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We have hit the boring wall, not sure what to do next


Janeway
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We finished SOTW 2. My youngest is 6 yrs old so not sure if we should move on to 3 or not. But he is a pretty smart little guy. I had bought a Gather 'Round Christmas Around the World unit study which they liked, but not seeing anything out there much like that and cannot seem to find the couple of geography books I had (A Trip Around the World and Another Trip Around the World, but they will show up, I saw them recently). I had planned TGTB Ecology for science this spring, but when I opened it, it felt like we covered it all already. I would love to make use of resources I already have, but just not sure what to do next. I am completely not in to programs where we spend hundreds of dollars of books with a teachers guide. I already own so many books.

Anything to sparkle up our January? We had such a great year so far that right now feels like we just suddenly hit a brick wall and do not know what to do next.

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27 minutes ago, WTM said:

Are you looking for something to replace SOTW for history? Or something to replace your original science plans? Or are you open to any random topics that might be interesting?

I am wondering if SOTW 3 would be too much for a 6 yr old and should I wait until fall? And if I should wait until fall, when he is 7, any ideas what I could do now? Something not too expensive of course. If we postpone going on to SOTW 3, then whatever we do should be a side trip and we would continue with SOTW 3 in the fall.

Edited by Janeway
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Yeah, I think SOTW 3 might be a bit much at 6 years old. My DS went through it around that age and loved it, but didn't remember much of anything. (He was tagging along with older DD). So we started a 4 year cycle from ancients with him when he was in 3rd grade. He hit SOTW3 for the 2nd time last year (5th grade) and it was a good age to tackle it.

What about some of the David Macaulay books - you'll hit architecture and history?  City, Castle, and Pyramid might fun since you've already done ancients and medieval. 
There are also the Holling C. Holling books - they are more natural history, but well suited for early elementary.

Or, you could do a series of biographies - Diane Stanley has some beautifully illustrated biographies of famous historical figures.

 

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I did read through parts of SOTW 3 when my kids were 3, 5, 7 and 9 and then parts of SOTW 4 when my kids were 4, 6, 8, and 10...but I was mostly aiming it at my older kids. Some of the chapters were fine for the youngers, but a lot of them were over their heads.

During those same years I also read The Complete Book of United States History (I interspersed it chronologically with SOTW 3 & 4). I was very pleased with it. It has a similar tone to the earlier SOTW books - gentle, interesting, narrative, short chapters. Each short chapter ends with a very short discussion activity like talking about what you would pack if you were heading west on a covered wagon or reading a chart to compare imports of north, mid and southern colonies. I made my own coloring pages for the kids to go with it, and it was a big hit.

So that could be one option for you. It is only a couple bucks used on Amazon

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2 hours ago, wendyroo said:

I did read through parts of SOTW 3 when my kids were 3, 5, 7 and 9 and then parts of SOTW 4 when my kids were 4, 6, 8, and 10...but I was mostly aiming it at my older kids. Some of the chapters were fine for the youngers, but a lot of them were over their heads.

During those same years I also read The Complete Book of United States History (I interspersed it chronologically with SOTW 3 & 4). I was very pleased with it. It has a similar tone to the earlier SOTW books - gentle, interesting, narrative, short chapters. Each short chapter ends with a very short discussion activity like talking about what you would pack if you were heading west on a covered wagon or reading a chart to compare imports of north, mid and southern colonies. I made my own coloring pages for the kids to go with it, and it was a big hit.

So that could be one option for you. It is only a couple bucks used on Amazon

I have that book! And tons others too.

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That's when you have a staycation in Booklandia. Booklandia has mountains of books of every kind (the ones that haven't been touched in a while). Every mountain has one secret code word hidden inside. You must break the code to pass through. 

Sometimes, an animal of Booklandia needs help. You must go on a quest to the other end of Booklandia to find the one with the answer.

Or an evil warlord has take command of a mountain. Only a spell word hidden somewhere in Booklandia can defeat him.

Etc.

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Do you have the SOTW audio? Maybe start again with book 1 and listen for review while drawing maps? I love the Draw the World series and need to make time for it again. We also listened to Mystery of History audio if you are Christian. It parallels SOTW with slightly different narrative and church history. I didn't always love her language (sometimes too casual) but I thought it was interesting and beneficial. Eta, we only listened to MoH, levels 1 & 2.

Edited by Spirea
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8 hours ago, Spirea said:

Do you have the SOTW audio? Maybe start again with book 1 and listen for review while drawing maps? I love the Draw the World series and need to make time for it again. We also listened to Mystery of History audio if you are Christian. It parallels SOTW with slightly different narrative and church history. I didn't always love her language (sometimes too casual) but I thought it was interesting and beneficial. Eta, we only listened to MoH, levels 1 & 2.

I thought of doing that too, but my oldest is 12 yrs old. But maybe I should do this. Also, I found MOH to be over their heads, but good with the 12 yr old. Maybe I should just started over but pair it with MOH for the other one. We have MOH too.

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