Getting ready to start Monday!

[OhElizabeth]

Just wanted to introduce myself and say we're starting Monday. Most of the stuff is here, just waiting on the student pack, craft kit, and timelines. I've been comparing the IG to the project pages of TT to see if there were things they left out that I wanted to do. So far I'm thrilled! There were only a couple of things, as in one or two in Explorers and one or two in CL that I had wanted to do that they didn't include. The one that surprised me was the mapping, which I think is pretty important. So I haven't decided if I'll use the TT maps on acetate or the KQ maps cd I have, but definitely I want her to do the mapping of the explorer routes. They left out the straw ticking and rope bed activity in colonial, which I thought was too cool to skip. They didn't include the penmanship pages for CL, and I was thinking about using them for our handwriting. I'm undecided there, so we'll see. But overall, I was just really pleased! I bought the student pack to make my life easy with the new baby (or not so new now, 3 months old?), and I was afraid they were going to make my life hard and skip things I wanted to do. Other people had posited that on threads here, so I just wanted to say that's NOT the case! I went through it painstakingly for two hours last night, through the 1st and 2nd cd's worth of material, and they've included all the things you really want to do, skipping the ones that to me would have guilt-tripped me but weren't really stuff you wanted to do or needed to do (handwriting, that sort of thing). And I LOVE the way they've specified you to put everything into the notebook rather than lapbooking it. Do you realize how much time that will save? They've just done a great job of turning something that for me was overwhelming (TT) into something I can actually implement.

On the books, I'm more thrilled with them by the minute! We'll see how dd does with them, but I keep having to pry her away. We'll see how it goes and whether I end up adding things. (Like all junkies, I own the entire SL3 core, Hakim, the VP cards, and more, hehe.) This is a really great place for us to start. I'm allowing 1 1/2 hours a day Tues-Thursday and one hour on Mondays, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm tossing around this idea of doing the WP timeline pages (the pretty ones) in a different way, like hanging them on the wall or taping/accordian-folding them or something. Maybe I'll be zany and string a clothesline and hang them up? I don't know, just tossing around ideas. I think I'm going to have her do 4 small (1") notebooks with her TT projects rather than putting the projects between the timeline pages.

Well that's all for now. I just wanted to post here a little, so people could follow our progress and see how it goes. I know I read the forums here quite a bit before deciding to start and even my initial handling of the materials has shown me some of the concerns people had are not at all the case (that they would skip things you want to do in TT, for instance).

[jjn3beans]

I'm not doing AC yet, but I want to start right now after reading your post! Seriously though, it sounds just so awesome, but I guess I have to wait with only a 6yo and a 4yo, right? Just looking at the TT in the catalog looks confusing to me, so I'm glad to hear it is easy to follow and well-laid out.

I told my DH that I wanted to buy the older kids programs so I could look and read! We don't have enough cash to do that though. Sigh . . . . I guess I'll have to wait. I am having fun with the younger WP programs, though.

[OhElizabeth]

Well I've been working on dividing up the student activity pages to go with the various weeks. It's actually been sort of fun! (There's just something satisfying about working through a huge, 3-4" pile of stuff and getting it DONE.) When I printed off my TT text and projects pages (which I would not recommend btw, buy them from WP. It's not about the speed or time, but that they use better paper.), I printed off the color binder covers. So I divided my AC1 ig up to go into 4 binders, and I have the SL 36 week dividers. Then I got 8 packs of slash dividers, the kind that are 3 hole so they can go in the binders, and put one with each week to hold the activity pages. However the last binder (19th cent) is going to need to be divided into two binders. The 8 packs each have 5 divider pockets. I put a pocket at the back of each binder to hold timeline figures, the lapbook covers they included, etc., just anything extra. So if you're confused, to get set up, I ended up using:

5- 2" duraflex binders, the really nice ones from the office supply
40 slash pocket dividers
1 pack of 36 weekly sonlight dividers. (anything you can label with the weeks would do)

It took me 1-1 1/2 hours each to work through sections of activity pages (Exp, CL, etc.), but I wasn't really keeping track. It wasn't daunting, but now I'm REALLY glad I didn't cheap out and try to print all this myself. It would have taken me that long to print it (on our fast printer), which wouldn't have seemed bad. But then, when you figure in the organizing of those pages into weeks ON TOP OF the printing out, that would have burnt me out! I don't know, maybe others are more industrious. I'm just saying for me, the process has been fun, having bought the pages. If I had printed them out and now had a pile to organize, I'd be burning out before I even started. So my advice to the wise is to buy, buy, buy!

Did find a couple typos in my guide as I worked through the pages, but it was nothing major, nothing you can't figure out.

All in all it seems very well conceived. There's a lot more time spent on the 19th century cd (weeks 20-36), so I'm going to divide that into two binders. I'm wondering if the time on the revolution will be too short, frankly. (The entire cd in 6 weeks? Whew!) I won't be surprised if we end up slowing that down. Guess we won't know till we get there. But overall it looks really great, and I'm really happy. This is JUST what I needed! It is fun, goes into more depth than merely saying it happened, and has all the fun a 4th grade girl could want. Not having a boy, I can't speak for boys. However I do think my dd will enjoy it!

I do want dd to do the mapping of the explorer routes, so I'll probably get some acetate and print those out. Oh, and I decided what to do with the WP timelines! Now that I've received them, it's clear there are too many to hang the pages, even if we just do part. (It's a seriously large stack of cardstock!) I thought about notebooks, but I don't want them bundled out of sight, and I'm not really interested in putting her work pages between the timeline pages. So my IDEA is to use large rings, 3 of them, and make heavy laminated covers. So it would be like a giant flip book or something. Someone else did this on another board with a homemade timeline, using rings to hold it together, and I'm thinking the WP timeline pages are so sturdy, it would work out very well!

So there you go. We're plenty ready to start Monday, as the little bits left are details for other weeks. (divide up the last binder, print some optional pages, ready the maps for explorers)

[OhElizabeth]

We had a great day today. It worked out much better than I would have dreamed, having her do the paper projects while I read the books, TT lesson, etc. The Kalman book (Native Homes) is a hit. She definitely wants hands-on as well (besides the paper projects), but I told her we can just add things as we have time/interest. She's outside playing in the snow now, so we'll probably do the last thing, spice ornaments, this evening. She's very excited about that! So all in all I was really happy with the way the schedule worked and how it improved our dynamic. It's making our history time multi-faceted, which is a good thing, and it's easy for me to implement, even with a baby on the lap. In 45 minutes we got a lot done, and that was even with the baby squawking part of the time and me searching for things I hadn't pulled together. (Leaving books in three rooms of the house just doesn't work, lol!)

On the state study, I looked through the ig more and finally figured out how it's structured and how to use the things we already have to fit their plan. I think I'm going to get that Time Kids Our 50 United States, because it looks really good. I already had the Kids Love America. I didn't get the WP state pages because I already had the one by Joy Dean (sp? not in front of me) and a really great crossword book. So it looks like that's coming together nicely too. If you happen to already have another state study book, you still might want the book they recommend, as it forms the spine. With my pea brain, having it all spelled out and written in the IG makes it easier!

I had already pulled together my own picture study using a list of american artists from Discovering American Artists and prints I made from pics online, so I didn't get the WP stuff. I'm sure the WP stuff would have been great, if I hadn't already done that. On the other hand, my dd will enjoy the weekly art projects from DAA. I'm not sure if the WP stuff includes projects? Haven't seen it, so I don't know.

I have no preference on the WP state pages vs. the ones I'm doing. The WP pages appear, from the description, to have a writing component, which would be good and age appropriate. I bought this state study book a year ago, so it's cut and paste, no bigee. That's fine too, just on the young side. I wanted it to be light, so that's fine. I got a state cookbook too, so that should be fun for dd. I think we'll have enough to keep us busy!! I'm not sure it will take us the full 1 1/2 hours I allotted for the other days, so we'll see.

[OhElizabeth]

Dd got sick Tuesday, had a nasty temp Wed, and was recovering Thurs, so today (Friday) was our first day to get back into it. I really sweated whether to pick up with day 2 or wait until next Tuesday in order to keep it fitting in our weeks. I finally decided that was being too perfectionist and to just take the plunge, lol. We had so much fun! Today we tied knots while reading through the selections. It was just perfect! It took her about as long to figure out those three knots, hehe, as it did for me to read everything to her.

I just can't tell you all how much this has changed our dynamic in history and how we're enjoying it. I used to fall asleep during read alouds, but these short sections are something I can stay awake for. And while I thought we would have issues with the chunking of the readings and want to read them all in one sitting, really they flow nicely the way they're broken up. It's like just enough to think about, then you're ready to move on. On the activities, I was a little afraid my dd wouldn't like them, as she's never been one for papercrafts, however these are a big hit! Even though they use paper, they're more active. So far, WP AC is a winner!

Never fear, I'll keep posting so you can hear all the details. I do wish they had printed the pages for the knots from the masters, as I don't school by my computer. I ended up printing them, so she could use them to work on the knots while I read. Then I punched them to go with the project pages in my IG. That way I'll have them when/if I use this with my boy when he comes of age. That brings up the interesting question of whether it would work for a boy. I don't know, as my boy is just a baby, hehe. Today's certainly would have, tying knots. The text is sort of gender neutral. Not so manly or governmental as a textbook, but not stuck on frillies either. We've got rats, disease, food, sleeping habits. I think it appeals to both genders pretty nicely. You can tell it was written by a mother.

As far as the criticism someone lobbied that the writing is not good, well... Most of it is excellent, and some of the sentences could have used an editor. Overall, it's so delightful, I wouldn't let that stop you. Of course I'm only two days in. I'll let you know later.

[pigpensma]

I have really been leaning toward AS I and II instead of SL 3 and 4 in a couple of years, but now you make me want to wait just a tad longer so we can all use American Crossing. It sounds great!

[jjn3beans]

As far as the criticism someone lobbied that the writing is not good, well... Most of it is excellent, and some of the sentences could have used an editor. Overall, it's so delightful, I wouldn't let that stop you. Of course I'm only two days in. I'll let you know later.

The writing in what was considered not good, but you like it? I really enjoy reading your posts.

[OhElizabeth]

The writing in what was considered not good, but you like it? I really enjoy reading your posts.

Sorry, the writing in TT.

[juliekay]

reading your posts and hearing your excitement! We are using the AAI. We're ready to start the Revolution. We - family of 5 dc - have really slowed things down from what the IG recommends due to other activities, vacations, and other subjects that need to be covered in all the grade levels in this home. However, we STILL are very much WP fans! I am very excited to see what WP has in mind for AA2!

[OhElizabeth]

Hi Julie! Yes, I'm half scared AC2/AA2 won't include much TT because they wont' be ready, sniff... I don't know.

I see you have a little one. That's what pushed me over the top and drove me to WP was having the baby. I wanted something spelled out, something that I could actually implement. Just goes to show I'm on the right track!