Ancient History text

[Miss Marple]

I'm looking for a basic, easy to read ancient history text for the boys to use next year along with their ancient literature selections. FWIW, I want to go fairly light on the history reading and, rather, work more on the literature (in light of history) and writing. Something that would be succinct and help the boys place the literature into perspective would be nice.

 

I have Spielvogel's World History Odyssey and The Landmark Herodatus. Both are overwhelming just to pick up! The reading level isn't troublesome, but the sheer size seems to put the boys off. I've looked at SWB's Ancient History book and, again, it's huge!

 

Is there something that will get the job done without making us feel obligated to read all 600 or more pages? The boys have a good feel for ancient history already due to our earlier studies. I just want a good, grade appropriate refresher text that doesn't require buff biceps just to carry around.

[Linda in NE]

I would say that, all things being equal, I would choose Susan's book hands down. There's no rule that says you need to read every chapter. You could hone it down greatly by omitting the chapters re Ancient China/Japan/Korea and concentrating on the Western Civ. chapters. The book is very readable, so reading time goes by fairly quickly. The Spielvogel book, not so much, if you know what I mean.

[Miss Marple]

OK, I'll see if the library has a copy of it to look at. Everytime I look at Spielvogel's I get hypertensive :D

[LatinTea]

Have you seen HOTW? That's a dumb question since you are going to check the library. I would be glad to know your opinion as I had it out 3 times now. I read the first chapter and skimmed through the table of contents. I'm sure my dd could not deal with so much reading, lack of pics, and especially how the chapters go back and forth on the different cultures. I really think she needs something a little less intense. I know many love the book here so that is why I would love to hear your opinion. :)

 

I also have Human Odyssey and have finally decided to use that this fall. I have decided to skip about 13 chapters regarding Asia, Africa, and Islam, and use Exploring World History for summaries on these areas. EWH has chapters on these areas without going into so much detail. That way, my dd still gets to use HO (she doesn't like Notgrass for various reasons) and I will still be able to utilize EWH for the bible lessons and the summaries on Eastern Civs.

 

I hope I'm not confusing you more!

Edited July 9, 2010 by LatinTea
rewording of sentence

[SusanAR]

My ds REALLY enjoyed SWB's book-It is very doable; the chapters are short. Ds retained a lot because she writes about PEOPLE! We used it with a pretty hefty literature reading list last year.

 

He even requested her second book this year:001_smile:

[Lori D.]

We read the first unit (6 chapters; 191 pages) of Spielvogel's Human Odyssey, and it was perfect as a non-fiction spine to go with our ancients readings. 191 pages came out to just 5.3 pages a week for 36 weeks (or just 6.3 pages a week for 30 weeks!) -- about 20-30 minutes of reading a week (maybe 40 minutes if you add in having them answer the within-the-chapter questions at the end of each section).

 

You can easily skip the sidebars on every third page or so to make it even less reading -- the sidebars are either writings of people of the times; or little "focus" articles that go in depth on a side topic. Notice, too that there are illustrations and photos on EVERY page, which reduces the amount of text to be read even further. We found Spielvogel to be very do-able, and easily added in parts of other non-fiction resources as desired and never broke a sweat. (LOL!)

 

 

We'll be doing World history, medieval to enlightenment, and at first I thought we'd do SWB's new HotMW -- but it doesn't go far enough forward into time, AND, at way over 800 pages our DSs would keel over; waayyy tooo much detail! So, we're just going for another chunk out of the middle of Spielvogel's HO -- about 400 pages this year. BEST of luck finding what works for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

PS -- These might be too young (they are for gr. 5-8), but for just a simple general overview non-fiction spine, what about:

- The Kingfisher Book of the Ancient World = 160 pages; loads of illustrations; history of different cultures around the world in 2-page spreads

- The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia first 100 pages are ancient history; loads of illustrations; history of different cultures around the world in 2-page spreads

- The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World first 150 pages are ancient history; loads of illustrations; timeline down the margins of each page

Edited July 9, 2010 by Lori D.
added info

[LatinTea]

Duh, you were asking about an ancient history text and I went on and on about taking all those chapters out. Sorry about that. Lori has the right idea and detailed nicely too.

 

Guess it's been a long day here....:001_huh:

[Chris in VA]

You might want to look at Barron's World History The Easy Way--I like Spielvogel better, and SWB's, too, but it's doable and not hard.

 

Also, consider just getting the volume of Spielvogel that goes up to 1500, instead of the comprehensive volume. It's shorter.:D

[Lori D.]

Hey! Check this out -- I just saw this on Amazon; while, again for gr. 5-8, not quite SO brief or young as those others I linked: Oxford First Ancient History

[Miss Marple]

LOL! l looked at that earlier today! I was just worried that it might be too...youngish. But the write-up of it seemed to fit what I'm looking for. Maybe the library has that one also.

[Miss Marple]

My ds REALLY enjoyed SWB's book-It is very doable; the chapters are short. Ds retained a lot because she writes about PEOPLE! We used it with a pretty hefty literature reading list last year.

 

He even requested her second book this year:001_smile:

 

I think I'd faint if any of my boys actually requested a text :D That speaks well for SWB's book. I'll take a look at it.

[Miss Marple]

Duh, you were asking about an ancient history text and I went on and on about taking all those chapters out. Sorry about that. Lori has the right idea and detailed nicely too.

 

Guess it's been a long day here....:001_huh:

 

LOL! Yeah, I have those days, too. Looks like I need to re-think Spielvogel and get a hands-on look at SWB's book.

[Miss Marple]

You might want to look at Barron's World History The Easy Way--I like Spielvogel better, and SWB's, too, but it's doable and not hard.

 

Also, consider just getting the volume of Spielvogel that goes up to 1500, instead of the comprehensive volume. It's shorter.:D

 

You know, I've actually used some of the Barron's ____The Easy Way books and have liked them. About Spielvogel....I think it's just all in their heads....the size is just...well, depressing:001_huh:

[LatinTea]

Hey! Check this out -- I just saw this on Amazon; while, again for gr. 5-8, not quite SO brief or young as those others I linked: Oxford First Ancient History

 

Love this book! Thanks so much for posting. It reminded me that I have 2 parts of this already on my shelf. The Romans and The Greeks by Roy Burrell, illustrated by Peter Connolly. I am now thinking of subbing Spielvogel with this for Ancients. If I keep subbing, I may end up with no spine at all. :)

 

As for why I like them:

 

• The illustrations are first rate and for any age
  

 

• It is written in double column, paragraph form, not scattered around in a million different sidebars, very appealing to the eye
  

 

• Lots of interesting detail
  

 

• The writing appeals to me; ages 12 and up would be fine with the style and content
  

Thanks again!