Struggling again with SOTW 1

[Hsmomto4]

I'm struggling again with SOTW 1 after seeing how much it focuses on false gods. I remember thinking the same thing when we went though it with my oldest daughter, but she was older and we could talk more about it. I'm not sure I want my 6 year old and 10 year old going there yet. And after going through much of the book again today I just have an uneasy feeling about it.

 

Is there a history book like SOTW that isn't focused so much on the false religions?

[JudoMom]

If you're Christian, you might like Mystery of History.

[imhim]

Mystery of History - latest edition - this is what I will use with my 6yo. I have SOTW, too, but will use it only if I need something to add to MOH, or some of the activities if they seem like fun.

I read the Preface and the introduction and really like the Christian author's views - of Mystery of History.

SOTW - I was shocked it does not start with the beginning - Creation.

Edited July 29, 2009 by imhim

[buddhabelly]

I understand your concern, but I just wanted to point out that it is the era covered by SOTW 1 wherein all the major world religions arose. So of course you could "skip it," but the unfolding of the major religions is so important to those countries today, and even how the continents are divided into countries. (After all, ethnicity and religion are often intimately connected.) In the logic or rhetoric stage, it would be interesting to explore WHY certain religions arose in the areas that they did. For example, in Southeast Asia, food and water were plentiful and it was possible for a lone monk to live a solitary life of meditation. But in the more arid regions where Judaism (and also Islam) arose, it was necessary to band together into tribes in order to survive. These religions were more group-oriented.

 

Sorry to have strayed off my main point, which is that the latter books will not deal with religion as much, except to the extent that they were in conflict (Spanish Inquisition, Crusades). So, more the politics of religion I guess. And any good history book will include the rise of Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism. It is essential to the understanding of the history of our world. So you would have to "skip it" no matter which books you used.

 

Your mileage may vary. I am not very happy with the treatment of Buddhism in SOTW (just for the record), but I think it is impossible to make everyone happy. Not all "kinds" of Christians (sorry I can't think of the right word) probably like the treatment of Christianity in SOTW either.

 

Julie

[farmwife]

I also struggle with all the false gods. I ended up selling my book and bought the c.d.'s. We just listen to the stories I feel are appropriate and I 'skip' the ones that I don't want to explain.

 

SOTW is not what I am using for history, but I do like the stories.

[Chris in VA]

Christian Content:

 

I look at it this way--in order to understand the way God worked, you need to see what the beliefs were in the peoples who lived around the Jews--For example, if you don't know about the Egyptian gods, then you can't possibly understand the significance of the Plagues in Genesis. You are not saying the people worshipped the right way, you are only sharing that people worshipped that particular way. It's important to make that distinction, I think, but it is also important to understand why God acted as he did. Greek myths can be treated as stories of the Greek people--you can emphasize these were religious beliefs of the people. After all, you want your kids to understand that people who are not Christian do not believe in Christ, right? So, shouldn't you know where they are in error? Both for today and for the past--

As far as your kids wondering/being confused about false religion, well, they are not confused about people flying around in Peter Pan or about other fairy stories, right? (I understand that I am stepping all over those who still believe in the Greek gods here--no offense, this is just a Christian perspective.) They have to know that not everyone believes as they do.

There's 2 cents for ya.

[Hsmomto4]

I'm not against teaching that people believed in false gods or about how it plays into history, what I don't want to do is all the coloring pages and projects and book reading about the stories of the false gods at age 6.

[Shelly in the Country]

Christian Content:

 

I look at it this way--in order to understand the way God worked, you need to see what the beliefs were in the peoples who lived around the Jews--For example, if you don't know about the Egyptian gods, then you can't possibly understand the significance of the Plagues in Genesis. You are not saying the people worshipped the right way, you are only sharing that people worshipped that particular way. It's important to make that distinction, I think, but it is also important to understand why God acted as he did. Greek myths can be treated as stories of the Greek people--you can emphasize these were religious beliefs of the people. After all, you want your kids to understand that people who are not Christian do not believe in Christ, right? So, shouldn't you know where they are in error? Both for today and for the past--

As far as your kids wondering/being confused about false religion, well, they are not confused about people flying around in Peter Pan or about other fairy stories, right? (I understand that I am stepping all over those who still believe in the Greek gods here--no offense, this is just a Christian perspective.) They have to know that not everyone believes as they do.

There's 2 cents for ya.

 

 

:iagree:

 

As a prelude to reading mythology, I start by reading various fairy tales from western culture. I explain these are their fairy tales, but since their culture didn't know about Jesus they would sometimes worship the objects of their own imaginations.

[LinRTX]

We did not do the coloring pages or many of the crafts that related to the gods. However, my youngest at six could read the creation stories of many cultures and see where they wer alike and were different from the Christian creation story. It brought about many conversations about how people can see the same things and interpret it different ways. The only thing that upset her is if we were reading a book comparing religions ans she though the explanation of Christianity was not quite right. She has even written letters to the authors (on her own and brought them to me to mail) explaining what she thought they had explained incorrectly!

 

Linda

[Guest]

Somewhat hijacking here -

 

I was reading today the section about Abraham - I thought I remembered a thread on here (maybe it was somewhere in the Amazon reviews?) about someone being concerned about the account of Abraham's father being unbiblical and someone refuting that. Does anyone know what/where I am talking about?

[Chris in VA]

Not sure of the thread, but I think you are referring to the part in SOTW that says Abram's father worshipped the Moon God. The Moon God was worshipped in Ur, where they lived. It's a logical conclusion that a resident in Ur at that time would have followed the practices of the place where he lived.

[Guest]

Not sure of the thread, but I think you are referring to the part in SOTW that says Abram's father worshipped the Moon God. The Moon God was worshipped in Ur, where they lived. It's a logical conclusion that a resident in Ur at that time would have followed the practices of the place where he lived.

 

That's what the gist of the rebuttal was - I couldn't remember what was said and that was it. Thanks.

[krisp]

I didn't choose SOTW this past year (1st grade for dd) for the same reason. That and the fact that the first time I checked it out from the library, my dd wasn't really interested. Something about the way it was written didn't click with her.

 

I ended up (and am continuing, as we didn't finish last year) using a combination of Sonlight 1 and Mystery of History. I think MOH does a great job handling the Biblical people and putting them on the timeline. I really like the perspective of the author. I think it does a fairly lightweight job of handling the secular cultures. (Note though, we started history late last year and only made it through Egypt. Greece is on the agenda for the next year.) Sonlight, on the other hand, does a good job of handling the non-Judeo Christian cultures (through Usborne World History primarily) and a not-so-good job of the Biblical people. So, they made a nice combination. We also read tons of library books on Egypt. Funny thing, I didn't like the treatment of the false gods in SOTW but we ended up "staying" in Egypt for a loooooong time. (dd told me she thought it was crazy to believe in a god who looked like a vulture, so I don't think SOTW would have rocked her worldview like I'd feared.)

 

This year, in second grade, we're going to continue in the same vein, adding some Veritas Press books.

 

I do tend to be a bit (a lot?) of a bookaholic, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. We read aloud about 2 hours/day and sonlight wouldn't have been "enough reading" for us.

 

Kristin