FMOR (with LC schedule)

[profmom]

Is this meant to be used independently by the student? Or could it be for a 4th grader?

We're already studying another time period in history, but I'm wondering about adding this for my dd's extra reading. Any thoughts on that idea?

[Nicole]

We're also studying another period in history this year, but I did want to incorporate Roman history into our Latin study. I have two boys who are 14 & 9. Since they're so far apart in age, there are very few subjects that we can do together, but this is one. We do Roman history on Wednesday, after lunch.

We begin with review of the last week's story from FMOR. (I'll never forget the day my youngest asked, "What was the name of that dude at the bridge again?") Then I read aloud one lesson's worth of Famous Men. Occassionally, I also read an encyclopedia article (or parts of one) about that same character. It's very interesting to see which aspects of a person's life are highlighted in the FMOR text, and which are not.

I also sometimes read aloud a section about Rome from "Everything your Third Grader Needs to Know". That book has some nice pictures, too, which can be photocopied for the timeline. Though, I admit that some of the text is hokey.

Then we talk about the vocab words and discuss the questions in the FMOR. My older son writes answers to the questions later. I also have him outline the encyclopedia article, if we've read one.

Finally, while both boys work on coloring their maps or working on their timeline figures, I read aloud a chapter or two from a Rosemary Sutcliff book. We started with "Eagle of the Ninth", and it's still our favorite. We're on our fourth book of hers, the recently re-released "Mark of the Horse Lord" -- also excellent.

We spend a very good chunk of the afternoon with this. Roman history has become the highlight of our school week. It's such a quiet and rich time for us to come together, I personally have a hard time imagining how to make an independent study of FMOR meaningful -- for instance, assigning reading and workbook excercises to one or both of my children.

I'm not sure if this helps. I find that FMOR is most useful as one part of, or a starting point for, a larger exploration of Roman history.

Good luck!

Oh. And I would have underlined the titles of books above, except that my computer does not want to let me use that option...!

[profmom]

Thank you, Nicole! That sounds great! Thanks for posting exactly how you use it too!