Paths of Exploration Trail Guide to Learning Set with CD

Give your students the tools to learn HOW to think about history, instead of expecting a mere recitation of facts! Now you can teach multiple levels together with tremendous flexibility, all while producing one remarkable result - encouraged students!  Six units cover language skills, science, history, geography, art and thinking skills as students learn about Columbus, Jamestown and the Pilgrims in Volume 1, and Daniel Boone, Lewis & Clark, and Trails West in Volume 2. Each unit features six lessons with five parts that's designed to be fit within a week or shifted to suit your scheduling needs. Small icons mark the appropriate grade level of activities, allowing this curriculum to be used for students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, and with enrichment activities for 6th graders.

Opening with "Steps for Thinking", each lesson is clearly structured and labeled, with teacher notes and any materials needed listed on the side. The main content is interspersed with lesson instructions that are written directly to the child, creating a smooth flow for each day's work.

Lessons include copywork/dictation activities; reader assignments that bring real literature into the curriculum; Parent Read-Aloud, Discussion, Narration, and Reflective Writing activities; and a word study to help students gain contextual vocabularies, as well as improve their spelling skills. Geography, Science and History connections weave history together with geography, while the Charlotte Mason approach to science helps children observe, record, and evaluate nature. Writing exercises are integrated throughout as a response to lessons, while drawing activities help students to improve their powers of observation. "Doing" activities help students think through the information they've learned, while receiving additional motivation.

Trail Guide to Learning will help you:

• Set in motion the thinking skills that lead to comprehension and writing ability.
• Increase science, history, literature and geography knowledge while establishing tool skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking).
• Use real books to provide key connections and motivate listening and reading.
• Utilize Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of developing thinking skills naturally through observation and narration, while connecting subjects in a thought-provoking way.