Has anyone used the new(ish) History Odyssey

[medawyn]

from Pandia Press with their History Quest? Thoughts? Likes/dislikes?

Just figuring out our next steps over here.

 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

We have used History Odyssey Ancients & are now using History Quest Middle Times.

History Odyssey was a a curated list of recommended readings, activities, & videos. SotW was included, in addition to the Usborne Encyclopedia of History & other resources, despite not being secular (Pandia addressed that by  assigning readings that omitted problematic sections) because it was the best narrative history resource available at the time. It was just enough of a scaffold that I didn’t feel like I was having to put things together from scratch, but light enough that I didn’t hesitate to add to it whenever something seemed fun. We enjoyed it greatly. 

History Quest is meant to replace the need for SotW as a narrative history spine. The text for HQ is broken into two sections: a textbook-like chapter followed by a narrative-style “History Hop”. The chapters are excellent; chock-full of interesting information... but dense. My DS is accustomed to involved read-alouds but for whatever reason can’t hang through the chapters without breaking it across multiple days - at least, not if I want him to retain anything. He loves the History Hops! Those are light & fun, much like SotW. I’m torn on HQ. The material is excellent, but I’m left feeling like we need to cover it at half-pace or have zero room to add to it, which is something we enjoy doing. For now we’re proceeding at half-pace & will see if we can work our way up to a full chapter at a time.