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Favourite living (history) books for Ancients


Hakg
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I am trying to put together a list of living books for DS9 for history (ancients) - so we can implement history CM style, however there is an overwhelming amount of books to choose from.  I have looked at all CM sites already.  Because I will be purchasing the books, I would only like to buy the 'great' ones.  I understand perceptions of 'great' will vary, but I was hoping you could list your favourite (age appropriate [preferably secular] living books).  I am not sure if a list has already been done, I have searched and not found anything.

 

TIA :thumbup:

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I don't know about favorites yet, as next year s only the first time I'm doing Ancients with a sixth grader. The aforementioned books I read to ds in first. However, if you'd like I can give you a list of the ones I have planned for next year (sixth). We're doing fifth this year (Modern Times).

 

It includes Black Ships Before Troy and Wanderings of Odysseus, as well as Eagle of the Ninth.

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EGYPT

Spine: The Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt by Elizabeth Payne

Crafts and Reading: History Pockets: Ancient Egypt

General Info: Ancient Egypt: A Guide to Egypt in the Time of the Pharoahs (Sightseers)

Around the World: Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson

Science Tie-In: Ancient Construction: From Tents to Towers (Ancient Technology)

Science Tie-In: Ancient Warfare : From Clubs To Catapults by Michael Woods

Science Tie-In: Pyramid by Maccauley (book and video)

 

GREECE

Spine: The Story of the Greeks by H.A. Guerber ONLINE

Crafts and Reading: Bullfinch's Mythology (Coloring Book) by Steve Zorn

General Info: Exploring Ancient Civilizations- Greece

Around the World: Augustus Caesar's World by G. Foster 

Science Tie-In: Archimedes and the Door to Science by Bendick

Science Tie-In: The Picture History of Great Inventors

Science Tie-In: The New Way Things Work by Macaulay

 

ROME

Spine: The Story of the Romans by H.A. Guerber ONLINE

Crafts and Reading: aMAZEing Art: Wonders of the Ancient World Exploring

General Info: Ancient Civilizations- Rome

Around the World: Augustus Caesar's World by G. Foster 

Science Tie-In: Galen and the Gateway to Medicine by Bendick

Science Tie-In: The Body Book (Easy to Make Hands-On Models That Teach) by Donald Silver

Science Tie-In: Usborne Internet-Linked Science Encyclopedia (Human Body Section)

 

He did 3 trimesters- one for Egypt, one for Greece, and one for Rome. This was the 2005-2006 school year. lol I still have the Excel and Word files for that year. :D

Mandy

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For our study of Egypt and other earlier peoples, my dd is using:

 

The Book of the Ancient World by Dorthy Mills

 

The Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt (Landmark Books)

 

Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Green

 

For Greece:

 

The Story of the Greek People by Eva March Tappan

 

The Parthenon: The Height of Greek Civilization by Elizabeth Mann

 

Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick

 

D'Aulaire's Greek Myths book

 

For Both:

 

Explorers of the Ancient World by Anthony Brierley

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I don't know about favorites yet, as next year s only the first time I'm doing Ancients with a sixth grader. The aforementioned books I read to ds in first. However, if you'd like I can give you a list of the ones I have planned for next year (sixth). We're doing fifth this year (Modern Times).

 

It includes Black Ships Before Troy and Wanderings of Odysseus, as well as Eagle of the Ninth.

 

I think those ones may be a bit too advanced.  I have a grade 3er, only just turned 9.

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EGYPT

Spine: The Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt by Elizabeth Payne

Crafts and Reading: History Pockets: Ancient Egypt

General Info: Ancient Egypt: A Guide to Egypt in the Time of the Pharoahs (Sightseers)

Around the World: Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson

Science Tie-In: Ancient Construction: From Tents to Towers (Ancient Technology)

Science Tie-In: Ancient Warfare : From Clubs To Catapults by Michael Woods

Science Tie-In: Pyramid by Maccauley (book and video)

 

GREECE

Spine: The Story of the Greeks by H.A. Guerber ONLINE

Crafts and Reading: Bullfinch's Mythology (Coloring Book) by Steve Zorn

General Info: Exploring Ancient Civilizations- Greece

Around the World: Augustus Caesar's World by G. Foster

Science Tie-In: Archimedes and the Door to Science by Bendick

Science Tie-In: The Picture History of Great Inventors

Science Tie-In: The New Way Things Work by Macaulay

 

ROME

Spine: The Story of the Romans by H.A. Guerber ONLINE

Crafts and Reading: aMAZEing Art: Wonders of the Ancient World Exploring

General Info: Ancient Civilizations- Rome

Around the World: Augustus Caesar's World by G. Foster

Science Tie-In: Galen and the Gateway to Medicine by Bendick

Science Tie-In: The Body Book (Easy to Make Hands-On Models That Teach) by Donald Silver

Science Tie-In: Usborne Internet-Linked Science Encyclopedia (Human Body Section)

 

He did 3 trimesters- one for Egypt, one for Greece, and one for Rome. This was the 2005-2006 school year. lol I still have the Excel and Word files for that year. :D

Mandy

That's what we're doing next year! Studying each civilzation in depth for three months each. Instead of Guerber, though, we're using Dorothy Mills' Book of the Ancient World, Book of the Greeks, and Book of the Romans as our spines. To add background, breadth, and variety, I'm also having ds read from K12 Human Odyssey once a week. I think it includes at least some primary sources or a semblance of these.

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That's what we're doing next year! Studying each civilzation in depth for three months each. Instead of Guerber, though, we're using Dorothy Mills' Book of the Ancient World, Book of the Greeks, and Book of the Romans as our spines. To add background, breadth, and variety, I'm also having ds read from K12 Human Odyssey once a week. I think it includes at least some primary sources or a semblance of these.

At the time I was unaware of the Dorothy Mills books and I don't know if Human Odyssey even existed. Those sound like really good options. Typing out what I did with middle ds made me think more about the "My Son Has No Interest in History" thread. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/483646-my-son-has-no-interest-in-history/

 

For children in the US studying ancient history, the names of the people, people groups, and places all sound so unlike any names they have heard. Many ancient history studies for elementary children throw out so much information that it is overwhelmingly difficult to keep it all straight. For some children, particularly those who are saying they don't like history or who are retaining nothing or next to nothing, I wonder if studying a few cultures in-depth (and other cultures only as peripheral to the main culture being studied) would make ancient history more relatable and memorable.

 

In the above mentioned thread, I said that as my middle ds grew older he retained more. This was the year that happened. Although I am sure some of it was just due to age, I am now wondering if some of it wasn't due to the fact that we only covered three cultures in-depth and that I tied-in a subject that he really liked (science).

 

Mandy

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Oh, and I'm also throwing in there science and building books of interest as he enjoys it:

Science in Ancient Mesopotamia
Science in Ancient Rome
Archimedes and the Door to Science
Galen and the Gateway to Medicine
Macaulay's Pyramid and City

We also own the Time-Life What Life Was Like series (dh's obsession more than a decade ago), which includes primary sources and sketches of daily life and artifacts (really nice pictures) for each of the three civilizations: Egypt, Greece, Rome. If his interest in a particular culture is piqued, he can also choose to read from Ancient Ireland, India, or China. We can finally use these in homeschooling, woohoo!

An example of this series:

 

http://www.amazon.com/What-Life-Like-Banks-Nile/dp/0809493780

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I'm not sure if this meets your criteria, but it's such a good book I thought I'd throw it out there.... "Hittite Warrior" by Joanne Williamson. It's not secular, but it's not "bang you over the head" Christian/Jewish, either, I don't think. It's a novel set in the time of the Judges in the Bible, but I think she does a good job showing the interconnectedness of all the cultures in that region at that time. DS1 is just finishing it and he loves it.

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I'm not sure if this meets your criteria, but it's such a good book I thought I'd throw it out there.... "Hittite Warrior" by Joanne Williamson. It's not secular, but it's not "bang you over the head" Christian/Jewish, either, I don't think. It's a novel set in the time of the Judges in the Bible, but I think she does a good job showing the interconnectedness of all the cultures in that region at that time. DS1 is just finishing it and he loves it.

My oldest read this book independently. I read it with my middle ds as his around-the-world text while he studied Egypt. My youngest will be reading it independently this semester.

 

So, it is definitely one I would put on the list to read while studying ancients. :)

Mandy

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