Oxford history series recommendations

[Momling]

We're going to be soon finishing the Galore Park jr. history series which has taken us from early civilizations to the fall of Rome and now onto early Britain (which I probably wouldn't focus on except that we are visiting the UK in 2 months).

 

Anyway, I think we're going to switch over to the Oxford series starting with the Medieval and Early Modern World books. My questions are these:

 

-Would this series be a good fit for us? I'm pretty sure this is what I want, but I wouldn't mind some confirmation from someone who has actually used the series. I'm looking for a well-written secular history that a child could get into. My daughter (a weirdly mature 8 yr old history buff) would prefer a focus on social and cultural history and archaeology, but isn't excited about details of, for instance, military battles.

 

-Which book should we start with? Would it make more sense to keep going with the European theme or should we change direction and head over to Asia or Africa first?

 

-Are any of the books particularly better or worse or are they all pretty consistent?

 

-Are the student study guides worthwhile or should we skip it this time around?

 

Thanks!

[Corraleno]

-Would this series be a good fit for us? I'm pretty sure this is what I want, but I wouldn't mind some confirmation from someone who has actually used the series. I'm looking for a well-written secular history that a child could get into. My daughter (a weirdly mature 8 yr old history buff) would prefer a focus on social and cultural history and archaeology, but isn't excited about details of, for instance, military battles.

It sounds like just what you want ~ the focus is definitely more social/cultural. The writing in the Medieval series is a bit more serious than in the Ancient series (which was often funny and sometimes even flippant) but should be fine for an 8 yo history buff.

 

-Which book should we start with? Would it make more sense to keep going with the European theme or should we change direction and head over to Asia or Africa first?

I plan to spend several months on Europe, supplemented with other books, DVDs, etc., then do Africa/Near East/Asia in 6-8 weeks, then continue with the topical books (Science, Revolutions, Explorations, etc.), probably one per month or so. But you could also mix and match; for example, you could choose topics from different books on similar themes or from the same time period.

 

-Are any of the books particularly better or worse or are they all pretty consistent?

We haven't used them yet, but looking through them they seem pretty consistent. The Ancient ones are pretty consistent.

 

-Are the student study guides worthwhile or should we skip it this time around?

I have a bunch of the student guides for Ancients, and haven't used them. I do like the Teacher's Guides, though, and those have chapter quizzes, if that's something you'd want to do. I just do those orally.

 

You could just buy 1 or 2 volumes (maybe Europe & the Original Sources one?) to see if they would work for you.

 

BTW, if you're interested in a Medieval lit program, I highly recommend the "Discovering King Arthur: Medieval Mystery & Meaning" course from Duke/TIP. It's a book/workbook (not an online course) that covers the 4 books of The Once and Future King. It has 20 lessons, each of which focuses on several chapters and includes really good questions that make kids think ~ like comparing 2 female characters and discussing how those characters represent Medieval attitudes towards women, or discussing how the description of a particular castle in the book reflects the characters who live there. There are a lot of connections to historical topics such as the code of chivalry, the making of a knight, feudalism, etc. It includes writing topics and project assignments as well. I plan to use it over about 4 months, when we're doing Europe.

http://www.tip.duke.edu/independent_learning/language_arts/discovering_king_arthur.html

 

Jackie

[Capt_Uhura]

Jackie, that King Arthur study looks interesting! Thanks for the link.

 

Capt_Uhura

[Momling]

Thanks Jackie!