Guest prudence Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Hello! My kids are currently in 4th and 6th grade and we will begin homeschooling next Fall. They have been in an excellent full-time gifted program since Kindergarten. The program is accelerated so they are both reading well above grade level, however, their study of history has not had a lot of depth or cohesion. I would like for them to both start with the Ancients and I'm wondering if SOTW volume 1 would be appropriate for them. Any advice regarding texts and supplaments would be appreciated. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 I don't think SOTW1 would be appropriate. Does the online sample have the "imagine you're on a magic carpet..." section? I think most advanced tweens would cringe. For middle school the World in Ancient Times series by Oxford is excellent. I picked up the ancient American one recently and found it quite readable. There's been previous threads about these books on the Logic board. hth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I think it is too light for that age, as written. The accompanying map work is very kiddish, the recommended books for supplemental reading are far below DS's ability and interest level, and the craft activities are also childish. We are using it for my son (4th) because he just came out of public school with little cohesion to his history either, and he enjoys the stories, but the depth is really light. Next year, we will continue with it for him, but I will add in my own chosen readings that are more appropriate for him, and also add in some related writing and DVDs to make it more age-appropriate. If you added in, I think it will work, but not as written and presented in the activity guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc26 Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 My 5th grader (age 10) loves SOTW1. I am going to continue the series with him throughout middle school adding in the activity guide and tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
housemouse Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Check out Ancient World from Memoria Press. Ds did it last year- read, took notes, wrote on topics, read extra books and videos- we did not do any tests with it though. With SOTW, other volumes are written more for higher grades and if doing the activities and reading in the student activity book, adding in DVDs, e-video, Discovery Education, as well as plenty of library books on topics, it may work. You also will need to include much more writing that is on topic and on their grade level- outlining, essays, research, things like that. Another option could be doing 2 volumes of SOTW in one year, with additional video, writing and books accordingly, maybe not as many as option two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I bought the whole shebang for SOTW2, cd, book, activity book and tests. I realizenow it really is too young for my DS(5th grade, somewhat accelerated but not in history). I cannot go on. Making alternative plans as we speak. Probably Oxford university press books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Do you want to challenge them? Probably not SOTW unless you do quite a bit of supplementing with additional reading and writing assignments. Do you challenge them in other areas and want to give them a nice, light introduction to the arc if history? Perhaps SOTW it's for you! At those ages you may be able to skim through more than one book a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Book 1 is written for a considerably younger audience than book 4. It can be a bit of a challenge to use SOTW sometimes when you need to start with the ancients with an older student. It depends on the situation and what I'm using as my main curriculum. I'm a big picture person and willing to tweak the details, if I like the big picture well enough. The Kindle books are very affordable. No matter what, I at least use them as supplementary reading for many of my adult remedial students. Book 4 is often used by people who use something else for earlier periods, that doesn't include modern times. Students differ considerably on what they find insulting, to what they find enjoyable, when it's a bit easier and chattier. I have an adult student that just loves to sit quietly and color as she listens to the audio version. She finds it an effortless way to fill in the gaps of her education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I agree with the others that SOTW1 would be too young. I think most people use the OUP books, or The Human Odyssey from K12 for logic stage students. I was originally going to go over ancient times and middle ages next year with Oak Meadow's Ancient Civilizations (6th grade) curriculum, but we decided to drop the history rotation this year. It might be worth looking into, since if you do the 6th and 7th grade history, you'll get the whole scope in 2 years, and your current 7th grader can go through the whole rotation during high school, fleshing it out more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellalarella Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I had my daughter use SOTW1 for 7th grade last year and this year she is using History of the Medieval World for 8th grade. I felt like the additional heavy duty literature reading and encyclopedia reading we were doing made SOTW still a reasonable choice for her, but since her reading levels and maturity were up for it, we're using HMW this year. As I toggle back and forth between STOW2 and HMW for my six kids this year, I am often struck by how much I enjoy the narrative style of SOTW. The stories she uses to teach the history are memorable--and that's what I'm going for--something they will remember. Unless a middle grade kid just totally objected to SOTW, I think it makes a very fine springboard into further study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Just because something is easy, doesn't mean it's not effective. Just because something is written for a younger audience, doesn't mean all older people will find it insulting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 While kids will vary on whether they think the tone of SOTW1 & 2 are too young for them, I don't have a problem using SOTW1 for 5th & 7th grades. (Sonlight schedules the volumes with quite a bit of extra supplementation at the pace of two per year in one of their older grade packages. Their "G" package uses SOTW 1 & 2 for a recommended age of 11-13.) I'd supplement them, for sure. I might even go at a faster pace than one volume per year. But I wouldn't have a problem with it. However, if you want a more middle grade reading level, you might look into K12's Human Odyssey books (volumes 1 & 2). There are a lot of threads on here about using them. Good luck! [Edited to fix grade levels.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I use SOTW with a 5th grader (2nd cycle for him), but we add in a lot of supplementary reading appropriate for the logic stage. I think it is on the lighter side for him, but it works for us overall. I would not go that route with a 7th and 5th grader though. My DD (2nd grader) is doing her first trip through SOTW, so for us, integrating the two kids and rounding out their studies with supplementary reading works okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I agree volume 1 is too light. Although, I thoroughly enjoyed it myself despite that. If you were to add in beefier additional books, that might work out well. Since they didn't get much history, it's not like they are going to feel it is redundant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I'm reading through SOTW 1, myself, right now, to refresh myself on the book. It's my least favorite of the series, but if I had a 5th and 7th grader with little exposure to history, this is the series I would use with them, including book 1. It covers the necessary topics to prepare for the later books. It provides a spine to plan supplementary reading around. It does the job. It took me awhile to make peace with book 1. There are a few details I didn't like that distracted me from the big picture. I think if I'd started mid series, I wouldn't have later batted an eyelash over the not-liked details in book 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Well, we didn't use SOTW because DD didn't like when we tried and I had some issues with it so we did all interest led history that I created until this year (5th). I have created my own ancients study using primarily OUP World in Ancient Times and K12 Human Odyssey, plus Great Courses and lots of other books and videos. I also use Story of Science, Can You Count in Greek, and World History Detective. These are all at the perfect level for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Greenleaf Guides for the Famous Men of Greece/Rome/Middle Ages/Renaisance/etc. series might be a better fit for that age range. If you get All Through The Ages you can bulk up with more assigned reading as the book lists in them are divided up by grade ranges for K-12th grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 If they have been in a gifted program, I think SOTW 1 would be way too slow for them. I LOVE the series , but I wouldn't use it at those ages. At best, if I were to have my oldest read it at his age, I would have him read through it and discuss it fairly quickly and use it as a stepping stone/springboard to more in depth work. Perhaps the Memoria Press stuff, or the Greenleaf Guides. My oldest has been reading through Famous Men of Greece and enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherOfBoys Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I've seen sotw used as summer independent reading. We will use it in young middle school with the tests and older readalouds. We always get more out of a book by reading it twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) . Edited July 12, 2022 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 We started SOTW in 3rd grade and it was fine for my son at that age with the activity guides and the tests. 4th grade was also ok. 5th grade it was wearing thin and we stopped doing any of the activity guide except for the map work and review questions. I can't see it working for him as a 6th or 7th grader. If your kids are gifted and like history I think it is a bit light for older kids. It was written for 1st-4th graders. Most of the suggested additional reading is geared to younger kids as well. My son really loves history though. I can see it working as a jumping off point for an older child who just needs an intro to world history. I'd probably skip most of the Activity Guide though for those ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 One possibility is to do a 2 book a year schedule, at least for SOTW 1/2. This is what Sonlight has programmed for their 6th grade core. Doing the reading, some of the supplemental readings that are higher level, mapwork, and moving more towards writing responses vs just retelling can help ramp it up, and make the pace more appropriate for older DC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prudence Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Thanks everyone! So much great advice. I appreciate it. -Prudence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Story of the World is perfect for grades 5-8. We use it and supplement with Biblioplan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crl Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 For my DD in 6th grade we are reading a chapter a day out of the SOTW series. She likes it for the most part and is retaining more than she has with other curriculum. We don't do most of the activities in the activity guide, but she does do the map work just to be sure she understands where we are studying for the day. At this rate, she will finish most of the series by the end of the year. You could also look into getting a used Sonlight guide to help you get the series up to a middle school level. I know most here say that the series is only for grades 1-4, but in the beginning of the activity guides it says book one was written for grades 1-4, book 2 was written for grades 2-5, book three was written for grades 3-6, and book four was written for grades 4-8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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