Speaking of history, if you're interested in a unit study on a very specific history, the history of one world-changing book...check out this unit study that my family created: The Bible's Story: The History of the English Bible www.wheredyoulearnthat.com/shop/p/the-bibles-story-a-unit-study-on-the-history-of-the-bible
Well, I applaud your hard work. I have read history all my life. To me, if you are going to homeschool history, you have to have an end goal. My end goal in World History would be to teach the Rise and and Fall of Civilizations. In American History, I would teach the original intent of the constitution and then follow our movement away from the constitution. I would ask if we are getting more or less prosperous and free? This would make your child an informed citizen capable of safeguarding liberty in a republic.
Great video. We are huge lovers of Story of the world. We love the workbook as it has review questions for each chapter, extensions for older kids and like you mentioned, there is an optional test book. They also have the chapter book on audio. We tend to do the coloring page while they listen, the map work and review questions after. I love it incorporates geography so well. The author also includes tons of excellent suggestions for supplemental reading/literature. So we have our lit follow us along chronologically. It’s been the greatest blessing to our homeschool. History is my kids favorite subject now, mine too. ❤️
Yes, I think it's great to use the supplemental reading books to really dive in deeper to particular events in history and make it come alive! I really enjoy history, too!
We are going through Notgrass this year, and I think it is going to be a good fit for my elementary aged kids! It has so many stories of people from different ethnicities and cultures, and it feels like a well-rounded history course!
Thank you, thank you for this video comparison! I’ve gone back and forth between mystery of history and story of the world forever it feels like. This was super helpful.☺️♥️
We use Notgrass history, and love it, but I wanted to see if adding in Story of the World would be doable. Thanks for all the insight on each of these!😊
I actually just filmed a bookshelf tour video of my home shelves--not my mom's though. Her collection has been growing for many more years than mine, ha!
We haven't used My Father's World but my impression is that that one is more similar to Sonlight's approach? (Although I think Sonlight has more options for different focuses in history). Mystery of History I would say has more similarities to Story of the World but also...is different. ha! I could maybe do a dedicated video to just Mystery of History sometime.
I was a history major & love history. I borrowed Story of the World (audio) from the library when I was first starting homeschool. I had been given the impression that it was a Christian program, so I was put off at the outset by the author's use of the secular "BCE" instead of "BC" when referring to dates. But, as I got deeper in, I began hearing history that I knew well, but that had huge non-factual portions. For example in the story of the Biblical Abraham, the author shared far more details than are historically known of his life, but the details were presented as if they were history, not fiction. I realized that this was a fictionalized re-telling of historical events, rather than a straightforward history. At that point, I decided that this would not be a good choice for us, as it would plant fiction alongside fact in my daughter's mind, and it would be nearly impossible to sort it out later (my daughter remembers *everything*).
Yes, a liiiittle boring learning the same history every year! Admittedly, Abeka is excellent, for what it is. But goodness, the Fertile Crescent, to Martin Luther, to the Pilgrims every year of my growing up... Nothing else happened anywhere else or in between! I'm grateful it gave me a good foundation. Especially in phonics, so I can read other stuff. 😂 But very good point about there being a time and a place for easy! This is the golden wisdom for which I listen to you! You are good medicine for a bedraggled, perfectionistic purist's soul! I must also confess to having a solid collection of historic American paintings imbedded in my head, though. Repetition is the mother of memory!
"Abeka is excellent, for what it is." Yes, that's an apt description. Glad that I can be a voice to drown out the siren call of perfectionism--it's really not as appealing as it would have us believe.
@SevenInAll 😊 I should have said, my brain possesses a solid collection of American historical paintings, imbedded by all my years of Abeka! When I run across those pictutes now, with my kids,I think, hey, I know that one ~ which is a job well done, by Abeka. Even better when it just pops up in my memory!
This was such an excellent video!!! “Some homeschoolers run at the site of a textbook!” Lol!!! Yep!!! I’m not sure what my homeschool style is but I know it’s NOT traditional! 😜😉😉 I like having imaginary homeschool curriculum chats with you!!! Thank you for making me giggle!!! 😜
haha, I definitely enjoy curriculum chats, even if the other participants aren't actually in the room, and I'm really just talking to myself. #homeschoolnerd Planning on an elementary science curriculum comparison video soon.
@@SevenInAll I talk to myself ALL. THE. TIME! I told my family that’s why chatting to the camera doesn’t feel that weird to me. I’ve been talking to nobody for years!!! 😜😜😜
Yah!! I was so intrigued with MOH and almost chose it when I was trying to decide what fo replace TGTB history with. Still intrigued by it. But since my girls wanted to do American history and MOH level 4 looked too complex for that. I love this though bc church history is on my heart for next year!! But I love that this has audio books!! So you think vol 3 is too much for my youngest who will be 3rd grade next year? Middle child will be 7th but she’s not super motivated for things like this.
I would say 3rd grade is probably about the very youngest I'd do for MOH vol 3, and I wouldn't expect a 3rd grader to 'get' everything, remember every person...but it's the same with all family-style learning, kids participate at their own level. Our family had a lot of fun with that one, we did it together with friends, which motivated us to do more of the projects, haha!
We are using SOTW but I want to take a break between 2 and 3 and do US history- do you then recommend Sonlight for it? I will have a middle schooler and two elem.
I think Sonlight does a fantastic job with US History. They just released a new and updated version of level D and I have heard wonderful things about it! They also have a condensed D+E which condenses US history into one year. I would personally probably pick the two year version (do D, and then E the next year), but D+E is a good option if you only want to spend one year on US History. Those are aimed at the 9-12ish age range, so should be good for your middle schooler and elementary...unless you have a very young elementary student, so do look at the book list to see if you think all your kids can handle it. Sonlight also has a K version of US history which would work for early elementary, but definitely not for middle school.
@@SevenInAll I’ve looked at some of the books and I do think mine would enjoy them. I have older elementary who are readers. If you already have the books to read (I have happened to buy quite a few of them already), do you just need the teachers manual? Or is there a “student text book” as well like SOTW? I was confused on that. We already own timeline books so don’t need those.
@@mwolfe7883 You would just need the teacher's manual or "Instructor's Guide" in Sonlight terms. All comprehension/discussion questions or mapwork type activities and extensions are in the IG.
I guess your family never has used Notgrass history? I wish that curriculum had been in the mix. I’m really curious about it. I would have loved knowing your thoughts about it and how it compared to the other four. Thank you for this video. It really helped to see these four side-by-side.
Speaking of history, if you're interested in a unit study on a very specific history, the history of one world-changing book...check out this unit study that my family created: The Bible's Story: The History of the English Bible www.wheredyoulearnthat.com/shop/p/the-bibles-story-a-unit-study-on-the-history-of-the-bible
Oh awesome! Thanks for that heads up!
Well, I applaud your hard work. I have read history all my life. To me, if you are going to homeschool history, you have to have an end goal. My end goal in World History would be to teach the Rise and and Fall of Civilizations. In American History, I would teach the original intent of the constitution and then follow our movement away from the constitution. I would ask if we are getting more or less prosperous and free? This would make your child an informed citizen capable of safeguarding liberty in a republic.
Great video. We are huge lovers of Story of the world. We love the workbook as it has review questions for each chapter, extensions for older kids and like you mentioned, there is an optional test book. They also have the chapter book on audio. We tend to do the coloring page while they listen, the map work and review questions after. I love it incorporates geography so well. The author also includes tons of excellent suggestions for supplemental reading/literature. So we have our lit follow us along chronologically. It’s been the greatest blessing to our homeschool. History is my kids favorite subject now, mine too. ❤️
Yes, I think it's great to use the supplemental reading books to really dive in deeper to particular events in history and make it come alive! I really enjoy history, too!
Love the curriculum reviews, especially the history reviews! I just discovered your channel and you have some great videos. Thank you!
Thank you so much!
We are going through Notgrass this year, and I think it is going to be a good fit for my elementary aged kids! It has so many stories of people from different ethnicities and cultures, and it feels like a well-rounded history course!
Thanks for sharing your choice for this year! That's one of the history programs I haven't had a chance to see in person yet.
Thank you, thank you for this video comparison! I’ve gone back and forth between mystery of history and story of the world forever it feels like. This was super helpful.☺️♥️
I'm glad it was helpful! I'm definitely happy to help if you have any specific questions!
We use Notgrass history, and love it, but I wanted to see if adding in Story of the World would be doable. Thanks for all the insight on each of these!😊
You're very welcome!
This is so helpful as I think ahead to Highschool.
I'm glad!
Ooh, could you give us a library organization tour/chat sometime?
I actually just filmed a bookshelf tour video of my home shelves--not my mom's though. Her collection has been growing for many more years than mine, ha!
I need a walk through of just Mystery of History. How would you compare it to My fathers world.
We haven't used My Father's World but my impression is that that one is more similar to Sonlight's approach? (Although I think Sonlight has more options for different focuses in history). Mystery of History I would say has more similarities to Story of the World but also...is different. ha! I could maybe do a dedicated video to just Mystery of History sometime.
I’d be interested in a flip through of MOH and Sonlight history!
I love history, too!!!! Great comparison video. Thank you!
Thank you for watching!
I was a history major & love history. I borrowed Story of the World (audio) from the library when I was first starting homeschool. I had been given the impression that it was a Christian program, so I was put off at the outset by the author's use of the secular "BCE" instead of "BC" when referring to dates. But, as I got deeper in, I began hearing history that I knew well, but that had huge non-factual portions. For example in the story of the Biblical Abraham, the author shared far more details than are historically known of his life, but the details were presented as if they were history, not fiction. I realized that this was a fictionalized re-telling of historical events, rather than a straightforward history. At that point, I decided that this would not be a good choice for us, as it would plant fiction alongside fact in my daughter's mind, and it would be nearly impossible to sort it out later (my daughter remembers *everything*).
It's wise to investigate resources ahead of time before jumping into using them, definitely helps determine if its a good fit for your family.
So comprehensive ~ thank you!!
Glad it was helpful!
Yes, a liiiittle boring learning the same history every year! Admittedly, Abeka is excellent, for what it is. But goodness, the Fertile Crescent, to Martin Luther, to the Pilgrims every year of my growing up... Nothing else happened anywhere else or in between! I'm grateful it gave me a good foundation. Especially in phonics, so I can read other stuff. 😂 But very good point about there being a time and a place for easy! This is the golden wisdom for which I listen to you! You are good medicine for a bedraggled, perfectionistic purist's soul! I must also confess to having a solid collection of historic American paintings imbedded in my head, though. Repetition is the mother of memory!
"Abeka is excellent, for what it is." Yes, that's an apt description. Glad that I can be a voice to drown out the siren call of perfectionism--it's really not as appealing as it would have us believe.
@SevenInAll 😊 I should have said, my brain possesses a solid collection of American historical paintings, imbedded by all my years of Abeka! When I run across those pictutes now, with my kids,I think, hey, I know that one ~ which is a job well done, by Abeka. Even better when it just pops up in my memory!
this was a great review! thank you!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
This was such an excellent video!!!
“Some homeschoolers run at the site of a textbook!” Lol!!! Yep!!! I’m not sure what my homeschool style is but I know it’s NOT traditional! 😜😉😉 I like having imaginary homeschool curriculum chats with you!!! Thank you for making me giggle!!! 😜
haha, I definitely enjoy curriculum chats, even if the other participants aren't actually in the room, and I'm really just talking to myself. #homeschoolnerd
Planning on an elementary science curriculum comparison video soon.
@@SevenInAll I talk to myself ALL. THE. TIME! I told my family that’s why chatting to the camera doesn’t feel that weird to me. I’ve been talking to nobody for years!!! 😜😜😜
@@SevenInAll I look forward to the science comparison!!
Yah!! I was so intrigued with MOH and almost chose it when I was trying to decide what fo replace TGTB history with. Still intrigued by it. But since my girls wanted to do American history and MOH level 4 looked too complex for that.
I love this though bc church history is on my heart for next year!! But I love that this has audio books!! So you think vol 3 is too much for my youngest who will be 3rd grade next year? Middle child will be 7th but she’s not super motivated for things like this.
I would say 3rd grade is probably about the very youngest I'd do for MOH vol 3, and I wouldn't expect a 3rd grader to 'get' everything, remember every person...but it's the same with all family-style learning, kids participate at their own level. Our family had a lot of fun with that one, we did it together with friends, which motivated us to do more of the projects, haha!
@@SevenInAll that sounds like fun!!
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Great video thank you 🙏
You're welcome!
We are using SOTW but I want to take a break between 2 and 3 and do US history- do you then recommend Sonlight for it? I will have a middle schooler and two elem.
I think Sonlight does a fantastic job with US History. They just released a new and updated version of level D and I have heard wonderful things about it! They also have a condensed D+E which condenses US history into one year. I would personally probably pick the two year version (do D, and then E the next year), but D+E is a good option if you only want to spend one year on US History. Those are aimed at the 9-12ish age range, so should be good for your middle schooler and elementary...unless you have a very young elementary student, so do look at the book list to see if you think all your kids can handle it. Sonlight also has a K version of US history which would work for early elementary, but definitely not for middle school.
@@SevenInAll I’ve looked at some of the books and I do think mine would enjoy them. I have older elementary who are readers. If you already have the books to read (I have happened to buy quite a few of them already), do you just need the teachers manual? Or is there a “student text book” as well like SOTW? I was confused on that. We already own timeline books so don’t need those.
@@mwolfe7883 You would just need the teacher's manual or "Instructor's Guide" in Sonlight terms. All comprehension/discussion questions or mapwork type activities and extensions are in the IG.
Sonlight incorporates Story of the world into their G and H cores.
Yes it does! But just the read aloud books--the tests and activity books aren't scheduled into Sonlight, but could be added for those who want to.
Great video!
Thanks!
I guess your family never has used Notgrass history? I wish that curriculum had been in the mix. I’m really curious about it. I would have loved knowing your thoughts about it and how it compared to the other four.
Thank you for this video. It really helped to see these four side-by-side.
Sorry, yeah, Notgrass history is not one that I've seen of used 'in real life'. There are so many options out there!
We’re using this this year!