Can someone tell me about History Odyssey?

[hsmom]

First of all SOTW stuck my eye first. Then in my quest for finding a great history program I ran across History Odyssey. Is it a secular program? What are its pros and cons?

 

Also if you can answer this, how does it compare to SOTW?

 

Thank you for any help.

[Mommy22alyns]

Well, I just got HO Ancients Level 1, and it actually uses SOTW text as one of the major "spines." I haven't actually started history study yet, but I've been working on lesson plans and prep for the first month or two, and HO looks like it has a lot of activities, hands-on things, etc. It fits nicely with SOTW, and there's a lot of overlap in the recommended reading lists. I was looking forward to just doing SOTW, but for Becca as such a young "first grader," I'm extra excited about the increased activities HO suggests.

 

I should explain - HO pulls these things together, a lot like the SOTW approach. So, HO itself doesn't have the activities, but they organize it and suggest some more reference and activity books. Am I making sense?

 

I'm just so happy to be excited about history studies for the first time in my life!

[St. Theophan Academy]

HO is sort of like an outline for studies. For example, in HO Middle Ages - there are 43 Lessons, and they are not strictly chrono. like SOTW, but group your studies in themes or cultures.

Here is what a lesson looks like:

 

Lesson 3: Charlemagne -

lists the pages to read in Usborne Encycl.,

gives a dictionary word to look up and define

gives a list of places to look up and mark on your map

read pp in SOTW (it jumps around in SOTW b/c HO is not completely chrono.)

Read CHOW

Color Charlemagne page in Middle Ages coloring book

List of questions about assigned readings for child to answer

List of additional activities (selected mostly from the Days of Knights and Damsels book)

Additional book list with extra reading, lots of historical fiction

 

So you are supposed to look over the page, select which things you want to do, and check mark those (obviously there is more here than you could do in one week, so you select what you want the child to do kind of like TOG)

If you do not like to pick out readings on your own, or want someone else to organize correlated readings in SOTW, Uesborne E, and other readings, it is a simple way to have a basic outline/structure for your history studies.

[rwalizer]

and we use the Kingfisher History Ency. with the Story of Mankind since the lessons direct the student to read pages out of these books. From what I have heard about SOTW you could use it instead of STOM. Also, wikipedia and other websites are helpful for the lessons. All the maps and other worksheets referenced in the lessons are provided but there are no tests. A typical level 2 lessons has the student read certain pages, mark dates on a timeline, and write short summaries on some historical people. Also, there are books for them to read to go along with the time period in history. You can buy them in the package or try to find them on your own. Hope this helps.

[St. Theophan Academy]

Sorry - should have specified that the samples I gave were for Level 1 :)

[Sunshine State Sue]

First of all SOTW stuck my eye first. Then in my quest for finding a great history program I ran across History Odyssey. Is it a secular program? What are its pros and cons?

 

Also if you can answer this, how does it compare to SOTW?

 

Thank you for any help.

 

We used SOTW for 2nd-5th grade. Both ds and I absolutely loved it. We are almost finished with HO Ancients 2. I have mixed feelings about HO. I'll paste my reviews below.

 

To answer a few of your questions not in my reviews: Yes, HO is secular. One difference is that SOTW is mostly chronological and HO is mostly geographical. Some people have a preference one way or the other.

 

I don't know what age you are considering these for. Keep in mind that we used SOTW for grammar stage and HO for logic stage.

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We used Story of the World volume 1 through 4 starting in 2nd grade. I thoroughly enjoyed this curriculum. Honestly, the best part of this curriculum is learning history myself for the first time. I used to say that history was my weakest subject. I learned more in my son’s first year than I learned in my entire school career. I feel so good knowing that my son is being presented with history in a logical, engaging, and painless way. This curriculum allowed a history-ignorant mom to give her child a great introduction to world history and a love and enthusiasm for history as well.

 

The readings are perfect for early elementary age – not too simple and not too difficult. The activity guide is a priceless resource, and we used every bit of it. That is what made the program so rich. Ds used the coloring pages while I read. We used the review questions usually verbally, but one year, I used the review questions to give my son practice in writing complete sentences. Doing narration and summary paragraphs helped with writing, although this was my son’s least favorite part. The map work was helpful. We borrowed many of the supplemental books from the library. We even read most of them. The activities and projects were fun and really helped to bring history alive and be remembered. We met with other families 2x a month to work on projects. Besides gathering the library books and project supplies, there really is no other preparation needed.

 

For some people, this curriculum is too secular. For some people, this curriculum is too Christian. I prefer secular resources, and I thought SWB did a great job of introducing the different world religions in an unbiased manner.

 

I highly recommend this program. It spoiled me. My only complaint is that that there is no similar program for logic age.

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I chose HO because it's the only secular history program I know of for logic age. Ds would be in 6th grade this year. We have completed 63/66 lessons. I have mixed feelings about it.

 

Pros:

• History is all planned out

• A large amount of history is presented

• Outlining is learned and practiced

• Map work and timeline work is helpful

• Can be done independently

 

Cons:

• KHE is DULL (reading snippets of information and picture captions)

• No review/discussion questions to assess comprehension and/or retention

• Little supplemental reading

• Required literature is rarely discussed, only read

• History Pockets involve too much time for knowledge gained

• Expensive if you buy package

• Too much freedom for an unmotivated student to do a mediocre job

• This is picky, but the study guide in the 3 ring binder format is completely falling apart because of all the flipping back and forth that has to be done. We have to keep those little, sticky o-reinforcements right in the binder because the pages are constantly being ripped out.

 

20/20 Hindsight:

• Buy only the study guide (maps included) and timeline

• Do not buy the supplemental books – get them from the library, substitute from the library, or buy used

• Do not buy the History Pockets unless the child likes cut & paste & color

• Add Life in the Ancient World by Bart Winer

 

To be completely honest, I am not sure if part of my disappointment has to do with the fact that we used SOTW for 4 years and loved it. It's a hard act to follow, imo.

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