SOTW vol 4 questions...please set me straight

[mmi783]

Hi I'm finishing up SOTW vol 3. I was going to keep going with vol 4 but I've seen a lot of places people have said that it follows a different format, that it's not as conversational etc... so I'm starting to wonder about using it. Then I read somewhere it was revised and then a minute later that in fact it hasn't been.So far we love SOTW  my son likes to color while I read and I like the maps I find they are well done etc.. I don't usually do any of the extras due to time. So I'm just a bit confused can someone set me straight. Thanks

[HS Mom in NC]

SOTW 4 is more complex in ideas, vocabulary, sentence structure and content than the earlier books because the series is designed for use with the same child over a period of time where there are large developmental changes.  The kind of reading a typical first grader can process and narrate is different than the kind of reading a typical 4th or 5th grader can process, outline and write about. 

In SOTW 4 the first half(ish) of they year the Activity Book student pages are spent completing a partially done outline and in the second half(ish) the student completes the entire outline themselves. Some of the outlines are complete on the student page and the child only has to write from the completed outline.   Many of the questions in the Activity book only focus on one aspect of the reading because of the complexity of the content.  If they covered everything in each reading there's no way anyone could get through a book in a year and still have a normal school day full of other subjects.

Some people consider some of the events covered in SOTW4 too mature for some students. 

 

 

[mmi783]

Ok, thank you. My son will be 13 in Sept, and although he is getting older he still likes the coloring page, it's just something to do while your listening. I see that you can order the coloring page separate. The outline sounds like it would be a good fit, where he is a bit older. I found a sample online of the first couple of pages of the book so I got to read the introduction etc...and with what you told me its helping to clear things up a bit. Thank you