I do NOT like History Oddessey. Minor rant.

[s.z.ichigo]

EDIT: Oh wonderful, I spelled Odyssey completely wrong. lol

I know a lot of people seem to like it but I really don't. We just finished up a year of using it, and I cannot wait to get back to SOTW + AG. Some of the reasons I dislike the program (and this applies only to Level 1 Early Modern, as it's all I've used):

 

 

• Not chronological. The reason I like TWTM's hsitory cycle is because it's chronological. It makes sense. The first lesson of HO has you read SOTW chapters 2 and 12. The last lesson has you read chapters 5 and 10. Out of 42. Lesson 13 has SOTW chapters 7, 30, and 36. :confused:
  
• Major events are covered out of order. So the times that SOTW references something they assume you've already read about make no sense. My daughter's retention has not only plummeted this year, but she has no idea what order anything happened in.
  
• Unbalanced workload. Lesson 18 had you read SOTW chapter 10. And chapter 20. And chapter 28. And chapter 39. 4 chapters in one week? Really? And this is the next-to-last week of the year so it's not like you can spread it out. You're hit with this right at the end. It isn't the only lesson that has at least 3 chapters, either. 36 weeks, 42 chapters, and not all weeks include SOTW. You do the math.
  
• Projects are feast or famine. Most weeks it asks you to do nothing but read, mark a map, and write a summary. BORING. Then some weeks you've got to do between 1 and, I think, 3 History Pockets. History Pockets are a lot of fun for my artsy crafty child, but 3 in a week is a LOT of cutting and pasting.
  
• Expensive for what you get. I paid $30 for what amounts to a reading list and a recommendation to read SOTW completely out of order?
  
• They tell you to put everything you've done during the year into a single book. What? So I'm to (somehow?) bind together the two huge and bulky History Pockets books together with lined notebook pages and coloring pages done on copy paper? The end result would be comically ridiculous. Somebody's not thinking something through here.
  

The main reason I went with HO is because they broke SOTW into a neat 36 weeks. Totally not worth it. Next year I'm going back to dividing SOTW up myself. As I said, some people seem to adore HO, so feel free to contradict me.....but I would not recommend this to anyone.

Edited January 19, 2010 by s.z.ichigo

[Joy at Home]

EDIT: Oh wonderful, I spelled Odyssey completely wrong. lol

I know a lot of people seem to like it but I really don't. We just finished up a year of using it, and I cannot wait to get back to SOTW + AG. Some of the reasons I dislike the program (and this applies only to Level 1 Early Modern, as it's all I've used):

 

 

• Not chronological. The reason I like TWTM's hsitory cycle is because it's chronological. It makes sense. The first lesson of HO has you read SOTW chapters 2 and 12. The last lesson has you read chapters 5 and 10. Out of 42. Lesson 13 has SOTW chapters 7, 30, and 36. :confused:
  
• Major events are covered out of order. So the times that SOTW references something they assume you've already read about make no sense. My daughter's retention has not only plummeted this year, but she has no idea what order anything happened in.
  
• Unbalanced workload. Lesson 18 had you read SOTW chapter 10. And chapter 20. And chapter 28. And chapter 39. 4 chapters in one week? Really? And this is the next-to-last week of the year so it's not like you can spread it out. You're hit with this right at the end. It isn't the only lesson that has at least 3 chapters, either. 36 weeks, 42 chapters, and not all weeks include SOTW. You do the math.
  
• Projects are feast or famine. Most weeks it asks you to do nothing but read, mark a map, and write a summary. BORING. Then some weeks you've got to do between 1 and, I think, 3 History Pockets. History Pockets are a lot of fun for my artsy crafty child, but 3 in a week is a LOT of cutting and pasting.
  
• Expensive for what you get. I paid $30 for what amounts to a reading list and a recommendation to read SOTW completely out of order?
  
• They tell you to put everything you've done during the year into a single book. What? So I'm to (somehow?) bind together the two huge and bulky History Pockets books together with lined notebook pages and coloring pages done on copy paper? The end result would be comically ridiculous. Somebody's not thinking something through here.
  

The main reason I went with HO is because they broke SOTW into a neat 36 weeks. Totally not worth it. Next year I'm going back to dividing SOTW up myself. As I said, some people seem to adore HO, so feel free to contradict me.....but I would not recommend this to anyone.

 

I could see this being the case. I am looking at level 2 for older dd, but felt similarly about level 1, which is why my younger dd will be doing something else. It seems to be a common opinion that SOTW and activity guide are a much better choice for those years.

 

Blessings,

Lisa

[nukeswife]

These are a lot of the reasons I changed back to SOTW for level 1. HO for level 2 seems to flow much better but I haven't used it yet, so we'll see.

 

Your 1st complaint is why I went back to SOTW, if I'm going to use it as a spine I want to read it in order so that it makes sense when it refers back to something.

[Nicole M]

Let it all out. Tell us how you really feel. :D

 

I especially had problems with the upper levels. No teacher support materials. Hello? Might I have a little heads up about what the child is supposed to be learning and generating, a wee vocabulary list, even? Perhaps? Maybe those genius children out there can educate themselves, but my son required, you know... a teacher.

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used SOTW 1-4 for grammar stage and 2 years of HO for logic stage (before abandoning it). I think part of my dislike of HO has to do with my love of SOTW. It's a hard act to follow, imo.

[Mama Lynx]

I like SOTW best for grades 1-4, but I think HO really shines in Levels 2 and 3.

[MIch elle]

I like SOTW best for grades 1-4, but I think HO really shines in Levels 2 and 3.

 

I don't like VanLoon or Roberts as spines so that turned me off from the start. Not my cuppa ;)

 

I own both these books too - grrrh.

Edited January 19, 2010 by MIch elle

[prairie rose]

I didn't like the look of HO Level 1 either. I really like Level 2 Ancients so far but we've omitted the History Pockets as my kids just don't enjoy doing them. I know several people have mentioned they don't like Van Loon's book but I haven't found anything terrible about it yet. :confused: The KHE is a bit dull but I do break it up a bit when I can (we aren't doing the History Pocket lessons so we have some extra time to do this and follow some rabbit trails to get any info we might have missed in the History Pockets :) ) Plus my kids have always liked to read the KHE and KSE for fun. :lol:

 

I've glanced through Level 3 and I have it penciled in for high school. It doesn't look like honors or AP level work at all but for regular A-level classes for the non-history major, it looks fine for me and my kids. ;)

[Nicole M]

I've glanced through Level 3 and I have it penciled in for high school. It doesn't look like honors or AP level work at all but for regular A-level classes for the non-history major, it looks fine for me and my kids. ;)

 

Level 3 is actually quite difficult. Kareni could speak more about this than I can, but we found that without any teacher's support materials, it was simply too hard -- at least the Ancients. And my son was exceptionally well prepared.

[Nicole M]

Are they planning any teacher's materials in the future?

 

The last time the subject came up on the History Odyssey yahoo group, there was a general attitude of disdain about teacher's materials, because the student "should" be able to handle the material on their own. :confused: That was shortly after the first two, Ancients and Middle Ages had just come out. I don't know what the current climate is.

 

Heck, I would be more than willing to write the Middle Ages parent materials myself, since that is my area of expertise, but no one has asked me, and there didn't seem to be much of a market. ;)

[Capt_Uhura]

HHM perhaps I'm remembering something else, but I thought I read about a teacher manual in the works for HO? Anyone else have the same dream I had?

 

 

Found it on the Faq page:

 

2. When are new History Odyssey guides going to be available?

 

Presently we have no new release dates for History Odyssey courses. While we do plan to complete the level three series, and we plan to create an American History for high school course, they are not currently in the works. We are currently working on Parent/Teacher guides for levels two and three. Release of these guides will begin in 2010.

 

Capt_Uhura

Edited January 20, 2010 by Capt_Uhura

[Nicole M]

HHM perhaps I'm remembering something else, but I thought I read about a teacher manual in the works for HO? Anyone else have the same dream I had?

 

 

Found it on the Faq page:

 

2. When are new History Odyssey guides going to be available?

 

Presently we have no new release dates for History Odyssey courses. While we do plan to complete the level three series, and we plan to create an American History for high school course, they are not currently in the works. We are currently working on Parent/Teacher guides for levels two and three. Release of these guides will begin in 2010.

 

Capt_Uhura

 

Yay!

 

Oh, wait. Darn. My children will be in college before they're out.

[abbeyej]

I much prefer SOTW+AG for *grammar* stage. I'm finding HO2 for logic stage to work very, very well for us this year. But I'm glad I kept my younger one just reading SOTW.

[kangato3]

I thought I was going to really like HO Ancients, Level 2, but in the end, it killed ds and I with boredom! It does teach the skills very competently - outlining, timeline, writing summaries etc. But for us, there was no life or excitement with the material, no great discussions springing up, etc. There's nothing wrong with HO; it just didn't fit our style.

 

Louise