I’m already panicking about next school year!! (I feel like they aren’t retaining as much this year which makes me question if we need to change curriculum , BUT I DON’T WANT TO)
We’ll be in Early Modern & Epistles this coming year with a 13DD in 7th grade, a 10DS in 5th, and a 6DD in Kinder.
Youngest doesn’t read yet, and doesn’t want to,LOL!
Does this mean I am buying all the books from 3 different levels?? and reading them all?! How on earth am I supposed to make this work?
Open for any and all advice!
Here’s the book list for those grades:
Family (all students)
Bible
(optional, but recommended) Master Skylark by John Bennett
(AH) Stories of America, Volume 1 by Charles Morris and Sonya Shafer
Stories of the Nations, Volume 1 by Charles Morris, Lorene Lambert, and Sonya Shafer
The Stuff They Left Behind: From the Days of Early Modern portfolio
Visits to North America notebook by Sonya Shafer (one for each student)
Plus . . .
Grades 1–3
(AH) Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire
Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George? by Jean Fritz
(AH) The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
Dangerous Journey by Oliver Hunkin
A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla
Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille by Russell Freedman
(AH) The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall
(AH) Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters
(AH) Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters
(AH) Tapenum’s Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times by Kate Waters
(AH) Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady
Grades 4–6
Along Came Galileo by Jeanne Bendick
Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley
Good Queen Bess by Diane Stanley
(AH) The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty
The Ocean of Truth: The Story of Sir Isaac Newton by Joyce McPherson
(AH) The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
The Story of Napoleon by H. E. Marshall
(AH) A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy by Jim Murphy
Grades 7–9
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
Book of Centuries (one for each student)
(AH) Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
(AH) Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloan
Discovering Doctrine by Sonya Shafer (one for each student)
(AH) Early Thunder by Jean Fritz OR Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Hearts and Hands: Chronicles of the Awakening Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
(AH) Poor Richard by James Daugherty
The Story of Modern France, chapters 1–23, by H. A. Guerber
The World of William Penn by Genevieve Foster
The Year of the Horseless Carriage by Genevieve Foster
Your oldest 2 are old enough to read independently so you won’t have to read all the books out loud. You’d read the family books with all your kids and the 1-3 books with your youngest.
What I do with multiple ages/grades is I read the family and 1-3rd books aloud to all. I preread over the summer the 4-6th and 7-9th books (next year will be our first year into 7th, but my plan is to get those books read as well) but during the school year those are independent, the student reads those and either does oral narration and/or written narration, I do not read them aloud.
If you don’t want all the invest in all the levels, since your youngest will only be in 1st you could just read the family books and skip the 1st-3rd books. You could also keep your oldest in same books as your middle child. you have options 🙂
Also look for books used. I rarely pay more than a few dollars for a book (incluiding shipping) buying used through ABEbooks or similar.
As far as retaining the information.Give it time 🙂 I am often amazed when at the most random time they will mention something from history that we read some time ago. And I look in amazement that they remembered anything, haha. Early Modern/World has been one of our favorites, the books especially for family and 1st – 3rd are fantastic and even my bigger kids liked them 🙂
If you want to save money, you could combine your 7th grader with the 4th-6th grad books, but then they are sharing the same copy of the book, which has its own set of problems.
We are doing Amos Fortune and Johnny Tremain as family read alouds this year and everyone is really enjoying them! I think they are not-to-be-missed books. If you end up combining your older two children, I’d still find a way to add these in, maybe as a family reading.
Master Skylark is either free or $.99 on Kindle. That was a hit with my kids too!