StaceyinLA Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Can someone give me a quick overview of the major differences between these, and why you prefer either one over the other? Doing SOTW at the moment, but wanting to do a timeline and make sure I have a good overview without having to have a lot of past history knowledge (it's always been my LEAST favorite subject, and I tended to do more textbook stuff with my kids (though we did do TOG for a year or two). I'm hoping something will finally kick in for me and make me appreciate history more. 😜 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hadley Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Hopefully, someone will chime in who has gone through elementary history more recently than I, but I have used and liked both. Mystery of History is MUCH more Christian/young Earth/creationism based. It served us as a fabulous road-map to the story of the Old Testament. Story of the World includes stories from the Bible, along with myths from other cultures as well, but does not present them as fact. My son must have listened to the SoTW cds at least fifty times as he played with his cars and legos... I don’t think you can go wrong with either series. If you are a curricula hoarder like me, you can easily use them both 😊. adding this...Mystery of History does have a great timeline guide and instructions throughout the chapters, if that interests you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 I've used both for Ancients and Medieval and prefer SotW. I thought I'd like interspersing Bible stories in with our history ... but then I didn't. It just seemed like a Sunday school lesson and my kids already knew those stories (even the obscure prophets - we have a very comprehensive Sunday school curriculum at our church) so I ended up skipping those lessons, which kind of defeated the purpose of using MoH in the first place. I am a young earth creationist, but I was uncomfortable about how that was presented in MoH. (I usually steer clear from Apologia's elementary science for the same reason.) And I thought MoH was kind of preachy and evangelistic for a curriculum. I prefer to disciple my children myself, not have a curriculum try to do it for me. I don't know, maybe I'm just picky, but it rubbed me the wrong way. I can't compare volumes 3 and 4 because we switch to US History those years. I've used the Homeschool in the Woods timeline figures and Knowledge Quests's wall timelines with both programs. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyinLA Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 (edited) Thank you both for the input. I guess my biggest issue is my own ineptness - not really knowing how history, especially ancient/Biblical history, all works together myself. I want to be sure I’m using something thorough, and covering it all, and I do want to do this from a Christian perspective for sure, all while being kind of clueless as to how it all overlaps. I guess that’s the product of a public school, textbook-only (so dull and boring) history education. I never really wanted to learn more. Unfortunately, Knowledge Quest has absolutely nothing in stock on their site. 😞 Edited March 5, 2020 by StaceyinLA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hadley Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Honestly, if you want the intersection of ancient history with Biblical history, I recommend The Mystery of History. I am on the fence about the age of the Earth (and don’t think it’s a salvation issue), so I took the first couple chapters of the book as just one possibility. However, I grew up in the Church of Christ, and was taught the Bible thoroughly both in Sunday School and at home. I also received a so-so public school history education. Like you, I was NEVER taught how those stories all fit together. Mystery of History does that really well. In fact, my mom sat down one afternoon and read the whole book and bought copies for her sisters because she was so excited to understand the big picture. Hope that helps...good luck in your decision-making! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyinLA Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 (edited) Yeah I’m on the fence there also. I like the idea of integrating it more fully, but SOTW is working, and I do find it pretty easy to use. Is MOH as easy to use, as in read, discuss, answer questions, narrate back a bit, do the worksheets, simple projects if desired, and move on. We aren’t doing supplemental reading unless it’s a topic the kids are really interested in learning more about. Oh, and putting stuff on the timeline - I’m working on putting it together and we are collecting what will need to be put on it when it’s finally up. So how is MOH implemented? Is it that simple? Edited March 5, 2020 by StaceyinLA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hadley Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 (edited) I just dug out my old copy of Year 1. You have made me want to re-read it! The set-up is VERY teacher friendly. Each lesson is about a page and a half to three of reading. There are three lessons a week. You really can go as deep as you wish with it. After each lesson, the book suggests some activities for younger, middle, and older students. The author also encourages the children to make their own ‘memory cards’ to use for review. At the end of each week (three lessons), instructions are included for who/what to put on your timeline. Map work is included as well, if you wish to add it. The book even includes some quizzes and tests, but I never used them with my elementary student. Book 1 is written in a very conversational voice, as is SoTW. The voice becomes more mature as the volumes progress. Hope that helps! Hope this is somewhat coherent. I’m trying to make dinner as I type ...I’m not a good cook even under the perfect circumstances... I’m editing to add that I just saw that there is a much improved edition of this book. I have the first edition. The new one is much prettier!! The activities are on a cd, rather than after each chapter, but it all does come with the book...just FYI... ...and now, I want the new pretty hardcover book, of course. Edited March 5, 2020 by Hadley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyinLA Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 I did notice there was a new edition. I guess I need to look and see if I could see some samples - I think it would help me to know if I liked her style of writing better. The actual daily stuff seems similar to SOTW, as far as how we would implement it. I like that she includes the timeline work though, not that it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out, but hey, I’m quite challenged in this area! I looked back at some old threads - apparently the map work is a bit more complex starting out than is SOTW. What honestly might be a better plan for me is to stick with SOTW for now and maybe do that series closer to middle school. Who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hadley Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 That could be a good plan. I was just on the author’s site, and you can download the first month’s lessons for free. I promise I’m not affiliated with this author in any way, but I really love this first book! It really did tie history together for me. Good luck with the planning! Enjoy! My son is finishing up high school with AP history classes, and I so miss doing history with him. The time really flies... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 If the Bible integration is really what you're looking for, then I agree that MoH might be a better choice for you. When we did Volumes 1 and 2, we used it a lot like SotW. We read the lesson and did the coloring page and talked about it, maybe did an activity or 2 (not many), did the mapwork, and put a timeline figure up on the wall. We didn't do the pre-tests or the quizzes or the tests. It was easy to implement. Bummer about the timelines not being available! I really like mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyinLA Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 On 3/5/2020 at 8:35 PM, Momto6inIN said: If the Bible integration is really what you're looking for, then I agree that MoH might be a better choice for you. When we did Volumes 1 and 2, we used it a lot like SotW. We read the lesson and did the coloring page and talked about it, maybe did an activity or 2 (not many), did the mapwork, and put a timeline figure up on the wall. We didn't do the pre-tests or the quizzes or the tests. It was easy to implement. Bummer about the timelines not being available! I really like mine. I think the thing is, I just don’t really feel like I know enough to integrate it myself. I hate to admit being that clueless, but it’s the darn truth. I just want, at the end of it all, for my grandkids to see the big picture - even bigger than what my own kids saw because we were stuck in a textbook rut. I mean we did VP cards, but didn’t go as in-depth into those as we should’ve, then I just got texts because it was easier, although it makes for a pretty dull history education overall. The only thing is, after reading some of the sample (I do want to look at the rest), I’m not positive I love the writing style compared to SOTW, and it’s quite a bit pricier, so I feel like I really need to love it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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