javadepot Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 :001_huh:I am literally a rookie at homeschooling, just started last tuesday. We are coming out of public school with my 4th grader and 7th grader....anyone else out there like me? I found the WTM last winter and fell in love with the principals and so I have followed it almost verbatum....day 1 we were in school until 4:00 with 40 min. for lunch and excercise....your laughing I know, but we did figure it out and have managed to reduce our day substantially by using a new fangled thing called "THE CLOCK".....duh yup it's true....hee hee hee:tongue_smilie: What has me most concerned is my son's history, I feel like I need more structure. I love dd 9's SOTW cirric. it is fabulous and complete, but for my son I need more than just the KingFisher Encyclopedia and a book or two for the particular time line and some blackline maps.....help!!! Also, for my daughter I got the recommended "Physics for Children" book, very simplistic and very outdated, Susan definitely mentions that in the book, I intended to do Chemistry for my son....we never got to anything this week? Could I just do Chemistry for both? What do you use? The other cirriculum I purchased I absolutely love, but best of all my kids are really loving it, such a blessing to be able to be doing this! I am having a blast. I so appreciate all the posts and advice from those of you out there....God bless you all! these boards have really helped to reassure me in this endeavour, I have never posted to any other message board in my life. If you have a minute to help I am open to any suggestions, forgive my lack of akronyms....just good ole' full sentances here!......debbie:) ds12 Saxon Math Algebra 1 Voyages in English 7 Spelling Workout G Writing Strands History KFE w/xtra reading SOS Bible 700 Prima Latina Logic CTP cd and workbooks Chemistry PE dd9 Saxon Math 3 & 5/4 Voyages in English 4 Spelling Workout d Writing Strands SOTW Modern SOS 400 Prima Latina Logic - CTP workbook & cd w/puzzles Physics PE And a Partridge in a Pear Tree:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoplayer Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 When we first got into classical homeschooling (from plain old homeschooling!), I felt like I needed the help of a text to get me through the history transition, too. I ended up using Streams of Civilization with our kids (two volumes, covered in two years), and it really helped to give us a whirlwind trip through world history. Now, being a bit more comfortable with what we are doing, we are embarking on a 4-year Great Books study through High School with our son, 14. Our kids are three years apart, like yours, and while they cannot do science on the same level, I have kept them on the same discipline (Earth & Space Science, Biology, Chemistry, etc.) just for my own sanity.:DWhat has resulted so far is that son (14) is doing quite well and enjoying science and daughter (11) is testing very advanced in science due to her exposure to instruction on a higher level. Welcome to homeschooling, and welcome to The Well-Trained Mind! I have found this place really impressive--lots of folks who have "been there, done that" and are willing to share their experiences, advice, and counsel concerning curricula in a warm, sympathetic environment. I hope you will feel at home here!:grouphug: P.S.: FYI--I think Susan mentions this at several points in the book, but her curricula suggestions and "here's what a day might look like" charts are suggestions, not "do this and all this and don't leave anything out," if you know what I mean. Unless folks figure out how to stop the sun in its progression across the sky, I suspect that few if any of us are following her prescriptions "to the letter," especially when educating children of multiple ages. She intends, I believe, that the suggestions be adapted to the needs and circumstances of your family. Hope that helps! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 :001_huh:I am literally a rookie at homeschooling, just started last tuesday. We are coming out of public school with my 4th grader and 7th grader....anyone else out there like me? I found the WTM last winter and fell in love with the principals and so I have followed it almost verbatum....day 1 we were in school until 4:00 with 40 min. for lunch and excercise....your laughing I know, but we did figure it out and have managed to reduce our day substantially by using a new fangled thing called "THE CLOCK".....duh yup it's true....hee hee hee:tongue_smilie: What has me most concerned is my son's history, I feel like I need more structure. I love dd 9's SOTW cirric. it is fabulous and complete, but for my son I need more than just the KingFisher Encyclopedia and a book or two for the particular time line and some blackline maps.....help!!!Also, for my daughter I got the recommended "Physics for Children" book, very simplistic and very outdated, Susan definitely mentions that in the book, I intended to do Chemistry for my son....we never got to anything this week? Could I just do Chemistry for both? What do you use? The other cirriculum I purchased I absolutely love, but best of all my kids are really loving it, such a blessing to be able to be doing this! I am having a blast. I so appreciate all the posts and advice from those of you out there....God bless you all! these boards have really helped to reassure me in this endeavour, I have never posted to any other message board in my life. If you have a minute to help I am open to any suggestions, forgive my lack of akronyms....just good ole' full sentances here!......debbie:) ds12 Saxon Math Algebra 1 Voyages in English 7 Spelling Workout G Writing Strands History KFE w/xtra reading SOS Bible 700 Prima Latina Logic CTP cd and workbooks Chemistry PE dd9 Saxon Math 3 & 5/4 Voyages in English 4 Spelling Workout d Writing Strands SOTW Modern SOS 400 Prima Latina Logic - CTP workbook & cd w/puzzles Physics PE And a Partridge in a Pear Tree:D I think I plan on using Mystery of History once we finish our Story of the World cycle. We are supposed to finish out by next fall, but we tend to run behind. I'm just in the beginning stage of checking it out, so it may not be what you're looking for but I wanted to throw it out. I'm kind of a rebel when it comes to science :001_smile:. If we do formal science, we do whatever interests me. This semester we're doing another run-through of the human body because my older 2 are in a fabulous Anatomy class at co-op. They are supposed to read up on the next week's topic, so I decided last minute to just go ahead and include my ds6 & ds4 and do a Human Body study. All this to say--I would do the same science with both kids. Keep having fun, Debbie! And welcome :D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jensway Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 Take a look at Mystery of History for your son. I started it last year with my son and we are doing it again this year, we did not make it through the book. We are kind of slow when doing history. It has a really good timeline suggestions and it seems to help the material stay in my sons memory bank, if you know what I mean. ;) It also has different levels of work to do so you can tailor it for your son. We also supplemented Mystery of History with the History Channel as several times there were shows about what we studying. One comes to mind is the Boudica the Warrior. :001_smile: Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 For History, you can always supplement your older child's reading with other texts. I don't know if there are suitable for a 14 year old, but the books by John Haare, "Famous Men of--" series is fantastic. You can print them out for fee at http://www.mainlesson.com and see how they fit. However, I highly recommend the Guerber/Miller Books. I plan on using them for our second rotation through History. What you could do, if the budget permits, is get the SoTW CD's and have your son blitz through them to get a feel for the history of "the whole world" before he setles into a more advanced approach. hth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 We are using History Odyssey for logic stage history. I almost hesitate to recommend it because I have mixed feelings about it. Mostly, I don't particularly enjoy the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. But, since you are already using it, you may want to check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 My ds is a bit younger than yours (will be 11 in Dec); he does SOTW along with his younger brother (7). But he also has additional assigned reading, and when he does his narrations a) he does them on his own and b) he incorporates things he read in the other books. I think you could still have both your kids use SOTW, just require more from the older one. (Assuming your ds likes SOTW, and assuming you would like them to both do the same thing.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in SouthGa Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 We are using TOG Year 2 unit 4(I bought one unit-9weeks worth) but will be dropping it after that. This will get us a little past the Rev. War. We are just going to continue with History of US, This Country of Ours, Our Island Story, and Story of the World 3(my oldest will do all of them, my two youngest will just do SOTW). Laura in China has a great schedule coordinating them on her blog=I don't have the weblink, but you can search for a post from her here and it is in her signature. I'm also going to find coordinating literature from Paula's Archive website, or maybe buy All Through the Ages. My oldest is not a hands on guy, he just loves to read, so this is perfect for him. The littles will do act. from SOTW act. guide (and big bro. can join in if he wants to). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 What has me most concerned is my son's history, I feel like I need more structure. I love dd 9's SOTW cirric. it is fabulous and complete, but for my son I need more than just the KingFisher Encyclopedia and a book or two for the particular time line and some blackline maps.....help!!!Also, for my daughter I got the recommended "Physics for Children" book, very simplistic and very outdated, Susan definitely mentions that in the book, I intended to do Chemistry for my son....we never got to anything this week? Could I just do Chemistry for both? What do you use? For history you could have your son outline a few paragraphs in whatever SOTW chapter your daughter is on, and then have him read the corresponding Kingfisher pages. Then mark dates from Kingfisher on timeline. Then blackline maps and comparing those and the Kingfisher maps to a modern globe and wall map to see what has changed. Then extra reading and narrating. About science, I'm going to take a stab and guess that you are thinking physics for daughter because that's the 4th grade WTM recommendation, and chemistry for son because that's the 7th grade WTM recommendation. Keep in mind that those recommendations are there as examples, *if* one child had neatly started the science progression in 1st grade. :) You don't have to have them studying different branches of science, they can both do chemistry or both do physics or whatever. And you can either have them both working from the same book, assigning a different writing requirement to each, or you can give each their own book (Physics for Children for the 4th grader - BTW, I loved using that book last year, simple was perfect for my kids ages at the time - and a higher level physics experiment book or physics kits for the 7th grader) to experiment and write from. The idea is to keep them on the same branch of science (and history and literature!) for the sake of simplicity in your homeschool, but to give them age appropriate reading and writing requirements. Hope this helps, and have fun homeschooling! Nice to hear they are loving it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 I don't know whether or not you have them doing the same time period in history, but I am having my son read on his own from SOTW and outline from it, rather than Kingfisher. He is also making a timeline of ancient history, including major points as we cover them. We are linking our literature to history, so that the reading of mythology, folklore and historical fiction go along with the cultures we're studying. He does regular book reports on these. Then he's also reading (and I'm reading aloud, too) library books that cover particular topics for the history period under study (more than a couple, generally). He does a weekly report on some topic of interest. I have the SOTW tests, and he's been taking those after we finish pertinent chapters. (You could also make up your own chapters from your readings.) If you're doing SOTW III or IV, which covers a lot more American history, you might check to see if your library has Joy Hakim's History of US series. It covers American history and was meant for middle schoolers. Certainly you could do chemistry with both of them. Prentice Hall Science Explorer might fit the bill for both. You can find it on Amazon or Half.com. Rainbow Resource Center carries a program called Elements intro to chemistry which is good. The same author has a follow-up on organic chemistry that RRC sells, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javadepot Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 Hey guys, Thanks for all your input, so many suggestions on how to move through this transition! I think I need to take a :chillpill: pill....and repeat to myself....'there's no place like home....there's no place like home" Have a lovely week all! Deb:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anissarobert Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Deb, One advantage to having them both do the same field of science is that they learn from each other. My oldest two children are in 9th and 3rd grade. Their curriculum does not overlap, but I keep them on the same year in history and science. Yesterday they were both doing scientific experiments on classification. (We are doing Biology this year. I align the years for my oldest.) My dd is using Apologia and my ds is using Real Science 4 Kids-Level 1. When my dd saw what her brother was working on she took the time to show him a way to memorize the taxonomy series that had been taught in her book. I love the way homeschoolers learn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javadepot Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 oops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelda Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 I'm starting our second year and all I can tell you is that the first year is full of surprises. Most of them good. It takes a while to hit your stride so I would just say to go easy on yourself. I stressed over how long our days were but I probably shouldn't have. It takes that long in the beginning to work out the bugs...even if you did nothing to tweak your schedule your days would naturally get shorter over time. Reading this board helped me along during the first year and helped me prepare for the second year. But nothing beats actually being in the trenches. Best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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