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It's a pretty hefty book, and it's not written for children at all. It's more visually daunting than many high-school history texts I've seen. I think it would be a challenging read for many high-school students and it would not surprise me to see it on a college survey class reading list.

 

That said, if your child reads at an 11th-grade level and loves history, I'd say go for it. It's definitely comprehensive.

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Have you looked samples on Amazon (or other)? I can't remember details now, but when I did I remember thinking that the reading level wasn't a problem, but the content was. At the time, I thought content was too mature.

 

:iagree: My 17yo and I are reading it now. I wouldn't give it to an 8th grader.

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I went to Amazon last night and pulled up the sample of this textbook. It looks awesome! I read the chapter on Constantine and was fascinated. I don't know about the book as a whole, but I found the language to be engaging and enjoyable to follow rather than dry and boring. There are vocabulary words that would be over the heads of most 8th graders, and as one poster said, it would need to be screened by parents for appropriateness. My gut feeling is that it would work as long as a parent is involved. It would not be the best for independent study for a young student.

 

I'm so interested in this book that I'm thinking about buying it for myself because I love history and want to learn more about the Medieval period. SWB is one remarkable scholar!

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

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My ds 14 used it last year with my ds16. I read it aloud, and censored a little of the the content as I read.

 

I know two families who assigned it for their grade 8 children. (fluent readers)

 

Out of curiosity, what were you censoring? I'm wondering because I am about midway through the History of the Ancient World and I've been handing it to my 6th and 7th grader for use as a resource for their weekly research topics.

 

I remember Ancient having some discussions of adultery and sibling marriages, but they didn't leap out at me as something to worry about. But it's also been a while since I was reading it consistently.

 

I'd appreciate a heads up since I do tend to just hand my kids books and let them run.

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It depends on the 8th grader. Coupled with a passion for history, an avid reader would likely be enthralled. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to hand it to my son, who has been reading all things historical way beyond his "years" since he was 4. At the same time, I would likely hand it to his twin sister, who endures history lessons, during early HS years. In my estimation, it really just depends on the student's interest.

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I have been going through it topically as the girls go through SOTW, and I have seen a fair amount of "commodity wives". Seems like a Frankish king was putting away wives, getting new ones, bedding with the old ones, strangling the one who objected... So it depends on how far you want to get into that with your kids.

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Out of curiosity, what were you censoring? I'm wondering because I am about midway through the History of the Ancient World and I've been handing it to my 6th and 7th grader for use as a resource for their weekly research topics.

 

I remember Ancient having some discussions of adultery and sibling marriages, but they didn't leap out at me as something to worry about. But it's also been a while since I was reading it consistently.

 

I'd appreciate a heads up since I do tend to just hand my kids books and let them run.

 

I didn't censure anything in the first 3/4 of the book. I had no trouble with the incest, wife dumping and swapping etc.

 

It was really only the odd sentence. Particularly about a Roman Caesar? who lived on an Island with a whole lot of children which were there for his amusement.. and he had position books to assist the novice child in their performance. I didn't feel comfortable reading that part aloud, and just changed it to he was a pedophile and lived a very debauched life.

Edited by melissaL
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