SOTW vs MOH

[gamommy]

I'm a newbie here. We have only been homeschooling since Dec. 2007, but our first year was great. Next year I'll have a 7th, 5th, and 1st grader. Dh and I are both trained teachers so we went with a pretty traditional, 'school-ish' approach to most things to get through this year but are wanting to break away from this next year, esp. after reading TWTM.

 

We're trying to decide on a history program that the girls can do together, this is also my weakest area. I'm confused about whether to go with SOTW or MOH. My 5th grader was set to study ancients anyway in Abeka so I was thinking I could pair at least the 1st and 5th together. Any advice? What additional materials would you suggest other than the books themselves?

 

What should I do with my 7th grader? She was in a gifted program in p/s and is much more advanced than the other two. She just studied ancients and early world history last year (used Abeka Old World) and would be studying New World history this year if we stayed with our current program.

 

We also have an infant so I'd like to avoid something terribly teacher intensive. I'm definitely up for read-alouds, etc. and expect to be hands on (esp. with the 1st grader) during the lesson, but I don't have loads of prep. time before the lesson.

 

TIA for any help!

 

Beth

[Another Lynn]

I would use SOTW - especially for the 1st and 5th - just expecting more from the 5th and adding in other related literature. I LOVE the idea of MOH, LOVE how it relates Biblical and secular history, I just do not care much for the writing style. I think both of these are available on CD, so making use of that with either curriculum might free you up for other read alouds as well. If you went with MOH as your spine to give you a good Biblical perspective, I would just add in high quality books on the side.

 

I'm not sure what to advise for your 7th grader as we don't have one that far along yet. My thoughts for us at the stage include considering Tapestry of Grace because it would allow all of us to study the same time period at the various levels as needed. But, I think it would take a bit of prep on your part (understandably - you will be busy!!!) and you may not want to put all of your kids in the same time period depending on what they've already studied, etc.... Just give some thought whether you want the "convenience" of having everyone studying the same time period or not vs. what the 7th grader would study for history from now until graduation and if that looks good to you or not, etc.

 

By the way, Biblioplan is a relatively inexpensive curriculum that uses SOTW as it's spine and makes suggestions for other literature/read alouds by stage (grammar/logic/rhetoric) - so that might be something to look at.

 

So, I don't think I've helped much, but I'm sure some others will chime in!

[Marsha]

Here's what I decided to do...

We will all use MOH and the 7th and 4th grader has their own copy to read and I have a copy to read to the youngers.

I think it will work out. The older ones can read it silently.

[siloam]

Beth,

 

Both are great resources, but they have slightly different content/style.

 

MOH will have more Biblical content (prophets, creation, pre-Abraham), covering Bible events as fact and starting with a young earth point of view creation. SOTW will not exclude Biblical events, but it will only cover a few of the major events and then mostly in passing, assuming the child already knows the stories. I remember volume 1 covering Abraham, Joseph (not 100% sure of this one...) and the tower of Babel. If you look at the contents or at the schedule combining the two on Paula’s Archives you can really see where they each focus.

 

SOTW is a story based text while MOH is more narrative, written as if the author is speaking to the child. I don’t think either is better, just different.

 

SOTW is chronological by civilization (will cover Egypt, Persia-back up, then Greece-back up, Rome ect...) while MOH is strictly chronological, so you will cover both Greek and Roman events at the same time. I think the first is better for younger kids who don't understand the concept of time as well. The second works better for older children because it shows cause and effect of the different civilizations. Older children can also keep track of which people were from what civilization better. I don't think either would be a deal breaker here.

 

SOTW is just a text with reading. There is no schedule. Mapping, activities, narration, questions, extra reading lists ect...can all be picked up in the activity guide, if you use that. Again through there is no schedule. MOH has a bit more structure to each week. First there is a pre-test for all three lessons of that week. This is not a real test but to just pique the child's interest. Then there are three lessons for the week, and each lesson has three different levels of activities. Then the week is finished with mapping, timeline prompts and prompts for the 3x5 memory card system (there is also a book list broken down by lesson, and age in the appendix). If you prefer more structure MOH might work better for you, though I don't think it would be too tough to work out a schedule for SOTW. You probably can find one in a yahoo group already made up.

 

Two minor issues bother me about SOTW volume 1. These aren't enough to keep me from planning to use it in the future. It did limit my ability to use it when my kids were younger (I had toddlers running around).

 

One is how quickly she can transition between fact and fiction. In the story of the Minotaur she goes from saying (my paraphrase) how King Aegeus jumped into the sea upon seeing the black sails, and that is how the Aegean sea got its name. I mean I know that the Aegean Sea got its name from the possible fictitious possibly real king in the story. But the story is a myth. There is no Minotaur and my poor 3yo (at that time) walked around for a couple of days saying, "Mommy, that thing in that story isn't real is it?" I would have preferred to have ended the story them come back and state the sea was named after the king in the myth, so there is more of a distinction. That said I also realize not all people have toddlers running around, and it would ruin the story effect of the book to do that.

 

Second is she tends to put archeology before the Bible. When she speaks of Abraham she talks about how he worshiped a moon god before he was called. This goes back to the archaeological evidence that they have found UR and UR was the name of the moon god worshiped there, but it is not stated in the Bible, so I would prefer stick to the facts with young kids. They can be so impressionable at times and grab on to little things like this. The second example is when she discusses the splitting of Alexander the Great's empire. The Bible states it was split into 4, while archaeological evidence only supports three. It is assumed by Biblical scholars that his son’s portion was quickly taken over by one of the generals (the other 3 portions went to his generals). Again this isn't the end of the world, but I would have preferred it if it has said four.

 

Now MOH has a few issues too. The first issue is that it does come from a young earth point of view, as I stated earlier. There have been a few old earth creationists who have made it work, but if you are not a creationists, then I think you would hate it. Next, volume 1 has less volume/detail than the rest of the series. Not the end of the world, but you can get away with using volume 1 with younger children a lot better than you can the rest of the series (my oldest was an odd duck and loved volume 2 in 2nd grade, but I don't think that would be typical). Last is that only 3 volumes are available right now, and it will be another 3 years before the 4th volume is out (roughly 2011) and another 3 years beyond that for volume 5 (2014). If you start volume 1 this year then you should have volume 4 in hand when you need it, but 5 will still be pending , so you will probably need to find another resource for modern history.

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

Heather

 

 

[trisharog]

Heather,

 

Your analysis of MOH and SOTW were so helpful even though i was not the one writing the question. I am planning to use them both follow Paulas Archive suggestions. This will be my first year to HS so info like yours is invaluable. I wish I could just give a big hug to you and all the other great gals who invest your time to help others. I will look forward to being a giver someday rather than just a take on this BB.

Thanks again!

Trisha

[Rhondabee]

I, too, was *stunned* when I read that Abraham had worshipped false gods. Then, I opened my One-Year Bible one day, and lo-and-behold (I copied here from Bible Gateway):

 

Joshua 24:1-3 (New International Version)

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

 

Joshua 24

 

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

 

1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

2 Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,

 

 

Admittedly, it doesn't say which specific god. I suppose that is where the archaeology comes in. But, I was very humbled - especially since I knew from markings on the page that I had even read that specific passage before, but never had it sink in. (And, I cringed when I remembered leaving a post on the old board about how upset I was!)

 

I do agree with you that *I* had to do a lot of explaining about what was myth and what was real. My 2nd grader (at the time) really struggled with why he needed to learn about false gods; (ETA: And Paris is still the ultimate "bad guy" against which all other historic villains have been compared!) I'm still really undecided about what I'll do with my next one - thankfully she's only 3yo, so I've a little while to stew about it!

 

:001_smile:

Rhonda

[cin]

I am using MOH for my girls, (will be) 7 & 4. I am NOT an organized person, I have ADD. I tried last year to do SOTW with the Veritas Bible Cards and one of the Children's Bibles. It did NOT work. I jsut couldn't pull it all together. So I am excited that MOH has the Bible already implemented. My philosophy is KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Although I prefer to drop the last 's'.

[Rhondabee]

Then keep it "Simple & Sweet".

 

(That does sound better, doesn't it?)

 

=)

Rhonda

[momee]

Just a sidenote - Biblioplan schedules Mystery of History AND SOTW...

[HollyDay]

This is a subject that has plagued me quite a bit. I did not like SOTW vol 1 at all. The flow between fact and fiction was way to blurred for my ease of teaching or my dc understanding. We used MOH and supplemented with lots of outside reading and geography.

 

But, MOH vol 2 was not at all what I wanted either. We went to SOTW vol 2 with me having to edit quite a bit and supplement with readers. I also used MOH vol 2 as an additional resource. I felt it was more than I wanted to do next year. Was it too much? Technically no. But, with all the other programs I am doing next year that are teacher intensive, I did not want history to become a struggle for me to organize.

 

MOH vol 3 is either out already or coming soon, and of course SOTW vol 3 (and 4) are ready now. There is a big delay in MOH additional volumes which is a problem. MOH also ends a couple hundred years before SOTW (and many other programs).

 

If the above are not problematic for you, then go for it and enjoy both or either program. If it is, then I would suggest using something else.