Homeschooler Savvy

History On Tape

 When is history irresistible?  When The Story of the World is on CD and the child is in control of the CD player.  Aussie Kim showed up with a CD for my Tiger a couple of weeks ago and he hasn't stopped listening to it since. I don't have to remind him to complete his history now. HE REMINDS ME! This CD has brought him hours of listening pleasure (and me, his mother, HOURS of blissful silence - which can not be underrated!).

Aussie Kim here - I have used this CD in our many drives to our afternoon activities, the downside is that the kids complain when we stop the CD (so we can keep up with map, timeline and biographies for the related chapters).  It is a major hit with both my 9 year old boy and 11 year old daughter.  It is much more fun than Radio Disney for me....

We both highly recommend these CDs as a history companion!  Below is a photo of the Ancient Times Volume. It is the first in a series of four that take the child from Ancient History to the Modern Era.

Using Encyclopaedias on CD or online for homeschooling

Part of the Sonlight Curriculum for Eastern History (Core 5) uses the World Book Encyclopaedia on CD for the backbone information on the country being studied. I thought I would review how we found this to go.  Sonlight also provides questions about the country that you can go through with the text, and as usual, a wonderful assortment of age appropriate reading books placed in the country and historical era under scrutiny.

In fact I found using the Encyclopaedia CD alot easier than I had expected.  Part of the reason for this, is that Sonlight suggests which parts for you or your children to read.  You could really work this out yourself, with a quick perusal of the information about that country and knowledge of what your kids will enjoy or not.  Although the contents of any encyclopaedia can be quite dry, it is surprising how using a digial encyclopaedia has changed things up.

If you are studying a country, it is neat to listen to their national anthem, or traditional folk songs.  Try doing that with the paper version!.  Want to see what their national flags, state flags, national flora and fauna, people, artwork, countryside etc etc look like?  Zoom in on the pictures.  If you want more detail on a topic, much of the text has key words highlighted, so you can follow your interests very easily. 

Other upsides: We are not causing deforrestation of acres of land to produce a set of books which will only be up to date for a few years.  Sometimes, using an encyclopaedia at the library is not practical on a daily basis.

So what's the downside?  You're not turning a page, you are clicking a mouse.  (Can be viewed as an upside).  You need a computer.  You need to watch the kids if there is information in the encyclopaedia you don't want them to learn about.

Do you realise how much your view of the world is coloured by the culture you are living in?  We used World Book for our readings, but after a short time, I (being an "alien") became unsettled at the view of the world from the USA.  The location of continents or countries was discussed in relation to the United States.  The history of other countries was discussed in relation to the US.  Yes, I know there is connections there, but how about just sticking to the facts about the country's interaction with the rest of the world, and not just the US?  Of course, this is a US encyclopaedia.  However, I decided to read from the Encyclopaedia Brittianica CD first, but if you are trying to follow a particular curriculum (eg Sonlight) things get quite complicated using a different encyclopaedia from what they want you to....    I do feel however, that the Encyclopaedia Brittanica gives a more focused perspective of the history and geography of countries.  (Warning: Conflict of interest in this comment....I may be biased towards the British viewpoints due to my Colonial upbringing.)

Overall, using the two encyclopaedias on CD has added a much greater depth to our geography and history studies.  We always checkout the country we are learning about on google earth, and this, in combination with listening to the national anthems, looking at pictures of the countryside, clothing, food and animals make for an interesting read.

This is the Australian flag, and coat of arms (from Wikipedia).  I understand we are one of the few nations that eat both the animals on our coat of arms.  For one of the basic foodstuffs, click on the link for Vegemite (under homesickness fixes in the left hand column). 

Aussie Kim

Teaching History and Geography using Sonlight Curriculum

Sonlight Curriculum for History and Geography

Love looking at books?  Love Reading to your kids?  Try this curriculum.

PROs: This curriculum has a wonderful way of teaching history and geography by immersing the children in very exciting and factually accurate novels which correspond with the time or place being studied.  Through reflective questions posed after each chapter (questions and answers are provided by Sonlight), they come to understand better what they have read.  Their comprehension and vocabulary soars.  Each curriculum can be used with multiple grade children (they guide you fairly accuratly). 

My children have become voracious readers, which I attribute to the emphasis on reading great books through the Sonlight Curriculum.  They look forward to snuggling up on the couch or before bedtime for the stories and often beg for us to read just one more chapter. 

Cons: You are supposed to read to your kids, your kids are supposed to read the books allocated for them.  This takes more time than simply handing them a history or georgraphy workbook.  At least somewhere in the vicinity of 30-45 minutes a day of you reading and about 30-45 minutes a day of them reading.  Of course this varies depending on grade and age. 

One problem is that sometimes the books I am reading are so exciting I sneak ahead, which makes it harder when I have to read it over to the kids.  This is a weakness I am working on.  Sometimes the kids get through the story books they are meant to read so fast they get ahead of the rest of the curriculum.

I began using the Sonight Curriculum for History and Geography just after I finished using the Montessori Method to teach my first child to read.  It is a transition which worked for us!

Any other experiences with Sonlight History-Geography?

Don't forget to about using Google Earth and Geography together.

Aussie Kim

Singapore Math to Saxon Math and back to Singapore Math (Our Fourth Grade Transitions: Another Perspective)

It must be the age or the year or something about Grade 4 that makes those girls want to change things up in math. 

Dearest Daughter (DD) at grade 4 decided that math was unnecessary for her career path. What was the point, she already knew how to add, subtract, multiply and do long division?  She even knew what fractions were and could add them.  What else could there possibly be? (HOW do you answer these questions? Please post!) 

The grass always looks greener on the other side, so after we established that math was actually REQUIRED for college entrance at Grade 12 (senior) level, DD decided the curriculum we were using was the problem.  Her friends didn't seem to have a problem with what they were doing, why couldn't she try their books? 

In a moment of weakness (courage?), I conceded this might be a good idea.  We took a placement test, and she went from Singapore Math grade 4 to Saxon math grade 6/5 (what her friend was doing).  We looked at her friend's book - she liked the look of it.  Unlike the economically savvy Louisiana Sue, I PURCHASED a new Saxon math book (thinking DD had FOUND her math calling).  We used it for 4 weeks, at which point she quietly asked if we could change back to Singapore Math.  Seems like she was surprised at how much repitition was involved in her friend's curriculum, it was very easy to understand, but she just wasn't used to going over things as much as they did.  So, with her happy to go back to Singapore Math, I ate the investment in the Saxon book, and we returned to our original curriculum.

The interesting thing is, I never had the same problem with Dearest Son (DS), so I suspect it was herself just testing the waters as to the flexibility of this homeschooling thing, and perhaps the teacher needed more ways to express the use of math in DD's potential career paths?  (I'll never know!).  Perhaps Math-U-See would be better.  Perhaps unschooling would suit her better? Perhaps I should stop second guessing myself! If it ain't broke don't fix it, right?

Pros: I would recommend Singapore Math to those parents of kids who are quick to pick up concepts, and are bored with repetitive practice past the point of mastery.  I particularly like the dual emphasis on the metric system and the imperial system right from the beginning.  They are taught both systems at the same time, and it seems to work quite well.  The metric system is not some foreign concept kept for "later".  They are very heavy on regular practice with word problems which get the kid thinking.  I like this too.

Cons: The Singapore Math curriculum is not the type of curriculum where the average kid can teach themselves. The Saxon math can be a self teach math book. It more closely matches US grade progression.  Saxon math is taught in small incremental levels, which in effect means basically the child can teach themselves just by working through the book.  Courses which the child can teach themselves are particularly good for large families, and also good for the self confidence of the child.

Singapore Math also has quite a good science curriculum...more on this later. 

Saxon math is also reviewed by Louisianna Sue on this website.

Any other grade 4 math transitional experiences out there?

Aussie Kim