Elena Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hi Ladies, I am about to start homeschooling this coming August. I am very excited about using TWTM to guide or homeschool. I have been reading on this board a lot and have noticed that many of you follow AO or SL for your lit. suggestions. From what I understand, TWTM suggests that children read literature written in the particular history period that they are learning about. For example, when studying about the ancients, read Aesops fables, The Odyssey, Greek and Roman myths, etc... For those of you that follow different literature suggestions, why did you switch? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhondabee Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 We did the 2nd half of Core 6 when my older ds was in 6th grade. We started that year with the Medieval List in WTM, and we continued reading Shakespeare and Arthur stories out loud. But, the 6th grade Lit List is ... mature? (Especially The Green Knight) IDK - they just weren't nearly as engaging as the Ancient myths, and they were just a huge jump up in difficulty. When we got to Dante, I just couldn't imagine my ds handling either the actual text *or* the abridged version I was able to find (which bored me to tears!). We went back to WTM for 7th and now 8th (4th and 5th for my younger ds), and have been very happy ever since. There are just so many good books for those time periods - and there are great abridged versions if the originals are "too much". In a couple of years when my younger is in 7th studying Medieval, I will probably mix in the Core 6 books with the WTM List. Best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I use AO for part of our literature, and WTM for parts. I try to combine for several reasons. Although I understand the reasoning behind reading literature that comes from the same era as your history study, if you follow it precisely, there is almost nothing to read from the first history cycle (first humans through 400 AD), especially not on the level of the younger ages. Yes, there are a few, but not enough, in my opinion, to fill the literature requirement. I like the Charlotte Mason/AO literature approach of reading "real" books as much as possible, not watered down versions. That is not to say that we never read any but real books, but I want to try as much as possible to go straight to the source--and the literature that is available from the first cycle is pretty complex--I don't think mine would enjoy the Illiad, or the Epic of Gilgamesh in their original. But the Brothers Grimm or the Lang Blue Fairy book they may. So we read the AO stuff for "literature" and many of the WTM selections are incorporated into "history." I think kids are more able to understand moving forward and back in time with literature than we give them credit for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jami Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I suppose we do a mix here. I use some AO suggestions in part because there are wonderful classics of children's literature that can be squeezed out of the schedule if one is too tied to the history cycle as the ordering principle. I wanted to make sure that we read rich literature, even if out of the cycle, more than making sure we read lots of books on Egypt or Greece geared for children. Now sometimes there's a nice overlap in my goals, like Rosemary Sutcliffe's Odyssey and Illiad retellings, they're well-written and beautifully illustrated. But this isn't true of every version of classic literature for children. I also prefer AO (or LCC's) pacing of books. Rather than read 10+ books on ancient Egypt choose one or two quality books and read them slowly. Which certainly can be done with WTM suggestions, if you make good choices from the recommendation list. And then you also leave time open for other literature selections not necessarily tied to the history cycle. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4wildberrys Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I guess the WTM lists kind of made me cringe. I understand the reasoning behind them, and the ideals are lofty, but in reality I know my kids would probably hate reading and learning if we did strictly classical---especially at a younger age. Besides---the SL reading lists are simply wonderful and amazing and my kids have loved it all so far--6 SL cores! For the last few years of high school I am going to stick closer to pure classical though----if my kids don't revolt :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 While I do plan to follow a 4 year cycle in highschool, I found it sort of difficult with my K-2s. We're slowly becoming more WTM-compliant :D as the kids get older and their reading and writing skills improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hi Ladies, I am about to start homeschooling this coming August. I am very excited about using TWTM to guide or homeschool. I have been reading on this board a lot and have noticed that many of you follow AO or SL for your lit. suggestions. From what I understand, TWTM suggests that children read literature written in the particular history period that they are learning about. For example, when studying about the ancients, read Aesops fables, The Odyssey, Greek and Roman myths, etc... For those of you that follow different literature suggestions, why did you switch? Thank you. Like Cadam said, so many of these lists have books in common. I think it's all in how they are arranged. There is actually a Sonlight booklist online somewhere, that is arranged according to the 4 year history cycle, with breakdowns for grammar, logic, and rhetoric stage. I use WTM to bring order to schoolwork, but I also glean books from this particular Sonlight list, because it lines up with WTM. It just adds to WTM. I also glean books from one or two other lists, just for fun and to add to our reading. IOW, you don't have to switch - you can decide your ordering principle for your homeschool, then glean from other lists. We get piles of library books all the time, and I do not read them all to my kids - they read most of them by themselves. I do read-alouds of what I can, and I mostly keep to lit. tied in with history, with the occasional science or non-history-related story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Gate Academy Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 We chose books for several different lists for different reasons. Some WTM books we haven't read simply because our library didn't have them. I like the quality of the books on AO, and the early SL cores had a lot of fun books. We do some history related books each year, but we always read lots of other great books that aren't really confined to a particular time period. I guess I just like the flexibility to enjoy good books without trying to pigeon hole every book into a particular time period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydiasmommy Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I have been using Sonlight for a couple of years and finally sat down and read TWTM last month. It struck a huge chord with me. It really addresses many of our family's educational goals for our DDs. We're sticking with Sonlight - it works and we all love it - but I am adding in many of the suggested readings from TWTM. I am also reorganizing how we do some of the SL cores, how I approach teaching writing, and other elements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elena Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Thank you ladies. This booklist thing is starting to make more and more sense the more I read your responses. Does anyone know where to find this list: "There is actually a Sonlight booklist online somewhere, that is arranged according to the 4 year history cycle, with breakdowns for grammar, logic, and rhetoric stage. " that Colleen mentioned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydiasmommy Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Thank you ladies. This booklist thing is starting to make more and more sense the more I read your responses. Does anyone know where to find this list: "There is actually a Sonlight booklist online somewhere, that is arranged according to the 4 year history cycle, with breakdowns for grammar, logic, and rhetoric stage. " that Colleen mentioned? http://homescool-ed.blogspot.com/2007/04/sonlight-books-arranged-by-well-trained.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elena Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Thank you very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Thank you ladies. This booklist thing is starting to make more and more sense the more I read your responses. Does anyone know where to find this list: "There is actually a Sonlight booklist online somewhere, that is arranged according to the 4 year history cycle, with breakdowns for grammar, logic, and rhetoric stage. " that Colleen mentioned? One more thing that I thought of, about lists, when I was looking at that 4 year history Sonlight list..... Different lists have books in different learning stages - so some on the Sonlight logic stage list might be on some other list's rhetoric stage, or vice versa. Or some that have books in the grammar stage might be on another's logic stage. So, have a look at the books, then decide if a book would be good for your child's stage, or if it would be better to leave it for a few years. Hope that makes sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elena Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 Thank you Colleen. I'll keep that in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright_Future Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 One word - Variety. We read a lot of the recommended books in the AG we are working on. However, if I only read from the time period we were studying, when would we read Charlotte's Web, Ginger Pye, or Winnie the Pooh? I believe children should have exposure to these wonderful books when their imaginations in full swing and can really take them places. If I had to wait, some of that innocent imagination would be lost by the time we reached modern history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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