One of the reasons we didn't finish was that Anna "hated" it! She doesn't like narration exercises and the way I had our day scheduled, we did history during naptimes when she was grumpy (... and sometimes me too!!). So instead of "fighting through it" we both got naps:)
In order to include Lydia and Chris this year, I've tried moving history to mid-morning. We read through a section, look through the encyclopedia article(s) that match the topic, all the kids work together to answer the review questions and then Anna "narrates" the section. Usually Lydia and Chris are coloring or drawing pictures about the story/section we've read.
Once we're done the "book work" we do a project together from the Activity Guide. We've colored pictures, made the living room couch into a catacomb, made secret symbols and taped them around the house, made Constantine's shield,
(how cute are Lydia's 1st people drawings!!)
and the biggie this week has been working on a Salt Dough map of Italy:)
(just waiting to dry and Anna is eager to paint it!!)I know changing the time of history has made all the difference!!
We can do it together! We can talk about it or the kids like to act it out:)We have time and energy for projects/crafts:)
I can honestly say that while there my be some "groaning" as I call everyone onto the living room to read our history... the groaning doesn't last:) The kids have enjoyed listening to me read and us talk about the Romans. We've read through library books that correspond.... Magic Tree House books make really fun read-alouds!! Then the kids wonder what activity I have for them:)
We are actually enjoying history this year:) And they've started looking through the next chapters to see what they're learning next.... Chris is excited because he sees a LOT of bow and arrows.... Middle ages:)
I"m not sure if I have shared this link... probably already have. But at The Chronicles of the Earth... they have amazing resources for each chapter of Story of the World volume 1. They are starting volume 2 soon.... I just hope they stay a couple of chapters ahead of us. It's truly a blessing for me;)
** I should share that I have already tweaked my routine for this year ! I thought it would be good for all of us to get chores done first thing. But I've been schooling Chris before he does his chores while the girls work on theirs:) And then he (who takes his time cleaning!) gets some solid school time in and I"m not waiting around for him.
Definitely one of the perks of homeschooling is the flexibility of the schedule and making our routine work for us so that we enjoy our time learning together;)
I've really enjoyed having the kids gather around on the floor during our history time. When we come together for history, we also use the first minutes for working on our memory verses and praying together. Such a sweet time!
Have any of you tweaked your original homeschooling routine yet????
2 comments:
that does look like fun and learning lots also! want to see Italy when finished
Great post. Thanks for letting others see how it's going and giving the references for things that do work.
I have a friend who home schools 4 days a week. I'd never thought about it until she wrote about it. That's the great thing about home school. You make it work for your family. What a great thing :)
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