SparrowsNest Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I am looking for a history text to read to ds10. Can anyone highlight the differences between SOTW I-IV and the Christine Miller/Guerber texts (Story of the Ancients, Story of the Greeks, etc)? He has a very high reading/comprehension level (tested at 12th grade level), so I am also wondering if we need something meatier? Is there such a thing as a well-written history text that is engaging rather than academic and dry (yes, Spielvogel, I'm looking at you!)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I have used The Story of the Ancient World and The Story of the Middle Ages by Christine Miller. I really like them, and I think they are definitely more suitable for the logic stage. However, the series does not fit in very well with the 4-year history cycle that we are on. Therefore, I've decided to go ahead and use the Spielvogel text with my 7th grader since it's already scheduled in Omnibus I. However, I may change my history approach with my youngest so that I can use the Miller books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparrowsNest Posted March 7, 2008 Author Share Posted March 7, 2008 Thank you for the reply! Are the books too unwieldy to do in a 4 year history cycle, or rather not meaty enough? I was looking at Omnibus for year-after-next if my ds10 stays home through middle school. I am really excited about that program! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I think the series by Nothing New Press is too much to put into a 4-year cycle. There are 7 books in the series, and the shortest book is 200 pages long. (http://www.nothingnewpress.com/order.php) You could accelerate the reading and do 2 books a year, but that would be a lot of work in my opinion. I don't have a lot of experience with this series though, so maybe someone else can chime in here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 JuJu, The Miller/Guerber books, especially for ancients, tend to draw a lot of connections, meaning it would be helpful if the student has been through ancients once before so that everything isn't so new. What you might consider doing is saving Miller/Guerber to use as your history spine when you do Omnibus (Angelina is pondering this) and do the VP cards right now. Given that he's a bit older, and IF he's a real history buff, you could probably get through most of the VP cards in 2 years. You would condense OTAE and NTGR, eliminating the Bible events, and it would take schooling year-round or doing two cards a week. It would be the equivalent of doing SOTW1-4 in a meatier way. The VP catalog has upper and lower level books for everything, so you'll have no problem keeping him challenged. What I do with my dd is to do the card, the worksheet, and the basic readings listed on the card together, then give her a pile of books to read (historical fiction, informational, project books, you name it). So that's how you take a base program written to one level and flesh it out at his level. Or you know, I haven't used it, but SL 6 and 7 do the same thing, adding meaty books to SOTW1-4 and surveying the whole thing in 2 years, right? That might or might not fit him. I like VP because I can chose the specific books that fit her while being assured of covering the most essential things through the card content. Since you're working toward Omnibus, it would be something to consider. Not essential, but worth considering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewday Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I think the series by Nothing New Press is too much to put into a 4-year cycle. There are 7 books in the series, and the shortest book is 200 pages long. (http://www.nothingnewpress.com/order.php) You could accelerate the reading and do 2 books a year, but that would be a lot of work in my opinion. I don't have a lot of experience with this series though, so maybe someone else can chime in here too. I agree. We were set to do the Guerber books for our 4 year history cycle and it was just way too much. We decided on SOTW for our history work, but I read a chapter from the Guerber book (Ancient World) as a part of our morning devotion time and it's going well. There are connections the kids make btw the stories in SOTW and Guerber, so it's been fun to see the "gears turn" as they learn history. I appreciate that the Guerber book narrows it's focus to God's chosen people and the story of redemptive history, particularly because SOTW is much broader and covers many people groups and cultures. They need both. :) HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparrowsNest Posted March 7, 2008 Author Share Posted March 7, 2008 Or you know, I haven't used it, but SL 6 and 7 do the same thing, adding meaty books to SOTW1-4 and surveying the whole thing in 2 years, right? We were set to do the Guerber books for our 4 year history cycle and it was just way too much. Wow, a lot to think about here! When you say the Guerber books were too much, how were you interacting with them? I was really just planning on reading them and leaving it at that. No testing, no writing, just using them for daily read-aloud material. What I was thinking was that I could have him 'do' Kingfisher, reading and outlining 2 or 3 sections a day, which over the course of 180 days, would get him through the whole book. That would be primary history assignment and, I hope, would give him a broad overview. Right now he's just had ps history, i.e., as far as I know, they've done pilgrims and the Wild West, plus a smattering of redemptive history from Sunday School. Could he read the Miller/Guerber books independently alongside? He reads extremely fast (i.e., through a Redwall book in 3 school days or a weekend at home). If I just gave them to him, no pressure, whatever he retained out of them would be bonus. Then he would be ready to go into Omnibus I next year (when he will be academically a 7th grader/12yo, although we're holding him back a year; yes, it's complicated!), and we could really slow down and take our time/delve deeper, and he would have some familiarity with them. In other words, maybe I should get them, let him read them at his leisure this year, use something else for our read-aloud time, and then use them next year alongside Spielvogel when we hit Omnibus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewday Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Wow, a lot to think about here! When you say the Guerber books were too much, how were you interacting with them? I was really just planning on reading them and leaving it at that. Way too much meaning too much to read in a 4 year time frame. We just read too, but if I were to have used it as my spine, it would take longer since we'd want to stop on chapters and spend time with narration, mapwork, activities etc. And since I would have to pull all that together myself, SOTW looked much more appealling. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewday Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 JuJuBee I think your plan to have him read Miller independently sounds great. You'd get through it much faster than reading aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Gate Academy Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I think the Guerber series would be an excellent independent reading for a 10yo. In fact this is what I'm planning to do in 2 years with my oldest when we start the ancient cycles over again. We currently own The Story of the Middle Ages, The Story of the Thirteen Colonies, and The Story of the Great Republic. My 3rd grader loves to pull these out whenever we discuss something that particularly interests her for additional reading. I believe the Guerber books are much meatier than SOTW. The way they focus just on the Greeks and then on the Romans gives a much better depth of understanding of each culture than SOTW. You can read the originial text for The Story of the Greeks and The Story of the Romans online at http://www.mainlesson.com to get a better idea of how the material is actually presented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie in VA Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I too love these books, but it's soo hard to figure how to work them in when you don't have lots of years to work thru them. We have Story of the Greeks & Story of the Romans which we went somewhat thru a few years ago. I was working our way thru STOW I but wanted something for my older kids to read on their own. We used these. Then we moved onto the middle ages. I tried to use Truthquest (which by the way, schedules these books in and gives you a great intro and great questions to ponder, discuss and maybe write on). However we were doing too much that year and it got dropped. I did read Story of the Middle Ages aloud to my 11 and 8 year old boys. We did this really fast because I wanted to keep pace with the history sentences we were memorizing with Classical Conversations-Foundations. We loved it but it was too fast and we didn't get to reading the Story of the Ren/Ref .. which I also own. My oldest dd (gr 7) wanted to do her own thing and study Am History. So I got her the Story of the 13 Colonies and Story of the Great Republic. She hasn't gotten too far, appearently she doesn't do too well on her own yet. Anyway, I'd love to just use these books because they are written so well and are so interesting. I also love the Truthquest guides but again there are so many of them! I'd prefer to do at least 2 cycles of history, but there are 8 Truthquest books! ug. Our Co-op ends in a few weeks so I'm thinking of picking up the Story of the Ren/Ref book and using it as a read aloud/discussion just to cruise thru that timeperiod. If we do that and it works then I might just keep going with the other books. I might just read as far as possible for a few days and then stop for discussions for a day or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 The K12 intermediate history looks good. I haven't seen it for myself, but others may be able to comment. Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.