Another question about reading. . .

[mamalotsoftots]

Hi! First I'm sure you've all answered these questions a million times, but I've searched all I have time to search online (HA! With a 2(almost 3) 3 (almost 4) & 1 year old, I get no internet time. . . )

So, anyways, here's my problem. This is my first stab @ homeschooling.

I'm trying to do reading, geography, history, and some social studies the way Sonlight does it, however, I didn't want to do all the books they suggested, so I'm supplementing my own in. My question is how do I work a reading schedule for all this? Am I being too ambitious to think I'll be able to do this all on my own.

How do I get a reading schedule going, do you read more than one book at a time?

What about Usborne books? How do you incorporate them? If you're a Christian homeschooler, do you still use a Child's History of the World. I got a nice vintage copy of this book, but I opened it up to my own horror of the author comparing us to apes. . . Sheesh! Not good for someone shaky about all this scheduling stuff. lol.

My son is going to be going into 2nd grade, btw.

 

I'm trying not to panic, I have about 6 months til next school year, although, I wanted to start somethings in the summer.

 

Would it be helpful to list the books I have picked out for reading, history, geography, & uhh. oh yes, social studies. ? . I didn't know if it would help, and would be a long list. so, anyways, TIA. ! .

[AudreyTN]

We concentrate mainly on the "meaty" subjects. Reading/Phonics and Math. The rest comes and goes. I *try* to keep up with it, but it doesn't always get done.

 

We use CHOW. I skipped the first few chapters and began at "Real History Begins" I think. Now, when they get older we will go back and read those chapters and discuss them. But they are too young to understand right now.

 

I only read one Literature book at a time. I'm afraid it will confuse the munchkins. Right now we are reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia), and dd7 & ds6 read their own books.

 

Hope that helped some, without being confusing :o

[Ferdie]

I haven't used CHOW before, but I lump history, geography and social studies all together and teach it as one subject. I start with a good, chronological history spine, which is probably what CHOW is, and read a page or two out loud each day. The spine will set the foundation for the period of history that you are studying.

 

We read with a world map and globe near by to discuss geography. Your kids are so young you don't need to do much. Just point out the continent, country, major bodies of water and any other distinguishing areas.

 

For reading I try to have a list of books for my kids to read that correspond to the period of history we are studying. I have them read 20 minutes a day, but the Sonlight books are so great they will often read longer. I also try to have a read aloud for our family from the same history period as well Sometimes we read a few pages a day and sometime several chapters - just depends.

 

If your child loves to color then you can add some coloring pages or black line maps so they have something to busy their hands while you read.

 

Have fun!

[Friederike in Persia]

We've used secular books a lot and are still doing so. When evolution comes up we talk about it and dc 8&7 are solid on the facts that some people believe this, but God made this world in 6 days,....

This way they won't get thrown when they come across it with other people, as they will.

 

Friederike

[Shelly in VA]

I am a Christian homeschooler, and we have used CHOW. There were some parts I edited as I read them to the kids at young ages, but sometimes when I read something that I don't agree with, I will point it out to the kids. By that, I mean I will say something to the effect of, "We don't believe that people used to be apes, we know that God created people. But some people don't understand that, and that's why some books talk about silly things like people being apes." I think it's good for the kids to know, in an age appropriate way, that there are other belief systems, b/c I don't want them to be blindsided if someone mentions something contrary to our beliefs; I want them, at some point, to be able to defend what they believe.

 

As for a reading schedule - generally, I read only one book aloud at a time. At most, we will be reading two, one during the day, and another at bedtime, but ONLY if they are such completely different stories that the dc won't get confused. For instance, right now we are reading Little House on the Prairie at bedtime, and The House of Sixty Fathers during the day. I'll usually do a very brief remember-what-we-read-last-time conversation each time we pick up a book.

 

Hope that helps; late here, and going to bed, so I'm not sure how much sense I'm making!

[Alana in Canada]

Not sure what you are asking about, so I'll just give you the whole enchilada--though it that's too much, just take from it what you need.

 

#1 History--we use Story of the World with the Activity Guide. The AG contains a list of fiction and non-fiction books correlated to each chapter. I assign some of those to my older son--my daughter is seven, so we read the stuff together. (And she doesn't get everything that he does, either. It would be too much).

 

#2. Reading--the kids read orally to me from whatever I pick.

They also have 1/2 hour of reading they *must* do on their own. (For my son, this is currently the history books I've got for him and correlating chapters in CHoW--the book you've got). He also has "directed" reading--a 1/2 hour a day he must read from anything I've put "in the basket"--his tastes run to easy stuff and I'm trying to wean him off of it. Curiously enough, I'm using Sonlight selections!

 

#3. Read Alouds. I have three: one for both children, and one for each of them at bed-time.

 

hth--keep asking questions!

[mamalotsoftots]

So the History of the World isn't filled with secular opinions? That's what I was worried about was I bought this book thinking it would be my history & I read the first 3 pages & I'm bombarded with evolution. I was just afraid the rest of the book was like-minded. So, I appreciate knowing that it's not like that through the whole book. I guess that was my question. :p

 

I'm very interested in making history/geography/social studies/reading intertwined so I only have to teach one thing there, or have them read & we discuss, or find some fun worksheets or something of the like. I guess my question here is for his age, should I still try to make the reading portion correspond to the history subject? Can you just find this stuff at the library? I've bought so many readers already, I've picked up history based one's when I could but really, it seems they're hard to come by(for his age group at least), am I missing something?

 

I really liked the look of the My Father's World website, I didn't get much time to check it out last night, but it looked interesting. Does that site go along with the science preschool book entitled the same? Just curious. :)

 

So, 20 minutes a day reading seems like it would go well here. How do you review with them this way?

 

Do you think the missionary books for the Sonlight programs ( Year of Miss Agnes, Granny Han's Breakfast, Missionary Stories w/the Millers & Hero Tales, that's all I can remember time being) is age appropriate? Would this be history enough do you think, or should I do basic history & then go through missionaries later? I think I'm trying to do too much at once. I just don't know how to get all this organized so I'm not trying to do it all at once.

 

Thank you ladies! I really appreciate your input. ~Sarah