Does anyone use Vertias Press OT to Ancient Egypt along with SOTW??

[marsha617]

I was wondering if anyone is combining these two curriculums. I plan on doing this in the fall. Right now I have the VP cards and teacher manual. I just bought SOTW Activity Guide. I am considering buying SOTW vol. 1. Not sure if I even need it.

If you are using both curriculums how do you go about it??

Thanks,
Marsha

[Shannon]

I've been combining these two this year. I like both programs, but honestly, I've had a hard time making smooth transitions between the two of them. What we're doing seems a bit disjointed. I've basically been alternating back and forth as we get to what would come next chronologically. So we started with the VP stuff and did that to a certain point, then we read a few chapters from SOTW and did some of those activities.

I'm actually trying to figure out if I want to continue in this manner or figure something else out.:001_huh:

[ACinGA]

The yahoo group Veritas Classical has a schedule in their files section that matches up SOTW with the OT/AE cards. You might join the group to get a look at it and ask the other members about their experiences. The link is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Veritasclassical/

-Amber

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

We used this throughout the Ancients and are using it for Middle Ages, Ren & Ref. One of the best methods for combining is a list on Paula's Archives http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SOTWmenu.htm . There are two versions of combining the programs. The kids loved using VP for timelines/dates and a quick review and SOTW for it's story telling quality. We did the VP Worksheet as review and took both VP and SOTW tests. Its very easy to combine them and at this level they compliment each other nicely. The one main difference is that VP doesn't cover much outside the traditional Egypt/Greece/Rome topics so it may add more time to cover those through SOTW as well. My kids loved this approach and if I had to do it again I think I would combine Biblioplan and VP (using SOTW) and I would add the SOTW audiobook. But that is just because my kids love to listen to audiobooks and the reenforcement would be good. Also, I loved the art aspect with many of the VP cards and it allowed us to discuss a bit of art history/culture as well.

[ELaurie]

I tried to combine them; I printed the schedule from Paula's archives . . .
then I decided that sometimes less in more : )

In our case, simply following the recommendations for SOTW in the AG turned out to be more substantive.

Lured by the beauty of the VP cards, and the appeal of setting the time line of events to music, I initially tried to work these things in to our routine.

For us, I found that doing so took time away from projects and narrations. The projects turned out to be the most memorable part of our experience with SOTW for my dc; the narrations helped them build skills that are foundational for language arts.

I admire those who successfully combine them, and those beautiful cards are still on my shelf "just in case" . . . but the truth is that the more closely I follow TWTM, the more I appreciate the value of the guidelines provided there.

I hope you will find just the right mix for you!

[marsha617]

Thanks for all your input. I joined the yahoo group which I know will be of great help. If combining these is a pain then I don't want it!! I am expecting child #4 in July so I don't need more work. I bought SOTW activity guide not the text. I may keep it that way and use the SOTW activities for extra ideas.

Thanks again,

Marsha

[paula j]

I was considering this as well but I think I have decided instead to use the Greenleaf Press Famous Men Of series alongside STOW . I would like to add though that I think you would need to use the SOTW text also and not just the activity guide as all the stories are in the text.