I don't know what it is about SOTW3...

[Mommyfaithe]

We LOVED 1&2...all of us. Maybe it is Jim Weiss instead of barbara ?? Maybe I am not at all familiar with World History during this time period and feel a yearning for more American History (I love when my littlies dress up like Davy Crockett...sigh...) Maybe I just am not interested, so my kids aren't either. Maybe I am tired of looking at wide eyed blank stares when I ask the narration questions or when I try to get them to tell me ANYTHING about what they heard. Maybe I feel like my 5th grader should be doing some independent reading and I don't have a real good comprehensive book list for her to follow with this type of World history and my first inclination is to fall back on BF Intermediate American guide and go from there....

Anyone else?? Tell me what you did to spice up SOTW3 and make it fit. I am using this with my 10 year old 5th grader and 6 1/2 year old (blank stare) 1rst grader folded in.

My 5 y/o is just a table decoration who amuses us, but is not condusive to any kind of focused study. OH< I am not trying to get too deep here...just trying to have them follow the gist and maybe have some fun. I am very focused on Math, writing, reading instruction and phonics/ spelling. I want our history to be fun and memorable. Something they ask for and look forward to reading. So far, they really only want to go back to the Greek and Roman stories of SOTW 1 and the Middle Ages Fairy Tales....LOL

~~Faithe (who longs for a cuddly tall tale and some patriotic stories of valor.)

[KIN]

I am finally enjoying history this year (year 3)! :) I feel like I'm finally in familiar waters. I'm using Biblioplan year 3 along with STOW. It gives age appropriate reading lists that really bring the time period alive. If you have a good library system, it might be worth purchasing Biblioplan and use it for the reading lists. Oh, it also gives the appropriate pages in Usborne and Kingfisher history books for your 5th grader.

[MIch elle]

When my oldest was in grade 5 we tried SOTW 3 and it was just too much for 5th & 2nd graders. We did SL 3/4 (AM. Hx.) that year and came back to SOTW 3 later.

[sweetTN]

We did SOTW 1 and 2 and dd loved them both (3rd & 4th grade). After looking at SOTW 3, I decided we would just do American History for 5th and 6th. dd loves studying history more indepth, with lots of outside reading, so I'm hoping this will work for us. We will pick up SOTW 3 in 7th grade.

[charlotteb]

We are doing SOTW 3 with some great historical fiction thrown in for reading. IMO- learning about the American Revolution is great, but reading a book like "Johnny Tremain" will help to enjoy and understand it so much more! I have used the WTM recommendations for logic stage : www.welltrainedmind.com/historyaslit.html (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/historyaslit.html)

[Alana in Canada]

We have the AG: and I miss all the picture books.

We're only on Chapter 5 this week--and haven't quite got to it yet. The kids would have been clamouring by now if this were volume 2!

I'm not entirely sure what to do.

[buddhabelly]

We are on that chapter right now. He was at the Alamo. I'm just glad that SOTW doesn't glorify these men out of proportion to what they accomplished. He was a good marksman, and he was a politician (Tennessee representative), but evidently not a stellar one because he did not get re-elected. Then apparently when he did not get re-elected, he told his public that they could all go to h*ll, and he would go to Texas. (No, I didn't get that from SOTW....:lol:)

We have done a lot of American History this year by supplementing with lots of books about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (all books suggested in the AG!), the History of US (Volume 4 - The New Nation is particularly good, and I like the last chapter for memorizing the first 15 presidents).

And simply include a lot of U.S. History in your memory work, which both WTM book itself and the SOTW 3 Activity Guide recommend explicitly (no extra planning involved!).

All of this is to say, "Just hang in there." This is why we will finish SOTW 3 in the middle of February 2009 instead of June of 2008......

And lots of good picture books are recommended in the AG. Do I maybe have a newer version or something? For example, right now we have a book out from the library called "Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story" by John Jakes. Gorgeous illustrations (Paul Bacon) and a gripping story, but not for young ones since her husband (and the father of her children) dies in the Alamo and they are right there inside hearing the cannons and gunshots. But it is a picture book. I think the reason that SOTW 3 does not recommend many "young" picture books is because if you follow the chronological history plan, your student will be at least a third grader. There are some recommendations for "younger siblings and reluctant readers" though.

HTH a little! (And Davy Crockett is featured in the picture book mentioned previously, playing his fiddle to keep spririts high...)

Julie

[Ali in OR]

Like KIN, we are using Biblioplan with SOTW 3 and we are loving it. It's a lot of reading and will probably end up being a full year course for us rather than 9 months. But we really enjoy what we're reading. It does maybe 6 weeks of American history in one unit, then 6 weeks of world history in the next, then back to American, etc. When studying American history, you see how light SOTW is on American history. We just finished up the American Revolution and loved it (and most of it came from sources other than SOTW). I could easily think, "wow, we should spend a whole year just on American history", but my 8 yo was just as eager to go on and find out about the French Revolution. So maybe just more outside reading would help add more zest to SOTW. It doesn't have to be Biblioplan--we read lots of the AG books too and think there are some great ones there.

(maybe I shouldn't admit this here, but we don't really do narrations. If it's killing off the interest, just read! Read great books and talk about them informally)

[Rhondabee]

We added in lots of American history related read-alouds - from SL (Core 4?) and WTM historical fiction (7th grade). Most of the ones I chose would be way beyond a 6yo, but surely there are others?

And, I read fairy tales (from Grimms, Perault and East of the Sun) for 15 minutes a day. (I would add in Hans Christian Andersen if I could re-do it.)

These were some of our best memories from last year.

[Mommyfaithe]

We are on that chapter right now. He was at the Alamo. I'm just glad that SOTW doesn't glorify these men out of proportion to what they accomplished. He was a good marksman, and he was a politician (Tennessee representative), but evidently not a stellar one because he did not get re-elected. Then apparently when he did not get re-elected, he told his public that they could all go to h*ll, and he would go to Texas. (No, I didn't get that from SOTW....:lol:)

We have done a lot of American History this year by supplementing with lots of books about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (all books suggested in the AG!), the History of US (Volume 4 - The New Nation is particularly good, and I like the last chapter for memorizing the first 15 presidents).

And simply include a lot of U.S. History in your memory work, which both WTM book itself and the SOTW 3 Activity Guide recommend explicitly (no extra planning involved!).

All of this is to say, "Just hang in there." This is why we will finish SOTW 3 in the middle of February 2009 instead of June of 2008......

And lots of good picture books are recommended in the AG. Do I maybe have a newer version or something? For example, right now we have a book out from the library called "Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story" by John Jakes. Gorgeous illustrations (Paul Bacon) and a gripping story, but not for young ones since her husband (and the father of her children) dies in the Alamo and they are right there inside hearing the cannons and gunshots. But it is a picture book. I think the reason that SOTW 3 does not recommend many "young" picture books is because if you follow the chronological history plan, your student will be at least a third grader. There are some recommendations for "younger siblings and reluctant readers" though.

HTH a little! (And Davy Crockett is featured in the picture book mentioned previously, playing his fiddle to keep spririts high...)

Julie

THANK YOU!!!! I feel better already. I think I had a momentary lapse of weirdness from my wide eyed stares...mine and theirs. I really am unfamiliar with the history of the Far East in this time period, so maybe I should just pre-read and pick out some good reads for me...so I can get excited about it. If I am excited...they get excited.

~~Faithe

[Mommyfaithe]

Funny thing is I FORGOT I BOUGHT BIBLIOPLAN!!!! OY VEY!!!

I better drag that out and look through it. I wonder what else I have rolling around here that I forgot I already bought.

:001_unsure:

Faithe

[Mamagistra]

Maybe it is Jim Weiss instead of barbara??

That was it for me. Volume Four is equally painful. :tongue_smilie: I love Jim Weiss when he reads his stuff but not so much for SOTW. :(

[amyco71]

I am using SOTW 3 with my 3rd grade ds. This week it dawned on me that we could take an extra week to study the American Revolution. I have a lot of the sonlight US history core readers and some books recommended by WTM...no way we were going to get thru all of them in one week! It dawned on me that hey! I am a homeschooler! I can go at whatever pace seems best! It's been a great week. Last night dh was tucking him into bed and asked if he was reading Johnny Tremain. Dc answered, "Yes, and I also have to read it for school." So funny! He is enjoying it so much he's reading it "outside" school. I feel like a commercial.

We are also memorizing some selections from the Declaration of Independence, thanks to Living Memory by Andrew Campbell.

To answer the original question of how we are getting through all the info...for a while it was kind of a struggle. I was just happy if he could grasp a big picture. Much of this is new to me too. And, we'll be covering it again in the future, so I am not really worried if he doesn't remember too much. I just want him to enjoy history and reading. Good luck!

Amy

[LNC]

I'm taking 3 years on SOTW 3 &4 bc I'm adding in Truthquest American History for Young Students 1-3.

TQ Vol. 1-3:
1. Explorers-1800
2. 1800-1865
3. 1865-present

I have two notebooks going - SOTW 3 and 1 large notebook for TQ with 3 dividers for each year. I spend most of my time on TQ bc there is a wealth of children's lit for American History. My library has most of the TQ treasures and I buy a few key oop works from Alibris or ABE books. I love TQ! But, I want to keep up with the world too, so for SOTW we listen to the Jim Weiss cd while we follow along in the book. We do the maps and coloring page. We take the test. I keep reviewing the previous chapter with the flashcards. But that's it. I don't line the two programs up, but I will end SOTW 3 at 1800 and I'll continue on with that and the first 5 chapters of SOTW4 next year.

We all love history now! Here is a list of what we've read so far! Many are easy readers and picture books bc my kids are young, but that's the beauty of TQ! The * means one of my children will check it out in the summer bc they didn't get to it yet.

History Reading (Exploration – 1800):

Spines:
This Country of Ours
A Child’s Story of America
The Story of the 13 Colonies
The Story of the Great Republic

Viking - DK Eyewitness
Adventures with the Vikings, Linda Bailey
The Vikings; Journey into Civilization
Viking World – Usborne Internet linked
Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky, Barbara Schiller
Leif the Lucky, Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
Before Columbus – The Leif Ericksson Expedition, Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Viking Adventure, Clyde Robert Bulla
The Discovery of the Americas, Betsy and Guilio Maestro
Where do you think You are Going, Christopher Columbus?, Jean Fritz
A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus, David Adler
Ronald Syme Explorers biographies – set of 10 *
Explorers Who Got Lost, Diane Dreher *
Around the World in 100 Years, Jean Fritz *
The Lost Colony (Roanoke), Jean Bothwell
The Lost Colony, Jean Fritz *
Settlers on a Strange Shore, Edith McCall
Virginia Dare Mystery Girl, Augusta Stevenson
A Lion to Guard Us, Clyde Robert Bulla
Jamestown New World Adventure, James E. Knight
The Story of Jamestown – Cornerstone, Marion Prolman
Who’s Saying What in Jamestown, Thomas Savage. Jean Fritz *
Pocahontas, Ingri & Edgar Parin D’Aulaire
Pocahontas and the Strangers, Clyde Robert Bulla
The Captive Princess, Wendy Lawton *
The First Book of Early Settlers, Louise Rich
The Story of the Thirteen Colonies, Clifford Lindsey Alderman
Growing up in a New World, Brandon Marie Miller
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, Ann McGovern
If Your Were at the First Thanksgiving, Anne Kamma
The Pilgrims of Plimouth, Marcia Sewall
The Thanksgiving Story, Alice Dagliesh
Priscilla Alden and the First Thanksgiving, Alice Benjamin Boynton
The House at Stink Alley, F.N. Monj
Sarah Morton’s Day/ Samuel Eaton’s Day/ On the Mayflower by Kate Waters
The Landing of the Pilgrims, James Daugherty
Stories of the Pilgrims, Margaret Pumphrey
Voyage to Freedom, David Gay *
Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims, Clyde Robert Bulla
Peter and the Pilgrims, Louise Vernon *
Almost There, Mayflower’s Mary Chilton, Wendy Lawton
Sarah’s New World, The Mayflower Adventure (Sisters in Time series), Colleen L. Reece
Rebekah in Danger, Peril at Plymouth Colony (Sisters in Time series), Colleen L. Reece
Meet the Pilgrim Fathers (Step Up), Elizabeth Payne
Constance, A Story of Early Plymouth, Patricia Clapp *
Squanto, Young Indian Hunter (COFA), Augusta Stevenson *
William Bradford, Pilgrim Boy (COFA), Bradford Smith *
Myles Standish, Adventurous Boy (COFA), Augusta Stevenson *
John Alden, Young Puritan (COFA), Olive W. Burt *
Sarah Whitcher’s Story, Elizabeth Yates
Tattered Sails, Verla Kay
Sailing to America, James Knight
Anne Bradstreet (COFA)
Finding Providence – Avi
True Boook of Indians, Teri Martini
Eastern Woodland Indians, Mir Tamim Anersly
Meet the North American Indians, Elizabeth Payne
Eyewitness: North American Indians, David Murdoch
More than Moccasins, Laurie Carlson
Small Wolf, Nathaniel Benchley
Good Hunting, Blue Sky, Peggy Parish
If You Lived with the Cherokee, Peter & Connie Roop
Little Runner of the Longhouse, Betty Baker
LaSalle of the Mississippi, Ronald Syme *
Pirate Diary, Richard Platt *
Hostage on the Nighthawk (Trailblazer), David and Neta Jackson *
Story of William Penn, Aliki
Colonial Life, Bobbie Kalman
A Colonial Town – Williamsburg, Bobbie Kalman
Life on Plantation, Bobbie Kalman
The Kitchen, Bobbie Kalman
Home Crafts, Bobbie Kalman
The Gristmill, Bobbie Kalman
Pioneer Dictionary, Bobbie Kalman
The New Americans, Colonial Times (1620-1689), Betsy & Giulio Maestro
If you Lived in Colonial Times, Ann McGovern
African Americans in the 13 Colonies (Cornerstone), Deborah Kent
The Farm: Life in Colonial Pennsylvania, James Knight
The Village: Life in Colonial Times, James Knight
Boys & Girls of Colonial Days, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
Children of the Handicrafts, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
A Book of Americans, Stephen Vincent Benet
Colonial Craftsmen
Colonial Living
The Young United States
Shaw’s Fortune: The Picture Story of a Colonial Plantation, all by Edwin Tunis
Courage of Sarah Noble, Elizabeth Yates
Thy Friend Obadiah
Rachel and Obadiah
Obadiah the Bold all by Brinton Turkle
Emma’s Journal: The Story of a Colonial Girl, Marissa Moss
Medicine in Colonial America, Charlie Samuel
Colonial Kids, Laurie Carlson
Art of Colonial America, Shirley Glubock
Struggle for a Continent, Betsy & Guilio Maestro
Indian Wars, Richard Morris
Swords of the Wilderness, Elizabeth Coatworth
Blackthorn Winter
Susan Creek, both by Douglas Wilson
Squalls Before War: His Magesty’s Schooner Sultan, Ned Bustard
Susannah Wesley, Sandy Dengler
Chimney’s Sweep Ransom (Trailblazer), David and Neta Jackson
Maggie’s Choice (Sisters in Time), Norma Lutz
Printer’s Apprentice, Stephen Krensky
My Brother, My Enemy, Madge Harrah
Bound for America, Jim Haskins
Amos Fortune, Free Man, Elizabeth Yates
Charlie’s House, Clyde Robert Bulla *
Calico Bush, Rachel Field *
Roger Rangers & the French/Indian War (Landmark), Bradford Smith
Matchlock Gun, Walter Edmonds
Calico Captive, Elizabeth George Speare
Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
George Washington: Frontier Colonel, Sterling North
The Bulletproof George Washington, David Barton
Duel in the Wilderness, Karen Clafford Farley
Night Journeys, Avi
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison, Lois Lenski
Beaded Moccasins: The Story of Mary Campbell, Lydia Durant
I am Regina, Sally M. Keen
Madeline Takes Command, Ethel C. Brill
James Oglethorpe Young Defender (COFA), Aileen W. Parks
Daniel Boone Young Hunter and Tracker (COFA), Augusta Stevenson
Daniel Boone, James Daugherty
Dan Frontier series, William Hurley – for Stephen!
Jemima, Daughter of Daniel Boone, Margaret Sutton *
Wilderness Wife: The Story of Rebecca Boone, Etta Dearing *
Why Don’t You Get A Horse, Sam Adams?, Jean Fritz
Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes
Crispus Attucks, Dharathula Millender (COFA)
The Boston Massacre (Headlines from History), Allison Draper
The Boston Tea Party (Headlines from History), Allison Draper
Boston Tea Party, Stephen Kroll
Story of the Boston Tea Party (Cornerstone), R. Conrad Stein
Boston Coffee Party (I Can Read), Doreen Rappaport
Crispus Attucks, (COFA) Dharathula Millender
RevolutionaryPoet: Story of Phillis Wheately, MaryAnn Weidt
A Voice of Her Own: Story of Phillis Wheatley, Kathryn Lasky
Boys of ’76 (for Mom), Charles Coffin
1776: Year of Revolution, Genevieve Foster
The Golden Book of the American Revolution, adapted by Fred Cook
George Washington’s World, Genevieve Foster
A Book of Americans, Stephen Vincent Benet
The American Revolution, Bruce Bliven
Black Heroes of the American Revolution, Burke Davis
The Black Regiment of the American Revolution, Linda Brennan
The American Revolution, Alden Carter
If You Grew Up with George Washington, Ruth Gross
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution, Kay Moore
Liberty! How the Revolutionary War Began, Lucille Penner
Fight for Freedom: The American Revolutionary War, Benson Bobrick
Can’t You Make them Behave, King George?, Jean Fritz
George Washington A Picture Book Biography, James Giblin
George Washington, Ingri & Edgar Parin D’Aulaire
George Washington and the General’s Dog, Frank Murphy
George Washington’s First Victory, Stephen Krensky
George Washington’s Mother, Jean Fritz
George Washington’s Breakfast, Jean Fritz
Thomas Jefferson’s Feast, Frank Murphy
Paul Revere, (COFA) Augusta Stevenson
Picture Book of Paul Revere, David Adler
Paul Revere and the Bell Ringers, Jonah Winter
And Then What Happened Paul Revere?, Jean Fritz
Mr. Revere and I, Peter Lawson
George the Drummer Boy, Nathaniel Benchley
Sam the Minuteman, Nathaniel Benchley
Six Silver Spoons, Janette Lowrey
Minute Boys of Lexington, Edward Stratemeyer
Ben Franklin and His First Kite, Stephen Krensky
Ben Franklin and the Magic Square, Frank Murphy
What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?, Jean Fritz
Benjamin Franklin Young Printer (COFA), Augusta Stevenson
Betsy Ross and the Silver Thimble, Stephanie Greene
Betsy Ross Designer of Our Flag (COFA), Ann Weil
Martha Washington America’s First First Lady (COFA), Jean Brown Wagoner
Francis Marion Young Swamp Fox (COFA), William O. Steele
Alec Hamilton The Little Lion (COFA), Helen Boyd Higgins
Patrick Henry Boy Spokesman (COFA), Thomas Frank Barton