I'm looking into History Odyssey this year. My concern is that we have tried story of the world and it did not work for us AT ALL! The kids were bored and we never really able to get into the projects and the copywork seemed like a moot point. In a nutshell, they didn't get anything out of it. But I like the idea. How different is HO? Is it less prep for me? Bc that's def something I need. I need someone's personal experience with this program. Rainbow Resource gives an extensive explanation, but not very many inside views.
We are using it this year. Also like you SOTW did not work for us. This is how I get HO to work for us. SOTW is on audio. It is less reading on me, we can listen while we do history pockets, coloring, mapping, etc. CHOW (child's history of the world) we LOVE this book. Now we do read this one. The way it is written really grabs our attention. Not all have this love for it like we do , but I just really love this book. UILEW (usborne internet linked Encyclopedia of the world) another great one. Our favorite part of it is the links. Looking them up, printing off the pictures to put in our notebook. Then we do any projects, copy work, reading, etc. for the day. Adding in the one audio book really helps cut down on time for us also. The reason HO is a better fit for me/us it it is less work. By work I mean not so many choices of books, activities, and such. I am one who feels I have to do it all and if I don't my son has missed out and I am failing him because we did not mummify a chicken or something. So, without all the added stuff I don't feel pressured to do it. The reading suggestion list in HO is nice. I have been able to find almost all the books at our small town library. Which with SOTW I was not able to. We really enjoy making the notebooking part of it all. I have found my son takes more time on him material knowing it is make into a keepsake notebook. The added dictionary work is wonderful, which HO uses as the copywork. I always feel as if this is one thing I skim on too much. They look up a couple words, write down the definition and place it in their notebook. HO is not really a lesson plan, more of a guide/reading guide. But laid out simply so you know what books to get, supplies, all of it. The way it is presented makes it easier for me when making a library list for the week. With SOTW I had to read and read, then search and oops we forgot this and that.. Drove me nuts. At the top of the page for each lesson you have an area that states Prep for Lesson ***. It lets you know what needs copied (usually from the History pocket books, you can also get those in ebook so you can just print it off and go), then it has a check list type area of what needs to be done, then you book list. The pages themselves are not as cluttered at SOTW Activity Guide was/is. The SOTW AG drove me crazy it seemed cluttered and full of too much on each page. HO has a clean streamline look and feel. I know not the best reasons in the world, but if I cannot get a good feel for it, it usually doesn't get done. Now you can go to the site and print off the first few lessons as a preview the try before you buy. Over all it is wonderful for us. Sorry for being all over the place. My brain is out there today. lol
Thanks so much Joanna! Your response is exactly what I was looking for. I had the same exact problems with SOTW that you had! And the things that you like about MO are the reasons that I thought that we would like it. I, like you, felt like a failure bc we couldn't do everything in SOTW activity book, so we ended up not doing ANY of it. Also, it sounds like CHOTW is better reading than SOTW. So, we already have UILEW. I was thinking of just buying CHOTW and the history pockets and getting the extra reading suggestions and just skipping out on using the SOTW completely. What do you think? Also, how many days a week do you do the lessons? Thanks so much! You have been such a great help to me...not only on this post, but on others as well!
I would get SOTW since CHOW doesn't go into depth as much. Also there are topics in CHOW that are not in SOTW and visa versa. I just have a hard time reading SOTW, that is why we got the audio. You can get it as a download from Peace Hill Press. Your welcome. If you have any other questions let me know.
Forgot to add that part. Oops. We are doing it daily, 5 days a week. The reason for this is he is going to be in the 2nd grade this coming up year (well next month) and I want to get done with Ancients level 1 and Middle Ages Level 1 this year so we are on track with the 4 yr history cycle. Now once we get on track we will slow it down to 2-3 days a week as suggested in HO.
