SOTW 1 for older kids

[mountains27]

I'm trying SOTW this year with my 10 year old, someone gave me the first book so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I like it but she is not real impressed. She says she thinks it's "kind of" interesting but I'd like to try and make the activities and workbook fit more into her age range and make it more exciting and useful for her. Right now she is just reading a chapter now and not doing any of the workbook stuff, she kind grumbles at me when I tell her it's time to read some history (she grumbles about a lot lately anyway but one less grumble in my day would be nice!)

Any thoughts on making SOTW 1 fun for a tween! I do like this book and want to at least give it a good try. Thanks! :)

[Starr]

I would stop or ignore the grumbling. School happens. :D  Look through the activity guide and read the section about history in The Well Trained Mind. Read a chapter, read about that time period in a history encyclopedia, related books from the library, novels are fun, make a time line, write something, projects as interested, videos, museum trips, costumes. We wrapped literature, writing and history together. This is the first time with the material, she doesn't have to know every detail. And you won't have time for everything. We read out loud together. I would use SOTW with both of your children together expecting different levels of extra reading and writing. Enjoy.

[Hilltopmom]

The Jim Weiss audio version is great, my kids liked to listen while doing something else (playing Lego or playmobil, drawing, etc).

We started at age 6 & 8, I think. And didn't do the coloring sheets or activity books. We wore out our first set on tape & then bought the CDs.

We did add lots of other history read alouds, historical fiction go alongs.

[RootAnn]

I'd definitely try to fit in some lit. I'd let her go at her own pace through the book. At that age, depending on how often you do history, she could be through the whole book in a semester. It really isn't geared toward that old of a kid. (And I'm one of the more generous with how old kids can be when they use SOTW.)

 

She might need some interest-led projects:  pick another topic to research at the library, for example. Eventually, add to this expectation. For now, just have it be that she needs to find another book or three about something that is interesting her.

 

There are lots of suggestions in The Well Trained Mind book about how to do history for older kids that you can modify to use with SOTW. The books get meatier the higher you go, so if you let her go at her own pace, she'll get to deeper thoughts & topics eventually. (My kids have always thought SOTW1 has the most fun activities except for maybe building a trebuchet in the middle ages.) 

[blondeviolin]

My oldest is using it through the WTM Academy. They read the chapter, discuss the chapter in a forum. They also look up info in a history encyclopedia, create a timeline, and turn in outlines and summaries.

 

On our own, we pick up some lit concerning ancient history and work with a lot of YouTube videos to make it feel more real/fun.

[goldenecho]

How far along are you in it?   I started SOTW last year with my then 7 year old (he's 8 now)...but he had a short attention span for reading so I read to him and did a lot to supplement.  Not your problem, I know, BUT I think some of the things we did to supplement might be things an older child would like too.  I found some fun videos and included them.  We incorporated science when we could.  I also either got library books to look at pictures related to the text, or looked up things online so he could have color photos.  I wrote about our early lessons here, including videos we used to supplement, and activities:  http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2016/09/story-of-world-our-lessons-plans.html

I also made a doc with the things I did when we were studying ancient Greece...and I including some resources I found that I would have used with him if he were a little older:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oxjmtCoHHP1tsROwG08lcTptBBCC9sVBLSlt4zlA_uM/edit?usp=sharing



If he likes science, and if you are still in the sections that talk about Egypt, I really suggest Science of Egypt by Dr. Dave's Science on  Teachers Pay Teachers

(He sells different units covering the science related different things like mummies, the Nile River, Egyptian inventions, etc.  It's actually aimed more at your son's age.  We only used the mummies one and only part of that, but I really liked it.

The curriculum Science in the Ancient World (Christian) by Jay Wile also combines science and history, starting with the ancient greek Scientist/Philosophers.  I've looked at their samples and they have some fun experiments, but I gather the lessons build on other lessons so you'ld have to be somewhat committed to keep using it.


Two video history series you can find for free on YouTube which my older boys (6th and 8th grade) LOVE, and have loved for several years, are Crash Course World History and Extra Credits History.  Crash Course you do have to preview...most of the videos are fine, but one did have a sort of off color joke.   It's a nice overview of different civilizations and eras.


Extra Credits History is not in any order--they just cover random historical subjects.   The ones that overlap with the Volume I time period are...

The History of Paper Money

This History of Writing

The Brothers Gracchi

Rome:  The Punic Wars

Middle East: Odenathus

Early Christian Schisms

Edited March 10, 2017 by goldenecho

[Garga]

I've used it for older kids, but I did not have them read it alone.

 

Here's what I would do: print out the coloring page. Read the book out loud with a bunch (bunch bunch) of pauses to discuss what you're reading. I'd read just a section at a time. We used to have long stops to discuss what was going on in the book or things it reminded us of, or whatever.

 

If the coloring page didn't get done by the time that section was done, we'd pull it out and finish it when we read the next section in that chapter.

 

Do the mapwork after each chapter.

 

There were years when I had the time to also read supplementary books, but there were also years when I couldn't.

 

Do some of the activities together. Do at least one a month.

 

We'd do narrations a bit, too, but that was like pulling teeth around here. If I were you, I wouldn't add those for a bit until/unless she starts liking history better.

 

I think that handing the book off to a child could work for the right child. But for other kids, history books don't work unless you read them together and stop to discuss. Handing it off wouldn't work for my kids.

Edited March 10, 2017 by Garga

[2_girls_mommy]

Read aloud. 

 

We did SOTW through middle school. My kids had been through it all in elementary, but in early middle school it was still a good jumping off point. So I read the section aloud. Then they did the work from their encyclopedias from WTM (reading and outlining.) Each kept a timeline book. They filled it in as I read aloud and with dates from the encyclopedia. Then I had books that went deeper into the subject at hand. I would read aloud from it. We would sometimes outline it together on the board for practice. And both would have to read about something in the section that interested them and read more on it and write a summary. So if we were reading about the Civil War I might start with SOTW at the beginning of the month. Then I would read a bit from a book that went deeper. I had other books on hand for them to choose from. After they had outlined from their encyclopedia and filled in the timeline (this took a full week or so of history sessions,) then they would pick a part they wanted to learn more about like women's parts of the war. Then they would write a summary of that from what they read. I would continue to read daily from the different books aloud. 

And in their literature reading time each read a novel or biography or autobiography from the time period, something like Frederick Douglas' autobiography or Little Women or Uncle Tom's Cabin, things that were happening in that time period and that they were interested in. 

[8Arrows4theLord]

Sonlight uses SOTW as their spine for their 6th and 7th grade cores (G & H). Are you doing the extra reading suggested in the workbook? That really fleshes things out and bumps up the level.

 

We read the lesson orally, did the map work, answered the questions orally, and either drew a picture or wrote about what they learned for each section. We also did the extra readings listed or read books on related topics on other days. 

I'm planning to use SOTW 1& possibly 2 for my two middle school students and 3 younger ones, as a family history class this year. We will do the work above together, then added extra projects and reports will bump up the level for the older ones.

If she is having trouble reading, work with her. If she is just being grumpy, try to liven things up with some extra readings from Usborne's Book of World History, Time Traveler books, You Wouldn't Want to... series, or some good children's biographies. Sometimes they just need a change of pace for a bit. Ask if she wants to study a certain topic a little more. Check out books, activity books, and movies about that topic from the library. Hope you can find something that helps.  :001_smile:

 

[mountains27]

Thanks for all the replies. I will start reading it aloud to her instead and look into getting the Usbourne Encyclopedia for cross reference. We have the science version and really like that book. I started reading The Grapes of Wrath out loud to her and she is really enjoying that. I have tied it into her english work by making her copy a passage after we read a chapter. I would say it counts as history too even if it doesn't exactly match up with the time period of SOTW 1 :)

[Soror]

My oldest is using it through the WTM Academy. They read the chapter, discuss the chapter in a forum. They also look up info in a history encyclopedia, create a timeline, and turn in outlines and summaries.

 

On our own, we pick up some lit concerning ancient history and work with a lot of YouTube videos to make it feel more real/fun.

I was going to post similarly, although we aren't in the class I've seen that WTM ACAdemy uses it for older kids so I'd not worry about it being too young. I plan on SOTW next year with my 5th grader, my 2nd grader will be joining in, the 5th grader will have supplemental reading. We'll do work for the activity guide as we have time and enjoy it.

[FawnsFunnyFarm]

I'm using SOTW1 with my 6th, 5th, and 2nd graders. The 6th grader is my only girl, she's very artsy/craftsy, so that may be a help for why its working well for her. My 5th grader isn't all that artsy (unless its drawing cars), but he likes hands on. 2nd grader is happy with anything but prefers hands on.

 

I read aloud and they are welcome to color the coloring page while they listen (dd enjoys this, the boys usually just listen and fidget with something small). Then we talk about the reading using the activity guide's review questions and narration ideas (I often do not "hear" what I read aloud). We do the mapwork (I expect neatly colored/marked work from the older 2). We then get out both the Usborne Book of World History and the Internet Linked Encyclopedia and look at the pages listed in the guide, olders read the blurbs aloud to us. We also do a craft from the guide for most chapters. I also add videos from youtube, Netflix, etc to most chapters.

 

We do not use the lit/reader suggestions. There are tons of books out there I want them to experience, if we put all our reading efforts into history then we would miss greats like Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little (I only have so many hours a day for school ;) ).

 

Sometime back, not to long ago actually, several here on the board made it seem as if I was doing too little for the 6th grader and she would be far better suited to something like k12's Human Odyssey... And for a moment I was feeling like dirt. Then I got over it and we moved on along in SOTW with smiles on our faces.

Edited March 16, 2017 by FawnsFunnyFarm