momto2Cs Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Just wanted to see how it is going for anyone using Oxford University Press' World in Ancient Times this year. I was going to hunt up another copy of K12's Human Odyssey, but then remembered I already had a couple of volumes from the OUP set, so we're going to add those in to our world history studies, starting with The Early Human World. The kids are totally excited about it, and I am looking forward to it myself. How are you using these books? I'm planning on reading aloud, adding in documentaries, and having the kids add pictures and captions to their Book(s) of Centuries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 We're using them. My dd is reading the series and I'm also giving her historical fiction, mythology, etc. to read. This school year isn't history focused, so basically she's just reading and we discuss periodically. I tried having her read the first K-12 Human Odyssey volume, but she complained about its textbook-ness. She's enjoying the OUP series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 My dd's history class uses them. They read and discuss with a few projects like making cuneiform tablets with clay and sticks. Also they've been reproducing many of the maps. For Egypt, I was surprised that he used the Suzanne Strauss Art book instead of the OUP, but he said it had better detail. The plan is roughly one book a quarter so they'll complete Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 My dd's history class uses them. They read and discuss with a few projects like making cuneiform tablets with clay and sticks. Also they've been reproducing many of the maps. For Egypt, I was surprised that he used the Suzanne Strauss Art book instead of the OUP, but he said it had better detail. The plan is roughly one book a quarter so they'll complete Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome this year. I'm relieved to see that someone more experienced than me doesn't care for OUP's book on Ancient Egypt. We tried it - stuck with it for about half the book - but really didn't like it. I had tracked down a copy of OUP's Egypt book because, although we're mainly using K-12's Human Odyssey this year, I thought HO didn't spend enough time on Egypt. However, DS and I both ended up disliking the OUP Ancient Egypt. Although it is chock-full of info, it felt disorganized. I thought it was just me because so many others seem to love the OUP series. Anyway, for now we're back to HO exclusively, but maybe later we'll try another OUP World in Ancient Times with a different time period/different author. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dina in Oklahoma Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 We use it as a supplement to our core text and many other sources. DD 13 loves OPU as it covers many topics that are genereally not addressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 The Near East book was readable, interesting and informative. My dd loved it. I have the OUP Egypt book. I'll have to sit down with it and the one her classes uses and compare them. So far, she's been enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 Thank you - I haven't looked at the Egyptian one yet, just Early Human and Near Eastern, and I love both of those, as do the kids. So I think I'll get the Egyptian one form the library and look at it before adding it to our "definitely read this" book list. I did check out the Greek one once, and that looked really good as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Thank you - I haven't looked at the Egyptian one yet, just Early Human and Near Eastern, and I love both of those, as do the kids. So I think I'll get the Egyptian one form the library and look at it before adding it to our "definitely read this" book list. I did check out the Greek one once, and that looked really good as well. Yeah, I really wanted to like the Egypt one, and I thought it was great initially. But as I dug in and actually read one chapter at a time over several days, I found myself thinking, yes, that's great information and very detailed, but what did it have to do with the topic of this chapter? LOL. My son felt the same, but he's not a history-lover, just wants to get it done. I wish our first exposure to OUP had gone better for us. As I said, we might try another later, we'll see. Another kid with a passion for history likely will love the series. YMMV, of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Thank you - I haven't looked at the Egyptian one yet, just Early Human and Near Eastern, and I love both of those, as do the kids. So I think I'll get the Egyptian one form the library and look at it before adding it to our "definitely read this" book list. I did check out the Greek one once, and that looked really good as well. See if they have this one too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 See if they have this one too. Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look into this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) Oops--double post Edited October 12, 2012 by Hilltop Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 We are using Human Odyssey and all the OUP books. We have additional books and resources we're using as well. Dd reads a few pages from HO and 2 chapters from an OUP book each day. She then does any assignments from the student pages that I think are worth doing--essay questions etc. At least once a week, she adds info to her BOC. Sometimes she saves all the info to add on one day that week, and sometimes she adds the info daily. We then read our history read aloud. We use the art work in the OUP books for picture study. We also have informal discussions on the reading every day. Additional assigned history books are to be read during her free time. She has several of these each year. We spend 1-1.5 hours on history 5 days a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 We are using Human Odyssey and all the OUP books. We have additional books and resources we're using as well. Dd reads a few pages from HO and 2 chapters from an OUP book each day. She then does any assignments from the student pages that I think are worth doing--essay questions etc. At least once a week, she adds info to her BOC. Sometimes she saves all the info to add on one day that week, and sometimes she adds the info daily. We then read our history read aloud. We use the art work in the OUP books for picture study. We also have informal discussions on the reading every day. Additional assigned history books are to be read during her free time. She has several of these each year. We spend 1-1.5 hours on history 5 days a week. By student pages, do you mean a separate student workbook? I can't remember if this series has a teacher book and a student book, or just one or the other - or are these questions in the text? TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) By student pages, do you mean a separate student workbook? I can't remember if this series has a teacher book and a student book, or just one or the other - or are these questions in the text? TIA! OUP has student books for each book and Human Odyssey has one student book. I bought the HO one and the first OUP one to compare them. I decided to use the HO student pages and teacher's book for a couple reasons. 1. The OUP ones would get expensive since I would need to buy student and teacher books for each OUP book. 2. My main goal was to have a source for map work and an opportunity to practice some skill work in the contest of history, but I didn't want to spend too much time using it. Much of the HO work is online, and since we don't have that portion there is only a little work in the student guide left. For us it works great. The OUP student books would have been more than we needed for our goals. The student pages include mapwork and a good assortment of skill work--outlining, timelines, essay questions, comparison charts, fill-in the-blank, multiple choice, etc. It is not a busywork type workbook. There are several pages of essays to every fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice. There aren't many of the latter two at all--the vast majority of the pages so far have been essay questions. Also, if a child has never encountered multiple choice or fill in the blank, it's perfect. Just a quick example of what they are and how to do them. My dd's essay skills have increased dramatically. Who cares if it's in a workbook? If I asked the question verbally and gave her a blank sheet of paper I don't see that there would have been an earth-shattering difference. Also, I like the way it gives us a good break-down for how much to cover each day. We do one lesson from the HO student book (which tells us how many pages in the text to cover) and 2 chapters of OUP books. It's perfect for us! Hope that helps clear the waters...I see now how murky my other post was. ;) Edited October 12, 2012 by Hilltop Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) I just want to emphasize much of the HO student pages book includes assignments online which we don't have access to. We use it for what is actually in the student pages. I was taken back at first by how little was actually in the student pages book and how much was online, but it has been just the right amount for us. Edited October 12, 2012 by Hilltop Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 OUP has student books for each book and Human Odyssey has one student book. I bought the HO one and the first OUP one to compare them. I decided to use the HO student pages and teacher's book for a couple reasons. 1. The OUP ones would get expensive since I would need to buy student and teacher books for each OUP book. 2. My main goal was to have a source for map work and an opportunity to practice some skill work in the contest of history, but I didn't want to spend too much time using it. Much of the HO work is online, and since we don't have that portion there is only a little work in the student guide left. For us it works great. The OUP student books would have been more than we needed for our goals. The student pages include mapwork and a good assortment of skill work--outlining, timelines, essay questions, comparison charts, fill-in the-blank, multiple choice, etc. It is not a busywork type workbook. There are several pages of essays to every fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice. There aren't many of the latter two at all--the vast majority of the pages so far have been essay questions. Also, if a child has never encountered multiple choice or fill in the blank, it's perfect. Just a quick example of what they are and how to do them. My dd's essay skills have increased dramatically. Who cares if it's in a workbook? If I asked the question verbally and gave her a blank sheet of paper I don't see that there would have been an earth-shattering difference. Also, I like the way it gives us a good break-down for how much to cover each day. We do one lesson from the HO student book (which tells us how many pages in the text to cover) and 2 chapters of OUP books. It's perfect for us! Hope that helps clear the waters...I see now how murky my other post was. ;) Thank you, this is very helpful! Can you tell me why you decided to do both OUP and HO? meaning, do each of them feel incomplete alone? It looks like we will finish SOTW 4 halfway through 6th grade (next year) and start back over with the Ancients, so I'm not planning too far ahead! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) Thank you, this is very helpful! Can you tell me why you decided to do both OUP and HO? meaning, do each of them feel incomplete alone? Yes. Human Odyssey is less in-depth, but I like the skills practice the student pages provide. The OUP books add more information. Honestly, I am sometimes tempted to quit using both and switch to a more complex text instead. My daughter has started making comments about how thankful she is that history is so easy this year. :glare: She should know better than to make comments like that... Increasing assigned reading should take care of that little problem. ;) The reason I am sticking with this combo instead of switching to a more complex text is I want to make sure she is ready to do essay questions and other work with a more complex text before we use one. I don't want her fumbling with a difficult text and trying to work on skills at the same time. Tough balance. In addition to increasing assigned reading, I think I will add a more complex read aloud for history. That'll teach her to say the e word. :tongue_smilie: Edited October 12, 2012 by Hilltop Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Yes. Human Odyssey is less in-depth, but I like the skills practice the student pages provide. The OUP books add more information. Honestly, I am sometimes tempted to quit using both and switch to a more complex text instead. My daughter has started making comments about how thankful she is that history is so easy this year. :glare: She should know better than to make comments like that... Increasing assigned reading should take care of that little problem. ;) The reason I am sticking with this combo instead of switching to a more complex text is I want to make sure she is ready to do essay questions and other work with a more complex text before we use one. I don't want her fumbling with a difficult text and trying to work on skills at the same time. Tough balance. In addition to increasing assigned reading, I think I will add a more complex read aloud for history. That'll teach her to say the e word. :tongue_smilie: :lol::lol::lol: It's funny, this year has been going so smoothly for us, that I'm feeling like I need to kick it up a notch, too. So I totally get where you are coming from!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 :lol::lol::lol: It's funny, this year has been going so smoothly for us, that I'm feeling like I need to kick it up a notch, too. So I totally get where you are coming from!!! I feel like I need to go to the relaxed homeschooling thread and resign or confess or something....;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 I feel like I need to go to the relaxed homeschooling thread and resign or confess or something....;) :D Yes, apparently I have a foot in both camps too! Although actually, *I* am pretty darn relaxed, which is very cool for a change . . . hence the time and mental space to start planning for next year. OP, sorry for derailing this thread, but at least between Hilltop & I we've kept it #1 on the Board all morning ;)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 I feel like I need to go to the relaxed homeschooling thread and resign or confess or something....;) :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 Well, I did go and buy yet another copy of K12's HO (I think this is the third time? :blush:), and we read chapter one. The kids were... okay with it. To supplement, I brought out OUP's Early Human World, started reading, and it was all about "Mommy, can we have just one more chapter, PLEEEAAAASSSE?" We ended up reading 4 chapters back-to-back, and I am betting they'll want more today. Not sure at this point if I'll keep the HO book or not. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 See if they have this one too. I am glad to see someone besides SWB recommending ART's books. They may not be as s@xy is the OUP books, but they are well-written and informative. My youngest ditched OUP after a couple of volumes, but liked Art's books when he wanted to go deeper than the K12 books allowed for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I feel like we are slogging through the OUP books at this point. We started the series sometime last school year. Dd really liked the Near Eastern world. She got bogged down in the South Asian World, and complained that there wasn't enough actual history in it. She's reading the Ancient Chinese World now. I think I need to get on the ball and start adding in some interesting documentaries and activities. I've just been having her read and narrate and fill out a time line, and it's too...blah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 I feel like we are slogging through the OUP books at this point. We started the series sometime last school year. Dd really liked the Near Eastern world. She got bogged down in the South Asian World, and complained that there wasn't enough actual history in it. She's reading the Ancient Chinese World now. I think I need to get on the ball and start adding in some interesting documentaries and activities. I've just been having her read and narrate and fill out a time line, and it's too...blah. My kids LOVE documentaries, so I've been adding in a couple a week. Does your dd like hands-on projects? I find this book really useful. The projects aren't too hard OR too easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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