Usborne book of world history as spine?

[mom of 2 boys]

I'm struggling with how I want to approach history for my son who will be in first grade next year. Im starting to feel like I may just want to present a very broad overview of world history in one year, saving the US for last and spending a little bit of extra time on it. I almost feel like I may want to repeat this for 2nd grade using different materials, and then go into a detailed 4 year history cycle after he has some general idea of what has happened and what the globe looks like, probably also what different cultures are like. Again, this would be just a very broad overview of what our planet looks like and what has happened on it. Is this a method that people use?

 

Anyway, I'm considering using the Usborne Book of World History as a spine (not the encyclopedia), and I'm not sure how well this would suit a 6 year old. In other words, I do not want him to be bored by details that go over his head. Can anyone tell me a little bit about this book? Does anyone know of a similar book that I could look into?

 

Also, if anyone knows of any very basic kid friendly books about major history topics, or an introduction to cultures or even a world geography book, please feel free to recommend! I am trying to approach this very gently and in a way that stirs up interest.

 

Thank you!

[YsgolYGair]

Other than the fact that I have to go through and draw clothes on lots of the people, it's a good and interesting book for that age. I'm planning to use it as my spine, with SOTW and a couple activity books to supplement, next year. My school kids will be 8, 6, and 4.

[SebastianCat]

Look at Sonlight's Core A and Core B.    Core A is a broad-brush view of history and cultures, recommended for ages 5-7 (and I think it's best for age 6-7 or 1st/2nd grade), which uses the Usborne Encyclopedia as a spine.   

 

Core B is the first of a two-year study of World History, recommended for ages 6-8, which uses the UBWH as one of its spines.   Unless the book has changed since we used it 7-8 years ago, the UBWH contains nudity which can be a problem for some parents.   I recommend you pre-read it yourself before reading with your DS so you can decide if this is an issue for your family.

 

Even if you don't use the Sonlight Cores per se, you might get some good book ideas by looking at their book lists.

[Guest]

I'm reading A Child's History of the World very slowly with my 4&5 year old. I also own SL Core A and use some of the readers and books that came with it in addition to the multitude of others we own. I don't follow the SL schedule. If we want to soak in on Greece, we do.

 

My theory on this is just do a gentle intro. Make them enjoy the 10-20 minutes a day you spend on it. Another option is to buy SOTW and the audio version and just do that. If you want activities, buy the activity book. But don't overthink it. He's 6. Just make it enjoyable so he will want to come back to it again and again! :)

 

Lastly, you can honestly use just about any book you like if the pictures hold their interest. Just trim the text to be what you want. The Usbornes are a little jumpy for me sometimes. I do use them for some periods, but I like the Kingfisher and some other books better for giving them something to look at and contemplate. Also, if you have a local museum you can visit after particular topics that makes it more fun too.

[Dudley]

I was going to suggest sonlight Intro to world history core too.  My son is in K this year and I created a quick run through history with  Usborned First Encyclopedia of History and Long,long ago , VERY low key.  The problem I'm noticing with my little set up of using the Encyclopedia is that there is no story to tie it together and to draw him in, nothing to hang the information on.  Next year we will use Sonlight core B (Intro world history part 1) Which uses Usborne book of World history , Usborne Time Travelers. but really uses Childs history of the World as the spine.  I've used it several times with my older kids and never had a problem with them not being engaged in first grade and I really enjoy the Childs history of the World.  They do have a B+C which does go all the way through world history in one year, but think that is recommended for 2nd and up..  Doing it over two years lets you pause on a time period for alittle and do some fun stuff and read some really good books.

[amyc78]

We use SOTW as our spine and Usborne Book of World History as a helpful (and illustrated) supplement. Sometimes we add extra readalouds or YouTube videos. Then we put HIW figures in our timeline. That's our history curriculum for 4th and 2nd grade :)

[8Arrows4theLord]

We are finishing Sonlight A with 3 children grades K, 1 and 2 together. I agree with what the others have posted about Sonlight  A, nice gentle over view. It uses Usborne Children's Encyclopedia, and is meant to be a taste of history, geography, cultures, and science if you get the science kit (uses the same book). I have enjoyed it, and my little ones have enjoyed the simple lessons. I needed the ready to go lessons.

 

If you don't want to buy anything, you could work your way through the children's history section of the library. Reading all the lovely picture books and simple biographies that are of interest to you and your child. A few books and series that we have really enjoyed at k-1st grade are:

Usborne Time Traveler Book

A Picture Book of...... (lots of famous people)- one author is David A. Adler

..If You Grew Up With..... (lots of famous people) - by Ann McGovern

The You Wouldn't Want to series - by David Salariya  -you may want to look through these first if your son is sensitive- some of the material can get a little gross- but my boys love them.

Lots of easy readers have History topics

      - The Trojan Horse

      - Tut's mummy lost and found

     - Pompeii -buried alive

 

UBOWH is very good, my older kids liked it, but it will need edited for nudes. You could use it as a spring board to find other picture books about a topic he enjoys. You don't have to read everything in the book either. Just flip through and chose the major topics you want to cover for the year. It has lots of illustrations and usually covers a specific topic on a 1-2 page spread. So you won't spend a long time reading the material in the book. It also has simple activities you can do if you wish. If your son can sit for 10-15 min. and listen well, he should be fine with this book. One last note that may or may not affect your family- there are references to human evolution and the book not accurate in portraying Biblical history. I simply adjusted the wording or clarified to meet my family's views on these points. It made for good discussion on why we believe as we do.

 

Hope this helps some!  :001_smile:

Edited March 15, 2017 by 8Arrows4theLord

[SparklyUnicorn]

It's a fun book to look at and thumb through but I found it very dry and choppy.  We ended up using SOTW instead and loved that.

 

 

[mom of 2 boys]

Thank you so much, everyone!! After much agonizing, I think I finally decided to go with SOTW, but I will most likely also order the Usborne book of world history to go along with it as a reference. It sounds like something I want to own, but maybe not use as a spine. While I do like a lot of the books from sonlight, I dont really want to spend that much money, and after reading so many great reviews of SOTW I feel like it's something I don't want to deprive my son of. I am definitely planning on using some of the Sonlight books with it though, especially the ones that I can borrow from my local library.

 

Thanks again for all of the help! Im feeling much better about this!