Best history spine for the middle grades?

[hapersmion]

Hi, new here!  My oldest son is about to start 5th grade.  For 1st-4th we used Story of the World, and his little brother is still going to be using that (1st grade), so I think I'll still have him listen to each chapter, but I don't want to just go through the exact same stuff again.  I think I'll get a secondary history book for the 5th grader to read through on his own, and do our narration/outlining/etc from that instead of from SotW.  We always supplement with piles of library books.

He's an excellent reader, pretty much adult-level, but he'll do best with a visually-interesting book, rather than one that looks boring.  :P  I looked at the recommendations in WTM, but the only one my library seems to have is the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, so I can't compare it with anything else.

What is your favorite?

[CanadianAlison+3boys]

We are in the same boat this year. Oldest DS going into Grade 5, with his brothers going into Grade 2 and Grade 1 and the younger two will be doing STOW Ancients.

 

We bought the older edition Kingfisher per the Well Trained Mind recommendations and DS likes the look of it. I was planning on getting the Usborne history book but it was out of stock when I was buying and now that I've seen the Kingfisher I think it will work nicely.

[deerforest]

K12 Human Odyssey or OUP World in Ancient Times.

[stlily]

Hi and welcome,

 

I own The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History, The Dorling Kindersley History of the World, and the National Geographic Almanac of World History. The Usborne encyclopedia a good one, but it's at about a 4th grade reading level. If you don't want to purchase different encyclopedia for each of the 4 middle grade years, the Kingfisher encyclopedia is a good one.  It give more information that the Usborne.  The DK History is at t a higher level and written more in essay format.  I've copied a link below that leads to a discussion about history spines for the middle grades. You might find it helpful.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/567872-logic-stage-history-spine/?hl=%2Bhistory+%2Bspine&do=findComment&comment=6668230

[ScoutTN]

K12 Human Odyssey or OUP World in Ancient Times.

 

:iagree:  :iagree:  :iagree:

 

OP, We are just a year ahead of you. I have a rising 6th grader, who is studious and reads very well. 

 

We used K12 Human Odyssey last year, with lots of library books, and were pleased. We are using the three books over four years, to match the SOTW cycle, so that both of my kids are in the same time period. Also using less of the textbook left more time for other literature. The K12 HO books are inexpensive used on Amazon.

 

I love the Oxford University Press Books too, but getting all of them (even used) to do Ancients wasn't in my budget and they don't go all the way through modern history. So we use those as supplemental reading, sometimes I include sections as RA. We have some and some I can get at the library. We have the Kingfisher too and also use it a supplement. 

 

If you search here you will find several schedules matching up SOTW and the K12 books. After a month or so, I abandoned the effort to stay coordinated and just read through each on their own order. We used the SOTW audiobook in the car. 

 

Hope you find something that works well for you.

Edited July 3, 2016 by ScoutTN

[deerforest]

Yes, the OUP stop before modern, which is disappointing. We just loved them so much more than K12, which is fine and still very much liked (especially compared to an encyclopedia approach which isn't for us). But, just a tip about the OUP books. They have had a few sales both at Amazon and OUP over the years, and they also often show up on Amazon used books too. I didn't pay anywhere near retail, and I got the entire set of Ancients and the next one that covered Middle Ages and Early Modern.

 

Just to tell you how much DD loved them, earlier this year we started occasionally watching Jeopardy (we don't have cable and rarely watch TV), and they apparently are sponsored by OUP. The first time we noticed the shout-out to OUP at the end of the show, DD was SO excited. She was yelling, "OUP! OUP! We love OUP!" So, that's her take on it!

 

Holli

[SanDiegoMom]

We love OUP.  We get them through the library, fortunately. I don't know what I'll use for Modern next year.  I'll be so sad! 

[Momto6inIN]

Another vote for K12 Human Odyssey and fun historical fiction :)

 

I also have my 5th graders write a simple summary of each chapter of Human Odyssey and keep a timeline notebook for output.

[hapersmion]

Thanks, everyone, that's very helpful! 

Wow, the first Human Odyssey book is $7 on Amazon, I might just get it anyway, even though I still have some books from the library to check out.  :)

[ScoutTN]

Another vote for K12 Human Odyssey and fun historical fiction :)

 

I also have my 5th graders write a simple summary of each chapter of Human Odyssey and keep a timeline notebook for output.

 

Yes, we too do outlining, summaries and a timline. Plus lots of discussion!

[waa510]

We've enjoyed K12 Human Odyssey after our run through SoTW. It has a similar feel but is a step-up IMO. There's a lot of review in that it tries to tie-in things that happened earlier or differences/similarities between cultures previously learned, etc. It also has a selection at the end of the Chapter section which is in a story format similar to SOTW. Both my kids really enjoy it and have learned quite a bit from it. I've added in corresponding books for the time period and a youtube video list as well. 

[lmrich]

I have enjoyed the Dorothy Mills history books as well. I have also enjoyed the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and the HO. I also like to include a lot of literature and nonfiction books too. (I can't say that my dd has loved all of that combined in a crazy way!)

[Kfamily]

We really like the series by Dorothy Mills as well. We also use the books by G. Foster too.

[happypamama]

My kids both have liked Human Odyssey as well; they say it's very readable.  They like Kingfisher also, but they say it's more repetitive (which I don't get, because it's not a lot of info on the page, period, but whatever), and they prefer the detail that Human Odyssey has over Kingfisher's overview.

[Kathleen.]

We've enjoyed K12 Human Odyssey after our run through SoTW. It has a similar feel but is a step-up IMO. There's a lot of review in that it tries to tie-in things that happened earlier or differences/similarities between cultures previously learned, etc. It also has a selection at the end of the Chapter section which is in a story format similar to SOTW. Both my kids really enjoy it and have learned quite a bit from it. I've added in corresponding books for the time period and a youtube video list as well.

Care to share your list?

[poettgenacademy]

We have enjoyed the G. Foster books.  The timeline within the books allows us to branch out and pursue books on persons or topics that catch our attention.