enchantedhome Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 After abdandoing my plans to do AO (good riddance...this was a good move for me/us), I am planning out the year for my 1st and 3rd grader. We will be using SOTW as our history spine, and I have the activity books to refer to as well, for maps and such. We are also going to be using Brave Writer for each child (The Wand and The Arrow). With AO, everything was laid out and scheduled for me, down to page numbers, so I knew what to plan for a week, a month, etc. Now that I'm on my own, I'm freaking out a little bit!I have us down to do about a chapter (sometimes 2) from SOTW for each child. Yes,they will be in different cycles of history...I really want my 3rd grader to be "caught up" in regards to the cycle going forward, and she's a strong independent reader, so I can hand it off to her. Does this amount per week seem reasonable? I know it's not wise to try to get supplemental history books for each topic, but I have planned out at least one most weeks, titles I can get from the library or that we own. Should I do that, or make it simpler and just let SOTW stand on its own? How much supplemental reading do you do?Spelling/writing/grammar will be through Brave Writer, but I'd like to assign some other literature to my 3rd grader as well, in addition to the monthly BW book. The trouble is, I have no idea how quickly we'll move through them, and I don't know how to account for that on the schedule. Meaning, as I go though and map out each week, do I note down the book I want her to be reading? If she's not done with it , or already flew through it, then the subsequent weeks of schedules will be "off." I'm sure I'm making this more complicated than it needs to be, but now that I'm not following AO's pre-made schedule, I'm a bit of a loss. I won't be handing her a book and saying "read pages 20-25 and stop to narrate," and then dropping the book for another week. Its all much more fluid, and I don't know how to plan for that! Or is everything other than the BW book a "strongly suggested free read" for her to get to when she has reading time each day?More thoughts: we are doing RS for math. That's all fine. I am planning poetry/Shakespeare/art study/songs as part of morning time all together. That seems doable. That leaves me with science. I'd rather not make nature study the main part of our science...I just...don't love it, and it turns into play outside time, not categorize trees time. Lol. I have BFSU, but I find it baffling and so confusing. I don't have it in me to plan those lessons. Thoughts on another science approach? Kids would be combined on this one.I'd really appreciate some feedback and advice. We're starting in 2.5 weeks, and I just undid all my plans this weekend, so I'm scrambling and nervous to be going "on my own."Grateful for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mukaziwanga Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I'm afraid I can't help, but I can relate! Can I ask what turned you off of AO? I was considering using AO this year too for my 6 yo, but am not happy with the history component and unsure about what to substitute it with. I have yet to find history for younger ages that I am happy with. I was thinking of trying BFSU science though seen many complaints about usability. Will be following, hoping for some good recs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mukaziwanga Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 We do RS math too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momee Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 not to hijack...but for mukaziwanga...if you're not happy with the history part of AO you can surely change that. Here are a couple of blogs I've been looking at to remind me I can sub in all kinds of things to whatever I'm doing but here are some specifically using some of AO recs... http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/p/free-curriculum.html http://charlottemasonmodern.com/year-3/ http://afterthoughtsblog.net/2015/05/virginia-lees-post.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enchantedhome Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Mukaziwanga- I was really turned off by the history, actually. The recommended texts are full of racism and anti-catholic sentiment that is not acceptable to me. People are anxious to tell you that you can soften it, edit it, etc, but I just didn't like that it was even there. Also, while I like many of the suggested free reads, I found that many of the assigned literature selections were not compelling or engaging for my children. I really love classic children's lit, but I wanted less of the books which seemed to be in the schedule simply because they are "hard." Looking forward to planning help/suggestions!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carriede Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I don't have any personal experience with this, but the SOTW activity guides do have book lists for independent reading that might work for your additional reading list. TWTM also has history related book lists for independent reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 If you can afford it, you might like Wayfarers. It schedules SOTW and everything else, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I'm afraid I can't help, but I can relate! Can I ask what turned you off of AO? I was considering using AO this year too for my 6 yo, but am not happy with the history component and unsure about what to substitute it with. I have yet to find history for younger ages that I am happy with. I was thinking of trying BFSU science though seen many complaints about usability. Will be following, hoping for some good recs! I think the reason it's hard to find history that works for younger ages is that it's kind of unreasonable to expect kids under the age of 10 to care about SO MANY historical characters and happenings. It's confusing and complicated. Sure, some kids love it, but mine just really, really don't. I tried SOTW for first grade and didn't even make it through. Tossed it. Since then, I find lap books online (some free, some on sites like Currclick) that match the major periods or civilizations I want to cover, and we work from those. You can use lots of different books, the kids get to do cute little activities, and at the end of it all, you have something to show for it. This next year, we're doing units on Civil War, Westward Expansion, and Immigration for American history, and Renaissance for world history. Disclaimer: Our homeschool is not history-centric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberryjam Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I do read alouds and independent reading from AO, Wayfarers, and BFSU. We don't do any of the programs as outlined. This works for us. We do SOTW for history. Check out RSO (REAL Science Odyssey, Pandia Press) for science. There are also suggested books to go along with the chapters. The experiments are simple, using mostly household items, and they actually teach - not just busy work. They have generous previews (about a third of the book) on their website you can check out before you buy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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