tntgoodwin Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I was wondering what there is out there that would be a good alternative to SOTW 1 for a rather bright 1st grader? I like the idea of SOTW, but I am not big on the idea that it apparently treats various myths and whatnot as equally valid. Correct me if I am wrong, but SOTW 1 presents fiction and non fiction without differentiating between them. We are Christian, so a Bible based curriculum is fine, but I would want it to be more fleshed out with other historical resources, and to include more civilizations than just the ancient Hebrews. Is this a pipe dream? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 we are Christian as well. When it comes to the Myths, I just explain to the kids its just a fairy tale and story. They are approached day to day with myths as well. From cartoons to fictional reads. They are going to have to learn that not everything worth reading is worth believing. We just started SOTW 1 and just did the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Set. No issues with my crew differentiating between truth and story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I am not big on the idea that it apparently treats various myths and whatnot as equally valid. Correct me if I am wrong, but SOTW 1 presents fiction and non fiction without differentiating between them. This is not the case. Before a fictional story is recounted, she introduces it as such. For example, when introducing a story from the Odyssey, SWB wrote, "Here is one of the stories from the Odyssey:" and then includes the text from the Odyssey offset from her narrative text. When introducing a story from the Bible, she introduces it as such. I believe there was an issue with the stories not being offset in the first edition and it was corrected for future editions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 This is not the case. Before a fictional story is recounted, she introduces it as such. For example, when introducing a story from the Odyssey, SWB wrote, "Here is one of the stories from the Odyssey:" and then includes the text from the Odyssey offset from her narrative text. When introducing a story from the Bible, she introduces it as such. I believe there was an issue with the stories not being offset in the first edition and it was corrected for future editions. :iagree: the story of Osiris and Set was introduced as a myth that was shared with Egyptian children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 we are Christian as well. When it comes to the Myths, I just explain to the kids its just a fairy tale and story. They are approached day to day with myths as well. From cartoons to fictional reads. They are going to have to learn that not everything worth reading is worth believing. We just started SOTW 1 and just did the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Set. No issues with my crew differentiating between truth and story. Right. That particular story was introduced with, "Here's the myth of Osiris as an Egyptian child might have heard it from his mother, long ago." And, again, the entire passage is indented and it is clear that it is not part of her factual narrative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntgoodwin Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Ahhh excellent! The reviews I read must have been from an earlier edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah, I didn't have a problem with it for my advanced first grader either. I could say, "Is this story real?" and he would say, "No!" He totally understood the difference. No problem. And this is also why I didn't have my DS2 sit in on SOTW1 as a 4 year old. He didn't (and still doesn't) totally comprehend the difference between fiction and reality. He still asks if things like Blue's Clues are real. :tongue_smilie: So I wouldn't use it with DS2 until he works out those issues. DS1 had a firm grasp of fiction vs. reality (as much as is expected of a 6 year old) at that time. We love the series. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntgoodwin Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Glad to hear. Now I just need to figure out if we are going to combine it with anything, like Biblioplan or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I never felt that she treated myths and factual stories as equal. I loved SOTW1 and will do it again with my rising first grader next year, even though it means running two history classes. I credit this curriculum for instilling a love of history in my children and for helping them learn so much. No, they don't retain a ton, but they seem to have a solid foundation and things pop up in real life that they'll say something like, "yeah, that's like what we read in history!" It's an awesome curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I agree with the others. I am pretty conservative and haven't found anything problematic with SOTW. I have read reviews and wondered if those reviews were from people who actually read the materials. I have run across some people who don't want their children learning about Egyptian or Greek gods at all and that only teach Bible as history. If you were of that mindset then of course you would need to avoid SOTW. Otherwise, I think you'll find it enjoyable. We did a survey of the Old Testament at the same time we were doing SOTW 1 and it worked well together. I didn't discover Biblioplan until later and might use it for the 2nd time through the cycle. We had a great time studying Egyptians, Greek & Roman mythology and it generated some really good theological discussions considering that dd is only 6. We also spent a lot of time discussing why we feel the Bible is different than the myths referenced in our ancient history study. I will also add that like the pp, the curriculum instilled a love for history in my dd. The moment we started reading SOTW history became her favorite subject and she still re-reads the SOTW 1 book on her own during her free time even though we've moved on to book 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 He still asks if things like Blue's Clues are real. :tongue_smilie: Aw, that's cute. I love it when kids are young enough to think that Dora or Blue's Clues are real. OP, you could try Mystery of History. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Ahhh excellent! The reviews I read must have been from an earlier edition. The criticisms you may have heard Tony might have come from those who were critical of the first edition for presenting bible-stories as "history." Mythological stories from other cultures and religions were noted as such, but some bible-stories were presented as historical fact. This might not have bothered you, but it drew criticism from many. Now traditional stories are noted. One can decide for themselves how to treat the sacred thaditional tales from one culture vs those of another. They are treated "equally" in how they are sourced. But I'm sure the author and many readers believe in the truth of some of the mythic stories and not in those of others. I can't see this causing you problems. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I have friends that use this for Eygpt. http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/boy-of-the-pyramids/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The criticisms you may have heard Tony might have come from those who were critical of the first edition for presenting bible-stories as "history." Mythological stories from other cultures and religions were noted as such, but some bible-stories were presented as historical fact. This might not have bothered you, but it drew criticism from many. Now traditional stories are noted. One can decide for themselves how to treat the sacred thaditional tales from one culture vs those of another. They are treated "equally" in how they are sourced. But I'm sure the author and many readers believe in the truth of some of the mythic stories and not in those of others. I can't see this causing you problems. :iagree: The only thing that bothered me about SOTW was how much more the Bible stories were covered than other traditions. It is clearly written by a Christian and from a Christian perspective just based on how many more details there are in the chapters on the Bible. We are secular in our hs choices and I skimmed over/skipped some of those materials, like the Jesus coloring page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfatherslily Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Agreeing with the others! We are Christians who are enjoying SOTW :) That said, my SIL has been enjoying Mystery of History, so you might want to look at that one, too. Any chance your library would have SOTW to review it yourself first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 it apparently treats various myths and whatnot as equally valid. This is incorrect. It does not treat the religious myths as equally valid. It doesn't treat them as valid at all. It presents them as a part of the history of the culture it is discussing. Imo, you can't teach history and leave out the people's religious ideas. Really, the solution to this perennial "problem" with SOTW (as in, there are countless threads about it) is to point out to your kids that culture X's religious beliefs are just stories, and your religion is the truth. Or, they are all stories. Or, they are all equally true stories. Whatever floats your boat. I have never bought into the idea that exposing kids to other religions' stories damages a child's faith. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momaof3 Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 I looked at the schedules on Paula's archives and like them but I do also want to incorporate some other read alouds with the schedule besides the story Bible and they don't do that. Does anyone know of any that do this or will I have to pull from many schedules? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 we are Christian as well. When it comes to the Myths, I just explain to the kids its just a fairy tale and story. They are approached day to day with myths as well. From cartoons to fictional reads. They are going to have to learn that not everything worth reading is worth believing. We just started SOTW 1 and just did the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Set. No issues with my crew differentiating between truth and story. :iagree: Same here. My kids will usually ask if a story is true or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 This is an old thread (which I came across researching history curricula), but since the main focus of discussion is SOTW's treatment of fact and fiction I wanted to mention that if you treat the Old Testament stories as fact, you will be fine. If you do not -- for instance, I do not teach the story of Abraham as a historical account, nor the story of Joseph or Moses -- you might want to know that Bauer treats the Jewish stories as fact. It is fairly easy to teach around, but confused Button a bit when we listened to the audiobook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I am using a revised edition of SOTW1 with DS(5). Last night we read Abraham - the story was indented and introduced as from the bible. To back it up we also read about Abraham in "The Oxford book of Famous People" and checked in our very old copy of the "Usbourne World History". I think someonthing like history shouln't be taught from one source only. And in the WTM SOTW is recommended as a spine to be extended with other readings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick_Mom Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Glad to hear. Now I just need to figure out if we are going to combine it with anything, like Biblioplan or something. Biblioplan Ancient History uses SOTW 1 as one of the spines. We used this a few years ago, and it was one of our best history years ever. :) You get all the Biblical and other ancient history, with the strength of SOTW and other spines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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