My "sheltered" (ha!) children have been learning about the Byzantine Empire.  This week we studied the rise of Islam. 

Sarah brought her manilla folder downstairs after lunch.  On top were seven post it notes showing reading assignments she'd completed.  The post it notes were discarded and I opened the folder to see her work and file it in her history notebook. 

On the left are two maps.  Outlines of encyclopedia articles on the Byzantine Empire and Islam are in the middle.  Literature worksheets on the right go back in the folder for tomorrow.  We're a day *behind* due to Labor Day. 

Sarah's work at the dialectic stage is filed by topic or assignment.  This picture shows her individual notebook timeline on the left and her map section on the right.  Sections for literature (summaries and worksheets), religion, biography, culture, etc... follow. 

Here's an example of a first grade narration done by Holly.  I write while she shares what she remembers from our read alouds during the week.  She likes to decorate them with cut and paste timeline figures I find on-line. 

Here's Hannah's summary.  In our home, a summary is the same as a narration, but written by the child.  I wrote (Who), (Where), etc... on this one to get her started since it's the beginning of the school year and I don't want to encourage deer in the headlights when it comes to writing.

Holly and Hannah's papers are filed chronologically.

Here are our main history read alouds for the year.  The Story of the World is our "spine."  Famous Men of the Middle Ages is an excellent choice for focusing on biographical figures in the early years.  More pictures of literature assignments to come...  The post it notes on these books tell me what to read and what writing assignment to assign.   The timeline figures, above, are what Holly uses for cut and paste projects (putting 4-5 historical figures or events in order on a piece of paper, making a collage of the Byzantine Empire, using them to decorate narrations).  The worksheets on the right are used as clip art by the littles and as a backdrop for further research when time allows. 

Posted by anewday

I really need to look into TOG for next year....

I need to ask you how to pull together my Ancient History stuff this year...we start in January (I decided to do Science this semester and history the next).

Posted by fourjewels

most anytime, Dawn. :)