I like the idea of using a Chronological approach to history. I also want to use "real books" or "living books" vs a textbook. I don't want to do busywork -type projects with the kids, although I don't mind doing projects that are reinforcing what they learned. (I hope that makes sense ) I also need to teach 3 kids at the same time - KG, 2nd, and 3rd. So far I have looked into Mystery of History and Story of the World. Anyone have an opinion re these two? Or another suggestion? BTW - We are a Christian family, so I don't mind (would like) Biblical stories and history told from a Christian perspective. I am also ok with secular ideas/info included, as I can omit what I feel is inappropriate. Thanks! Jessica
Hello and welcome to the board! I use the Charlotte Mason approach to teaching my children and we do not use text books except for math. I tried Mystery of History last year and we only used it for aout three months. It is now for sale. It just didn't work for us at all and now we have gone back to using the curriculum suggested at Ambleside Online and will strictly follow it next year. There are many people here that use MOH and love it. It didn't work for us because it moved to quickly for my taste. There are three lessons per week and then you test and are done with that and move on. There are map activities and other projects to do as well. I just prefer to spend a lot more time on one topic. For the end of this year I have put together my own history unit studies so we can spend 4 - 6 weeks at a time studying one thing. My dd11 gets way more out of it that way. But like I said MOH is highly recommended by a lot of people and it works great for many families. I guess it just depends on you and your kids preference.
If you want it from a Christian world view, go with MOH. If you prefer a secular world view, go with SOTW. I REALLY like MOH. I love doing the "Living Books". Somewhere on here, I have a book list to go along with MOH Vol. 1. I may have posted ideas for MOH 2, but am not sure. Right now, we're doing American History. My youngest is in the middle of a biography of Daniel Boone, my middle one reading a book on Deborah Sampson, and my oldest just finished "My Brother Sam is Dead" today. We are reading "Paul Revere and the Minutemen" out loud in the morning, and "Home on Stoney Creek" (about traveling west into Kentucky) out loud in the afternoon. Gee, get the impression I teach history through literature? LOL! My kids are currently 8, 11 (almost 12) and 13 (almost 14). I've been teaching them history all together for three and a half years now. Tiffany posted the same time as I did. She's right in that MOH may move quickly. But I took a year and a half to go through the first book. MOH is a wonderful SPINE. And you can buy Tiffany's book if you want, lol!
I agree - if you want a Christian worldview, go with MOH. For secular, go with SOTW. We don't follow the MOH schedule exactly; it has 3 lessons per week plus a review with timeline and map activities. (Either of which you could leave off.) We often stretch a single lesson into a week's study; for instance, we are currently on Abraham which is given a single lesson in the MOH book, and we've spent a week and a half on it. I just scheduled everything out through Ruth last night; we use Christian Liberty Press for our Bible and I've gleaned from MOH's book list as well as lists here and other places. You're welcome to peruse my list if it will help in your decision making. Also, there is a great program out there similar to Sonlight that uses Mystery of History as its spine. Winter Promise (Quest for the Ancient World) is a literature-rich program that adds notebooking and hands-on activities in a bulk package. Something to look into, anyway! (I LONG for it, but it's out of our budget. LOL)
Veritas press uses A LOT of literature. I use their catalog and a recommendation for grades- appropriate reading. Their "cards" and omnibus are neat ideas as well.
We use SOTW for our 1st grader and our 3 year old will often listen as well. I like it because you can do a lot of extras with it or just use the coloring pages and have them do narration. I have not looked into MOH, but I really don't understand why people on here say that SOTW is secular. I went to public school and never studied where Abraham, Joseph, & Jesus fit in with ancient history. SOTW includes major biblical characters and helps you see where they fit with the rest of history. Yes, it does talk about other religious figures, like Buddha, but that provides wonderful opportunities to discuss what we believe and how our world has people from different beliefs in it. Also, SOTW was written by a PASTOR'S WIFE, who is also a professor with advanced degrees. I think she keeps things very non-biased, so you are able to guide the study and fill in your beliefs and opinions. Anyway, just wanted to share a different opinion, since I don't see it represented here often. Julia
We've used both MOH and SOTW, by far SOTW is more indepth and thorough. We love listening to the audio versions of SOTW, also the fact that the activity books are separate from the 'text' book. We found that MOH was simple and easy to get through quickly, with not much info. I also don't get why people consider SOTW as secular. Maybe they've hear that for so long that they just begin to believe it. But to each their own.
I've looked at both MOH and SOTW. I wouldn't say that SOTW is secular...but I did read the representation of the Crucifixion (trial, etc) and it's truly not biblical. (at least the one in first version, I've heard that there's an update version). I had been thinking of going with a chronological approach, but I think I'm going to wait. I love the idea, but I love the idea of doing it when all three of my kids would get a lot out of it. My youngest is just 3, so I figure I have about 2 years before I'd start it. I think we're going to do US history for 2 years. then when she starts K we'll do either MOH or SOTW.
I consider SOTW as secular because it does NOT stress a Christian world view. If that's fine for your family, GREAT. I was pretty settled on SOTW, had borrowed it from the library, and both my husband and I looked through it pretty thoroughly. My husband said no way. We want history being taught from a Christian perspective, and SOTW does NOT do that. But it is NOT anti-Christian. I hadn't heard of MOH until after we turned down SOTW. We had read "The Well-Trained Mind", and came away with a bad feeling, not something I could put in words. Oh, MOH DOES talk about other religions, the people behind them, and their influence on history. I think any history curriculum that DIDN'T do this would be woefully incomplete. Again, it's what will work best for YOUR family. SOTW is NOT an option for us, but there's SO MANY who have used it and loved it. I'm not saying it's a bad curriculum, just that it won't meet my family's needs. Good luck finding an American History curriculum you can use with all your kids! I'm using "All American History" this year and next. It's working because I'm MAKING it work, and adding LOTS of literature to it. But the text is written far above my youngest, and is boring for the other two. The workbook is more pencil-paper busy work, and there's little in the way of hands-on activities.
I appreciate Nellie's comments. Glad to see someone else likes SOTW and doesn't consider it secular. I read the trial and crucifixion part in our revised vol. 1. The author chose to point out the political climate at that time and how that affected the leaders. I think it is important to realize that there is more than just the Biblical account. The Bible was not written to be a complete history text. It was written to teach and guide us. I also don't think any history curriculum should take it's place. But I do think that sometimes we need to dig deeper to look at what was happening at the time to fully understand the Bible's account. Can you imagine how big the Bible would be if the authors had put in ALL the details?! I also found that SOTW would mention someone like Cyrus the Great and that would give me the opportunity to pull out the Bible and show where Cyrus is mentioned in the Bible. Julia
Hey Jessica, We're using Sonlight for my oldest. It's Core 3 Early American History part 1. Too old for your kiddos but when you get to AM. History in your chronological studies, check out there website. Even if you don't like the looks of all of SL, they have excellent readers that go with the history....you can pick some out and get them to add to whatever else you're using. I've looked at All-American History also. I considered it instead of going on to Core 4 (part 2) but my DD9.5 really loves SL and would want all the books anyway to add so why bother. We're not going to buy the whole Core again from SL but we'll end up with most of the books one way or another. SL's younger Cores do not have readers that tie to the history but they do have intro to world history for your kids age.... www.sonlight.com. I haven't used it and I know lots of folks that prefer to wait to use SL until Core 3 because the readers go so well from that point on. Rhonda C.
I agree with Julia on SOTW. History is more than biblical accounts. I teach my children ALL history, anything we can get our hands on; books, texts, audio, video, etc., etc., etc. It all falls into place just fine in their memory. History is a great subject. One great thing is that when the book/audio/video mentions someone or something that happens you can further that study and take it as indepth as you like. I say try it all, try anything, let nothing stop you, use your library and people you meet! Their are lots of great homeschool curriculums out their on History, though don't let that stop you though from finding other items to use. Cheers!
I appreciate all the replies. I'm still not really sure which I would prefer to try. I have heard that SOTW has lots of gaps, and that MOH is not very indepth. As far as secular vs Christian, I am confident that I can give either of these books the spin I want to, based on all your replies. I would definitely LOVE to see any book lists you have put together for either of these books. I def. plan to use real books and would love to get suggestions from seasoned HSers. I am going to see if our library has either SOTW or MOH so I can look through them. Tiffany - if I decide to go with MOH, I will let you know so I can get your book! pm me and let me know what you are asking for it. Rhonda - I LOVE the looks of Sonlight - but I don't know if we can afford it. (I plan to get most of our real books from the library.) At the same time, as I look at all the other stuff/books I want to get, I feel like I will end up spending just as much! Thanks ladies - ~Jessica
I also teach my children ALL history, but I teach them that God is involved in history. Yes, you CAN do that using any curriculum. So I do NOT want to imply that people that use SOTW are "not Christian" or any such thing! That's simply CRAZY! Obviously, MOH Vol. 2 CANNOT be based on Biblical history! Again, it's a matter of what works best for you and your family. Perhaps the problem is semantics. Perhaps "secular" means something different to me than it does to you all. I will refer to Sonlight's book list for ideas of Living Books for history. I've found some GREAT stories on that! I was considering buying Sonlight for my American History, but couldn't figure out how it was done. Sonlight isn't as user-friendly as I'm use to, I'm afraid!
We have used SOTW this year and I think it would work well for different grades except the reading book that comes with it can be rather dry at times. I find a lot of books to add to it from the library and the activity book definetly enforces what we've read/learned and isn't busy work. Dd has enjoyed it and we aren't even close to halfway through the book yet. We spent a LOT of time on Ancient Egypt and China. Never looked at MOH but I've heard a lot of people love it.
I am not familiar with either MOH or SOTW, but just wanted to mention another history curriculum you may want to look at. (not that you need any more choices, right? ) We are currently using MFW (My Father's World) for history/reading/Bible/language/science. Only have to add my own math. The nice thing is that once your child is past 1st grade, they can all be taught the same history period as all of the other kids. We had also looked at Sonlight, but said no due to the cost and feeling of being overwhelmed. MFW does not provide all of the books for reading but recommends using the library. This cuts down a lot on costs. Just wanted to give my 2 cents. Best wishes in your decision.
We usedSOTW for 3 years, and we LOVED it! We added a lot to it for readings, etc. I was homeschooling all three of my kids then (the oldest is now at a great school as a Junior in highschool), and we spent two years in Volume 1. And we never finished it all! We delved into all sorts of extra things and my kids had the greatest time! We are also Christian, and I used things from www.timelinesetc.com and other sources to add to the Christian part of the studies. I made a timeline on the wall, and we used timeline figures---we put the Bible characters and events on the top of the timeline, and the rest of the world events and characters on the bottom. That helped us see what was happening in the Bible as well as what was happening in the world at the same time. That was soooooo fun! We LOVED the Activity books! They have great ideas! I'd never heard of MOH until after we were already going, and almost done with, SOTW. We had a VERY in-depth study using SOTW and Biblical sources!
You can find the MOH table of contents on their website. I feel that MOH gives you a jump on what's going on, and then leads you to living book resources to get more information. This is what makes it a literature-based program; if you just sit and read what's in the book (as with SOTW, which is why it's often considered 'more thorough') then you have a basic overview... which should be supplemented beyond the beginning years. And since that's what you asked for.... Winter Promise is also expensive (ala Sonlinght), but just the guide and make your own notebook components (plus MOH itself) is a lot easier to swallow. The books and activities can be borrowed and imitated. If you'll PM me your email, I'll send our plans and book list to you.
And I want to add that MFW is a great curriculum, too! The price was a huge factor for us, and a single book plus library was a lot easier to swallow than even MFW's prices. I'd go for it "if"!
