I need a "SOTW" type book for my rising 7th grader

[Hot Lava Mama]

We need a different history book. She has already been through all 4 SOTW books when she was younger, so I didn't want her to do that again (she didn't want to do them either because her younger siblings are doing them and she sees them as "baby books" now). So, for dd's current 6th grade year, we have been using Kingfisher as the spine for history. The spine thing isn't working for her. She isn't understanding most of what she is reading. It is taking too much time to explain every little thing in the Kingfisher book. Is there another narrative type book like SOTW for middle grades? She is doing middle ages now, so maybe early modern times for next year. I need something that she can read on her own. I'm not hard pressed on the time period she will study because I don't think she understands most of what she has read during last year (ancients) and most of this year (middle ages). Ugh.

 

Can anyone help with suggestions.

 

Hot Lava Mama

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, over here on this board we all seem to be enamored of K12's Human Odyssey. Very readable, narrative history, does a great job of making connections, perfect follow up to SOTW for a middle grade student.

[SilverMoon]

You might consider the Genevieve Foster books. World of George Washington and such. They are American focused, but cover the whole world at the same time like SOTW.

[MyLittleWonders]

I'll second the recommendation for K12's Human Odyssey. I'm using it for my 6th grader with the younger two along for the ride (reading SOTW with them) and we all are enjoying it. I break the chapters into a couple days and we discuss as we go, but the writing is very engaging and there is just enough visuals on a page to enrich without visually over stimulating any of us.

[Cleopatra]

After SOTW my dd used "The Story of" books by Christine Miller/H.A. Guerber ( http://www.lamppostpublishing.com/guerber-history.htm ) She really enjoys them; they are very similar to SOTW just at a higher level. Other good "spines" are the books by Dorothy Mills (The Book of the Ancient World, the Greeks, the Romans, the Middle Ages .... for example: http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/classical-studies/middle-ages ). My dd used these books to supplement and they are excellent. They tend to go deeper into the lives of the important historical figures while the Miller/Guerber books focus more on what happened during the time period.

 

For deeper understanding, have you ever tried linking up her literature to the history period? I compile books for my dd that go along with history and then organize them so that she reads them when she is studying that particular part of history. Understanding tends to come very quickly when there is a story attached to the information.

[TheApprentice]

You can also look into:

 

A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich

The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem VanLoon

[Hot Lava Mama]

Awesome suggestions! Thanks so much!

:)

Hot Lava Mama

[SunnyDays]

Well, over here on this board we all seem to be enamored of K12's Human Odyssey. Very readable, narrative history, does a great job of making connections, perfect follow up to SOTW for a middle grade student.

 

Right... I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a history thread on the Logic board where K12HO doesn't come up pretty quickly. You know how the answer to Life's Ultimate Question is 42?? HO is pretty much always the answer to History... ;)

 

Okay, there are other good history options too. :) I also like the look of the Genevieve Foster books. We also have "A Little History" by Gombrich and it's quite a good read. The Dorothy Mills and Helene Guerber books appeal to me too.

 

Hmm.... I think I need to borrow some more kids. DS will never agree to going through all those history programs... :D

[Cleopatra]

Right... I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a history thread on the Logic board where K12HO doesn't come up pretty quickly. You know how the answer to Life's Ultimate Question is 42?? HO is pretty much always the answer to History... ;)

 

So what does everyone like about HO? I checked out some samples and it looks textbook-ish to me. I found it interesting but I thought my dd, who prefers narratives, would find it ho-hum-ish. Anyone care to enlighten me? :001_smile:

[Woodland_Mom]

After SOTW my dd used "The Story of" books by Christine Miller/H.A. Guerber ( http://www.lamppostpublishing.com/guerber-history.htm ) She really enjoys them; they are very similar to SOTW just at a higher level. Other good "spines" are the books by Dorothy Mills (The Book of the Ancient World, the Greeks, the Romans, the Middle Ages .... for example: http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/classical-studies/middle-ages ). My dd used these books to supplement and they are excellent. They tend to go deeper into the lives of the important historical figures while the Miller/Guerber books focus more on what happened during the time period.

 

For deeper understanding, have you ever tried linking up her literature to the history period? I compile books for my dd that go along with history and then organize them so that she reads them when she is studying that particular part of history. Understanding tends to come very quickly when there is a story attached to the information.

 

Thanks for this recommendation! I am also in the process of choosing a logic stage spine for our history studies. I did not realize that a newly revised 4th edition was available. I love that Biblical history is part of the whole-history narrative.

 

Another source to consider: Mystery of History. It's written at about a 6th grade level.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Famous Men of [Greece, Rome, Middle Ages, Modern Times] by Haaren & Pollard. Narrative style biography. The Modern Times volume covers 17th-19th centuries. For physical books, I prefer Memoria Press with maps and illustrations. There are also several free eText editions (Baldwin Project and downloads for Kindle).

 

Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books biographies. Out of print biographies of famous figures. Still available in some libraries. I pick them up at various used book sales.

Landmark biography series.

 

We Were There books. Lightly fictionalized history. A couple fictional kids are inserted into the historical action. The history is well researched and accurate.

 

American Heritage Junior Library. Check libraries for these. More topical, though some major figures, like Benjamin Franklin have their own titles. Horizon Caravel titles cover world history topics.

 

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States.

[Dolphin]

We are also shifting to Memoria Press with the Dorothy Mills books and famous men of....

 

I wrote about this in another thread. I am having ds read through all 4 SOTW books in order for this 2nd half of 5th grade. He is finishing book 1 this week. He is making a list of his favorite time periods in history. Then we are going to spend 6th and 7th grade going really in depth in those areas that he likes(still chronologically) . He already knows that he likes SOTW 1 and WW2 the most. I told him he has to pick at least 1 thing from each SOTW 2 and 3. So we will be doing the first 3 Dorothy Mills books (Ancients, Greece and Rome). We are also going to do Famous men of Greece and Rome. The Illiad and the Odyssey. The poem Horatio at the bridge, and anything from the library we can find. Then when he lets me know what in book 2 and 3 I will make a plan. Then 8th grade we are going to spend on American History.

 

I figure as we are trying to teach him to love learning, that it would be good for him to find parts of history that he enjoys.

[Kalmia]

The K-12 Human Odyssey series are not just textbooks, they are outstanding textbooks. I believe K-12 had them written for them when they couldn't find a middle-grades world history that was good enough for them. These volumes read like the factual sections in STOW and there are narratives at the end of most of the chapters. Art history is integrated into the text. There are a lot of socratic questions directed at the student within the text. Here is a random sample from vol. 1 of the text: "As every Spartan knew, it was the duty of warriors to battle the state's enemies. But they also had to protect Sparta from its large population of slaves, known as helots. Spartans had conquered the land they lived on and enslaved its inhabitants. These slaves tilled the land and did most of the hard work. They made up a majority of the population, but had no political rights..." The Human Odyssey vol. 1 p. 288-289. At the end of this chapter is a narrative entitled Athena's City.

 

My son reads the Human Odyssey volumes for fun. They are not dry, dull textbooks at all.

 

Instructor's Guides are available for each volume. I have seen them. They are really good, but we don't use them (use WTM style: biography sheets, outline, etc. instead) but my friend does and she thinks they add an additional level of logic stage analysis.

 

Just like STOW, the reading level increases as you move through the volumes.