Talk to me about the SOTW 1 activity guide.

[TyraTooters]

I'm getting ready to order SOTW 1 and can't decide if we should splurge for the activity guide or not. Tell me what you like and/or dislike about it. Thinking I might get the download of the book for my iPad to save on some cash (though I could always resell the actual book...) and have one less thing to keep up with. Cant decide between the download or the actual activity guide book. Pros and cons of either?

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I have the book, but I purchased the download of student pages so I could make copies for extra kids.  The activity guide is very helpful.  It has a map for each chapter with instructions in the guide.  It has 5 or 6 activities/crafts/games for each chapter to choose from.  Sometimes, if we're really interested, we do more than one.  Some are more paper crafts/activities, and some are more involved.  Each chapter also has at least one and often two coloring pages.  Sometimes, I have them color while I read.  It also has review questions and suggestions for narration that we do occasionally.  It also has at least a dozen history and literature supplemental resource suggestions to read more on the subject.  I don't do it for every chapter, but it's great for ones we want to go in depth with.  I often take the activity guide with me to the library and keep a library basket of books for them to read on their own.  Sometimes, we'll read them together.  I find the Activity Guide highly valuable making it a complete program with a lot of flexibility built in.

[Farrar]

I've done SOTW with and without the AG. The AG was not worth it for us.

 

I like the idea of the AG. It's basically a smorgasbord of stuff: lists of good supplemental books, ideas for activities and crafts, coloring pages, maps, narrations, questions, etc.

 

The book lists are excellent, but I'm already pretty knowledgeable about children's books, so I didn't find them essential at all. The coloring pages are okay when the kids are really young. The maps are good, but I ended up doing really simplified map work when my boys were little. The narrations are not the CM style narration I prefer. I didn't feel like I needed the questions.

 

The main thing I wanted it for was the activities... but the activities suggested were mostly really lame, IMO. Canned cut and paste craft type things. There are a few wonderful exceptions, but it wasn't the fount of awesome history crafts that I really wanted it to be. We found much better ideas in books like Classical Kids and other activity book series.

 

But that was just us. I think most people find the AG to be really useful.

[73349]

I have an anti-coloring, anti-craft kid and already chose a very hands-on science for this year, so I decided not to buy the AG.

 

It's easy to find library books to go with each chapter in my local library's catalog, and to find any activities I want to do either in those books (like Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors) or on Pinterest.

[ByGrace3]

I can't imagine doing SOTW without the AG. My kids love hands on, so honestly the extra books and hands on from the AG was the heart of history for us when we used SOTW.

[swainsonshawk]

I love it! The activity guide and history pockets are how we round out the wonderful SOTW books! Right now we are mummifing a chicken as we speak!

[JubilantNest]

We use the activity guide mainly for the mapwork and review questions, but it is worth it for us. 

[GrammarGirl]

I love the instructions for the map work. The coloring pages are a hit with my girls, including the three y.o. I have the printed book and the downloadable student pages. I can't imagine having to photocopy directly from the book.

[ScoutTN]

The AG was definitely worth it for us.

[HS Mom in NC]

If you don't want to do guided narrations with questions you come up with for each SOTW reading or you don't love researching related literature options, hands on activities, and maps, get the activity book. If you love doing those things or have those kinds of resources on hand, you don't need it.  I had lots of Ancient History resources on hand when I did SOTW 1, so I didn't need it.  I didn't have those things on hand for SOTW 2-4, so the activity books were worth what I paid for them and then some.

[sweetpea3829]

I would definitely go with the PDF AG.  Especially if you have more than one kiddo.  

 

That said...I'm not a crafty type of mom, and ended up skipping most of the extra activities.  I tried, I really did...but I'm just not that kind of mom, lol.  It felt like busy work to me.  I did, however, use all of the maps.  

[Stellalarella]

I found the booklists essential.  

[CAmomof4]

Depends what you want to do.  If history will be a large part of your day, and you want to do additional stuff besides read the SOTW chapter and maybe a few questions or a narration, I would think the guide would be important.  It takes the book and turns it into a rounded out curriculum.  There are so many options there that you will never be able to do all of it; I enjoyed having a lot of ideas to choose from.  Also, for me personally, I don't know that I would have been able to find as many resources for Ancients as they list in the AG.  (Particularly the chapters on ancient Africa, India, etc.)

[TyraTooters]

Depends what you want to do.  If history will be a large part of your day, and you want to do additional stuff besides read the SOTW chapter and maybe a few questions or a narration, I would think the guide would be important.  It takes the book and turns it into a rounded out curriculum.  There are so many options there that you will never be able to do all of it; I enjoyed having a lot of ideas to choose from.  Also, for me personally, I don't know that I would have been able to find as many resources for Ancients as they list in the AG.  (Particularly the chapters on ancient Africa, India, etc.)

 

 

I'm not too good at finding my own resources. I mean, if I really sat down and did some research I'm sure I could find something. But let's face it, with three kids the last thing I want to do all night is research even more than I already do. I'm not sure we will do a TON of things, but at least one activity a chapter (or week, however it's laid out) would be nice. Something to give my kids a strong interest in history so it's not 'just another assignment' and to help break up all the short and sweet lessons. Something to bring my kids together with as well. I school them at different times of the day. It just works better for us that way, mostly for me. And we are dealing with issues of getting along so this might help us/them learn to work together. 

 

Thanks to all who replied!! The AG (in pdf form) has been added to my cart. 

[elliotterae]

I love it and it saves us so much time. The additional reading lists, maps, and review questions are what make SotW a full curriculum rather than a story book for us. You could do that all yourself but time vs money, the activity guide saves me at least an hour each chapter. The coloring pages are filler but they are great for keeping one busy while I work with the other on something. We only do probably 1/3 of the activities but the girls age they are some if their favorite school moments.

[Punchie]

I could go either way with it. At the beginning of the year, we were good with using the extras, but at is progressed, we didn't. I liked that it had booklists, but some of the books were hard, if not impossible, to find in my local library (or on amazon). I don't know if I'll buy the student pages for my younger two when I do it with them.

 

If you have a hard time finding your own resources, I would look at blogs of others who have done SOTW1. I found a lot of ideas that way. I also found activity ideas in multiple activity books appropriate to the given historical time.

[Hkpiano]

We are liking it so far. I don't usually use the review questions, I would rather have a conversation about what we have read or do a narration (CM style) than feel like I'm grilling my kids over what they learned. But the book lists are excellent and really save me time. We also enjoy the map work and coloring pages (we don't always do those), as well as picking and choosing which activities to do. I'm not a very crafty mom, so it's nice to have those activities already spelled out for me!

[FairProspects]

I am another one who couldn't do SOTW without the AG. My kids adore maps and we have done every SOTW map and added many more maps from other resources. The maps often lead us to interesting rabbit trails too. I also love the booklists and our supplemental readings have been some of our favorite aspects of SOTW.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

We have had a lot of fun with it so far! It's not for everyone, so as previous posters have said, it depends on what your family is like. If you'd like some visual previews of some of the activities, I blog about it. :)

[ErinE]

I'm not an activity person, but I recommend the AGs. The book lists saved me time. Even if my local library didn't have the exact book listed, I'd reserve another with the same subject. Though I didn't use the script, the narration questions gave me ideas. I used the maps and coloring pages. I think Bill once mentioned that coloring builds up hand strength which I found to be true for my kids.

 

If I had hard copies of the AG, my dd would love browsing all the activities. We're still easing into the school year, but I may print the instruction pages to keep her busy.

[wrzos1]

I'm currently working through the SOTW 1 with the AG, and for my crafty, loves to color younger daughter - it has been great.  If I were just teaching my older, hates to color or do anything he deems 'busy' work - then I wouldn't need it.  *shrug*

 

I really liked it during my planning stages, as I was able to get lots of book suggestions and feel good about the planning stage.  Now that we are into it, I find myself referencing it less and less, because I'm more comfortable doing my own book searches and supplementation.

[Garga]

We loved it here.