LadyAberlin Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Has anyone used her books? Are they any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I own up through The Middle Ages and have used up to the Greeks. I LOVE her stuff. I find it to be conversational and not dull, very informative, and (so far) not overly religious in tone, even in the sections on the ancient Israelites. There is nothing else that I have found that I like better, and I am subbing these into History Odyssey instead of using TSOM. I am really hoping the rest of her books are as nice and as balanced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 Have you done the Israelite one? I got really excited when I found them today. I've got a while before I could use them because ds is only 5. What age do you think would be the most appropriate to start these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 :bigear: I would also like to know more about these. Do they follow a chronological pattern similar to SOTW? What age range are they good for? Are they secular or religious? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) I don't have that one. I have the Ancient World (which includes sections on the Israelites), the Greeks, the Romans, and the Middle Ages. I start using them in the Logic stage as a reader, but they very much remind me of SOTW, and I think you could use them as read alouds much younger. I have seen them scheduled in new MP catalog for 9th grade and up in the Classical Studies II classes. The books are sort of a mix between CHOW, Little History and SOTW, IMO. SOTW includes more of the "whole world," where Mills focuses mostly on Western civilizations. I actually found Mills at used books sales before I found SOTW, and I completely fell in love with the books then. They are my favorite history series, by far. I think Dorothy is a Christian, but I find the books to be more secular than CHOW and less opinionated than Gombrich. It is not completely secular, but she approaches religion, IMO, in a more informative than persuasive way. I really think they could be used secularly very well. I have not been able to get a copy of the Reformation one yet, so that I have no idea how she handles that. As a Catholic, I am always concerned about that period, but I have not found anything at all that has bothered me so far, and I am pretty sure Mills is not Catholic herself nor does she write from that perspective. The Book of the Ancient World is broken down by cultures, not purely chronicologically. You read about the Egyptians, then the Assyrians and Babylonians, and so on. I am thinking they are more arranged like the Guerber books, but I haven't read enough of those to be completely sure. The titles roughly correlate to Guerber, but I find Guerber to be a lot more religious. Edited July 23, 2009 by Asenik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I don't have that one. I have the Ancient World (which includes sections on the Israelites), the Greeks, the Romans, and the Middle Ages. I start using them in the Logic stage as a reader, but they very much remind me of SOTW, and I think you could use them as read alouds much younger. I have seen them scheduled in new MP catalog for 9th grade and up in the Classical Studies II classes. The books are sort of a mix between CHOW, Little History and SOTW, IMO. SOTW includes more of the "whole world," where Mills focuses mostly on Western civilizations. I actually found Mills at used books sales before I found SOTW, and I completely fell in love with the books then. They are my favorite history series, by far. I think Dorothy is a Christian, but I find the books to be more secular than CHOW and less opinionated than Gombrich. It is not completely secular, but she approaches religion, IMO, in a more informative than persuasive way. I really think they could be used secularly very well. I have not been able to get a copy of the Reformation one yet, so that I have no idea how she handles that. As a Catholic, I am always concerned about that period, but I have not found anything at all that has bothered me so far, and I am pretty sure Mills is not Catholic herself nor does she write from that perspective. The Book of the Ancient World is broken down by cultures, not purely chronicologically. You read about the Egyptians, then the Assyrians and Babylonians, and so on. I am thinking they are more arranged like the Guerber books, but I haven't read enough of those to be completely sure. The titles roughly correlate to Guerber, but I find Guerber to be a lot more religious. Hi, I am bumping and quoting as I hope you will tell me how you are liking them now. Still good? I am looking at them on MP and thinking of using them for grades 6/7. Has anyone used the MP ones with the workbooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hi, I am bumping and quoting as I hope you will tell me how you are liking them now. Still good? I am looking at them on MP and thinking of using them for grades 6/7. Has anyone used the MP ones with the workbooks. I used all of them except for the one on the Hebrews. We did them from 4-6 with a gifted dd, and we really enjoyed them. I bought the guide from MP for the Ancient World, but we never used it. It was good, but it was too detailed for my middle dd. I like having it for the questions, but I would not want to fill it all in. It would be too much. Mills is still my favorite. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I used all of them except for the one on the Hebrews. We did them from 4-6 with a gifted dd, and we really enjoyed them. I bought the guide from MP for the Ancient World, but we never used it. It was good, but it was too detailed for my middle dd. I like having it for the questions, but I would not want to fill it all in. It would be too much. Mills is still my favorite. :) Yeah! Good to know. If you look at the guide, would it be good for my 5th grader? I am thinking of having him do ancients with guide at the end of this year and over the summer (we school year round) Then in fall of 6th grade doing the greeks with the dorothy mills guide, and read (no guides) for famous men of greece, and d'auliers greek myths. Then Romans in the spring. I am still playing with History, this is just where I am now. Thank you A, I always appreciate your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Yeah! Good to know. If you look at the guide, would it be good for my 5th grader? I am thinking of having him do ancients with guide at the end of this year and over the summer (we school year round) Then in fall of 6th grade doing the greeks with the dorothy mills guide, and read (no guides) for famous men of greece, and d'auliers greek myths. Then Romans in the spring. I am still playing with History, this is just where I am now. Thank you A, I always appreciate your advice. I think the book would be fine to do in 5th grade, if the child is a strong reader or the mom is prepared to help. The guide may be more advanced than that though. I personally would pick and choose from it or do some of it orally. I would not expect a 5th grader to complete the whole thing, especially if you are want independent work from it. I scheduled Mills as follows: Year 1: Ancient World. A semester of Egypt (with resources) and a semester focusing on Ancient Near East. I spread the one book out to have us be able to explore the content better and accomodate ourselves to Mills. I added in a history encyclopedia for world content and some historical fiction and fun stuff to fill in. Year Two: A semester of Greece and a semester of Rome, with the history encyclopedia, Famous Men books, historical fiction, D'Aulaire's Myths and Augustus Caesar's World thrown in. Year 3: A semster of The Middle Ages and a semester of Renaissance and Reformation Times, with Famous Men of Middle Ages (I don't recommend the FM Renaissance) and all the other goodies. If I had more time, I might take a year each on Greece and Rome. But what I did worked. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 The MP guides for Mills were not out in time to do them with my oldest, and my middle dd was not ready for the amount of work or detail for them, so I really have not used them to their fullest. I may with my youngest, but she has not started Mills yet. There is plenty to Mills without the MP guides, and the guides are probably better used at the ages MP uses the Mills books (so 7th or 8th grade, maybe), unless you are picking and choosing from them or doing a lot orallly. I like MP, but their guides can br dry and make things overly complicated, depending on how and when you use them. I guess what I am saying is that I am a better Mills' resource than MP, for this. :) Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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