Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Narrowing the Fine Science of TruthQuest History Planning (Part 2)....

Yesterday, I explained how I originally planned TruthQuest History (TQ).  However, after finishing our first year of using TQ, I knew I needed to do some tweaking. This past year, we continued with TruthQuest, using American History for Young Students II.  Again, I made a chart because I am a big picture kind of gal.  Only this time, I tried to stick to resources I thought we may use rather than listing the reading from all possible spines.  Column 1, listed the TQ Table of Contents.  Columns 2-3 were readings from spines that I considered.  (BTW, once implementing the plan, I assigned RileyAnn This Country of Ours and I did not end up using The Story of the Great Republic.)  Columns 4-6 indicated books that aligned with other publishers.  And, Column 7 included books listed in the TQ guide that I was considering from our personal library.

I then went back and highlighted potential Read Aloud books in yellow, books that could be assigned to RileyAnn in teal, and books that could be assigned to Ruben in green.  Here is a sample of the first page of the chart...


American History – 1800-1865
Table of Contents
This Country of Ours
Story of the Great Republic
Beautiful Feet
Early American
Western Expansion
History of California
Geography
Sonlight – SL

Bonnie’s Timeline – BA

Veritas Press - VP
Time Traveler
19th Century
&
Civil War
TQ Books on our shelves
1. Avocados. Yes! Avocados!






2. New Capital – Washington, D.C.




X

Building of Wash.





*Story of the U.S. Capital
*Story of the White House
*Child’s History of Art
Tour of Wash….






Art of the Early Republic Era






3. Land-a-Rama! Lewis & Clark
Ch 66-68
Ch X


X

Louisiana Purchase



The Louisiana Purchase – BA
*Louisiana Purchase – BA


L & C Expedition


*Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark
*The Lewis & Clark Expedition – SL
*My Name is York – BA
*Lewis & Clark, Explorers of the American West – BA
*How We Crossed the West, The Adventures of Lewis & Clark
*Off the Map – BA


*Meriwether Lewis
*Story of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
*Meriwether Lewis
*Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
*We Were There with Lewis & Clark
*Bold Journey
*Adventure of Lew & Cla
Sacagawea


The Story of Sacajawea, Guide to Lewis and Clark
Streams to the River, River to the Sea – SL – BA

*Picture Book of Sacagawea
*Winged Moccasins
Seaman, Dog of Lewis



Seaman – VP

Captain’s Dog

Activities


The Lewis & Clark Expedition Coloring Book


Lewis & Clark for Kids
Zebulon Pike







Based on the chart and again our three 12-week term study, I broke our history study into three sections: Term 1, Lewis & Clark, included TQ sections 1-9; Term 2, Western Expansion, included TQ sections 10-32; and Term 3, Civil War, included TQ sections 33-49 (end).  From there, I tried to narrow my book choices, knowing we couldn't read everything listed.  

Next, I created another chart, in which I attempted to divide the books into daily readings. The first year I used TQ, we read a tremendous amount of books.  This time around, I aimed to read fewer books, three per day, rather than four, but, making sure to read the best books.  I focused heavily on books recommended in the Beautiful Feet guides and Sonlight.  I thought scheduling each book would give me a better grasp on our time spent on history.  However, part way through the first term, I started to feel the noose around my neck because if we missed a day, our whole schedule was off.  Instead, from there out, I printed blank charts and filled in the reading as we went along.  Here's a sample of this chart....
 
Week
Resource Title
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
1
The Story of Eli Whitney
Pg 5-16
17-25
26-33
34-49
50-62
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Ch 1
2
3
4
5
The Year of the Horseless Carriage: 1801
Intro – p 24




A Head Full of Notions

Ch 1-2
3-4
5-6

Benjamin West & His Cat Grimalkin




Ch 1-2
2


The Story of Eli Whitney
Pg 63-69
70-83
84-98
99-117
118-132
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Ch 6
7
8
9
10
Benjamin West & His Cat Grimalkin
Ch 3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
11-12
3
The Story of Eli Whitney
Pg 133-150
151-162
163-170
171-178
179-end
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Ch 11
12
13
14
15
Benjamin West & His Cat Grimalkin
Ch 13-14
15-16
17-18
19-20
21-end
4
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Ch 16
17
18
19
20
The Year of the Horseless Carriage: 1801
27-31
32-42



The Louisiana Purchase


1-14
15 – end

Open the Door to Liberty




Whole
Diary of an American Boy
Intro-Ch 1
2
3
4
5
5
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Ch 21
22
23
24 (end)

The Year of the Horseless Carriage: 1801
Pg 43-51




Lewis & Clark (Landmark – SL)

Ch 1
2
3
4
The Lewis & Clark Expedition – Color Book




Pg 1-8
Diary of an American Boy
Ch 6
7
8
9

6
Lewis & Clark (Landmark – SL)
Ch 5
6
7
8
9
Sacajawea, Guide to Lewis & Clark
Ch 1
2
3
4
5
The Lewis & Clark Expedition – Color Book

Pg 9-17
17-26
27-35
35-40
7
Lewis & Clark (Landmark – SL)
Ch 10
11
12
13
14 (end)
Sacajawea, Guide to Lewis & Clark
Ch 6
7
8
9
10 (end)
The Lewis & Clark Expedition – Color Book
Pg 41-end




My Name is York

Whole



The Year of the Horseless Carriage: 1801


Pg 52-64
67-77
78-end
 

In addition, I altered our history notebooking process by no longer printing coloring sheets and pre-made notebooking pages.  As an alternative, each student was given a composition notebook, in which they entered copy work, narrations, illustrations, maps, etc.   This was more work on the child's part, hopefully helping them to build their own connections rather than me piecing it together for them.     

Now, truth be told, we didn't finish our history study this year...GASP! ;-)  There were so many great books in our Term 2, Western Expansion, that we decided to camp out long into Term 3.  Therefore, we did not make it through the Civil War as I had originally planned.  Instead, we've extended our history study into summer, tying up loose ends from Term 2 and dipping our toes into Term 3.  This fall, we will pick up the Civil War using Beautiful Feet's new Modern American and World History guide.  

You can view the books we did read using TQ AHFYS II, as well as links to reviews and sample notebooking pages, in three separate posts: Term 1, Term 2, and Term 3.  In the third and final part of this series, I will attempt to pull my TQ planning all together, summarizing and reviewing things I've learned, as well as plans for implementing TQ history this fall.   

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