Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 174
 Breathing New Life into Ancient History April 1, 2002
L. Joyce (FL)
357 out of 379 found this review helpful
As a history major, I have always prided myself on the fact that I could find fascinating a subject that left many bored. However, when we began my daughter's first grade history lessons using the "Usbourne Book of World History" (using the lesson plan laid out in the excellent "Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise), even I found the material a bit dry; it is, after all, an encyclopedia. Apparently, Susan Wise Bauer felt similarly about its limitations, as she went out and wrote her own history tome. "The Story of the World" is so fantastic, it takes my breath away! The read aloud text on ancient times presents history in small chunks, and is written in an engaging, story-like manner that delights my children, who are 4 and 6 years old. This delightful manner in no way means that the subject matter is "watered down"; Bauer still introduces children to the facts and terminology that are relevant to the subject. For instance, the chapter on "The First Writing" explains the origins and meanings of "hierolglyphics", "Mesopatamia", "cuneiform", and "papyrus".
After listening in rapt pleasure to the text, children will delve into the accompanying curriculum guide and activity book. The guide provides thought provoking questions on the text, and offers an example of the type narration that the child should give (the child is expected to briefly narrate back to the parent what they just read about in the text). The guide book provides map work, coloring pages, puzzles, and review cards which can be copied from the book for use, and also includes wonderful craft ideas (most of which, as an inherently lazy person, I found very "do-able" without undue effort). This week, we carved a cuneiform monogram into clay, made a hieroglyphic scroll on paper, and left them outside to see which will prove to be more durable over time; this will illustrate to the children why the papyrus documents of Egypt did not survive the centuries, but the older cuneiform tablets of Sumer did. For our next project, we plan on mummifying a chicken from the grocery store using the directions from the guide.
I love this history program, and history is now my daughter's favorite subject. I can't wait for Ms. Bauer to write the next volume (this volume covers earliest nomads to the fall of the Roman Empire). The only downside is that the cirriculum guide comes as a thick packet of pages, rather than being bound into a book. However, the pages have pre-cut holes and are easily stored a binder, and this makes it very easy to copy pages from the guide. ... I feel that this course would be a bargain at twice the price.
perfect introduction to world history for children/parents May 7, 2003
J. Boman (Okanogan, WA United States)
62 out of 65 found this review helpful
My children (ages 7 and 9) and I just finished Story of the World Vol. 1 and so enjoyed it (we just started Vol.2, Middle Ages and also love it so far). The author did a wonderful job making world history interesting and understandable. This approach to history (chronologically, beginning with the ancients and moving progressively towards modern) creates a really nice, cohesive "big picture" of the flow of history that is sadly missing in our public school system (which for some reason teaches history in an out of order and out of context sort of way). Learning history progressively and in context helps it all to "make sense" (for children and us adults who missed out on a really good education in history ourselves!) and enables us to see connections and common threads between civilizations and time periods. History "unfolds," rather than occurs in isolated pockets of time, so it would makes sense to me to learn about it in the same way. Susan Wise Bauer sprinkled stories, myths, and legends from each civilization throughout the book, which not only brings the ancient peoples "to life," but also provides kids with something engaging and fun to remember the civilizations by. I would highly recommend this book (and the series) for parents who are homeschooling their elementary grade children, and also for parents who are wanting to supplement their publicly or privately schooled children's history education.
My Kids are Loving History - CD June 6, 2005
A reader (Austin)
53 out of 55 found this review helpful
First thing my 7 and 8 year olds did this morning was put on this CD which they started listening to yesterday. They have been listening to it for about 2 hours today, and show no indication of ever turning it off.
Reading through the reviews, I realize there are some people that will not want to buy this CD.
1) If you are a fundamentalist Christian who believes that only what is in the Bible should be taught as history, this is not for you.
2) If you are a fundamentalist secularist who believes anything in the Bible, or from Buddhism, Hinduism, or other religions should be omitted from history, this is not for you.
3) If you are looking for a college textbook, this is not for you.
If, on the other hand, you are looking to introduce your younger children to the story of the world, complete with legends and religious beliefs, starting with the nomads of ancient time, HERE IT IS!! It is engaging for children, it is chronological, it brings up great discussion questions, and it gives children a historical outline so when they grow older they will have a historical perspective as they learn more about various cultures. It is quality education that children love- at least mine do.
The Story of the World leaves students begging for more! May 31, 2002
S. Wilson (Decatur, TX USA)
45 out of 47 found this review helpful
The Story of the World not only gives readers a wonderful story, it also provides vivid pieces of history through the characters. This book is a very readable narrative that tells the story of ancient times by balancing a massive amount of history with solid characterization. From page to page there is a genuine flavor of the period and of the people who made it what it was.The Curriculum Guide and Activity Book has many hands-on projects for children of all ages. These projects range from coloring pages, to maps, to crafts and games. Each lesson provides many activities to choose from. I highly recommend The Story of the World and its curriculum guide! Elementary School Teacher and
Former Professor of Reading
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
The absolute BEST History of the World for Kids August 14, 2002
37 out of 39 found this review helpful
I went through another very popular world history book for history last year, and I just wasn't satisfied. I was about ready to write my own when this book came along. There was now no need for me to write my own book. The best book has already been written.It is readable, engaging, and stimulates your kids to want to know more. They will end up loving history, and YOU will learn it too! I especially like how she will tell a story about a hypothetical child in the culture of that time. My kids could really relate to it. She also tells fictional stories that were popular during this time like Anansi the Spider or Gilgamesh. This spurred us on to go to the library to find more literature on these stories. It went very nicely with the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History. We would read Story of the World. Then, we would go to the corresponding pages in the Usborne book. SOTW was my "spine" that led to other books! Excellent in every way. It deserves more than 5 stars, and I can't wait until Volume 2 comes out!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 174
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