Heather in AL Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 I've been reading old threads on Spielvogel's books, and have gotten thoroughly confused as to which way I should go. I'm looking for World History for a rising 9th grader who LOVES history. We are planning on two full years of World History. Should I go with Western Civ (and supplement), Human Odyssey, or World History with both Spielvogel and Duiker as authors? Opinions please! TIA, (the other) Heather in Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 I am opting for HO because it has all the pieces that I need (TM, text, study guide, quizes, etc). I read Western Civ but I think HO will be a better fit for my upcoming 9th'er. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avdelp Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Hi! My daughter used Spielvogl and Duiker's World History last year and she liked it very much. To tell the truth, the reason we got it rather than Western Civ. is because we found the book for an absolute steal. She really enjoyed having a complete World History book and has referred back to it often since completing the course (sometimes just for enjoyment). It is definitely a college level text, but we think that's a plus. Other WH curriculums look so "lite" in comparison. Best Wishes! Alicia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth in Canada Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I'm using the university level World History book with dd. We'll use it over 4 years, and I'll expect her to approach it with more sophistication each year. I wouldn't have made this choice for a poor reader or struggling writer, but for dd it's fine. We supplement with a variety of materials from the library to fill out the course each year. I think an enthusiastic history student could do it in two years--we just don't have any reason to hurry and aren't concerned about getting another type of history course in. (We did Canadian history in grades 7 and 8, US history from grades 1 through 6, so I figure we can catch both again as we work our way through world history). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill- OK Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 ...for two ninth graders. Some reasons I decided to go with HO, rather than Western Civ... *More readable and engaging. The Western Civ book is pretty dense, IMO, and my kids are not ueber scholars, lol. It needs to be interesting and 'down to earth' for us. *I wanted a global focus, not just a Western Civilization course. *I like that HO contains primary source excerpts** ("You Are There"), an Art tie-in ("Our Artistic Heritage"), and gives the bare bones for outlining each chapter (we haven't focused much on outlining before now, and this is a fairly painless way to reinforce it). The end-of-chapter discussion questions are good, and I like the scope of the material covered. (**There's also an additional resource to use with Human Odyssey for primary source documents that I have, called Primary Sources in World History, by Anne Chapman) I just really like this book. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teresa Hope Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Can you point me to a site where I can view this textbook and its parts? Something besides Amazon.com which isn't giving me a very extensive look? Thanks! Teresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherLode Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Okay, what exactly do they cover in "human odyssey?" I've not seen such a book, but then I probably haven't looked. High school level history will be my search topic this year at the convention. In college, History of Western Civ seemed to be the most intense history course they offered. I think it was a full-year course (3 quarters) I didn't have to take it, but talked to plenty of students who were taking it. They tended to love it, so I bought the text but haven't used it. Maybe I should dig it out, and check their world view! ML Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanAR Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 read SWB's HOAW this fall and will begin chapter 7 of Western Civ next week. I chose WC because it is very readable and contains numerous maps and primary documents. The "Instructor's Manual with Test Bank" contains student activities, map exercises, discussion questions for the primary source documents, essay questions, web and video resources (I've found some at Netflix), and much more. I purchased both from Allibris. Last week, I randomly chose about 45 multiple choice questions from the test bank of the first six chapters to see if ds's readings in HOAW covered the same topics. Without warning, I asked him to answer them to the best of his ability. He did well, and I am pleased that we took the extra time to read HOAW. I think he retained a lot. SusanAR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 I really liked Spielvogel's Western Civ, and I got the 5th edition because it covered pretty much what I wanted, but wasn't the newest one, and so was more affordable. I was going with SWB's rec. We did a separate world religions course, so we got to study some of the Eastern cultures (but not so much history). What we found was that when we came to the 20th Century, Speil's WC was a little light. We used Sonlight's 300, and did the DK 20th Century book--the one with the newspaper articles--, which incorporated world history. It's actually pretty difficult to separate out world history from Western Civ as the centuries progress, because the world itself becomes "smaller," and there isn't much isolation anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in AL Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 While I'm still not positive which way I'll go, I definitely have more of a sense of 'what is what' now. I happened across a study guide (vol II) to the 5th edition of Western Civ for $4 at a Homeschool Used Bookstore, so I grabbed it, then literally hours later I found the 5th Edition Comprehensive Western Civ (hardback, and looked NEW) at a thrift store for $.50!! So, I guess I'm "being lead" to go in that direction at some point in time. I'll have to hunt down the first volume of the study guide now, so I'll have the set. As for the World History I'm wanting to cover, I still haven't decided between Human Odyssey or the one with Duiker. Wish I had someplace to go where I could leaf through the books. I guess I'll just search out each series on line and see which is the easiest/cheapest to find. My ds seems to have a photographic memory, because he reads something once, and it's there (I'm SO jealous of that!), so I'm not worried about difficulty level, but I'd like to use whatever I get for my dd, too, and she's like me...we'll read something, be able to talk about it for a while, then it's gone.... poor kid! Thanks again for all the help! (the other) Heather in Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Wish I had someplace to go where I could leaf through the books. Hello Heather, Do you have a university or community college nearby? One of them might have the book in its collection. Another possibility is to request it from your library via inter-library loan. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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