Overwelmed by SOTW for 1st grader-DOES THIS WORK?

[Alaska Mom]

I've not yet started our SOTW, but the text seems very advanced for a first grader - is this just me?

 

Anyone used this for first grade and have any comments on it? Did they like it?

 

I'm envisioning my dd6's eyes glazing over when I read the text to her, but then I've not tried yet so maybe not ???

[Alana in Canada]

You will be amazed.

 

Trust me.

[abbeyej]

Many, many children love it. However, if yours isn't ready for it this year, that's *okay*. You can wait and start in another year or two. There's nothing wrong with that!

 

Spend lots of time reading other stories, find the locations on maps, read picture book biographies of people your son will find interesting... Just keep him interested and learning about the world. If his eyes would glaze over beginning SOTW this year, then you'll both absolutely be better served by waiting a year.

 

On the other hand, he *might* surprise you. I'd probably give it 2-3 chapters to see. If he's interested, go for it. If not, hang onto it for next year.

[dcjlkplus3]

We did it last year. It works great.

My dd7 still listens to last years CDs on her own - she likes them and they are one thing her little brother will listen to with her.

For us it worked to do 1 section a day, 3 days a week.

Even my preschoolers loved it.

[StephanieF]

I have a 5 yr old ds and we started this week. I like you was worried that it wouldn't work with such a young child. I put it off and off and finally I thought I'd just try it and give up if need be.

He really likes it! He does understand but I do have to repeat myself-no change there then lol! I also repeat what I've said using words that I know he'll understand if I think it is too complicated.

I have the CD too which helps. We talk about what we have just read and for the narration, because we've only just started narration I do have to help. However as soon as I give him the answers he nods and says "oh yes, I know that!". I use the activity guide and agin just pick out what I want, I don't feel I have to cover everything or do all the extra bits.

 

I'm not hung up on getting through it in a yr and I don't care if I spend longer on the Romans, Greeks etc and skim other areas because that is the stuff little boys are interested in! I'm using it as a tool for getting him to concentrate, think for himself and read lots of books as well as learning history.

So I say, try it and see!

Stephanie

[Mommamia]

I was sad to find that my boys(6)were not yet ready for this reading. I'm going to give it another try soon, then save it for next yr.

 

Maybe the cd's are better.....play them while driving? I say give either format a try ,but don't worry if your dc is not ready. A few months can make a ton of difference.

 

Mary

[Paula in MS]

We are doing it for 1st grade with the activity guide. It is working great. We read one section of the chapter and do mapwork on one day. Then, later in the week, we read the next section and do the coloring page.

 

Paula

[Alaska Mom]

should I get these? Sounds like they are good?

[WTMindy]

My kids loved it and I started it when my dd was in K and my son listened along at age 3.5. They have always loved to be read to though. I would highly encourage you to do some projects with them to reinforce the reading and have them associate history with fun. I credit SOTW with giving my kids their love of history.

[Shasta Mom]

We didn't start vol 1 until third grade and my son loved it. I've always thought 1st grade might have been too early for him (and he scores high on LA). If you're new to hs'ing - my advice would be to relax, and realize that all kids are different and develop at different paces. Maybe give a few chapters a try and see if dc engages it at all. If not, wait a semester, try again, and see what happens. Good Luck!

[dcjlkplus3]

We are doing it for 1st grade with the activity guide. It is working great. We read one section of the chapter and do mapwork on one day. Then, later in the week, we read the next section and do the coloring page.

 

Paula

 

This is how we have always done it. In fact dd7 likes coloring pages so much I ordered different Medieval coloring books for this year (SOTW 2). She likes to them just about every history day. Or, if I couldn't find an extra coloring page, I would have her draw something from history. I love those drawing - even of they are 6yo glorified stick figures.:tongue_smilie:

[JABarney]

...but five weeks into it and now that we have an established routine I am surprised! They actually enjoy and remember the material.

 

Here is how we do it:

We listen to the CD chapter, like a preview of the week to come us, usually on the weekend in the car on the way to soccer. Then we break it down into five short lessons for the week.

Monday: I read from the book, ask the review questions from the activity guide, and finally have them tell me what was the most interesting thing they learned (narration - which I am writing for now) Then I have them cut out the review card (from the activity guide) and glue it onto a 3x5 note card.

Tuesday: We go to the wall map and then the globe and locate the area we are studying. We do the map exercise from the activity guide and the coloring page.

Wednesday: We read any extra books and encyclopedia entries.

Thursday: Craft project

Friday: "oral test". For the oral test, I use the test book and we just read the questions and make a game out of it to see how much we all can remember. This is done without pressure and not graded.

 

We probably spend less than 30 min each day on all this and it is working very well for us.

 

HTH

[HRAAB]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I tried it last year when my twins were in 1st gr. It seemed to be too much information and there was little to no retention. They weren't interested. I'm saving it for this year - 2nd gr; I'll start it in January. In the meantime we've just been reading stories - mainly about American history since they were able to make connections with holidays we celebrate. Plus they were born on Columbus Day so that helped.

 

Janet

[deeinfl]

I really like the way you are doing it. I may immitate that schedule. :)

 

I tried it with my second grader and he's definitely not ready yet, so I'm saving it for the 3/4 grade when I think he'll get more out of it. Also, I find that the medieval one which comes right after will be better suited for a 4rth grader with a little bit more understanding of the material, but that's just me.

 

blessings,

 

Dee

[Kay in Cal]

My older son loves it, and even the younger enjoys listening--though I don't think ds4 retains it. It doesn't take long to read, and even with review question, a narration, map work, and an occasional craft (we don't do nearly all the crafts from the AG) it still takes less than 30 minutes or so. We do it twice a week.

 

Here's a link to my workbook/schedule for SOTW1:

http://www.lulu.com/content/796912

 

Try it, you may just like it. If not.. there's always time in the future.

[mariposa]

I agree with others that it really just depends on your child. I'm actually reading it to my K and 1st grader, and they really are following it and retaining a lot of the information.

I highly recommend the activity guide, especially the books that are recommended. Reading many of the extra books has added so much to their understanding by reinforcing concepts from the book & adding new information. Many of them are picture books, which helps a lot, too. My K-er was drawing pictures on her own of "cat mummies" this week.

I hope it works for you, we're really having fun! That said, you can always save the fun for another year if your child isn't ready yet!

Sarah

[mommylawyer]

My first grader loves it - so does my preschooler! I always read to the kids during breakfast, we do the narration exercises then, too. It makes for very pleasant breakfast conversation! Later on in the day, we may do one of the suggested activities or read a book or watch a video on the same subject. I like splitting it up during the day because it acts as a refresher.

[Mama Anna]

I just started with dd three weeks ago. She loves being read to - she even convinced me to read several pages of Pride and Prejudice aloud one evening - so I didn't think it would be a problem. Well, the first lesson was a little difficult. I could see her eyes glaze over by the time we were 2/3 of the way through the first section of the introduction. I had to remind her about the narration exercise coming up after the reading and really help her focus to get through it. However, after only a couple weeks (reading two sections (1 Chapter) each week), she's learning how to focus pretty well. She still isn't completely smooth with the narrations - still needs prompting - but even her incredible loquacity is counterbalanced by the maturity of her attention-span.

 

HTH!

 

Mama Anna

 

(Why, oh why won't my remote's "mute" button work on children?!?!?)

[magistramom]

You. Must. Try. It.

:001_smile:

Write down her narrations too - you will see how MEGA MUCH she will absorb (and when the narrations are bound, they make a great little memory book of your time together "doin' history).

[Mama2Three]

About the CDs, my DC LOVE them!!! They have been listening to them almost every day -- we broke them out in August and I think that they are on the 4th or 5th cycle now, lol! I haven't even formally added history to our day yet, so they are listening just for fun at this point. :001_smile:

[Sunshine State Sue]

We started in 2nd grade. My ds loved them. Back then, we schooled year round and it was the only program we used during the regular school year because we met with other families to do some of the projects together. He was horrified when we stopped for the summer. My son's eyes never glazed over because he was either coloring, playing with legos, or acting out the story with stuffed animals while I read.

[Diane]

We started SOTW in 2nd. We are actually finishing it up now in 3rd. We started when my son had just turned 7. He LOVED it. I will say, though, as we read through it, I was so happy that we started out later than sooner. I don't think my son would have enjoyed it or retained as much in 1st. That's our story. We have truly enjoyed it, and Vol. 2 is on order right now.

 

Also...I really think it was all of the extra reading that really made things sink in for BOTH of us. :) We are both learning.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Also...I really think it was all of the extra reading that really made things sink in for BOTH of us. :) We are both learning.

 

:iagree:

[Jennifer3141]

I've started with my 4 year old who LOVES it. I don't really expect very much of it to sink in but it has already made for very interesting discussions and I'm grateful for it.

 

Jen

[gandpsmommy]

We used SOTW, vol. 1 for first grade last year. It took us awhile to hit our stride because it really wasn't dd's sort of thing, and because we were overwhelmed for awhile with all of the work we were trying to do and with some extenuating health circumstances that were eating up a lot of our time.

 

We are loving Vol. 2 this year, but vol. 1 was a little difficult for us to get through. I finally purchased the audiobook cd's for us to listen to in the car. That is how we made it through the whole book. My advice would be to use it in whatever way fits your child and your family best. For us last year that meant not insisting on narrations and mapwork, not trying to do a project every time, and eventually just listening to the cd's. This year we are able to do narrations, mapwork and coloring pages and get through the discussion questions very easily (without distress). We will add in projects as they interest us. Part of this is just dd's being older, part of it is my being better at helping her learn the narration process, and part of it is that I think vol. 2 is more interesting. We also have streamlined our curr. (we are doing more of a Latin-Centered Curr.) so that we have fewer subjects everyday. This helps dd not be so tired and weary of words and work when we get to history.

 

For us history in the grammar stage is really just about exposure and building a framework for greater understanding later. It's not about mastery or memorizing everything. So, just hearing the stories was enough for us last year. This year we are trying to chronicle what we have learned more by doing narrations, coloring pages, etc., but it is still about exposure to us.

[sagira]

Great thread. I'm glad to hear all these responses, as I've been going back and forth whether to start SOTW next year in First with ds. He LOVES being read to, wants to hear things over and over again, and learns best through the relational art of reading aloud and listening to books. I'm not sure about the audio CDs (maybe for the car). He likes the cuddling and listening, and I'm a very fluent reader who likes to take the storytelling approach (I used to read to other children as part of a TV show for kids when I was seven).

 

I feel confident now to forge ahead and start the study of the Ancients next year, and feel we are going to enjoy this!

 

Thanks to gandpsmommy who said that exposure and framework is more than enough for these early years :iagree:

[Carrie12345]

We're only just starting, but it's a big hit here. My 5 year old is retaining more than my 6 year old, which shocks the heck out of me. My 10 year old is fascinated.

 

I figure the 6 year old will will "get it" a lot easier in another 4 years, even if it doesn't seem like she's retaining much right now. Still, she's enjoying the activities. She'll always remember wrapping the table in brown paper (Thank you, curriculum shippers who stuff with paper!) and making her own cave drawings. And that's one of the ho-hum activities, in my opinion. We're really looking forward to mummies!