Intro to American History Part 1
History/Bible/Literature
D
Language
Arts D
The list
of books included in the Intro to American History, Year 1 of 2 Level
D (4-Day) includes:
Instructor’s Guide
Sonlight D
Instructor’s Guide by John and Sarita Holzmann and Rebecca W. Lewis
Bible
American Indian Prayer Guide by Danette Aloof
The Discoverer’s Bible for Early Readers NIrV by Zonderkids
Sing the Word: Great in Counsel and
Might in Deed – CD
History & Geography
If You Were There When They Signed
the Constitution
by Elizabeth Levy
The Landmark History of the
American People: From Plymouth to the West, Volume I by Daniel J. Boorstin with Ruth F.
Boorstin
North American Indians by Marie Douglas Gorsline
The Lewis & Clark Expedition by Richard L. Neuberger
Timeline Figures D ~ Intro to
American History, Year 1 of 2 by
Sonlight
Children’s Encyclopedia of American
History by David
C. King
The Beginner’s American History
From Christopher Columbus to John Sutter by D.H. Montgomery
Read Alouds
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Walk The World’s Rim by Betty Baker
Justin Morgan Had A Horse by Marguerite Henry
Swift Rivers by Cornelia Meigs
A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll
Adoniram Judson ~ Bound for Burma by Janet & Beoff Benge
Readers/Literature
Pocahontas And The Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla
Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin
Robert Fulton, Boy Craftsman by Marguerite Henry
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla
Sarah Whitcher’s Story by Elizabeth Yates
The Skippack School by Marguerite de Angeli
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh
Om-kas-toe, Blackfeet Twin Captures
an Elkdog by
Kenneth Thomasma
Timmy O’Dowd And The Big Ditch, A
Story of the Glory Days on the Old Erie Canal by Len Hilts
The Intro
to American History, Year 1 of 2 Level D (4-Day) is a complete History,
Bible, and Literature curriculum for grades 3-5 or ages 8-11. When ordering you have to option
of choosing between two reading level sets: Regular Readers or Advanced
Readers. You also have the option of either a 4 day or a 5-day school week.
The Intro
to American History, Year 1 of 2 Level D (4-Day) Instructor’s Guide is
divided into four parts:
- Introduction to Your Instructor’s Guide
- Schedule and Notes
- Reading Assignments & Notes
- Instructor’s Guide Resources
Each of
the subject groups above has its own list of books to be read throughout the
year. It should be noted that readers are broken down into two categories,
readers and advanced readers. Sonlight realizes that children have a wide range
of reading abilities and therefore offer books to challenge the more advanced
reader while providing books that will not overwhelm the more reluctant or
lower level reader.
Each week’s
lessons are laid out and tell you specifically what you child needs to complete
each day. The day is broken into the following sections: Bible, History & Geography, Read-Alouds, and Readers. Read-Alouds are books that the parent is
to read to the child. At the bottom of the page parents will find a picture key
which notates: Parental Notes, Map Point, Timeline Figure, and Timeline
Suggestion. The parent resource pages that come in between the schedule pages
give great hints and suggestions for helping your child memorize scripture.
Discussion questions with answers are listed to help your child interact with their
reading as well as insure that they are understanding what is being read to
them or what they are reading independently. This is also the perfect time to
discuss topics of interest or something that may need further explanation. Timeline
and map points are given as well as important dates for keeping up on
geography. The timeline becomes a chronological context of history that you
child will be able to continue to build upon in the coming years of study.
In Section
3, entitled Read-Aloud & Reader Index, your will find a chapter by chapter,
or in some instances, chapters are broken down and are therefore notated with
page numbers. Each book read throughout the year will have the following points
covered:
- Cultural Literacy
- Vocabulary
- To Discuss After You Read
- Timeline and Map Points
- Setting
For example,
in chapter 11 of, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch,
we learn that “Napoleon Bonaparte: (1769-1821) was a famous, supremely
ambitious French general who would eventually become the emperor of France.”
This would be a cultural literacy finding. Like most 4th graders, my
daughter did not know what the word despotic meant when she came across that
word. Well, that would fall under vocabulary. “The Press is dangerous in a despotic
government, but in a free country it is very useful, so long as it is
free. (governed by an absolute ruler)” In the section, To Discuss After You
Read, one of the questions asked is, “Why were Salem sailors angry with the
British navy?” Answer, “The Brits would board American ships, claim some
sailors were British, and force American sailors to serve on British ships.”
You may be
wondering, What does a typical Sonlight day look like?
Week 11
Day 41
Bible
Parent
Reading ~ Luke 17: 1-19
Student
Reading (Discoverer’s Bible) ~ Exodus
10:8-27
American Indian Prayer Guide ~
Choctaw Day 1 p.
49
Memorization
~ Romans 8:28
Sing the Word: Great in Counsel and
Might in Deed ~
Track 4
History & Geography
Children’s Encyclopedia of American
History pp. 34-35
(timeline suggestion)
Read-Alouds
The Sign of the Beaver ~ chapters 14-15
Readers
Regular
The Courage of Sarah Noble ~ chapters 8-9
Advanced
The Secret of the Sealed Room ~ chapter 2
I found it
easiest to break the work down into two chunks. Normally we do Bible along with
the History & Geography in the morning and then work through the reading in
the afternoon. This set-up works great for us. It takes approximately 3-4 hours
a day to complete a day’s worth of Sonlight. For some it may take longer or a
bit shorter. Sonlight’s curriculum is very intensive and it is definitely not a
curriculum that you can accomplish in an hour a day. It requires a great deal
of parental involvement and commitment on both the students as well as the
parents side. Early on in our homeschool journey I knew that I wanted to follow
a literature based curriculum. I didn’t want to be stuck in textbooks learning
bits and pieces of information throughout history without truly learning
history. That is where Sonlight comes in. “Our challenge to homeschoolers is to
skip the scattered Social Studies approach and instead study History.” In this
year’s study students will learn why people came to a new land, how they
persevered and settled this continent America. Every day they faced challenges
and decisions that would lay forth a path that over the years has made the
framework of our American History.
I
absolutely love Sonlight's approach to learning. Over the years I have not always
been able to afford Sonlight’s curriculum but I have always used their choices
of books as a guide in children’s academic studies. Learning history in a
sequential, story like manner verses a Social Studies textbook that is a chopped-up
concoction of bits and pieces of history without any substance or flow. Using
historical fiction and autobiographies your student will feel like they are
living history. Each book that your child reads over the course of the year has
overlapping themes and topics from varying angles and storylines.
Of course,
I cannot end without giving a shout out for the poetry portion of Sonlight’s
curriculum. Children’s brains are like sponges and soak up not only scripture
but also poetry incredibly well. It never ceases to amaze me at what a child is
capable of memorizing. Not only will your child learn what a limerick, haiku,
ballad, pastoral, sonnet, and so on are but they will be introduced to some
great poets and poetry. On one side the genre of poetry is introduced and on
the opposite page the poem is written out and illustrated. One fond childhood
poem is Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow. “Did you know that ‘Paul Revere’s Ride’ describes a
dangerous and exciting event that took place at the beginning of the American
Revolution.” This poem as well as many other great poems can be found in A Child’s Introduction to Poetry.
Language Arts,
Reading D (4-Day)
This is
intended for grades 3-5 or ages 8-11.
This
instructor’s guide covers both the regular and advanced readers with the main
program features being on diction, 5-minute mechanics, creative expression,
spelling, vocabulary, and student activity sheets. Much like the Intro
to History student’s lessons are laid out in a 4-day week schedule that
they are to follow. Sonlight uses Spelling
You See, Handwriting Without Tears 3:
Cursive Handwriting, and Wordly Wise
3000, Book 3 (Optional).
The
breakdown of the weekly schedule subgroups are as follows:
- Spelling
- Handwriting
- Reading (Regular or Advanced)
- Vocabulary Development
- Creative Expression
Towards
the beginning of the teachers notes there is a section entitled “Feeling
Overwhelmed?” It talks about the myriad of concepts covered and how everything
may seem so daunting. They point you to an article in another section of the
manual. Sonlight truly wants to help the parent succeed in their endeavors as
they teach their child or children as much as they want to see students
succeed.
Sonlight
provides grading Rubic’s so that you are not having to figure out how to grade
your child’s writing on your own. They teach you how to evaluate your child’s
writing and critique it subjectively.
I have
always been a huge proponent of dictation. For dictation, Sonlight has your
child read through a short passage paying close attention to words,
capitalizations, and punctuations. The child is then to listen as mom or dad
dictates the passage and the child writes the passage. Next, is dictation
application. For example, we know that two basic rules of sentences are that
they begin with capital letters and end with punctuation marks. The child then
looks at a passage and says what punctuation marks are used and why. Then looking
at the passage you discuss the nouns found. The application continues on in
greater depth. This makes so much more sense when teaching grammar.
For one of
the daily activities the child is asked to use their five senses. “When writers
describe nouns with adjectives, they often think in terms of their five senses.
What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it smell, feel, and
taste like? In this way, they are able to bring nouns to life with vivid descriptions.”
Using their own senses the student is asked to write adjectives under the five
categories: sight, hearing, smell, feeling, and taste. Then to take it further
students are asked to write a descriptive paragraph using their senses
describing an object.
When
reading the novel, The Courage of Sarah
Noble, students in week 12 will work on the topic of themes. They will be
asked to write a short essay on the primary theme of The Courage of Sarah Noble. Well, we know that it is courage. You
will be guided through a series of questions to ask your student based on the
book as it relates to theme. They will create an outline with guided bullet
points of what needs to be included in the outline. You will be guided through
the rough draft as well as the editing and polishing up of your final draft.
And of course, for parents a grading rubic is included to help guide you in
grading your students final paragraph.
Day 93
Dictation says, “Let the words you speak
always be full of grace. Season them with salt. Then you will know how to answer
everyone.” That is taken from Colossians 4:6. Isn’t that just an amazing
word of truth for your child to be hearing and writing down on paper!
Section 4
entitled, Instructor’s Guide Resources, is
chalk full of great resources. The Scope
and Sequence Schedule for Topics and Skills is a great go to reference to
see exactly what your child will be covering each week throughout the year. The
schedule is broken down into two sections: Dictation Application (Mechanics)
and Activity sheet/Creative Expression. Also included in this section are:
- Recommendations for Teaching Writing
- Glossary of Phonics Rules
- Basic Spelling Rules for Phonics
- Language Arts Check-off List
- Grammar Guide
- How to Do a Research Project
- Tips When Using the Internet
I love the
verse at the beginning of the Language Arts D Instructor’s Guide
which says, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of
wisdom.” What a better verse to begin a rigorous academic adventure than, Psalm
90:12. It is always my hope and prayer that my children will grow in truth and wisdom
in the Lord through Scripture but also grow in wisdom through academic studies
which takes determination, time, and effort. What you put into your education
determines what you will receive in return. Sonlight comes alongside both
student and parent and guides them along the journey in order to enable
students to get the most out of their educational experience and prepare them
for higher education.
Disclaimer-I received this curriculum kit in exchange for my honest opinions and thoughts on the overall curriculum.
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