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doris
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Does anyone use this?
I've got various friends here in the UK who rave about it, but I've hesitated so far partly because we're enjoying dotting about all over the place, partly through a vague suspicion that it might not be very Catholic, and partly through a general dislike of these home ed bandwagons.
But I had a look today, and at least at first glance there's lots to recommend it. Anyone else?
Elizabeth
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
Frabjous Days
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ladybugs
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We reading through Vol 1 right now. I haven't come across anything and we're coming up on Ch 12.
I'd spring for it...anything that you come across that's anti-Catholic could also be good fodder for apologetics...good to dicuss with the kids, too, I think.
Just my thoughts, fwtw...
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Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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MichelleW
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We enjoyed vol 1.
Volume 2 was more difficult to use, partly because it is organized a little differently and partly because of the chapters on the Reformation. I am used to "translating" as I go, and so hardly notice that I need to anymore, but the chapters on the Reformation were SO awful that I just couldn't use them.
I didn't buy vol 3 this year. I am just doing my own thing. It's probably fine, but I was really turned off by vol 2...
Michelle
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mom2mpr
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We are using #2 this year and are enjoying it. We have only gone through 4 chapters but are having a lot of fun. We listen to our chapter on the way to piano lesson on CD. I also have the book, but haven't opened it yet. The study guide is wonderful. I spend a lot of time with the study guide. I am learning so much with the kids-even dd(3years) is having fun. I have heard a few "rumblings" about it not being Catholic but I haven't any concerns yet--we even learned about the pope last week, and monastaries, and we are going to read about some saints soon as the books come in from the library 
Anne
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Rebecca
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We really like Volume 1 and its accompanying Activity book with maps and craft ideas.
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mom2mpr
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MichelleW wrote:
We enjoyed vol 1.
Volume 2 was more difficult to use, partly because it is organized a little differently and partly because of the chapters on the Reformation. I am used to "translating" as I go, and so hardly notice that I need to anymore, but the chapters on the Reformation were SO awful that I just couldn't use them.
I didn't buy vol 3 this year. I am just doing my own thing. It's probably fine, but I was really turned off by vol 2...
Michelle |
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Guess I'll keep a look out for issues in later chapters. Thanks for the heads up.
I haven't had problems with it being difficult-maybe SOTW 1 was REALLY easy--we did SL1 history the past 2 years(with help from the SL Catholic list) and plugged right in at SOTW2 after we finished. I found SL difficult and somewhat boring near the end of SL1 history-that is why we switched.
Anne
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BrendaPeter
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Here's an old thread that discusses "Story of the World" in detail. Both the 2nd & 3rd volumes are the most problematic from a Catholic perspective.
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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MichelleW
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mom2mpr wrote:
Guess I'll keep a look out for issues in later chapters. Thanks for the heads up.
I haven't had problems with it being difficult-maybe SOTW 1 was REALLY easy--we did SL1 history the past 2 years(with help from the SL Catholic list) and plugged right in at SOTW2 after we finished. I found SL difficult and somewhat boring near the end of SL1 history-that is why we switched.
Anne |
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I should probably explain that "difficult" comment. I didn't mean that it was hard for the kids. It was hard for me because it is not organized strictly in chronological order. This is not as important to some as it is to others (read "me"). Besides not being strictly chronological, the dates are at the end of the book instead of being printed in the chapters (as they were in vol 1), so if I wanted to know exactly where we were in time I had to go look it up and figure out what came when. Vol 1 had the dates printed in the chapters and the chapters were much more "in order." That is what I meant by difficult for me to use. Again, not a problem for everyone, but hard on ME.
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lapazfarm
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We started with Vol. 1 Cd's and activity book last year. Got through maybe a dozen chapters and ds had enough of the repetitive nature of the activity guide (Oooh! ANOTHER map to color. Gee...) but he still liked listening to the CD's for a bit longer. Then he tired of them, too. He may pick the CD's up again some day for fun, but I know he will run and hide if I pull out that activity book again!LOL!
But then again, we are kinda weird, so just keep that in mind.
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us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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mom2mpr
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BrendaPeter wrote:
| Here's an old thread that discusses "Story of the World" in detail. Both the 2nd & 3rd volumes are the most problematic from a Catholic perspective. |
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Thanks Brenda. I will be reviewing this in detail and making my "plan of action" ahead of time now instead of in the thick of things--as I had envisioned when I heard the "rumblings" 
Anne
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Dawn
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We've used SOTW for many years. I have enjoyed their activity guides - lots of direction, ideas, and book suggestions.
We are currently using volume 2, middle ages - I haven't decided what to do when we reach the Reformation chapter. Last time, my oldest was 7 and we just skipped it entirely.  This year I am using it with him (now 11) and my middle boy (7).
It really is slim pickings when it comes to Catholic history resources, isn't it?
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By Sun and Candlelight
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Natalia
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We are using vol. 3 right now. But we are not reading straight through the way I did with vols 1 and 2. Right now are using it more as a resource more that as our spine.
To me the most valuable part is the suggestions for further reading. I wish they would sell that separately. We don't use hardly any of the activities save for the maps and sometimes the coloring pages. If you like hands on type of things the activity book might be helpful to you. We are not big into crafst over here :-(
Regarding the Catholic point of view I didn't skip the chapters I just made sure that I would balance STOW with a Catholic POV.
Natalia
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stacykay
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Natalia wrote:
....Regarding the Catholic point of view I didn't skip the chapters I just made sure that I would balance STOW with a Catholic POV.
Natalia
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I am using SOTW volume 2, like Dawn, and haven't reached reformation yet. What resources did you use, Natalia, for the Catholic pov, when you covered this?
The ages of my boys I am using this with are 11 and 8.
Thanks!
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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Natalia
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Stacy,
I didn't find any books that were at the level of my dc. I did some reading myself. I read Hillari Belloc's How The Reformation Happened published by
TAN and I also searched catholiceducation.org and found some articles
Catholieducation
With that knowledge then I was able to talk to my kids.
Natalia
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kjohnson
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We used the first volume of SOTW and we really enjoyed all of the activities (not necessarily the worksheets, but the projects) and the additional reading list. IMHO, the additional reading in the activity book is the best part of the curriculum.
This year we have switched to V.M. Hillyer's A Child's History of the World and we all are really enjoying it. I think it is much better written, but I miss all of the additional library reading that really makes history come alive. So I am going to continue to use Hillyer's book as a spine and use the SOTW activity guides for supplemental reading. ...the best of both worlds, I guess. 
As far as the reformation chapters, I will definitely skip those and concentrate on the saints of that era and get more into the details of that time period when my kids are in their teens. My kids have extended family members who are Protestant, so they are well aware of the differences in doctrine and practice. But at the teen/young adult level, there is excellent apologetic material available with which to teach.
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In Christ,
Katherine
Wife to Doug and Mother of 6
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Bookswithtea
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I wrote reviews of SOTW I and II for the SL Catholic list a few years ago. I'm not sure...I may have posted them here before. I have little to quibble with about vol I but really disliked vol II in the later chapters. We supplemented with The Story of the Church and Old World and America and skipped a few chapters of SOTW II entirely (this was with a 12 yr old). Neither supplements are particularly living books but it was the best I could come up with at that age level.
There's an old thread somewhere here that talks about extensive concerns with vol III. I am less familiar with this period in history. I would definitely preread after volume I.
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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BrendaPeter
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We do really well with audio anything so we've listened to Volumes I & II on cd. I've taken a long time to decide if it's worth purchasing Volume III but I'm thinking I'll go for it for 2 reasons. One is that my dc, but especially my oldest who is very auditory, loved the 1st two. The 2nd reason is that we're able to get the Catholic perspective from theses cds by Anne Carroll which my dc also enjoy. We have quite a few of them but for the purpose of SOTW, I recommend the ones on Luther, Henry VIII, St. Joan of Arc and the French Revolution.
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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doris
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Thanks so much for all these replies and links. Very helpful!
Elizabeth
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
Frabjous Days
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KellyJ
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We have used part of the first volume text, not activity book though. We will pick it up again relatively soon.
Some time ago, I read at least a couple reviews on Amazon critiquing the book (Vol. 1, not sure about the other volumes), including quibbles with accuracy/factualness. One of those reviews was from 2006, another from 2003. You might be interested in reading them to become acquainted with the concerns of those reviewers.
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KellyJ
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krgammel
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We have really enjoyed Vol. 1 and I have incorporated the Evan Moor History Pockets as notebook pages with the chapters.
There are also some nice pages on the Tapestry of Grace site. There are some great links and a wide variety of printables there that fit into a notebook system as well.
+Kristen
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Topic: Story of the World
