Jump to content

Menu

If you are using OUP, do you just read?


Recommended Posts

Or do you do something else? I bought the study guide for The Early Human World but it seems really schooly. I was thinking about just reading and discussing for now. Maybe a short written narration? What do you do? My daughter is only in 4th grade, if that helps. She's at an advanced reading level, but not writing level, and really enjoys history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, for a 4th grader I would definitely just read and discuss.  I bought some of the guides, too, and I also have mixed feelings about them.  For an older child, who you are explicitly trying to teach to study from textbooks I think they have a place, but for a younger one who enjoys history, I'd worry that they would turn it into drudgery.  I'd just read and discuss, and short written narrations sounds like a great plan.

 

I have a rising 4th grader who is an advanced reader and loves history, and I'd never ask her to do the guides. I think she'd hate both writing and history if I did that.  For a 7th/8th grader, totally different story.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, for a 4th grader I would definitely just read and discuss.  I bought some of the guides, too, and I also have mixed feelings about them.  For an older child, who you are explicitly trying to teach to study from textbooks I think they have a place, but for a younger one who enjoys history, I'd worry that they would turn it into drudgery.  I'd just read and discuss, and short written narrations sounds like a great plan.

 

I have a rising 4th grader who is an advanced reader and loves history, and I'd never ask her to do the guides. I think she'd hate both writing and history if I did that.  For a 7th/8th grader, totally different story.

 

Do the guides include essay questions? I have the books, but not teacher guides. If we get the guides, will it teach them how to do a research paper in history? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have any teacher guides, just the student guides.  They certainly don't teach how to do a research paper in history!  they have some discussion questions, they have the students use various outlining/graphic organizers, writing definitions or descriptions of people, vocabulary, timelines, map works, and some short answer and essay questions.

 

They are good for classrooms.  They are fine for having a student work through the chapters and learn the material independently. They are no substitute for reading and discussing the material with your student.  they definitely don't teach essay writing or research paper writing.  

 

I think they are probably too much writing for a typical 4th grader, and too little depth for an 8th grader.  They probably fit somewhere in between there.  I don't think I'll end up using them with Shannon at all, I might hang on to them and use some with Morgan later, but I kind of doubt it.  Another in my (large) stack of curricula purchased that will probably never get used.

 

I have no idea what the teacher guides contain.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have my 6th grader read and outline every chapter.  He is very interested in history, so this seems to be working out.

I used the study guide for one of the books, but my son hated it.  For the amount of work required to complete the questions, my son didn't gain much from it.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had my fourth grader write 1 history summary per week this past year, although we used different materials.  He wrote about 500 to 600 words (usually between 4 and 6 paragraphs) in history each week. He typed. I am planning on doing the same in 5th grade. 

 

I think he will get much more from doing that than from doing the study guides.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you everyone. I'm really enjoying reading it myself and she has really enjoyed the part we read together. I hate to kill the love. I think the written narrations are a great idea. She is a little behind in writing so we will probably keep them short and build from there. Anyone want my student guide? ;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When my oldest was in 6th/7th grade he read the chapters and I discussed them with him using the teacher's guide to bring out themes and give me some ideas of questions to ask him.  At the end of the TG there was a list of 10-12 essay prompts.  I assigned 3-5 of those.  Some we worked on throughout the week and one or two I used as essay tests.  

 

As an example, with the TG to The Ancient Roman World:

Unit 1 covers chapters 1-3.  The "big ideas" in Unit One are movement, conflict, and change.  The Unit Objectives are to cover the importance of oral history in understanding ancient civilizations, learn how and when Rome was founded, discover the impact that the Etruscan civilization had on the development of Rome, and to determine the origins of the Roman Republic. Timeline dates are given and some unit projects are suggested including writing a play, creating a large timeline, duplicating some famous artwork, and writing a research report on suggested topics. There is also a literature connection which suggests books and rates them as easy, average, or advanced.  There are also some suggested vocabulary lists for each chapter.  

 

Each chapter has both reading comprehension questions and critical thinking questions provided.  There is either a primary source activity or a map activity for each chapter along with a multiple choice, short answer, and essay question test.  A random example of an essay prompt for chapter 4:

On a separate sheet of paper, write an essay describing the class conflict in Rome discussed in this chapter. Explain why the plebeians and patricians did what they did, and whether you think the conflict was ever truly resolved.

 

At the end of the book there is a page titled Rome Wrap-Up with 10 questions.  For example question 7:

Imagine you are a Roman during the empire.  Write a two paragraph reaction to the entertainments held int he Colosseum.  In the first paragraph, describe the entertainments.  In the second paragraph, describe how you feel after going to see them.

 

I found them useful but I only used two TG for the year (one for Greece and one for Rome).  We read in some of other books but did not cover them in depth.  

 

HTH,

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have both the TGs and SGs. I have used them for certain chapters in which I want factual information memorized and understood, e.g. the order of creation of things in the universe. I also want DS to have some exposure to different ways of organizing information so I have used some of the models. We decided to start WWS recently so he's just getting into outlining. Once he's had more practice I'll have him outline some chapters.

 

I would say, though, that for 60-70% of chapters we just read and discuss. I'd prefer to get a comprehensive overview at a higher level and get through the books and I think we'd get bogged down if we did too much of the guides for every chapter. Many of them read like extended news or National Geographic articles and that's fine with me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When my oldest was in 6th/7th grade he read the chapters and I discussed them with him using the teacher's guide to bring out themes and give me some ideas of questions to ask him. At the end of the TG there was a list of 10-12 essay prompts. I assigned 3-5 of those. Some we worked on throughout the week and one or two I used as essay tests.

 

As an example, with the TG to The Ancient Roman World:

Unit 1 covers chapters 1-3. The "big ideas" in Unit One are movement, conflict, and change. The Unit Objectives are to cover the importance of oral history in understanding ancient civilizations, learn how and when Rome was founded, discover the impact that the Etruscan civilization had on the development of Rome, and to determine the origins of the Roman Republic. Timeline dates are given and some unit projects are suggested including writing a play, creating a large timeline, duplicating some famous artwork, and writing a research report on suggested topics. There is also a literature connection which suggests books and rates them as easy, average, or advanced. There are also some suggested vocabulary lists for each chapter.

 

Each chapter has both reading comprehension questions and critical thinking questions provided. There is either a primary source activity or a map activity for each chapter along with a multiple choice, short answer, and essay question test. A random example of an essay prompt for chapter 4:

On a separate sheet of paper, write an essay describing the class conflict in Rome discussed in this chapter. Explain why the plebeians and patricians did what they did, and whether you think the conflict was ever truly resolved.

 

At the end of the book there is a page titled Rome Wrap-Up with 10 questions. For example question 7:

Imagine you are a Roman during the empire. Write a two paragraph reaction to the entertainments held int he Colosseum. In the first paragraph, describe the entertainments. In the second paragraph, describe how you feel after going to see them.

 

I found them useful but I only used two TG for the year (one for Greece and one for Rome). We read in some of other books but did not cover them in depth.

 

HTH,

This is what I was hoping for! I have such a hard time coming up assignments on my own. Guides sound perfect for writing in history.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have the complete OUP series for both Ancient Times and the Medieval and Early Modern. We've completed these volumes from the Ancient Times series:

- Early Human

- Ancient Near Eastern World

- Ancient Egyptian

- Ancient South Asian

- Ancient China

 

We have about 5 chapters left of Ancient Greece and then Ancient Rome to complete this year. I can't imagine not using any of them! We don't use the primary sources volume as much but I try to review it as we complete each culture-specific volume. 

 

I feel like it's easy to get info about ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; those are typical studies. So, I think I might have preferred the other volumes more because I definitely learned things I didn't know at all.

 

My only constructive feedback about these volumes is that it is sometimes difficult to get a handle on how events relate to each other even within a specific culture. They mix in chapters about science, arts, culture, which we love, but sometimes we have to really focus to remember the sequence of events. My daughter prefers social history so we love it except for that minor complaint. We combine this with K12 Human Odyssey, and I think it does a better job of wrapping the sequential progression together. So, I really like the combination of them together.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just read and narrate. 5th grader (who just started the series) does oral narration. 8th grader (who's finishing the medieval/early modern series) has a mix of oral and written narrations, depending on my mood.

 

Theoretically we also add events to their timeline books every week. But I don't think I'm actually getting that done this year.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which OUP books do you like?

 

We didn't buy the Early Human world, so I can't speak to that one But dd13 has read all the others up through An Age of Voyages. She has 1 book left in the series and has enjoyed all of them, except the Ancient South Asian world. She hated that it was more archeology than history. DS got about halfway through the S. Asian world before he started whining about it too. I let him drop it, and he's happily continuing with Ancient China.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Holy cow, people! It would never have occurred to me that there might bee a teacher's guide, and if I stumbled on it I would have been skeptical about whether it would be helpful.

 

Instead, I've been planning to have youngest start the SOTW cycle with my olders following along but doing deeper reading, oral narration, and occasional writing assignments. I was going to have to devote some of my summer to reading through the OUP books I have to see if they would be suitable, how to divide then up, what kind of writing assignments would make sense, etc.

 

Now, thanks to my devoted, habitual (some might say obsessive but he is on a business trip right now) reading if the forum I have found a magical-sounding resource that will last out all that ground work for me. Plus I have found validation that even if I can't pull off my whole notional, pie-in-the-sky plan, they can do oral narrations and still be successful.

 

Thank you ALL, but particularly TKDmom and Flaura. What a nice way to start my day.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We didn't buy the Early Human world, so I can't speak to that one But dd13 has read all the others up through An Age of Voyages. She has 1 book left in the series and has enjoyed all of them, except the Ancient South Asian world. She hated that it was more archeology than history. DS got about halfway through the S. Asian world before he started whining about it too. I let him drop it, and he's happily continuing with Ancient China.

 

What a timely post! I was just thinking yesterday that if I don't have time to fit them all in, this is the one we'll drop.  You just made me feel a lot better about that choice . . . 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...