The Story of the World (Volume 1: Ancient Times)

Curriculum Description (from publisher)

Written in the straightforward, engaging style that has become Susan Wise Bauer’s trademark, The Story of the World series covers the sweep of human history. This read-aloud series is designed for parents to share with elementary (grades 1-4) grade children. This series is also appropriate for grades 5-8 to do on their own. Volume I, Ancient Times includes the First Nomads, Egypt, the Jewish People, Abraham and Joseph, Hammurabi and the Babylonians, the Assyrians, Ancient China, Ancient Africa, Exodus, the Phoenicians, the Greeks and Rome.

Ancient Times (5000 BC to 400 AD)
History is a story, isn’t it time you read it that way? This engaging guide presents world history in a narrative format. What terrible secret was buried in Shi Huangdi’s tomb? Did nomads like lizard stew? What happened to Anansi the Spider in the Village of the Plantains? And how did a six-year old become the last emperor of Rome?

Publisher

Peace Hill Press

Grade

First Grade – Eighth Grade

Our Review

I really love this program! Here is how I used each week:

• Each child read along with the book while listening to the CD
• Using the Activity Book/Curriculum Guide, I asked each child questions about what they just read
• We used our Usborne Encyclopedia of World History book to further read on the topic (the curriculum guide tells you what pages to read, makes life super easy for Mom!)
• During the week (usually Tuesdays and Thursdays) we completed at least two of the activities in the book
• At the end of the week I gave my kids the chapter test and then we corrected/reviewed together

I felt the story format helped my kids better remember the history being taught. If you are looking for a world history curriculum, I highly recommend it! With that said, if you buy all of the components to this program, it can be pricey to start. 

I purchased the CD’s for this book because I wanted to make sure my children were pronouncing things correctly, especially my son. Because the little ones seem to constantly be on the move, I am not always able to be right there while they read. The CD’s are an excellent solution. The set includes 7 CD’s and quite frankly, I love them! The book is narrated by a man whose voice is soothing, but not boring. We popped a CD in, opened the book and read along. This helped me out tremendously and improved the quality of our history lessons. Since I will be able to use these over and over again, they are worth the price.

The activity book also doubles as a curriculum guide. Each chapter contains:

• Encyclopedia cross-references
• Review questions
• Narration exercises
• Additional history reading
• Corresponding literature suggestions
• Coloring page
• Map work
• Activities

For the price, you can’t beat the contents.

If you have more than one child, do yourself a HUGE favor and purchase the pack of student pages. These sheets makes it super easy to produce copies for all of your students.

I am not really one for tests, I personally feel they are unnecessary. Since I work one-on-one with each of the kids, I am pretty aware of what they do and do not know. My children however, feel like public school kids are SO LUCKY because they get to take tests. Pretty weird right? I assured them those students would not agree! I bought the test booklet that corresponds with the volume. I made copies and gave a test for the chapter we studied at the end of the week. We then corrected the tests together and reviewed the answers. If you prefer not to spend ten bucks, you could always make up your own quizzes pretty easy. But I really feel it’s a bit over-kill.

UPDATE 2018: After using this with my oldest two, we did not use it again with the other kids. Nothing against the program, it’s very in-depth. We just tried out other history programs that we like better that we more bible-based. This course is not.

Where to Buy

Available at Amazon.com and Christian Book

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