Planning 1st grade history, ancients-Help!

[WisdomBuilder]

I am seriously stressing over this. I have used Sonlight since 2002, before my child was ready to 'do school', but now she's ready to start 1st grade and I'm re-thinking stuff. I love the 4 year plan spiral thing that WTM teaches, but how in the world do you find books on anything but Egypt and Greeks??

And most of these 'famous' people listed, *I* never studies, so I'm clueless as to who they are. I really want to do this well, but how do I find the *right* books? I have a library near me, but I don't know what I'll find there. Is there really enough material at the local library for some of the names listed in her book?

What I already own that's related, so you know:

A Child's History of the World, Hilyer
Usborn book of World History
Usborne Greek Myths for Children
Peter Spier's Noah's Ark
Archaeologists Dig for Clues
Tut's Mummy Lost...And Found
The Great Wall of China
The Greek News
Usborn Homes and Houses, Then and Now
Usborne book of Living Long Ago
The Story of Joseph (little story book)
Detectives in Togas
A Treasury of Children's Literature (including some Aesops Fables)
A Grain of Rice

I know that sounds like a lot, but looking at the list, there are SO many holes. I don't even know who Plutarch is, really, and even though I don't doubt I could find plenty on Ancient Egypt, I have no idea what I would find about Homer or some of the others.

Can anyone give me some specific titles that you can probably find at the library? We need bookshelves right now, more then anything and my husband doesn't want to spend too much more on curriculum this year (since I've already spent quite a bit).

[Pata]

I think that your list sounds good! We are studying ancient history this year and our list is very similar. We aren't studying anything with Plutarch, I figure we can do that later! Have you seen Paula's archives (http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/index.htm)? She has a list of books to supplement history and a chart coordinating Story of the World (SOTW) with CHOW that would give you an idea of how to break CHOW up if you want to use it as your spine for the 4yr rotation. Oh, and relax, you won't cover it all and that's ok(this coming from another uber-planner who drives her husband crazy with all the overthinking she does;)).

[Narrow Gate Academy]

It's look like you already have a great list of resources to start. As far as the list of famous people goes, it's OK to not cover every single one of them. This is only the first time through ancients. You'll have two more cycles through this period to fill in more information.

Here are a few books that we enjoyed our first time off the top of my head:

OT history
Egermeier's Bible Story Book was our OT spine
Yellow and Pink by Steig
A is for Adam by Ham
The True Story of Noah's Ark by Dooley
D is for Dinosaur by Ham
Gilgamesh by King by Zeman (while discussing Abraham)
Joseph by Wildsmith
Moses by Wildsmith
Jonah and the Great Fish - Bulla

EGYPT
Pepi and the Secret Names by Walsh
Shipwrecked Sailor by Bower
Pyramids by Delafosse
Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki
Hatshepsut, His Majesty Herself
Tut’s Mummy Lost and Found
Casting the God's Adrift

GREECE
Famous Men of Greece (available online at www.mainlesson.com)
Usborne's Greek Myths for Young Children
The Aesop for Children by Winter (also online)
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Lasky

ROME
Famous Men of Rome (online)
Brave Cloelia by Clark
Cleopatra by Stanley
Vinegar Boy by Hauwse
Detectives in Togas
Mystery of the Roman Ransom

HTH

[Chris in VA]

Make one tiny curriculum purchase--SOTW and the accompanying Activity Guide. A great lis of all the books you'd need (at the library), the spine, and the activities, plus notebooking stuff like simple (great for 1st grade) maps and coloring pages, and narration questions--ALL included. You can look on www.homeschoolclassifieds.com or here on the sale boards and find a complete set for under $30. It will answer all your questions and solve all your problems.
Guaranteed.
:D

[arcara]

The SOTW activity guide has additional history and literature suggestions. I get a lot of books through interlibrary loan.

Sometimes, we don't have additional reading to go along with our studies for the week, so we just move on. Or, there are projects in the SOTW activity guide help fill those weeks.

We actually haven't done a whole lot of additional reading, and my kids have still really loved Ancients this year!

[TaraTheLiberator]

If you have a good library system you won't have trouble finding what you need. We are just finishing up first grade/ancients, and we read about Sumer and ancient India and ancient China and the Mayans; we read about Gilgamesh and Huang Di and Asoka. In fact, I felt like we had more choices available than we had time to read them. Just search your library's catalog ... you'll probably be surprised about what's available.

Tara

[Linda]

Make one tiny curriculum purchase--SOTW and the accompanying Activity Guide. A great lis of all the books you'd need (at the library), the spine, and the activities, plus notebooking stuff like simple (great for 1st grade) maps and coloring pages, and narration questions--ALL included. You can look on www.homeschoolclassifieds.com (http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com) or here on the sale boards and find a complete set for under $30. It will answer all your questions and solve all your problems.
Guaranteed.
:D

:iagree:

SOTW, the activity guide, and a good library (or inter-library loan) and you're good to go.

There will be a chapter here and there where you may not have much additional reading. That's okay. Really. Your aim at this age is exposure, and you're getting that if the only thing you use is SOTW.

[WisdomBuilder]

GREECE
Famous Men of Greece (available online at www.mainlesson.com (http://www.mainlesson.com))
Usborne's Greek Myths for Young Children
The Aesop for Children by Winter (also online)
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Lasky



HTH

That website is fabulous!!! Thank you, Thank you!! They have Plutarch for children on there, which was one of the main things I wanted to include, and the one's you named sound great as well. Oh, I am so excited that I ask for advice here. All of you responded so quickly, and I'm already finding answers that I needed. Thanks, Everyone!

[Mommy22alyns]

If you have a good library system you won't have trouble finding what you need. We are just finishing up first grade/ancients, and we read about Sumer and ancient India and ancient China and the Mayans; we read about Gilgamesh and Huang Di and Asoka. In fact, I felt like we had more choices available than we had time to read them. Just search your library's catalog ... you'll probably be surprised about what's available.

Tara


:iagree: Actually, our library system isn't so hot and I was still surprised at everything I found.

[WisdomBuilder]

Oh yeah! One more question:

What about time-line figures? My child LOVES doing her Book of Time, but I wouldn't know where to get figures for it on the ancients. Any ideas?

[TaraTheLiberator]

I just used pictures I found through Google Images and printed off in the wallet size.

Tara

[Chris in VA]

Hannah's homeschool helps on yahoo groups has free ones coordinated to SOTW.

[sagira]

or you can splurge and get the History Through the Ages timeline set -- Creation to Christ. It's $19.95 at RR: http://rainbowresource.com/product/History+Through+the+Ages+Timeline+Set+-+Creation+to+Christ/001688/1238098985-957674

This is what I'm doing to save time on looking up, printing, etc.

:)

[TaraTheLiberator]

Hannah's homeschool helps on yahoo groups has free ones coordinated to SOTW.

Can you link to this? I'm not finding anything when I search Yahoo groups.

Tara

[Browngirl]

Thanx for this post. We're about to start 1st grade and I was trying to narrow it down, but was worried about leaving something out. This is a big help, especially the book lists mentioned.

[Lovedtodeath]

If you have a good library system you won't have trouble finding what you need. We are just finishing up first grade/ancients, and we read about Sumer and ancient India and ancient China and the Mayans; we read about Gilgamesh and Huang Di and Asoka. In fact, I felt like we had more choices available than we had time to read them. Just search your library's catalog ... you'll probably be surprised about what's available.

Tara

:iagree:I also search Amazon because my library doesn't give a recommended age range for the books. Go through SOTW and it will have all of the important people and civilizations in the Table of Contents. Do a search on each one, and you've got it. Amazon will let you choose age ranges in an advanced search. There are 4-8 and 9-12 categories. Sometimes you have to venture into 9-12 and then plan to have that as a read aloud. I try to choose the 4-8 age range if I can, but something is not always available.

I almost posted my list, but most of them are not available at the library. I am working mine around what is available from Amazon.

[TaraTheLiberator]

Yes, what Carmen said. I always check things out on Amazon, too. A really helpful Amazon feature is the "Customers who bought this product also bought" thing where it shows up to 17 pages of materials that are related to what you are looking at that have been helpful to others. I find tons of stuff that way.

Tara

[mumtoboys]

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

Here's the link!

[kalanamak]

I know that sounds like a lot, but looking at the list, there are SO many holes. I don't even know who Plutarch is, really, and even though I don't doubt I could find plenty on Ancient Egypt, I have no idea what I would find about Homer or some of the others.

Can anyone give me some specific titles that you can probably find at the library? We need bookshelves right now, more then anything and my husband doesn't want to spend too much more on curriculum this year (since I've already spent quite a bit).

Do you have inter library loan? I go through used books as I don't have the daylight hours to go to the library, but there are OODLES out there.
Go to Amazon and check out Zeman's trilogy on Gilgamesh and a book call Lugalbanda, The boy who was caught up in a War.
The Story of Ping
The 5 (or 7) Chinese Brothers
the You Want to Be series.
The Eyewitness books
For Homer, there are audio books like Osborne's Odyssey and Naxos's recording the Trojan War.
Hum...some poster must have one of their extensive lists, if only on a blog. There is lots of stuff out there. I PRO-mise.

[Tabrett]

Oh yeah! One more question:

What about time-line figures? My child LOVES doing her Book of Time, but I wouldn't know where to get figures for it on the ancients. Any ideas?
In the back of the AG there is a card for each chapter with a picture and a summary. It could eaisly be used in the book of time. I really suggest you get the AG. It has lesson plans, books lists, coloring pages, games and activities for each chapter.

[woolybear]

I definitely agree you shouldn't stress about "holes", though I have totally been there. (this year in fact--but then I realized they're still getting a good overview and we'll get another chance to cover more) I would reccomend checking out www.abookintime.com for some ideas. Also, www.veritaspress.com is good for ideas as well.

Have fun!

[Lovedtodeath]

In the back of the AG there is a card for each chapter with a picture and a summary. It could eaisly be used in the book of time. I really suggest you get the AG. It has lesson plans, books lists, coloring pages, games and activities for each chapter.

:iagree:The AG helps you to pull together what books will go with each chapter. Especially books that are myths or historical fiction, that you might not otherwise know what to do with. The AG also has mapping activities, comprehension questions, suggested narration questions, and schedules that line up history encyclopedias. It is the best help that is out there. (you can probably get it used too)

[Lovedtodeath]

I definitely agree you shouldn't stress about "holes",

TWTM recommends that you can use Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia in place of a library visit. I was just reading through it again, and there it was!

[WisdomBuilder]

Wow! Y'all have all been such a help. Thanks. I'm almost done planning for the year. Thanks, everyone! :)

[Carmen_and_Company]

or you can splurge and get the History Through the Ages timeline set -- Creation to Christ. It's $19.95 at RR: http://rainbowresource.com/product/History+Through+the+Ages+Timeline+Set+-+Creation+to+Christ/001688/1238098985-957674

This is what I'm doing to save time on looking up, printing, etc.

:)

I use the History Through the Ages sets along with Google images. I splurged & bought the $74 CD set that contains all the timeline images. The complete set comes in handy for creating notebooking pages, illustrations for copying, notebook covers, and lapbook pictures. Also, the master CDs allows you to print the images with or without a brief summary, and the ability to resize the figure in a Word or Open Office document without distorting the figure, which can occur when resizing images gathered from the Internet.

[Lovedtodeath]

The complete set comes in handy for creating notebooking pages, illustrations for copying, notebook covers, and lapbook pictures. Another option: I just print off copies of book covers or illustrations from the books we have read. I think they are more memorable than a timeline figure that wasn't really in a story.