History. A Plan.

We haven't started this yet, but as usual, we will be using a 'road map' whilst studying Medieval history this year with da boyz.  I have it in a Word document, and will print it out, stuff it in my soft-cover binder (will write about this another day, but basically it's where I keep a ready reference of 'how-to's for each subject that I've gleaned from TWTM).

Firstly, enter the usual suspects books that will guide us in our study... 

A most excellent curriculum.  Haven't met it's match yet.  Yes, written by SWB.

I tore out all the student activity pages from the Activity Guide, then stored them in my box of hanging files.  Here's what my pages look like:

Don't forget you can click on these pics to make them bigger.

Like the Writing with Ease workbooks, these pages walk the teacher/mom thru questions to prepare for narration, map activities, reading and literature suggestions, and hands-on crafty stuff.  A plethora of ideas.

Here's *mom's* resource....just to get me up to speed on the Medieval period....SWB's newest offering, written for high school and up.  Yes.  Most fabulous:

In the first edition of The Well Trained Mind, Susan and her mom recommended logic age students (5th-8th) use The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World.  It is now out of print, and it used to be darn hard to find a copy under $60...in fact, I owned a copy way back when as my oldest were working thru history, and I sold it for a pretty penny when we finished.  (And thus it happens with homeschoolers....buying/selling, buying again/selling, etc. ad nauseum)  Luckily I found a copy recently at Half Price Books (excellent place to find this kind of thing).  $6 buckaroos.  Happy happy.

 The logic age kiddo uses this as a spine text, outlining it, finding items to list, and discovering topics for further study.  It also has a running timeline along the side of most pages making timeline activities a breeze.

When the KIHW went OOP, the newer Kingfisher History Encyclopedia took it's place, and boy howdy did it make outlining difficult.  Ask me how I know.  Ugh.  Double ugh.  So glad to have found this OOP one, and even better, the Activity Guide even has it scheduled so they correspond with our reading in SOTW.  I'm all about easy planning whenever I find it.

Some other stuff I have, sideways.  Logic age kids need 'eyewitness' accounts.  They're called 'primary resources'.  I got this from Rainbow.

This is recommended for rhetoric students, so Jason will prolly use it....but I think it's dandy too.

I also have the Usborne Internet-linked History Encyclopedia of World History for Sam.  Jason is reading it over the summer.

In the TWTM, there are lots of recommended non-fiction books and literature for history study, as well as in the Activity Guide.  Most of these I'll pinch from the library, but when I come across titles at used bookstores or garage sales or Goodwill, I snag 'em.

We'll be using the timeline that comes with these History Through the Ages timeline figures:

So....finally, here is the plan.  I mostly c & p'ed  this from my Word document, and as I said, it's a plan set in jello. Or pudding, whichever.

Monday:
~Read a chapter in SOTW and have each kid narrate a separate section using method in WWE.
~Sam colors picture in activity guide.  Ben reads additional info in KIHW.  Makes list of 6-8 facts in sentence form. Add dates to timeline.
~Do mapwork by comparing map in book to atlas, world map and globe. Sam does map exercise in activity guide. Benj does MapTrek assignment.
~That evening, go to library to pick out books on topics/people of interest related to chapter. Some can be read-alouds, and pay attention to biographies and primary sources. Use Activity Guide for suggestions.

Wednesday:
~Dictation of Monday’s narration.
~Sam reads one of the library books and coordinating section in Usborne History Encyclopedia. Can make a narration page (optional).
~Ben reads library books and primary resources when applicable, then outlines from one resource (5-6 paragraphs-one level outline).

Friday:
~Sam read another book from library. Ben prepares a written summary of info on chosen topic of 4-6 sentences. (help extract info…)
~Use projects and games to reinforce. Make narration pages on some of the books/projects.
~File all in chronological order in notebook or in appropriate section in logic stage notebook: biographical pages, arts and books pages, etc.

Review Notebook once a month.

I also made a list of suggested memory work, books/bios to read, and people to study.  All of this was gleaned straight from the Medieval sections of TWTM.  BTW, memory work is recorded, then practiced alone during the chunk of time I'm working with the other kiddo.

That's the plan.  Other necessary equipment will include Little Debbie oatmeal cakes for the teacher.