SOTW questions...

[daughterofsarah77]

My dd is in 4th grade, and every year we have tried a boxed curriculum and failed to complete it. This year, we tried SL, again. I do love it...but the fact is, we are spending much more time on history than I feel we need to be, and with a newborn in the house, that will just not work for us.

I have again started to look at SOTW, and I believe it would meet our needs and is a great curriculum. But, I am wondering if she is too old to start the series? Also wondering how much time I could expect to spend on this with a 4th grader, as I would do the activity guide/maps, and additional literature.

Thanks! Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

Dawn

[Farrar]

There are two tiers of book lists in the activity guide and the guide generally has a wide range of things, making it easy to scale it up or down.  A first grader using SOTW might do the coloring pages, listen to the book as a read aloud, do coloring crafts, and look at picture books and occasionally do the maps.  An older child might do the quiz book you can buy, all the maps, read the chapters on their own, do more complex projects, etc.

 

That said, the style is such that it won't appeal to all older kids.  And while you can use the higher end activities, by the time you're farther into the series, you may want a program that's more sophisticated.  I think it really depends.

[Flowergirl159]

I am just about to start SOTW volume 1 with my 3dd's. My oldest is 9, grade 4. I am thinking along the same lines, will it be challenging enough to hold her interest. We are giving it a go this year with the first volume, then I will re-evaluate at the end of the year.

[Slache]

I feel that SOTW has no place in a Christian homeschool, but if you completely disagree, then yes, I know kids that age that LOVE it.

 

She's old enough to start Truthquest, which can be very short with lots of independent reading (very good with a newborn!!).

 

If you like the idea of additional literature, you should also check out Christine Millers All Through The Ages. It's a vast booklist, categorized by era.

[Slache]

Oh, and also, both SOTW & MOH have CDs that will read it out loud for you. That could work out well for saving time also.  :thumbup:

[HS Mom in NC]

SOTW has been a lovely and complimentary addition to our Christian homeschool. I think a 9 year old could get a lot out of it as an overview if you bulked it up a bit with a time line, geography and a few literature selections for older kids.  Either use the SOTW Activity Guide, All Through The Ages or just a local library search.  I use Blackline maps of World History by Johnson now being sold as Mapquest. It's laid out chronologically and is so simple to use.  I like using timeline figure print outs but you can have your child list names and major events without them as she studies if you don't want to spend more money.

 

Another option for an older child is Greenleaf Guides and their Famous Men Series if your child is a good solid reader.

 

[Flowergirl159]

I feel that SOTW has no place in a Christian homeschool, but if you completely disagree, then yes, I know kids that age that LOVE it.

Just wondering, why do think SOTW has no place in a Christian Homeschool? I haven't read this book yet so am curious :)

[kiwik]

As an adult I found SOTW1 hard going but enjoyed SOTW2.

[Slache]

Just wondering, why do think SOTW has no place in a Christian Homeschool? I haven't read this book yet so am curious :)

 

 

Different people have different views of history and the views of SOTW seem extraordinarily secular. She treats Bible Stories in the same manner that she treats mythology from other religions, and she leaves out important information from OUR history as Christians, such as the influence of Christianity during the time of Charlemagne. (I heard this was left out but didn’t actually check it out for myself.)

 

It is my personal conviction that, as Christians, we should teach our children History & Science from a completely Biblical standpoint, and introduce concepts such as evolution and textual criticism when they’re older.

[Above The Rowan]

Hm I would have a hard time seeing SOTW as too secular. 

Here I am having worries that it's too Christianity-centric for our particular homeschool. 

 

 

[Farrar]

Poor SWB gets it from both sides.  Some Christians feel the book is too secular.  Some secularists think it's too secular.  I can't say there's nothing in there I disagreed with and I've been frustrated with it at many times, but no resource is perfect.  It's a very good series that does a much better job than nearly every other option I'm aware of.

[Farrar]

It is my personal conviction that, as Christians, we should teach our children History & Science from a completely Biblical standpoint, and introduce concepts such as evolution and textual criticism when they’re older.

 

I just wanted to point out that SOTW does not introduce evolution in any way, so I'm not sure why that's relevant here.

[Slache]

I just wanted to point out that SOTW does not introduce evolution in any way, so I'm not sure why that's relevant here.

 

 

That's not what I meant. That was about using biblical science resources. I just couldn't think of particulars as I haven't perused her series in years, and wanted to give a "for instance".

 

I totally agree that there is no perfect history curriculum. That's kind of one of the points of homeschooling though, despite the fact that we disagree on a curriculum, we can both take comfort in the fact that our kids are getting an awesome education.

[Above The Rowan]

Poor SWB gets it from both sides. Some Christians feel the book is too secular. Some secularists think it's too secular. I can't say there's nothing in there I disagreed with and I've been frustrated with it at many times, but no resource is perfect. It's a very good series that does a much better job than nearly every other option I'm aware of.

It is a great series and I haven't come across anything yet that will work better. It may not be truly secular OR truly Christian but it rides the line well enough that anyone can use it.

[Amy M]

It is a great series and I haven't come across anything yet that will work better. It may not be truly secular OR truly Christian but it rides the line well enough that anyone can use it.

 

:iagree:

 

In The Well-Trained Mind, SWB suggests beefing up SOTW with Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World readings for grades 5-8, plus the other suggestions the other ladies said. You might want to look at Biblioplan or My Father's World for ideas of other books they used in addition to SOTW for church history to make it more overtly Christian. It's not anti-Christian, but there are a few parts, especially in volume 1 that you might skip, add in, or adjust. Overall, it's great!

[CelticHaiku]

You might consider the outline from http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com    It is a literature plan to accompany SOTW. She has lesson plans for SOTW for both grammar and logic stage students. Her grammar stage has two levels so could use the level 2 with your 4th grader. The program is free.

 

[MotherOfBoys]

I loved sotw one because it leaves room to add the bible stories at the same time period as the history your reading. We did bible stories and sotw together. It lengthen the study. In the back of the sotw book is a timeline to see where the bible stories should fit, then I made a mark to remind me when we finished a certain chapter to stop, pick up my child's bible and read that.

 

Your older child could read it herself or aloud to help with time management. Along with copywork, narrations, maps, and occasional projects this curriculum is complete and flexible. 

[MotherOfBoys]

By the way, even with adding the bible and doing almost every book in the activity guide, we still finished in one semester. My son asked for it everyday. We are going through next week and just rereading the sotw book without extras for refreshing and getting my money s worth.

 

He wants sotw two this semester but I told him he had to wait till next year to space it out and do science.

[LucyStoner]

Different people have different views of history and the views of SOTW seem extraordinarily secular. She treats Bible Stories in the same manner that she treats mythology from other religions, and she leaves out important information from OUR history as Christians, such as the influence of Christianity during the time of Charlemagne. (I heard this was left out but didn’t actually check it out for myself.)

 

 

I think one needs to actually read the books to make such a claim. I prefer to form my opinions based on fact and not second and third hand information.

 

FWIW, We studied that part of SOTW (Charlemagne) recently and it certainly included the religious history.

[LucyStoner]

We started SOTW in third grade and it has been great. I like that it is very easy to follow and that the activity guide is written for home instructors. As he has gotten older we have done less of the crafty/coloring stuff (he's a 10 year old science geek after all) but it remains one of his favorites. We could have done it faster, but we do a lot of subjects including US history and so we are pacing it about 1 per year.

[LucyStoner]

We started SOTW in third grade and it has been great. I like that it is very easy to follow and that the activity guide is written for home instructors. As he has gotten older we have done less of the crafty/coloring stuff (he's a 10 year old science geek after all) but it remains one of his favorites. We could have done it faster, but we do a lot of subjects including US history and so we are pacing it about 1 per year.

[MommytoFour]

Do you use this currently? And if so, how old are your kids?  I was considering using it with my kids next year. I think we'd love it but then it looks a little overwhelming.

 

 

You might consider the outline from http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com    It is a literature plan to accompany SOTW. She has lesson plans for SOTW for both grammar and logic stage students. Her grammar stage has two levels so could use the level 2 with your 4th grader. The program is free.

 

 

[Slache]

I think one needs to actually read the books to make such a claim. I prefer to form my opinions based on fact and not second and third hand information.

 

FWIW, We studied that part of SOTW (Charlemagne) recently and it certainly included the religious history.

 

I did, but it was a long time ago. I don't remember the particulars, I just remember being very aggravated at the amount of church history left out because a massive portion of our worldview is based on our knowledge of history.

 

But, like I said, that's my personal conviction.  :001_smile:

[Above The Rowan]

You might consider the outline from http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com It is a literature plan to accompany SOTW. She has lesson plans for SOTW for both grammar and logic stage students. Her grammar stage has two levels so could use the level 2 with your 4th grader. The program is free.

I have never seen this. Do you use it along side SOTW? Or could it be used seperately. It looks interesting though.

[LucyStoner]

I did, but it was a long time ago. I don't remember the particulars, I just remember being very aggravated at the amount of church history left out because a massive portion of our worldview is based on our knowledge of history.

 

But, like I said, that's my personal conviction. :001_smile:

Oh. I was confused by this:

 

"I heard this was left out but didn’t actually check it out for myself."

[RootAnn]

Do you use this currently? And if so, how old are your kids?  I was considering using it with my kids next year. I think we'd love it but then it looks a little overwhelming.

 

I've picked & chosen parts to use with dd#2 last year (Ancients) when she was actually using History Odyssey's Level 2 Ancients. You can just pick parts to use if you like. It could easily take the place of your copywork or dictation program and makes it easy to add in extra literature. Since it is FREE, it is easy to grab the parts that work for you.

 

I have never seen this. Do you use it along side SOTW? Or could it be used seperately. It looks interesting though.

 

It could be used separately, but since there is a schedule incorporated so you can use SOTW, it makes sense to do so. (So says the person who DIDN'T use it with SOTW. *grin*)

[HS Mom in NC]

A book that covers huge swaths of history in a year leaves out a lot of things.  If it didn't, it would be dozens and dozens of volumes long.  I don't think that makes it inherently anti or pro Christian-it makes it an overview.  Deciding to present stories (whether the author believe them to be true or untrue) from different religious beliefs in a matter of fact way without stating which she personally agrees with isn't necessarily anti-Christian. 

[Peaceful Isle]

I love SOTW. Whenever I get the book out to read, my kids all have smiles on their faces! I think it really does a great job telling history like a story. I think it would work fine for a fourth grader. If you want to beef it up, use another book along side like usborn (secular) or even streams of civilization ( Christian ). I have personally, with my kids, read through levels one, two and part of three. I plan on finishing the series with my kiddos. It is so easy to implement as well.