Talk to me about History Odyssey

[lamamaloca]

I'm looking for a secular, or at least non-sectarian, literature-rich history program, and this is the closest I've found to what I'm looking for. However, I haven't heard much about it. Can anyone share their experiences with me, what you liked and what you didn't? Anyone have other suggestions for history?

 

Some things I'm wondering about:

Does it work well to combine two kids at differing levels?

How do you choose a level if your kids aren't at the beginning? Next year my kids will be in K (who I'll probably just ignore for history), 2nd and 4th grade, and I'm not sure whether we'd want to start with the ancient history grammar level or not. I wouldn't be able to bring my 4th grade through 3 four year cycles, but the four year cycle also isn't very important to me. We've been lax on history, and my first grader isn't doing history this year, my 3rd is doing American history, based solely on biographies.

Is it mostly open and go? I do a horrible job of getting around to planning and prep and need something easy for me. We do have an all-in-one printer/copier/scanner so copying isn't a huge deal.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I don't know that I am going to be much help. My first thought is, Why don't you use SOTW?

 

We tolerated HO Ancients and Middle Ages level 2. Here are some threads about HO. My review is in there somewhere.

 

RE: History Odyssey Pandia Press

Why isn't History Odyssey more popular?

 

History Odyssey or just SOTW?

History Odyssey: Pros/Cons? Advice?

[HeidiKC]

I can't answer all of your questions, but here's what I can answer (we're using HO Ancients Level 2):

 

- I like the outlining and summarizing, and I feel like the amount of work is just about right (45-60 min 3x week).

- Very little planning required on my part, other than making sure I have the extra books (such as "The Golden Goblet") requested from the library since we didn't buy them.

 

- The History Encyclopedia is pretty boring.

- The maps are poor quality - we've had a hard time trying to figure out where to locate cities on the maps because of this.

- No answer key (I don't think this is necessary, but I saw someone mention it the other day - that she wished she'd known this!)

 

I like this curriculum fairly well, and I especially like the outlining. I wanted to do history the way it is descibed in TWTM, but this was better for me because it makes it easier by listing the assignments for each day so I don't have to do that.

 

I think if I were to do it again, I might consider just getting books from the library (and outling/writing from them) instead of using HO and the History Encylopedia. It would just require a bit more planning, particularly for the mapwork.

 

Don't know if that's a lot of help! I think STOW might be something to look at (based on your kids' ages), but it isn't as open and go as HO.

[lamamaloca]

I don't know that I am going to be much help. My first thought is, Why don't you use SOTW?

 

 

Mainly because I like the idea of using different history sources, to counter bias. I like that HO uses more than one spine for this reason.

 

Thanks for the links! I'll check those out.

[lamamaloca]

Any information helps! Reading through all the reviews, I'm thinking that I'll just wait until my oldest is ready for level 2, and not bother about level 1. Now I just need to find something else to do for next year.

[Cindyz]

We use History Odyssey and it's definitely not perfect. The jumping around from book to book can really be annoying. Sometimes it feels like there is a lot of redundancy. Also there are times when you read something in one book that references back to a previous chapter that you never read and so you do not have the context. We also do all of the SOTW activity book for each of the SOTW chapters assigned by History Odyssey. There are some books that it requires that I think are not worth the effort. For instance the crafting books, I would not buy again. I would just look in the Story of the World activity book and use what's there instead. It's basically trying to be just like SOTW but leaving some things out and you have to use about 10 books to get it all. With SOTW you have one spine, some suggested reading, all of the activities, maps, coloring pages and extras are in the activity book. With HO, you have a lot of books to incorporate all of that.

[ChandlerMom]

Any information helps! Reading through all the reviews, I'm thinking that I'll just wait until my oldest is ready for level 2, and not bother about level 1. Now I just need to find something else to do for next year.

 

NO great wisdom here -- I haven't decided about HO -- grammar stage does look like a laundry list and a gathering tons of sources, too much work. A bit much at this age IMO. Soooo, what I am trying to do is a bit piecemeal: Kingfisher, SOTW, A little History of the World, Classical House of Learning's guide (thank you, wherever you are here! :D ), and some history pockets (my kids love coloring and pasting -- ugh). The first 4-6 weeks of the year we'll cover the first 4.5 billion years of earth's history (prehisory usually just gets at most one lesson). Then work our way forward slowly, letting them immerse in lots of good reference books and stories. We may only make it thru 2 cycles instead of 3. I'm fine with that. Bring on the rabbit trails!!! :lol:

 

Wish us luck!

[Guest rennick]

I'm not sure I can help either. We're just embarking on History classical style this month. What I did was take HO Ancients (Level 2). I've combined it with SOTW (since we'd never read it before). I also added in the literature from CHOLL Logic level, and integrated SOS book 1 in there as well. Oh -- we dropped the History Pockets too, the last thing my boys want to do is something "crafty".

 

I mostly did this because my kids are in grades 7&8, and we just started homeschooling, so I wanted to start them with ancients. They weren't ready to start with Level 3/Rhetoric, but I felt the Level 2 was a little light for them. I don't know if they'll be going back to school for grades 10-12, so I'm anticipating only having one history cycle (at best) with them.

 

I think HO (level 2 at least) could be open and go, though a couple of the books are really difficult to find, and there's no analysis, comprehension questions or anything for the books. I don't mind the quality of the maps (I've seen some of the map work they brought home from ps).

[Just Robyn]

I'm looking for a secular, or at least non-sectarian, literature-rich history program, and this is the closest I've found to what I'm looking for. However, I haven't heard much about it. Can anyone share their experiences with me, what you liked and what you didn't?

 

We used Ancients 1 last year and we are using Middle Ages 1 this year. Here is what we like about HO:

 

it is secular - that is big for me

when we did ancients we did a lot of crafts and activities and it was a lot of fun

coloring pages and History Pockets went over well - I think my dc were better listeners when they had something to color while I read

it schedules several books and I can choose whether or not to use them

map and dictionary work

some of the links from the Usborne book

the list of of suggested extra books for each lesson

 

Here is what I don't like:

 

Since it is not chronological, sometimes I would read to them from SOTW and it would say, "Do you remember...?" and we didn't remember because we hadn't read that chapter yet due to jumping around.

 

I do not like having to gather/purchase materials for all the crafts. I could make that complaint about a lot of programs, but it is a complaint none-the-less. We are not doing the crafts this year for my sanity and are focusing on reading more instead since I can order books over the internet. We also added a timeline this year and I think that helps.

Anyone have other suggestions for history?

 

Some things I'm wondering about:

Does it work well to combine two kids at differing levels?

 

I have not tried this.

 

How do you choose a level if your kids aren't at the beginning?

 

I would think you could do whatever time period interests you.

 

Next year my kids will be in K (who I'll probably just ignore for history), 2nd and 4th grade, and I'm not sure whether we'd want to start with the ancient history grammar level or not. I wouldn't be able to bring my 4th grade through 3 four year cycles, but the four year cycle also isn't very important to me. We've been lax on history, and my first grader isn't doing history this year, my 3rd is doing American history, based solely on biographies.

Is it mostly open and go?

 

It is possible to do this as a very open and go program. Of course the more crafts you choose to do the more prep. you have to do. Like I said, we really enjoyed the crafts, but for the sake of time we're skipping them this year and focusing on the suggested extra books. I still think it's a good program without the crafts.

 

I do a horrible job of getting around to planning and prep and need something easy for me. We do have an all-in-one printer/copier/scanner so copying isn't a huge deal.

 

:)