Module 5 Spine Questions – Sonya, Bookworm, Others?

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  • August 6, 2011 at 3:56 pm
    missceegee
    Participant

    I’m planning out next year’s history and we’ll be covering module 5. I have dd10, ds7 who will be participating and both are excellent readers. DD10 can read most anything through 8th or 9th grade level. DS7 reads at about a 2nd or 3rd grade level. 

    I own ALL of the module 5 resources for Bible, History, Geo. and ALL of the Guerber books from Nothing New Press. I’m trying to decide whether to just use Mod. 5 as written using the Stories of America and Stories of the Nations books as the spine or if I want to replace or add in the Guerber books. Both look great, but I want to be cautious not to overload our schedule with more than is necessary or welcome. One possibility would be to use Guerber as spine and have dd10 read the Story of books on her own. I welcome other suggestions.

    I also own MANY more books on this time period – picture books, chapter books, Landmark books. I know that more is not better, but simply more. I’m just having a tough time sorting it out in my mind today.

    Thank you, 

    Christie

    PS – Sometimes having so many resources makes choosing more difficult.

    August 6, 2011 at 8:01 pm
    missceegee
    Participant

    OK, I think I have my options in order, I just have to make up my mind which option to choose. 

    • Use the SCM Module as written with the recommended Stories of books for this rotation with my 10 and 7 year olds. Then use the Guerber books in 6 years when we return to this module? I know they are elementary texts, but they have SO much information that I would think I could use them as a Family Spine later when kids are 16, 13, 10, 6.

    • I could use the Guerber books as our American History spine now and let the kids listen to our American History Stories by Mara Pratt which we have on audio just for fun. I would either leave out the Stories of America book with this option or let dd10 read it on her own. I could still include the Stories of the Nations book for the world history part along with Master Skylark.

    I think I’ll put all of our extra books about this time period – picture, chapter, Landmark – on a shelf for free reading either way I go. I just think scheduling both the Stories of America AND the Guerber books may be too much. 

    Again, all thoughts welcome and needed.

    Christie

    August 7, 2011 at 7:46 am
    HeidiS
    Participant

    I like your first option. With a big book basket of all the period appropriate books and time scheduled for free reading your avid readers could choose books that appeal to them, but you will have the ‘comfort’ of knowing the spines have been covered and you can use the Guerber books when they are older, and you will be avoiding the “we already read that book” syndrome ( if you have kids who are afflicted with that tendency)

    I agree with you about too much choice. It freezes me up. I used to think I was doing myself and my kids a favor by having more choices, but I do wonder. I am still scheduling for September and I had to physically remove all the books NOT in my schedule just so I wouldn’t be distracted by how great they are and try to squeeze them in somewhere!

     

    August 7, 2011 at 4:39 pm
    Sue
    Participant

    When you say you might do module 5 as written, do you mean you will use all of the recommended books listed for the particular grade level? If not, approximately how many of the books do you expect to use? (Anyone else want to weigh in on this?)

    Last year was the first time we used CM methods and the SCM curriculum guide, and we were just trying to get settled in with it. We were covering history module 5, and I know we could have fit in a bit more than we did, but I’m still trying to decide how many of the books I ought to schedule for this year’s module 6.

    Sue

    August 7, 2011 at 5:44 pm
    missceegee
    Participant

    It’s so true, a change is as good as a break. I took a “break” and did something different and with that change and some time for prayer and thought apart from my stack of books led me to use option 1.

    I’ve decided to used the Module 5 history as written with all of the scheduled books and save the Guerber books for our next go round. We are substituting Stowaway for Sailing Alone around the World and I will have my MANY extras for this time period available on a shelf for free reading. 

    Sometimes typing it out helps me to clarify my options. Thanks Heidi and Sue for chiming in. 

    @Sue_mom23 – yes, we’ve used ALL of the recommended books for a few years only substituting only when one doesn’t work for us for one reason or another. This year we didn’t finish all of our middle ages books, but we’re choosing to move on and we’ll make sure to use those the next go round. 

    Christie

    August 8, 2011 at 4:12 pm
    Sonya Shafer
    Moderator

    That sounds like a good option for this year, Christie. My one concern with the Guerber books is that they have so many chapters. You could easily get bogged down, especially with all the extra books you would want to add. Whereas, when the children are older they would be able to tackle the longer books more easily.

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