If you've used SOTW...

[Love_to_Read]

How long did it take you to get through a volume?

 

What ages were you using it with?

 

Did you use the activities? Supplemental readings?

[Starr]

They can be used say K and up. Ds was in first grade I think. We went through a book in about a year. I love the Activity Guide. The children did the narrations, at age level, map work, colored or drew pictures while I read and some activities. I would order as many books as our library had off the list. Some were read, other were not. It was fun. My dc remember it as some of their best home schooling times.

[RootAnn]

It takes us a school year to get through one volume. We started when my oldest was in 2nd grade, I think. I roll other kids in whenever they want (5 yrs old, 7 yrs old, whenever). We pick & choose some of the activities & supplemental reading. My kids love the coloring pages. I have also added in the lapbook (not linked) and history videos.

[Tanikit]

It took me a year and a half to get through SOTW1 with a kindergartener. SOTW2 we should finish in a year.

[Samiam]

We've done Vol 1 and 2, and each took us a school year, ie Aug-April. Usually 2-4 times a week. We did the activity books, other books to add in, videos, a few crafts/hands on (more of these with Vol 1 than Vol 2).

[Momof3littles]

It takes us roughly a year, but we do a LOT of supplemental readings.  We do most of the mapwork, a few activities, some activities of our own.  I am using it with a rising 5th grader and a rising 2nd grader.  For the older child in particular, I think additional readings are necessary to round it out.  We read a lot of supplementary things on our own, watch the occasional documentary, and the older child is sometimes assigned corresponding literature to read on his own and write about.

[73349]

I've planned 38 weeks for Vol. 1 with a 1st-grader, but that includes 4 review weeks. I did not buy the activity guide but have other books to supplement.

[HS Mom in NC]

We started SOTW when my older kids were late elementary school because that's when we heard about it. It was in addition to other living books and Learning Through History Magazine so I didn't get the activity guides then.

 

I started SOTW: Ancients with my youngest when she was about 6.5.  She had a very short attention span for her age, so it took a year about a year and a half. We did SOTW: Middle Ages right after she turned 8. We'll do SOTW:Early Modern this Fall right after she turns 9.

 

Ancients: I grouped the readings by region because we found it too erratic and confusing to bounce around from people group to people group so much so fast at her very young age.  I had a bunch of other activities and living books for Ancient Times on hand, so I didn't get the activity guide for that one.

 

I do use the activity guides for the others and do a lot of the readings and activities, including the mapwork.  We specifically plan to get through them in 1 year.  I care about getting to all 3 stages of The Trivium in all subjects, so if I'm too slow at the beginning then I have to cram later.

 

I review at the end of each year with the section from A Child's History of The World by Hillyer that matches the time frame we studied that year.

[Coco_Clark]

I did SOTW1 last year with a 4/5 yr old and 5/6 yr old. We stopped and did a lot of supplemental reading and projects during Egypt/Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. Most of the other chapters we just read and narrated and drew a picture. A few chapters (2 or 3?) we skipped in order to finish before the year was up. We school in four 11 week blocks, so it took us 33 weeks (no history over summer term) with a little bit of skippage.

 

I plan on only making it through half of SOTW2 next year, a bit past the Black Plague. There's just a LOT of amazing literature during the Middle Ages (Vikings, Arthur, Robin Hood, several notable saints) and I want the time to truly delve into it. We will finish SOTW2 and begin SOTW3 the next year and have an entire year to enjoy the Renaissance as well. I'm not sure how we will go from there :).

[redsquirrel]

I have used SOTW for years.  I used volumes 1-4 with my first son in grades 1-4, so I guess ages 5-10?  It took us one year to get through each volume.

 

I used it the same way with my second son. He will be considered a 4th grader next school year and we will start volume 4. I started him in book 1 when he was a first year.

 

I also use the activity guide and we read many of the suggested books. We love SOTW here!

[Hunter]

I have an adult tutoring student who listens to the audios while coloring. That is all she uses. I have the texts on Kindle, but she says following along in the text decreases her comprehension. I facilitate more than teach this student, and just mostly keep her supplied with resources to self-educate.

 

When I teach right now, I'm using the AO history books, because that is what is scheduled, and…well, it's THERE. I'm too lazy right now to combine or substitute SOTW for what is already scheduled, and students seem to prefer the AO literature to the SOWT literature and it's easier for me to acquire.

 

I was just looking at the SOTW literature selections a couple days ago, and that is just so NOT going to happen. :lol: