I really wanted to get into world history with my little ones this year and decided to go with Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. It was important to me that history be taught in an easy to understand way, but not dumbed down, and in chronological order, as well as with lots of hands-on activities. Story of the World provided all of this for us. The stories are short and clear so that any child who has been trained to sit still and listen for 10 to 20 minutes can make it through a lesson. I highly recommend buying the activity book that goes with the story book. It is chock filled with ideas to make history come to life through hands-on activities. The activity book is also filled with map work and coloring pages. My children enjoy coloring the pages while I read. We then review the geography with the map work and do an activity that goes with the story. The kids LOVE it, and I know that they are really grasping what they are learning. That makes for a very happy Mommy!
Here are some of our activities that we have done so far. The first photo is of a mummy, pyramid, and cuneiform tablet that we made. The second photo is a model of the Nile River.
To see more entries here.
Blessings, Dawn
what a great idea! I love it.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! I would definitely buy an activity book to go along with the reading. That's a great idea. What a great mama your are to do all those activities with the kids!
ReplyDeleteGlad this is working out for you! We have loved these books and are on the 3rd vol.!
ReplyDeleteLove the activities!!!!! So much fun.
ReplyDeleteLooks like fun!
ReplyDeleteHello!! How wonderful your children's projects are!! I love them!! My kids can't wait to start these projects. We're a little bit behind you.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful and blessed day!
Michelle
How cool! Love the projects!
ReplyDeleteSherry
http://lampuntomyfeetandalightuntomypath.blogspot.com/2008/09/theme-planning-your-homeschool-is-lot.html
Great job on all the projects.
ReplyDeleteThose are great. We have some similar ones coming up with our new program, if I ever get to looking it over. I'm not a great project person, so hopefully they'll come out right. The point is learning though, right? So I'll try not to fret about it LOL.
ReplyDeleteI also saved up and got the audio cds. We are on the road a lot and this helps us get our lessons done. If we want to visit the Grandparents but are afraid we will not finish our lessons, we do everything else, listen to the lesson and do the activities when we get home. they love it! I have had the kids beg to listen to more than one chapter. The person hired to do the reading really does a great job. The set generally runs about the same price as the activity book but I search Amazon.com & ebay. It is worth the price.
ReplyDelete