Sotw for five year old

[Homeschoolmommy44]

Need some advice I have a five year old who is doing first grade work in all subjects. Should I have him start story of the world at this age? He just turned five. Has anyone done sotw with five year olds? Can they grasp it? Or should I wait until six?

 

 

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[blondeviolin]

I'd wait till six. I've had very advanced 5yos and they each would have done perfectly fine (great, even) with SOTW 1 at 5. I have a 5yo who will be doing it this year since that's the schedule for everyone else. The problem comes when they're moving into SOTW 4 early too. There's some heavier stuff there and a lot more writing required. I anticipate having to make adjustments in a few years for him.

 

I guess you could move slower through the material, but I'd just as soon do a year of geography and hop into SOTW at 6.

[Homeschoolmommy44]

Thanks!

 

 

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[HomeAgain]

SOTW 1 is not a problem with a 5yo.

 

That said, we intentionally waited until age 6.  The subject matter and expectations get progressively more difficult throughout the years.  Regardless of what my kid was capable of at age 5, it was better to put it off.  Last year we did geography and basic science (Mystery Science), and during the second semester I wove together a long unit study consisting of astronomy, composer (Gustav Holst: The Planets), artist (Jackson Pollock), the big bang theory, timeline of the earth, dinosaurs, evolution......all touched upon in an orderly manner so it flowed from one subject to the next.  We ended right before ancient history, which is where we picked up this year.

I am so glad we waited!  He is able to get more out of it than he would have a year ago.

[kiwik]

My kids hated SOTW at 5 and 6. Now they are 7 and 9 we are all enjoying it as a read aloud and making some connections. Do prehistory - most kids love dinosaurs etc.

[Farrar]

My boys enjoyed it at that age. We would read it, color a picture, read some supplemental books, and sometimes do a craft here and there. I skipped doing the narration work and the maps for the most part. We had a good kindy SOTW year.

 

I think it's fine to do it or to wait, just that if you do SOTW with a kindergartener to keep your expectations of what that looks like clear - more emphasis on the fun. And don't expect that in a couple of years they'll have more than a general sense of the history they studied.

[Incognito]

I did it with a 4 and 6 yo, and they both loved it and it worked great.  I also have not done one level a year, so it has stretched out and it has not been a problem bumping into intense stuff too young.  So I suppose part of it is also knowing yourself - if you will for sure do it in one year, each year, then it gets a bit tricky/mature too fast.  If you might end up spreading it out more, it works well to start young.  You could always take a year off to do early American (or whatever country you are from) history before getting into the trickier stuff.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Incognito

[....]

I tried one kid at 5 and had to shelf it.  I tried another kid at 6 and (once again) had to shelf it.  Mine couldn't grasp that series until about 7-8.  The first two books are pretty simple, but 3 and especially 4 are much deeper.  They jump all over the place (geographically) and there is a ton of detail.  Even I was learning stuff from reading them - especially books 3 and 4.   :mellow:  

[Tracy]

I started SOTW with my oldest when she was 5yo, but we only listened to the audio books and did a couple of activities.  My younger was 2yo at the time.  By the time he was 3yo, he would ask for SOTW all the time.  Now 8yo, he still listens to it all the time and knows way more history than I do.  SOTW audio CD's has been the very best curriculum investment I have made. 

 

As long as you keep it age appropriate (meaning no expectations for output), then it is completely doable.  I think that one of the secrets to success is to make sure you have done some geography before you start.  We have a very large map on our wall in our dining room.  We have always played geography games at the dinner table with the kids.  So even when my younger was 3yo, he already knew a handful of countries and could ask where the countries in SOTW were.  

[keirin]

I considered doing SOTW with my 5 year old twins this year but I decided instead to do geography with them so that when we start talking about history next year they'll have more of an understanding of where things happened (I hope). I also bought veritas press's history of me and history of us. They are _incredibly simple_. However, I like the history of me and I'll probably use it at some point this year, maybe in the spring, to introduce the idea of history. The history of me is really just that - a focus on history using a timeline of events in the life of your family. Towards the end it throws in a bit of world history incredibly simplified. But I like that it will introduce the idea of a timeline and history before we dive into a history curriculum like SOTW. (I didn't care for the history of us as much and I doubt I'll even use it)

[Homeschoolmommy44]

Thanks so much great ideas!

 

 

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[Milknhoney]

I started my oldest on SOTW 1 when he was 5 1/2. He did just fine, although the narration questions were very difficult. I ended up having to read each paragraph and then ask the question for that paragraph. And getting the summary was extremely difficult as well. The other problem is that once you get into level 2 and beyond, there will be huge gaps where the only available books on the topic are above grade level. So when my daughter started first grade, even though she was already 6, I decided to do a year of American history first. Oh, because another problem I ran into is that since SOTW doesn't hit American history until level 3, there were a lot of basic facts about America that people just assume everyone knows, but my son didn't. He knew about the Mayflower and Thanksgiving and the 4th of July, but that's it. Meanwhile, there are a plethora of available books for early elementary in every American history topic you can think of, and we missed them, while not having anything to read on the topic we were supposed to be studying... Today was the first day of school in our house and my daughter did her first day of SOTW1 at age 7... and she did awesome! I was glad I waited. 

[Goldilocks]

You could start volume 1 at 5 and take 2 years to go through it.  There are so many projects/books/extra activities that it is easy to spread it out over two years.