CtC-Day 1 History Questions

[Gwenny]

How do you all handle this box? It's independent and they are to "answer one or more of the following questions from your research".

[Rice]

I go over the questions (ie read them out loud) when I start them on their S boxes and later in the morning when I hear narrations & we do a T box or two, before I check off that they've completed that reading (on my master checklist), I ask them the questions and get them to answer: all he can remember from his research from my 9yo and answers to (almost?) all from my 12yo.

I would LOVE to have an answer sheet for me to know if they're on track, though! They could tell me just about anything and I'd have to just nod & smile since I don't have time to do the research myself!

Blessings,

[Nealewill]

My dd uses my iPhone to find the answer. We meet right before lunch and she does this reading in the AM. Before lunch, we meet and she shows me her source and tells me her answer.

[my3sons]

How do you all handle this box? It's independent and they are to "answer one or more of the following questions from your research".

The first day of research in CTC uses the Bible as a resource, but most of the other days of plans for research use an encyclopedia of your choice. We used Wikipedia because it is free, and Carrie checked each of the topics there to be sure they would come up. I always think it's good to keep in mind the purpose of the activity when determining accountability. In this case, the Introduction of CTC mentions that...
Students use an index or a search engine to skim to find answers, and to formulate information from the answers they've gathered..."

So, going off of that thought, I sit by the kiddos when they first type in the research topic, making sure they type it correctly and actually get to the right information. Wikipedia usually has an index/table of contents, along with blue live links for various subtopics, so the next thing we do is skim the index/table of contents, and I point out how each of portion of it has its own paragraph/section/page, that they go in order as listed, and that many of them have blue links to go to other more detailed pages of information about the topic. We briefly look at the questions, and try to determine the sections that the answers may be found in, and we practice clicking on a few. I mention (for the 100th time usually ) at this point that we must be careful about straying from the main page, as clicking on multiple sites gets us further and further away from the main topic, as well as closer to finding something not related (and sometimes not good) on the Internet. Then, I either stay in the room or have another child in the room with them while they research, just for accountability. If I can come back and hear their answers orally fairly quickly, I do that and consider that the best option. However, sometimes I can't do that as I am working with another child. In that case, I have them jot their answers in very short phrases, just enough to jog their memory when we discuss it later. When we meet later, they can reference their jotted down notes as I ask the questions. I don't require an answer to every single question, but rather the majority of them. Having sat near them and helped, I know the majority of the answers, and I also know that every single answer may be difficult to find, taking far longer than the suggested allotted time.

This is just one way to go about doing this, and it certainly isn't the only right away. I just share the details as it has been very successful in helping our older dc achieve the purpose of the activity. It has also helped me know the answers to pretty much all of the questions, helped me delay hearing their answers if that fits better with the way our day is laying out, and it has helped them realize how to use the Internet as a resource while being aware of their responsibility to use it properly. I did this Wyatt and then with Riley. Wyatt is now in high school and researches very adeptly and responsibly on the computer, and Riley is doing RTR and enjoying the research in this manner again, only in that guide it goes one step further and students need to write their answers, or some of their answers, in postcard format in their student notebooking pages. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Gwenny]

Thanks Julie. That helps a ton! I've been requiring too much. That's a good reminder to figure out what the goal is for the box. I'm going to change what I was doing for that box.

[Gwenny]

I guess I should really treat the Reading about History box as an S instead of an I.

[my3sons]

I guess I should really treat the Reading about History box as an S instead of an I.

By using an online encyclopedia, I have made this more of an "S" box in our home. Using an encyclopedia that is not online is a way to make this more of an "I" box. Even "I" boxes must be corrected though, so in that sense, we always have a part in them, if only in the correcting.

In Christ,
Julie

[Nealewill]

As an encouragement to you, I treat all "I" boxes as mostly "I" boxes. I still check in with my dd each day on what she is doing. And we always review everything she does. It helps to keep up with it and meet with her regularly each day to make sure that she is keeping up and she is understanding. And most I boxes in my home are usually 90%-95% I.