Story of the World....what grades?

[beka87]

So, I know this question has been asked before and I've used these books myself, for crying out loud, but what ages are they really meant for?  I was under the impression that they were primarily for 1st to 4th grade.  I always felt like my daughter, when she was in 1st grade, would have benefited from waiting a year.  I plan to do this series with my other kids from 2nd to 5th. 

 

On the WTM Press website, the series has always been described as for use with "elementary" age children.  But when I was over there just now to check out some Jim Weiss, it said (Middle School) next to the name of the series but kept "elementary" in the description.  So what ages, exactly, does SWB recommend these books be used for?  And what do you all think?  Does it depend on the kid/family?  I know how I want to use them, so it's not that important, I suppose, but I found it frustrating nonetheless.

[TKDmom]

My understanding is that book 1 is for grades 1-4, and each volume advances one or 2 grade levels. I remember seeing that volume 4 is for grades 4-8.

[redsquirrel]

Well, it does depend a bit, but I haven't found that the earlier ones, 1&2 are great much beyond those years for my kids.  Now, a year later? Fine.  But I'm not going to get one of my kids to read SOTW 1 as a 5th grader. It's just to story like. 

 

3&4 have a longer shelf life.  I had very good luck using book 4 with my 4th grader and then pulling it back in a supplement in 8th grade. However, I can't pull book 1&2 back to use with a 5th and 6th grader. The tone is different and it feels 'younger'.  Book 3 I didn't use again after third grade. But book 4 was nice to pull out again.

 

Other people have had different experiences of course. But that is how it played out here.

 

I was told, but don't have first hand knowledge, that Well Trained Academy uses SOTW 1-4 as the spine for their online history classes in years 5-8. That was part of my hesitation in terms of signing my middle schooler up for a WTMA history class.  We've already read them, and while I imagine they can be used well with a middle grades student, I know mine wouldn't like it, at least in year 5&6.  I am, however, considering signing him up for history 3&4 with WTMA because even thought we've used the books, I feel like they are more workable for my middle grade kid.

Edited August 23, 2016 by redsquirrel

[Tohru]

For us, V1 & V2 worked much better to wait for 3rd/4th grade (8yo-10y old)

 

13yo read read V3 & V4.

[Peaceful Isle]

We are using volume 4 for my 7th trader this year. She is doing it independently sigh the AG and the tests. I am also having her do a lapbook.

My son used SOTW 1 last year in fourth grade. I have used them as young as 4 and as old as 12/13.

 

Love SOTW.

[Ariston]

I think there's a pretty wide age range. I read SOTW 1 to my kids occasionally when they were 2nd-ish, but my daughter is reading it now in its entirety at age 10 and seems to be getting a lot out of it. My son is also reading it at 12 and not complaining, though I haven't had a chance to ask his impressions yet.

[freelylearned]

My son started reading the series to himself in 4th grade at the rate of a section per school day. Any younger than that and I would have used the series as a read aloud. He's currently reading volume 4 as a 6th grader. Reading his chapter of SOTW and reporting to me what he has learned is his favorite part of the school day.

 

So, I would say, at the younger end of the age range to use it as a read aloud and at the upper end of the age range, it can be assigned as a reader.

[beka87]

My understanding is that book 1 is for grades 1-4, and each volume advances one or 2 grade levels. I remember seeing that volume 4 is for grades 4-8.

 

Ha!  I've never heard this! But it makes sense.  Thanks for all the replies, ladies. :)

[Runningmom80]

I think the first 2 books are solidly elementary and the second 2 are upper el -  middle school.

[2_girls_mommy]

I think the first 2 books are solidly elementary and the second 2 are upper el -  middle school.

Yes, they have grade levels on them, and 4 says for grades 4-8.  The AG for 4 has outline work which isn't even introduced in WTM until 5th grade, so it is definitely intended for logic stage work.

 

We stuck with them entirely for grades 1-4. Then in grades 5-8 we moved into WTM logic work, but we still read SOTWs as our supplemental reading. So they worked from the encyclopedias and library books on chosen topics. But SOTW chapters were used in plenty of places as the introductory readings of a new topic.

 

Now that mine are 7th and 9th and have used them twice all the way through, we are completely out of them, but I am still using the AGs for supplemental books and the occasional project. I also LOVE SOTW. Can't wait to do it all again when my toddler gets to elementary age.

[Bluegoat]

I haven't looked at the last one, but I would say the others are all for elementary aged kids.  Especially the first two I can't imagine using with a middle school child as an actual text.  But even the fourth seems a little low-level to me for middle school.

[Tracy]

I think that SWB intended them to be for 1st - 4th grades.  But it really depends a lot on the kid/family.  My 11yo has really grown out of them.  But we started SOTW when she was 5yo, so it is no surprise that she is over them at this point.  I know many people use SOTW for older students without a strong history background.  Heck, I learned so much myself just listening to those CD's.

 

My 8yo started listening to the audio CD's when he was 3yo.  By that, I do not mean that he tagged along with his older sister.  Rather, he actually put them on for himself to listen to.  He still listens to them now on a regular basis in his free time, as we are no longer using SOTW for school.  So in my experience, 1st - 4th grade is a good approximation of when you would use it for the average child, with the understanding that you could use it earlier or later depending on your child and your family circumstances. 

 

Let me also clarify that we never did use the AG.  We just listened to the CD's (over and over and over :svengo: ).  

[kiwik]

My kids hated them at ages 4 and 6 and at 5 and 7. I didn't try the next year but this year at 7 and 9 we have read all ancients and are halfway through volume 2. They are a young fourth grader and an old first grader.

Edited August 26, 2016 by kiwik

[EKS]

Our experience was definitely 1-4.

[2_girls_mommy]

My sister used Vol 1 for teaching 6th grade social studies in public school, though it is marked as for grades 1-4.

 

[MrsArcona]

We are with a charter and Co-op and are currently using volume 2 for our 7th grade base work. Since 7th grade is typically when students would cover the Middle Ages it seemed appropriate. We are using it not only for content but to teach notetaking skills by presenting it in Lecture form and then giving the tests to see how well the students are taking notes. The AG has been invaluable as a resource to supplement the reading and more in depth study of the chapters. We came into homeschooling just last year and so are still following some of the standard curriculum guidelines, but I was surprised at how many students in the history class had never taken notes before or had quizzes and tests. So this curriculum has been excellent to use for the purpose of teaching skills to start preparing them for high school as well as going over very important times in our History.

[SamanthaCarter]

I felt like vol 1 was a little bit of a stretch for my first grader and that at second grade she would not be ready for vol 2. I'm waiting to do vol 2 for 3rd grade and doing US history for 2nd. My DS started homeschooling at 3rd grade and had already read vol 1 on his own, and had made it most of the way through vol 4 (!) as his preferred bedtime story. So he did vol 2 in 3rd and vol 3 in 4th, which seemed appropriate developmentally for him. Just my experience. 

[HS Mom in NC]

My youngest needed to wait a year and then we started with Vol. 1 at age 7.

[PeterPan]

I just ordered SOTW1 to use with my 2E 2nd grade 8 yo.  :D  It will make you smile if you know that I've castigated it quite a bit, even using it and selling it with my dd, who greatly preferred VP's open-ended approach.  Her reading level was super high at this age, and actually she just never liked the writing style of SOTW.  Ironically, what made it not fit my dd (not being many, many grades ahead to fit her super-advanced language skills) is why it fits my ds.  

 

So I say watch your kid, go with your gut.  It's all fine.  If you use it on the older end, maybe you go faster.  It's not like there's just ONE WAY to use things.  Be rogue, be wild.  :)

[poppy]

My 8 year old is enjoying Vol 1. I think it would have to be a read aloud for most 1st graders.

[SilverMoon]

My kids firmly outgrew SOTW by 5th grade, 6th grade tops, even though they adored it in grammar stage.  Volume one was perfect for first graders, two for second graders, and so on. For all my kids with widely varying abilities. Even first graders who weren't reading enjoyed listening to history.

 

This year my 6 and 8yos are listening to me read volume one together. Both are doing fabulous and enjoying it. The 8yo will probably be 6th-7th grade by the time they finish this history cycle and I expect I'll have to get her into a more mature narrative spine at some point.

[Tanikit]

I ran through the entire series with my eldest child starting in kindergarten with SOTW1 and doing a book a year. She is now in grade 3 and we finished SOTW4 recently and I am now starting again in SOTW1 with my younger child and with the elder tagging along this time (first time round the younger tagged along.) However for read alouds now I am including some more advanced books for the elder child, the geography that we do alongside it is basic for the younger and is being extended for the elder. And we continue to talk about modern history (as in world news) in the areas we are dealing with in SOTW which was something I only started introducing in SOTW3 with my elder child. 

 

I find SOTW to be very adaptable to whatever situation you are in. You can take your time over it or go through it rapidly. If certain issues in SOTW4 bothered my child we skipped through them rapidly and focused on parts that interested her and that were less traumatic. The discussion of various types of governments was not terribly interesting to her either unless viewed from what she understood about the news and that was fine. While my younger child did listen in and a couple of topics were interesting to her (even at age 3 and 4), it is only now that she is getting anything much from it. For me the idea is to introduce ideas, for my children to show interest in history and not necessarily to remember it and also for them to understand that history can be learnt from and that it influences what is happening to today. That everyone has a history and that people's history can influence other people today and even in the future. My aim is not for my children to learn numerous facts from it and remember the whole book or even most of the events...

[wendyroo]

I used SOTW 1 last year with a 1st grader and a 4 year old pre-K'er; it was perfect for them.  This year I am using SOTW 2 with a 2nd grader, a K'er and a tagalog preschooler; it is perfect for the older 2 and fine for the 3 year old - he is interested in listening even though it is largely over his head.

 

Next year, though, I am a bit nervous about moving straight to SOTW 3.  I think my oldest, as a 3rd grader, will be fine, but that time period might be too much for the younger two who will only be 4 and 6.  My plan is to spread SOTW 3 & 4 out over 3 years and integrate extra American history units chronologically.  Some of the "easier" SOTW chapters I will do with all three kids.  Others I will just read with my oldest, or maybe oldest two.  I will gear the added American history units such that all the boys can participate.

 

That would mean we would be cycling back to ancients again when my kids are in 6th, 4th, 2nd and K.  I cannot imagine using SOTW 1 with the 6th or 4th graders...the tone really is pretty "little kid"... so I will have them working together from a different spine while I read SOTW 1 to the younger two.

 

At least, that is the plan.

 

Wendy

[HomeAgain]

SOTW is used by kids of all ages in our house.

 

Gr 1-4/5 - it's a main resource, one of the first ways we get information and activities.

 

Gr 5-8 - its purpose shifts just a bit.  Since the focus is on research, SOTW becomes one of many sources, or a way to connect pieces without having to research everything.  We prefer OUP books, Jackdaws, Reading Like A Historian, Letters of Note, Mysteries in History, Teaching What Really Happened, etc. as more of our main sources, with SOTW filling in gaps or being used as a critical thinking exercise.  It's good for learning how to outline if those skills weren't introduced earlier.  If I had to cut down my resources to most important there, I'd use Reading Like A Historian (free), Teaching What Really Happened (as a guide for you to approach middle school history), and Story Of The World (as an example of a textbook), plus library/internet.

 

Gr 9-12 - it's now a quick reference manual.  My oldest occasionally grabs a volume for his English class.  When he was trying to figure out the significance of a 12th century poem, it helped him to get a general grasp on what was going on in that corner of the world without having to research ad infinitum.  He was able to narrow down his topic quickly then research further.  Because it's written in an easily readable manner, he can use it quickly and springboard.

[happypamama]

Yes, about grades 1-4, but volume 1 could work for K, and I wouldn't do 3 or 4 before 3rd or 4th grade, and at least volume 4 could work for 5th, maybe 6th. I could see using volumes 1 or 2 for 5th or 6th if I were trying to use it for a family with younger kids too, but I'd supplement with harder independent reading for the older ones.

[BatmansWife]

What a variety of answers.  Interesting.  

 

We are using BookShark level 6 Reading with History this year, which is for ages 11 - 13.  My daughter just turned 13.  This level uses SotW Vol 1 Ancient Times and Vol 2 The Middle Ages as read-alouds.  Years ago, I tried reading SotW 1 to her, it just didn't go over with her....or me.  She had no interest.  This year, she is really enjoying it, and so am I.  

 

Btw...the next level of BkSk, level 7 for for ages 12 - 14, uses Volumes 3 and 4.  

 

 

[FawnsFunnyFarm]

My 5th and 6th graders are loving SOTW vol 1. My 2nd grader prefers to wonder off, as did my older 2, who are enjoying it, when we tried to use it when they were his age.