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SCM History Modules & multiple levels
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I am researching for next year and considering using Module 5 for my three children, but they are all in different grade levels. We will have a 2nd, 4th, and 7th gradeer. I think I understand how to use the modules with different levels as far as reading together from the spine and then assigning or reading aloud living books at their individual levels, but do we need all the suggested titles for every level? It seems a bit overwhelming to purchase or find all of those books so I’m just curious how everyone else does this. We are currently using HOD and do enjoy it, but are trying to cut costs for next year and piece together our own curriculum. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks!
I did Module 5 last year with a 4th grader and a Kindergartener.
-Make use of your local library as much as possible. I took suggestions from the Free Curriculum Guide, but then I made use of the resources available at our library.
-Use audio books that they can all enjoy to supplement the spine you are using. There are so many good ones for that time frame.
-Have older kids read to younger kids, when possible.
Another idea would be to purchase books by term…that way you don’t have to come up with several hundred dollars at once! I place an Amazon order once a month for most of our books. I also buy many books used.
Also, if your library doesn’t have the exact title, they may have a similar book that you could substitute.
I put my upcoming year’s book list into Paperback Swap and slowly get books throughout the year. I also do the same on Amazon and just watch for them to come up used, for cheap. I also hit library book sales and always have the list in my purse (thrift stores!). I start about from 6 months to a year in advance. While I much prefer physical books, I will buy the ebook/Kindle version if there’s a significant price difference. I think most years I’m able to get all the books I need (plus some extras here and there) for around $100, usually spread out over several months. If we like them I keep them for the next rotation so I won’t have to buy them again. If we didn’t like them I put them on Paperback Swap to trade for new books. You can try inter-library loans if your library doesn’t have it or substitute with similar books, although I love the book selections from the guides. They are worth finding!
These are great suggestions!
Also, since you are starting your planning early, you can start making lists on Amazon or elsewhere of books you know you would like to purchase. Then, if you hit a library sale or garage sale, you already have a list of what you are looking for and can snap them up.
I am doing Mod 5 with 11yo, 10yo, 8yo, 6yo, and 4yo. Everyone is loving it, so far! Three things we added that I would highly recommend:
– Story of the World Audio CD for the time period – very detailed and interesting history on audio. Great for the car, sick days, quiet time, etc…and has really filled out our history studies.
– Beautiful Feet Books Timelines. They are beautiful, simple, and gave us good dates to remember and events to focus our history studies. They are also fairly cheap…
– Some notebooking pages or coloring books from Dover.
Again – these are just things that are helping us…not required by any means.
Also, I have to second the advice you have already been given about pacing yourself with book purchases.
Especially if you are just beginning to add in composer study, picture study, and poetry…Just choose ONE composer, artist, and poet and one or two resources about each to work through every six weeks or so. Don’t feel that you have to buy an entire ‘Module’ of picture study resources at once, in other words.
For my independent readers, I require about 10 additional reading books, mostly historical fiction but also just good literature…about half of those can be found at the library and the other half I purchase used from Amazon or trade in my mom’s discarded fiction for on Paperbackswap. We do about 10 family read alouds per year, and I can always find these at the library as they are usually children’s classics.
Once you get the rhythm of it, it really isn’t as complicated as it seems – promise :).
Great advice about the E-books too…many of the literature module books are available for free or $2 or less! I downloaded quite a few of them for free over the weekend.
You might look at the Grades 1-3 readings and see if they will work for your Grade 4 student so this year you would buy/borrow the books suggested for the grades 1-3 and grades 7-9… (then next year maybe your then grade 3 student could maybe handle the grade 4-6 books so you would buy the grades 4-6 and grades 7-9 for your grade 3, 5, and 8 students?) Or with that same idea, do a mix of grade 1-3 books and grade 4-6 books depending on what you can get economically??
Wow, thanks so much everyone! You have all given me some great advice, resources and ideas. ServingwithJoy, I think you were reading my mind. I’ve been looking at Story of the World and I was thinking about how to do a timeline with my youngers just today! I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions as I continue to research and figure all this out. 🙂 I greatly appreciate all the suggestions so far!
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