Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Curriculum Review)

Sheena Sy Gonzales

5 years ago

History is my favorite subject. This is why I pretty much obsessed when it came to choosing a History curriculum for my kids. I want my kids to enjoy history too.

I was in search for a material that made history easy to understand. At the same time, I wanted it to be enjoyable for the little ones. But most of all, I wanted a material that had a Biblical approach and was academically excellent.

I believe I found it all in Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World and here is my review on the material.

Story of the World Vol. 1: Ancient Times

Story of the World is a history series by Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Well Trained Mind. There are 4 books in the series.

I am writing about the first book so far because this is the one we’re currently using. Volume 1 focuses on the Ancient Times. It covers the period from the earliest nomads to the Roman Empire.

Format

Allow me to gush about what I love most about Story of the World, and that is the fact that it is written more like a story than a textbook. It’s conversational in tone, which makes it a great read aloud for younger children. It is also a good book to be used for independent reading by older students. I learned a lot reading it myself!

I particularly love the use of so many living stories to paint a picture of how life was like during that a certain period in time (like short historical fiction stories.) If we’re reading about life in Ancient Egypt for example, there’s a story about a pharaoh.

The book is in black and white with minimal artworks in select pages. If you’re one who prefers full-colored materials, don’t let this deter you from getting SOTW. It is written very well and even my 5 year old always has a great time imagining the scenes of the stories whenever I read it aloud to him.

Each chapter is short and can be read in 5-10 minutes. Usually, a chapter is also divided into 2 sections, which means you can cut the reading time further if you feel it’s necessary. I’m a believer of having short lessons to make sure you capture the attention of your student.

Review on the Activity Book

The activity book is a separate purchase that you need to make. In a nutshell, I would say that it is definitely not a must, but it’s a nice addition to have.

Some of the benefits of having the activity book include:

Activity suggestions per chapter: So you don’t really need to spend so much time researching what activity or craft to make.
Coloring pages, map work, mazes and other activities are provided
Q&A section can serve as a guide to check how much the student was able to comprehend

Consider NOT buying this if:

You prefer to find/make your own activities
You’re not really into coloring pages

Personally, I feel 50-50 about recommending the activity book. It really depends on your teaching style. I can go on for chapters with my child and forget to refer to the activity book the entire time. I also research about activities and ideas on Pinterest and forget to refer to the book’s suggestions. Haha.

The map work activities are nice though! We haven’t used it yet but I’ll consider using it in the future.

In conclusion, you can choose not to get the workbook and you’ll be fine! 😉

Hands-On Activities for Story of the World

Sharing with you guys here some of the activities we’ve done to supplement our studies with Story of the World. I try to make a craft or activity for each topic to help improve retention. And I think because of that, Luke now equates History lessons to craft time.

Hmm… not sure if I can keep that up though. Haha!

If you have the workbook, there are activity suggestions for each chapter. It’s a great tool to have if you just don’t have the time to do more research. But like I said, you can also go to Pinterest for ideas! 😉

In Comparison to Mystery of History

Before settling on Story of the World (SOTW), I also considered another curriculum, which is Mystery of History (MOH).

Mystsery of History seems to be the more popular choice here among homeschoolers in the Philippines because a prominent provider requires this book for their History subject.

And because, like I said, I’m obsessed with history (lol,) I have both books, both in audio format and hardbound. Here’s how I would compare both:

Story of the World vs. Mystery of History

Printing:

SOTW is in black and white. MOH is in full-color.
SOTW uses only a few illustrations. MOH has photos and illustrations that may help if your child is a visual learner.

Content:

MOH is written with a lot of personal anecdotes from the author. There are comments like: “I think you’ll like this.” or “What do you think?” This is why it sounds great on Audiobook, but might not be everyone’s style (It’s personally not mine, especially because this is a history book)
SOTW features more stories. MOH has a more textbook like approach when presenting the facts (plus the personal anecdotes haha)
MOH has more stories and references to the Bible. There are whole chapters about Old Testament characters and stories. SOTW has them but not as much as MOH does and they are usually included within the lessons of another topic and not an entire chapter about the characters.

Overall, I very much prefer SOTW but would occasionally also read or play the audiobook of MOH to supplement. I would recommend Story of the World more especially for younger kids because of the wonderful storytelling and imagery. Mystery of History uses more complex terms and would maybe be appreciated more by older kids.

—