EMS83 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Sorry I keep asking all these strange questions. We're starting 1st in the fall. Someone graciously lent me the KF "History Encyclopedia" (1999) to look through so I can have some sort of point of reference. Is the "Illustrated History of the World" (1993) all that different? I'm more concerned with accuracy and accessibility. Newer isn't always better in my opinion. Also, is the Usborne "Book of World History" much better for grammar stage? Or could I use the Kingfisher until they grow out of it (so to speak)? How does SOTW fit into all of that? Does it add greatly to the notebooking process? Thanks. Any and all input is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 SOTW has a great activity guide with map and coloring pages that a lot of younger kids like. It also has suggested add on books for each chapter. I was skeptical (because we were looking for a secular text) but we have really enjoyed it. We don't use a lot of the coloring pages (I think we would if my son was younger but he prefers other types of art to coloring now) but we do the maps and many of the craft projects. It is def. a program you can make work well with kids at different ages depending on the extra books and activities you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I bought the out of print Illustrated History of the World instead of the newer version because of many reviews I read. Look on Amazon reviews and search here to see the differences. I didn't compare both books so I can't comment on that myself, though. I am happy with the one I bought. I don't agree with the first couple of chapters of "prehistory," but other than that I haven't found anything yet that I don't like about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMS83 Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 So would SOTW stand alone without either the Usborne or Kingfisher books? Or is it more of a supplement to those books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaChristina Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 The encyclopedias are a suppliment to SOTW. SOTW is great and will get the job done on it's own. However, having one of the encyclopedias is a really nice suppliment as it adds color and fuels the imagination. The Usborne encyc. is meant for the younger students and the Kingfisher is for older students as the text is a bit more complicated. I have both and like them for the age groups they are intended for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMS83 Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Ok a few (by that I mean several) more questions here. I really want just one history spine. Does the older version of The Usborne Book of World History go past 1914? I just got the newer one today and was wondering how different the two were. Also, this book doesn't seem to have enough two-pages spreads to last through the entire grammar stage. Am I correct in supposing that the supplemental reading increases as the history progresses? What do you do for after 1914? Are the pictures the same in the older book as in this new one? The Kingfisher's Illustrated History of the World: the white one. I desperately want to know how much it differs from the red book. Is the writing better or different at all? Some pages of the red book really grated on my nerves (some of it seems PC and forced), but I like the overall presentation. I also disagree with the first few spreads, but those can be skipped. KF seems to give a little more air time to the Hebrews than Usborne does. Does anyone know of any place that I can get the white book without paying $75 to $200 (seems to be the going rate on the internet). SOTW: do your young ones enjoy listening without having visuals? Mine seem a little less interested when there aren't pictures. Are the activity guides sufficient or are there better (and cheaper) coloring book recommendations out there? I really don't think we'll be doing that many extra activities. I am not crafty and I don't like scraping together a bunch of supplies that I likely don't have. Sorry for all these crazy questions. Still on a tight budget and I don't want to buy all these books and not use them. I already ordered the Usborne book just to see it which I had a very hard time swallowing. This subject is still the bane of my planning existence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 My kids get most of their visuals from the library books we check out on each topic. When they were around 1st/2nd, they'd color the page and/or map from the AG while I read. Our history encyclopedias are gathering dust right now. I plan to bring them back into the mix for logic stage, because my kids find them way too dull right now. They want STORIES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 For grammar stage, SOTW works as a better spine than the encyclopedias. We have the Kingfisher (red) and we have barely used it until this year. The writing is dry and over their heads compared to SOTW which is written as a wonderful story to the child. The visuals come in the form of the coloring pages from the A.G. Then you can look up the pages in the encyclopedia to see colorful pictures. We also use the encyclopedias for memory lists in the back. We are enterening the logic stage next year, and the KHE will then become the spine for that period. My dd9 is now old enough to read the KHE on her own and understand most of it. But starting out the grammar stage, we just looked at the pictures and I paraphrased things I read in most of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I never used an encyclopedia for the grammar stage. I just use SOTW and the AG. We go through about 1 chapter of SOTW per week. Each chapter is broken up into 2 sections, on average. Some chapters do have one, three or even 4 sections, but that is the minority. We do history about twice a week. One day one I read the section of SOTW and then I ask the questions from the AG and we do a narration. The whole thing takes less than 15 mins. On day two we read the next section of SOTW and we do the questions, narration and then my son does the colouring page and the map. On some weeks, I do an activity from the AG. I don't do one every week, but some people do. I only pick the activities that sound like #1) my kids would really like it and #2) I don't mind pulling together. If it is convenient, I read a book, fiction or non, that corresponds with that weeks SOTW reading. Sometimes I pick a longer book that will take a couple weeks. Our family read out loud is from the reading lists from TWTM and correspond to the history cycle. It is all pretty easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloha2U Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Have you considered using Veritas Press History cards as your spine? There's a brief explanation and sample of them at ExodusBooks.com HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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