- Curriculas
- Story of the World
Story of the World
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This captivating read-aloud series will introduce your children to the marvelous history of the world presented chronologically from the beginning of time. Each volume of The Story of the World includes the details of battles, kingdoms, cultures and customs from every continent and major people group woven together into a story that children will find mesmerizing. 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 1: The 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.
Volume 2: The Middle Ages: Includes Fall of Rome, Christianity Comes to Britain, The Byzantine Empire, The Rise of Islam, The Great Kings of France, The Viking Invasion, The Age of Crusades. The Diaspora, The Ottoman Empire, Exploring New Worlds, Martin Luther, and The Renaissance.
Volume 3: Early Modern Times: From 1600 to 1850, the modern nations of the world were developing---and your students are there with this engaging read-aloud story of civilization. Learn about explorations, revolutions, discoveries, and inventions on every continent and across the seven seas!
Volume 4: The Modern Age: This narrative history covers 1850 to the present day.
User reviews
23 reviews
Overall rating
4.5
Personal opinion
4.5
Coverage of subject
4.6
Ease of use
4.4
I love that this curriculum supports all kinds of learners: my oldest is hands-on for so many things that the activities really grab her, but she also has a hard time paying attention to me when i read, so having the audio CDs is a gigantic bonus!
Grade levels used
- K
- 1
Pros
Fun to read. Great Activities. perfect for even young students.
Do you recommend?
Yes.
J
Juana
Used this with my 6 year old for first grade, she loved it and I now love history! We read outloud and do some time line work (using with Build Your Library). There is also an activity book, and we have it but didn't use it as the curriculum we followed had enough for us, will probably use activity book more in later grades.
Just an amazing, quality book. I could just read them all cover to cover myself... and to have a book that an adult and a six year old and everything in between can enjoy and learn from is amazing!
Just an amazing, quality book. I could just read them all cover to cover myself... and to have a book that an adult and a six year old and everything in between can enjoy and learn from is amazing!
Grade levels used
1
Pros
Literature based, lots of options to add to program
Cons
none
Do you recommend?
YES YES YES!
AO
AnaMaree Ordway
I'm gonna start by saying BUY THE AUDIO. I didn't and regretted it after the first chapter, so buy the full set you won't regret it. The book itself is pretty great we really enjoyed learning about history, I learned a whole lot I didn't even know from my school days. The kids enjoy the stories and followed it just fine. I will say we used it in conjunction with history odyssey I'm not sure I would use it as a stand alone curriculum.
Grade levels used
- 1
- 2
Pros
easy to follow
Cons
can draw things out a bit
Do you recommend?
Yes
TM
Terri Meier
This History curriculum is fantastic! My kids enjoy listening to the story or reading it alone for my oldest. The activities are fun as well!
Grade levels used
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Do you recommend?
Yes!
CG
Cassey Gregory
I think this curriculum has been a large contributing factor to my daughter's love of history. It's engaging and truly presents history as a story. The accompanying activity guides are full of a wealth of activities and recommended literature to deepen your understanding of historical events. You can't go wrong with these texts!
Grade levels used
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Pros
Engaging, Affordable
Do you recommend?
Yes!
AM
Alisha M.
I used this when my children were young elementary age. We read from the book as opposed to using audio stories. This was a useful spine addition for us for our Truth Quest History program. However, it would not have worked for us as our main history program for my kids at that age.
Grade levels used
1
Pros
Good factual information
Cons
Not as engaging as it could be for younger listeners
Do you recommend?
Yes
C
Chris
I do not recommend vol 1 but do vol 2, 3, 4. My kids love Jim Weiss narrations on the audio and it's so convenient to listen to while running errands. Student activity books have a good variety to choose from. Love the review games.
Grade levels used
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Pros
Love the audio
Cons
Lots of flipping in activity book
Do you recommend?
sometimes
CP
Cheryl Powell
Used this as a world history curriculum for my 6th grader. Covered one book per quarter. As a result, all four books were covered in one year. Excellent coverage of material. Stories were such that they were engaging and informative. Highly recommend!
Grade levels used
6
Pros
very informative and engaging
Cons
none
Do you recommend?
yes
NB
Natalie Bourgeois
It is fascinating we just began to use it and the kids look forward to hearing the story. We have volume 1. I ordered volume 2 and 3 and we have the workbook with extra activities for volume 1 and 2. The only thing is I wish it had a separate student activity book that was not in the activity book that you could purchase instead of having to make copies for 2 students.
Grade levels used
- 5
- 7
Pros
easy to use
Cons
wish it had a seperate student notebook to order
Do you recommend?
yes
MR
Michelle Riffe
We are almost finished with volume 1. The chronological approach is very nice. I have learned a lot about history I was not taught in school. So far it has been great for our history.
Grade levels used
- 4
- 5
Do you recommend?
Yes
K
Kristin
We just started using The Story of the World (we are on chapter 5 of book 1). We have the book, activity book and book on cd. Having the book on cd makes it flexible as to when and where you use it. You can do it at home or in the car. My daughter has enjoyed all the lessons so far, color sheets, review questions and projects. We go every week to the library and check out books that go along with the chapters we will be doing for the week. You don't have to do this, but we like to dive into what we are learning about. Very easy to use!
Grade levels used
- 2
- 3
- 4
Pros
Engaging, great projects at the end of each chapter.
Cons
None.
Do you recommend?
Yes.
AJ
Amanda Jedziniak
We love these history stories!
Grade levels used
3
Pros
Living History, Rich Vocab
Do you recommend?
Yes
SS
SARAH STEWART
I used this for my daughter who has learning delays. It didn't really work for us. It was labor intensive and she had problems connecting the stories to something real.
Grade levels used
3
Cons
Time consuming; too abstract
Do you recommend?
No
A
Audrey
Excellent product
Grade levels used
- 3
- 4
Do you recommend?
Yes
LH
Laurie Hanson
We started with the first volume last year with my first grader. There were days when all he wanted to was sit and read from the book. He was captivated by the stories and enjoyed doing activities to go along with it. There are tons of resources available to supplement if need be. He sometimes wanted to spend weeks on one chapter!
Grade levels used
- preK
- 1
Do you recommend?
Yes
BC
Beth Copeland
We used all four years of SOTW when I first started homeschooling. What an easy program to implement at home and my boys loved it. I would highly recommend these books as a spine for your chronological approach to history, especially if you are new to homeschooling. There were a few areas of content that I would not whole heartily agree to but I used this as a learning opportunity to help my boys be discerning of what they read. We always read the books together, and then would listen to the audio CDs in the car. To this day, my boys still enjoy listening to the audios and have fond memories of listening to Mom read theses books.
Grade levels used
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Pros
Interesting. Engaging.
Cons
Time consuming.
Do you recommend?
Yes.
BJ
beth jussaume
Story of the World brings history to life for our family. My three children are at various elementary grade levels and the curriculum could be used in one class setting. I adapted the activities for their individual skill level easily. A wonderful curriculum.
Grade levels used
- 1
- 2
- 4
Pros
Living history
Do you recommend?
Yes
M
Maureen
I loved the way history was told in short stories that my son would actually enjoy. I also loved the activity guide. I would highly suggest getting the activity guide to go along with it. I loved the craft ideas and the maps, although the maps are pretty basic. Some of the reference material they suggest is hard to find, but there are so many options, you should be able to find something.
Grade levels used
1
Do you recommend?
Yes!
E
Erin
I've used all four Story of the World books while homeschooling my oldest four children (currently 5th-11th grades). Some of them read straight through Story of the World, and others used random parts and pieces. *I* learned gobs of history my teachers left out on our first pass through the series.
They were bedtime stories for my now teenagers, and they have many fond memories of snuggling up with a Story of the World book. They adored these books! We didn't have any of the activity guides then, so it was all reading and discussion. We'd do extra movies and library books as it suited us. They loved history. My younger kids have both read through large portions, or we just grabbed the one particular story we needed. One summer they just read through one volume themselves.
This collection is a gem of a resource to have on the shelf even if it isn't your main history curriculum. Story of the World worked fabulous for K-4th grade kids, especially if you'd like to get away from the typical social studies or only American history topics that are more typical of books written for this age. Around 5th grade I could assign portions, but they were starting to raise eyebrows at the tone meant for younger kids. By 6th grade they were pretty much offended by it. LOL We moved to more mature books for the next round of history.
They were bedtime stories for my now teenagers, and they have many fond memories of snuggling up with a Story of the World book. They adored these books! We didn't have any of the activity guides then, so it was all reading and discussion. We'd do extra movies and library books as it suited us. They loved history. My younger kids have both read through large portions, or we just grabbed the one particular story we needed. One summer they just read through one volume themselves.
This collection is a gem of a resource to have on the shelf even if it isn't your main history curriculum. Story of the World worked fabulous for K-4th grade kids, especially if you'd like to get away from the typical social studies or only American history topics that are more typical of books written for this age. Around 5th grade I could assign portions, but they were starting to raise eyebrows at the tone meant for younger kids. By 6th grade they were pretty much offended by it. LOL We moved to more mature books for the next round of history.
Grade levels used
- K
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Pros
thorough, engaging, super easy to use
Cons
Kids may become history know-it-alls
Do you recommend?
Yes!
K
Kara
This did not work for my autistic son. It was too abstract in some areas so had to over explain things compared to other products we've used. On top, while the author does try to be mostly secular, it is written from a protestant world view- so once we got to the second book that caused some problems with the view of the catholic church being presented negatively without any explaining or covering the good from the church and the view of the protestant church being presently conversely. This caused me to have to do some more explaining and use outside sources to even the coverage and explain more thoroughly. Making it easier, at that point, to use put this curriculum down and choose something else. I do feel the author was a good story teller.
Grade levels used
- K
- 1
- 2
Do you recommend?
Not really
C
Calyn
