentence down for them, and they can copy it at the bottom of their coloring page. If they are taking dictation, you dictate their sentence back to them. If they are taking dictation from themselves, you help them come up with a complete sentence and then they write it from memory.

 

Interested in the topic?

Another day that week:

Read a library book on the topic.

Talk about the book.

Done. :-)

 

Or

 

Read a library book on the topic.

Talk about the book and how it relates to the SOTW chapter.

Color a map - this was important to me; we always did the maps, but YMMV. Cover your goals, not the curriculum. :001_smile:

 

Or

 

Do a project.

Take a picture of the project and do a one-sentence narration for their notebook.

 

Or just do the project and take a picture... or don't do the projects... or just read a book and don't discuss it or ...........

 

There are lots of read, think, write combos to play around with.

 

But the BIGGEST piece of advice that I have: Enjoy history. Don't try to read all of the "good"books. You can't. Use your spine to keep you mooooooovin' on through the content of history so that you don't get depressed because you spend an entire year on Ancient Egypt and now you feel "behind." Work on those read, think, write skills. Those are the ones that move kids along in their education.

 

AND if YOU are really interested in something that you read, find more books for you. ;) Sometimes I failed to see that I was the one who was intrigued by a topic - not my kids. Self education pays RICH dividends as your kids get older. I've found that reading and studying The Republic instead of trying to track down umpteen books on the Ancient Greeks is a WAY better long-term way to spend my time. ;)

 

Peace to you and yours!

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

[Rosie_0801]

If you really want to cover a bit more, you can outsource to daddy. He can read another on topic book as a bedtime story.

:)

Rosie

[orangearrow]

I had to cut back on the library books - or we were just NEVER going to get it all done.

 

What I do now (which I actually prefer) is use the library books list and check out things from time to time - way AFTER we've finished that section or chapter. It's a way to bring that point in history back to the forefront of my dc's minds.

 

They actually enjoy the books more this way too, since they're not already inundated with that period of history. They really weren't all that interested, for instance, in reading more books ABOUT Egype WHEN we studied Egypt - because we covered so MUCH of it. But, now, when we read a book about Egypt, they remember so much of what they learned last year and really get into the story (because it's a nice break from studying the Monguls, which is where we are now! LOL).

 

:D

[Lovedtodeath]

I found that it was great to have anthologies to read from instead of the separate books, using the Usborne History Encyclopedia was perfect for visuals with SOTW, You will study the same subjects 2 more times and at greater depth, just have fun now.

 

Somewhere I saw a FAQ about additional reading or another history spine in addition to SOTW and SWB said that the AG and SOTW were complete... no additions needed. I think the above is the best advice. Just one or two books for visuals and you are good to go. If you want more pulled together activities you could get Artistic Pursuits K-3, the first book focuses on ancient art. In addition http://tanglewoodeducation.com/bksha.htm

http://tanglewoodeducation.com/grade1.htm

this is complete and has a lot done for you. No library needed. HTH