Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: Christopher Columbus, Middle AGes, substituting other books for recommended

This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 6 months ago by kellylm.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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November 26, 2016 at 6:22 pm
kellylm
Participant
I am ordering books (I know it’s an odd time of year to be ordering school books) to go along with the SCM history curriculum “Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation & Epistles.” I see “Christopher Columbus” by Bennie Rhodes listed as a needed resource, but we already own “Christopher Columbus: Across the Ocean Sea” by Janet and Geoff Benge. Does anyone know if this would be an ok substitute for the Christopher Columbus book by Rhodes? I like to follow the SCM lesson plans pretty closely but I also don’t want to buy a book that is very similar to one we already have if it’s not necessary. Any suggestions from someone who has already used this SCM history curriculum?
November 27, 2016 at 1:36 pm
Tristan
Participant
You can always substitute books! What you may need to do is adjust how many pages/chapters of the book you read to fit the scheduled spot of the book you are replacing. And example may be helpful:
If you are replacing a book that is scheduled to be read over 12 school days at 1 chapter per day, then look at the book you will be using instead. Does it also have 12 chapters? Great! Just read 1 chapter of it each day the schedule says to read the book you’re replacing. If your chosen book has fewer chapters then you may just leave the extra reading days empty. If it has more chapters than the original book you may choose to read extra chapters per day or to read the book over more day, maybe it will take you 15 or 18 days instead of 12. Or maybe the chapters are short enough that you will read for 12 days and just read 2 chapters per day instead of 1.
Do what works for you!

November 27, 2016 at 2:21 pm
kellylm
Participant
Thank you for your suggestion! Do you know if there are things in the lesson plans (I haven’t purchased the SCM material yet) that are discussed that are specific to the SCM book choice or do the lessons just say to read a certain amount of the book about Christopher Columbus on certain days (without any specific notes about topics to discuss from the readings?) From the sample I downloaded, it looks like the book may be used on the geography days of the history curriculum, so I guess I’m wondering if that particular biography of Christopher Columbus has specific things discussed in it that are particular helpful to teaching geography as opposed to another biography of Columbus.
November 27, 2016 at 5:48 pm
Karen Smith
Moderator
For the daily lessons, there are no specific questions for the books being read. The lessons assign what to read then simply ask for an oral or written narration, depending on the age of the student. Before each new reading, the student is asked what he recalls from the last reading from the book being read for that lesson.
End of term exam questions ask about specific events or people but are not book specific. An exam question may ask your child to
Grades 1-3: Select one of the explorers you have read about and tell all you can remember about him.
Grades 4-6: Describe where the Cape of Good Hope is and tell in full how it came to have that name.
Grades 7-9: Summarize what each of the following explorers did to help reveal the Unknown: Prince Henry, Bartholomew Diaz, Christopher Columbus.
Grades 10-12: Explain all the factors that were involved in making exploratory voyages, citing specific illustrations or examples from your readings.
November 27, 2016 at 6:56 pm
kellylm
Participant
Thanks for your detailed response! It is very helpful… it sounds like I can easily substitute with the book I already have then. 🙂