Customer Reviews

Story of the World V3: History for the Classical Child

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This is read by Jim Weiss instead of Barbara Johnson. In my mind, this is neither positive nor negative- I love them both. Jim is wonderful, and the material is perfect for him. Barbara did a spectacular job on the first two cd sets and we love her too.

I can't review the books, as I chose to buy the cds instead. So any review of the material would best be found in the book reviews. Anyone worried about appropriatness, or looking to find what subjects are covered would be advised to check the various book reviews.

My kids love all three of these cd sets. We listen to them in the car, and we are all learning more history than I was ever taught in school. And, it's more fun. These may just be a taste of everything, but it's well planned and well put together. This will form a wonderful framework for filling in as the childrem get older. And, sad to say, but it's the truth- if this is all the history and child gets, they will still be far ahead of the majority of children taught in the US. Which, is a very serious statement- this is history at a level a 6 year older can relate to. And, we as adults have, for the most part, not even been taught most of this. The material is not dumbed down, but it is age appropriate (I'd say 6 on up, because as an adult, I still find it fascinating). The gore is minimized (but not completely glossed over) and there is nothing sexual. Let's just say that sex as a motivation will be one of the blanks they can fill in later.

I love the cd format because it is fun for the whole family, and makes driving more pleasant. The kids beg to hear this (all 3 of the sets) and we are all amused and learning at the same time.

This is my first year using the Story of the World curriculum, I home school my two children, ages 9 & 12. The CD's are great in the car, or while doing the coloring pages from the activity book, which I highly recommend to go with the CD's or the text book. The material is probably geared for grades 2-6. I have also seen and heard the author, Susan Wise Bauer, speak and admire her education philosophy immensely.

My kids (ages 5-11) request that I turn on "The STORY!" as soon as the car is moving. When the children have friends along, they later ask what the cd was called and how they can get a copy. Long car trip? No problem: no movie, no squabbling, just silence and then comments and questions. The overview of world history in this series has helped me, as an adult, gain a perspective on the sweep of world events that I never gained in my own history-weighted education. The series leads the children to find themes and lessons from history, which they relate to current events and geography. I highly reccommend Bauer's cds.

Rather than an in-depth study, I consider the stories a substantial taste to encourage us to do further research on our own. Even the slightly weaker inclusion of Asian history is much more in-depth than any other American program I've come across. This in itself leads to discussion... The audio program could benefit from some consultation on correct pronunciation of some Asian words (eg: Korean "Paekchae"), but most people won't notice, and if they do, likely know the correct pronunciation anyway. I would like to hear more dates in this volume, especially when the stories cross from one part of the world to another. The first volume gave dates at the end of each chapter, which was helpful in relating events.

All-in-all this series has given us all a context and timeline for the rest of history as we learn about it. It has given the kids an enthusiasm for history and interest in the world that is a joy.

My 10-year-old insists on adding a comment:

I,one of the kids,highly love the story of the world because hypothetically I was a bad student in history ,but now I love history. It's really fun-- it's like listening to campfire stories at summer camp. Now that's really fun. Everybody loves it in the car. It's like a spell to us.

This is our second purchase of the Story of the World series. All three of my school age kids (6,8,10 yrs.) just love to listen to these tapes. It is giving all of us (mom included) a much more comprehensive picture of all the parts of history we have learned with other books. We highly recommend this product for your family as a history program or just for listening to in the car for fun. The acitvity book is also full of great ideas for making this as involved or as simple as you would like it to be.

We have used this product this year. I have a 5 and 10 year old. They both get a lot of this course. We also use it in our homeschool group to add to the learning experience. It is highly recommended!

Someone else picked SOW for class because they used it in homeschooling. If you don't know, or don't care, about history, and want to breeze from one snippet to another, this may be for you. Otherwise, think about other choices.

Without maps or pictures, this book is like a self-published typescript, truly "dumbed down."

Looking through the juvenile sections of the library I find so many up to date history books, with maps, pictures, material from original sources, and well written text (without the "!" gaa-gaa style of SOW). The time could be better spent.

I am not a fan of textbooks. The current ones are beautiful and have all the CDs, tests, and everything with them, but they are very expensive and grow tiresome, flogging the same format and style throughout, without the passion or enthusiasm authors of topic books bring.

If you are a home schooler, go to the library. Do a survey, make up a list and a timeline. Then begin. If you are in a school, and have a teacher who likes (or even doesn't loathe) history, please don't make them waste time with this.

I do, by the way, have a classical education, not Christian, but classical, with all those dead white guys, languages, and museums, even travel. SOW does make some attempt to balance American dn European with material from other countries, but it never ties together. There is no "encounter" or sense of how this fits together, of the sameness and difference. It's just sort of "told."

Although I'm weaker in non-Western stuff, I did that as well, and read my share of Japanese, Indian, Chinese, and middle eastern history, philosophy, and literature. Have a go at it. Trust yourself and the kids to think.