Customer Reviews

The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 4: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My family has greatly enjoyed the first three volumes of "The Story of the World" series. Our daughters have listened to the "Story of the World" CDs again and again. My oldest daughter on her own will pick up the first three books to read. So when Peace Hill Press sent out an email saying a few advanced copies were available, I quickly ordered a copy. When it arrived I had to take turns with my oldest daughter as we both wanted to read it.

In many ways this is a good conclusion to the series. It is a bigger book than the previous ones. Susan Wise Bauer says in the forward that Story of the World Volume 1 was written for children in grades 1 to 4, volume 2 was written for children in grades 2 to 5, volume 3 was written for children in grades 3 to 6, and volume 4 was targeted at children in grades 4 to 8. So this last book is written for a much higher level than the first book.

Be warned, in many ways this is a sad book, it focuses mainly on the wars, revolutions, and civil strife over the last 150 years. This is probably its biggest weakness. The book makes little mention of positive things that have happened over the last 150 years. Most of the discussions of changes in technology, business, or other areas of life have to do with how the changes affected war.

It was sad to see some basic patterns. Again and again some leader, or group of leaders, would try to gain power or expand power, there would be a lot of fighting, many people would die, and often things wouldn't fundamentally change.

The book is very comprehensive. It covers every part of the world. I learned a lot about South America and Africa. I had not realized that it was only in the 1870s that Europe carved up Africa.

This is a good conclusion to the series. It is well written. It was hard to put down. If you have read the first three volumes then you should buy this book. If not, you might want to start with the first volume.

To be honest we are only ten chapters in to this volume (having read the previous three volumes), but this volume seems very choppy and disconnected. She does put a disclaimer at the beginning of the book stating the older age (fourth grade to eighth grade) of her intended audience, however the "storytelling" style of the previous volumes seems to be missing; that, in addition to the seemingly unrelated topics in each chapter make this book a much more difficult read, and certainly a more difficult "follow." We are hoping that the Activity Guide will make it more cohesive, however, it has not yet been released, which is very frustrating. Not giving up yet, however, as this has been a very good series overall.

I would say all ages, but I think it is several pages too long for a reader much younger than ten unless they are a gifted reader. A parent or caregiver could easily read it aloud for younger children. I really appreciate the author's vision in recognizing the need for unbiased, classic books that simply try to tell history rather than interpret it. In today's global environment, it is important for people to know a little of the history from around the world, and this author makes it more enjoyable than most of our carbon-copy textbooks that we all had in school. She tells history as a story, which is perfect because that is exactly what history is-the story of how people have lived and what they have accomplished.

We are a homeschooling family. I Love this whole series! I have all of them on CD which is great because we take them in the van with us. You can listen to them over and over and really remember it that way. They are Told kind of like a story so it holds your interest. I have 5 kiddos and I find they all enjoy and learn from these. I am learning alot too :)

If you are teaching more than one age group I couldn't recomend a better history curriculum. I have 5 kids from 6yrs to 16. We all use the same book for history. I read aloud to the kids who can't read yet or who would rather listen. If you want to use this you will also need to buy the Activity Book. It includes lots of things to do for each subject including a list of books to read for older kids. I realy like the receipes for each time period.

My son started with Book 1 of this series on audio and eagerly listened to the CDs over and over. He honestly knows way more about history and geography than anyone I know (including adults). His greatest loves are maps, geography, history, and military battles and equipment due to The Story of the World. This series has prompted a 9 year old boy to read scholarly tomes from the library and bookstore on those topics and now he eagerly watches the military and history channels. He is already planning on going to Annapolis and has commited to becomming an Eagle Scout to help him get into the naval academy. We never actually used the activity books, but I bought them (at his insistence) and he has used them independently. At this time he is begging me for the new Book 4 activity guide because it has tons of maps! Another great resource is Geography Songs.

We've only completed Ch. 1, but the tests are a great idea, even if you don't want to "test" your child. Use it as a worksheet or review for comprehension. This is a tool I will use for homeschooling my DD9.

We love being able to listen to Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World: Modern History, whenever we're in the car. Jim Weiss reads so well - he uses different accents to make the story come alive and is very easy to listen to. My whole family can't wait for the next instalment when the CD player goes on in the car.

This was a good review for elementary children. It is not an in-depth study of any point in particular but it is an excellent overview of historical events. It is easy reading and gives information that makes history come alive. However, it is not a history book, which is why it is such good reading and a wonderful overview. If you want a lot of information about a particular event or time, then you need an additional text.

This book is so engaging my 6 yr old has almost completed it independently.
Written in a very storylike style.