World History

[CatKitson]

We really like the Galore Park books, but their so you really want to learn history books are all British history, and I am not really happy with such a close focus. DD has outgrown the junior level books which are all world history by the looks of them.

We have got all the Story of the World books, and tried their activity books which I didnt much like, to be honest. We also have done every single history pocket from Steck Vaughn. The kids love the horrible history books, but Im looking for something meatier.

Any ideas?

How old are the DC?

Dd is working on a 12-13 year old level, ds on 7-8 year old level. So Galore park junior book one for ds and their upper "so you really want to learn", book 2 for dd.

They find Story of the World too dry, sadly. If it can be one text I can write appropriate tasks for each child that would be great. Ive started to teach and discuss with them both, then separate tasks.

They just fly through stuff at the moment. I shouldnt be grumbling, I just need a few good ideas for history. Im lap-booked half to death!

Have you tried maybe a proper thickish book like A Little History of the World by EH Gombrich? Not very eco-friendly, but you could photocopy relevant chapters to use as a base each, and have them do research beyond that. There is a very European bias unfortunately (not much on the Americas) but it's still excellent and written expressly for children but suitable for any fluent reader really. You might also like Titans of History- short little characters sketches of a few pages of lots of different people throughout history.

I think books like "100 dates in UK history" are probably great as a framework (even if you don't want to have them learning them by rote, it's still a good reference- and learning them by heart did help me enormously) and any books about notable characters in history- famous Europeans, adventurers....are you starting to look at historiography and bias with your DD?

I think Ive worked out what to do with the dc's and history. Yes, we have Hilliyer's A Child's History of the World, and Bauer's A Story of the World. I've just ordered Titan's of History, which they might like, since they love the Horrible History books.

I'm going to work through the Galore Park junior history books with ds, and dd is going to start American History with Downey's books and cd roms, and that can inspire our novel choices for a while. I was hoping to use the same text, but level different activities, but its just too big an age gap.

DD and I have worked through the Galore Park books, which are excellent, and she is aware of bias and so on. She really doesn't enjoy history, and much prefers geography and math, but history really is not optional at this point. I think I need to try and include more trips to museums, documentaries and biographies.

Hi you might be interested in World History For Us All which is a free curriculum from one of the US universities (but secular, not creationist). I think it's aimed at high school level but we are working through what they call the Panorama units, supplementing with books, trips and videos.

worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/

Oh, yes HighFibreDiet! That looks very interesting, and a US program too! Thank you!

I don't think story of the world is for teenagers? - I thought they were supposed to be doing something different by then? (cant remember what - would have to refer to 'well trained mind'.)