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Becca
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| Posted: May 27 2013 at 9:37am | IP Logged
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I'm looking for an ancient history spine for my 7th grader. She is gifted.
I found SWB's The History of the Ancient World and I think it looks good. Is this a Catholic Friendly Book? Also would it be to mature for a 11-12 year old?
Any other options?
Thanks!
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MichelleW
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I read this a couple of years ago and enjoyed it, but she would need lots of spiritual support. It isn't Catholic un-friendly, but there are some interpretations that might challenge her faith if she doesn't have some pretty hefty support. That is just my opinion.
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Michelle
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Erin
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Becca
Found some old chat for you  Ancient History Spine and a meaty chat about History Spines which will lead you to even more spine chatting 
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Erin
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Becca
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| Posted: May 28 2013 at 5:21pm | IP Logged
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Thank you!
I am drooling over Connecting with History (which someone mentioned in those linked discussions). It looks very similar to Tapestry of Grace which I've always wished I could use! I am very excited to say the least.
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JennGM
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I see that the discussions already included Dorothy Mills' "Book of the Ancient World". You can read it online, and there are various reprint editions. Memoria Press includes all the maps, which makes it a better option. I hunted down original versions.
Memoria Press suggests this from Grades 6-9.
Ambleside Online doesn't have a year 12, and the old template suggested this, also.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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CrunchyMom
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The Dorothy Mills books look good and, having not used any of these before, I would guess better for the age of your daughter than my own suggestion.
I just thought I would drop this other option I've seen, if only for the sake of discussion, and that is Our Young Folks' Josephus. The text is available online at Baldwin Project (and Archive, too, if you wanted a PDF). It might be a bit young, but you could always look into the original Josephus histories for a gifted student (though probably more suited for high school). I know so little about it, but it has always intrigued me as an option that hangs ancient history on our own history as Catholics, especially since, from my understanding, it was the history commonly referenced by the early church fathers.
Another (free) resource you could use to supplement any spine is Reading Your Way Through History.
I would think, too, you might consider a separate spine for each term. Perhaps the Young Person's Josephus in term 1, and then something like H.A. Guerber's The Story of the Greeks and The Story of the Romans for terms 2 & 3.
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JennGM
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We are reading her Greece book, I don't think they are that difficult. Caroline (stellamaris) was using her books for her children, also.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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CrunchyMom
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JennGM wrote:
| We are reading her Greece book, I don't think they are that difficult. Caroline (stellamaris) was using her books for her children, also. |
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Guerber's you mean?
I haven't read them, I just know Memoria suggests her American History books for 6th grade. I guess I figured that meant they were at least as challenging as the SWB text.
One consideration could also be using slightly easier books as spine and then more challenging books for the supplements. This is what I have done using the Pratt books for American history. They do not necessarily challenge my strong (3rd grade) reader, but the other books he is reading alongside do, and they provide an effective overview to hang things upon.
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Lindsay
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JennGM
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| Posted: May 29 2013 at 3:49pm | IP Logged
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Nope, Mills.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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CrunchyMom wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| We are reading her Greece book, I don't think they are that difficult. Caroline (stellamaris) was using her books for her children, also. |
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Guerber's you mean?
I haven't read them, I just know Memoria suggests her American History books for 6th grade. I guess I figured that meant they were at least as challenging as the SWB text.
One consideration could also be using slightly easier books as spine and then more challenging books for the supplements. This is what I have done using the Pratt books for American history. They do not necessarily challenge my strong (3rd grade) reader, but the other books he is reading alongside do, and they provide an effective overview to hang things upon. |
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My son is an advanced reader. I realized we have an extra year to play with before going to junior high, so I decided to challenge him a bit. We haven't been too much reading aloud (most silently), and this is one we're reading aloud. Caroline took that training from Ambleside, and this is one author that they suggested, and she had reading levels close to mine...so I thought I would try it. I'm impressed with her books. They are a little less narrative approach, but still interesting and living.
Otherwise I usually follow MA history's plan. We just finished TCOO after all these years. I must be in the minority, but we still like it.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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JennGM wrote:
| We just finished TCOO after all these years. I must be in the minority, but we still like it. |
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Not in the minority here. This is a staple for us now and we really like it!
By the way, we also really like the Dorothy Mills books! I really prefer the older/original books. I know we talked about them here at one time.
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Jen Mackintosh
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JennGM
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Mackfam wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| We just finished TCOO after all these years. I must be in the minority, but we still like it. |
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Not in the minority here. This is a staple for us now and we really like it!
By the way, we also really like the Dorothy Mills books! I really prefer the older/original books. I know we talked about them here at one time. |
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Not sure if it was here or in real life. I did buy the original ones because of all the maps. They are wonderful!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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CrunchyMom
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Mackfam wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| We just finished TCOO after all these years. I must be in the minority, but we still like it. |
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Not in the minority here. This is a staple for us now and we really like it!
By the way, we also really like the Dorothy Mills books! I really prefer the older/original books. I know we talked about them here at one time. |
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We like TCOO a lot, too. We have it on cd (the reader for the librivox recording is really great!), it just wasn't working for us for assigned reading and narrations.
I really don't want to second guess my (almost finished) plans to use Famous Men of Greece and Famous Men of Rome next year, but you ladies are making it hard on me! 
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Lindsay
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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CrunchyMom
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Sorry if this is off-topic, but would you also recommend her books on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and Reformation? With so many of these wonderful old authors, the ancient stuff it great but their bias becomes more of an issue in those time periods. 
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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Mackfam
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| I really don't want to second guess my (almost finished) plans to use Famous Men of Greece and Famous Men of Rome next year, but you ladies are making it hard on me! |
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I like those books too! In fact, I plan on using Famous Men of Greece next year alongside Dorothy Mills' The Book of the Ancient Greeks.
I have the Memoria Press Famous Men... books and like them. (I don't have Famous Men of the Middle Ages though.) They have beautiful full color, full page artwork illustrating various events and men and these really add to the reading. I also really like that the Famous Men... books lend themselves well to independent reading as well as being read aloud. They're written well, probably a little more narrative than Mills' books are.
I generally eschew spines for every period of history except Ancient History. I think a well written birds-eye view of Ancient History can really help flesh out a good context and help with the many connections to be made in this period - from Salvation History as well as the many myths of the period. I have one child that really enjoys Usborne books (not all my children do!), and while I would NOT ever consider those for functioning as a spine, Usborne's Book of the Ancient World is good. I really recommend buying older versions of Usborne books because you can usually find them for next to nothing and then you haven't invested a lot of $$ if it doesn't really engage your child. I have this edition of Usborne's Ancient World.
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Jen Mackintosh
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SallyT
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I like those Usborne books for strewing, and I agree -- the Ancient World one does give a really nice sort of skeleton for a child to pick up and absorb on his own. We have a lot of them, because I used to sell them -- my kids have particularly enjoyed the Visitor's Guide to the Ancient World as well. Like you, Jen, I wouldn't use them as our actual school books, but they're great to have around as a reinforcement, for spare-time reading.
Usborne also used to publish some very witty history "tabloids" -- The Greek Gazette, The Roman Record, etc, in the style of something like the National Enquirer -- which we have, and which might still be find-able used. They are . . . well, we bought ours in England, and the humor is edgy in a particularly British way (very like the Horrible Histories series) . . . but my oldest kids learned their crazy Roman emperors that way! Again, I wouldn't use them as school books, and they wouldn't be to everyone's taste, but my kids have absorbed a lot of interesting historical details from them. The classified ads alone are pretty great.
Sally
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SallyT
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And although this is off-topic from Becca's question, I too would like to hear more about Mills' medieval and Renaissance books. I have Famous Men of the Middle Ages and am planning to use it as part of our basket reading this coming year, but am open to other and better suggestions. In the past, I've planned to use Famous Men but then opted for either Guerber or F.J. Gould's Children's Plutarch, which I like a lot.
Sally
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I have used the Famous Men books many times- I really like them, but by the last Famous Man (especially the Roman one), I don't want to hear about another one!
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Becca
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I was planning on the Famous Men books for my 5th and 4th graders but didn't think it'd make a good spine for my 7th grader.
I decided to go with Connecting with History! I am very happy about it. It looks like what we need. I love that it's planned out weekly but yet it's flexible enough you get to choose what you do each day.
I'm ordering it soon. Is anyone here using or have used it before?
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I've used it loosely for several years, Becca. It's a good guide, but it's different than a spine (one book that sort of anchors a history period for a year) in that it's a whole history curriculum...so it has suggestions for spines as well as many, many living books for a particular period.
I ended up using it mostly as a booklist, and less as a guide, though there are some really workable ideas in there. Having said that, my copy is pretty old...I think I bought it when Sonya first published it and that's been years ago. She's done some nice things with the revisions since then.
It functions very well as a guide AND a booklist if/when:
** you are a first time homeschooler
** not certain about the context of a period of history
** unsure how to build a multi-age booklist around a period of history
** need help (with words) in putting history within a larger context - the context of Salvation History
** really need help tying extra parts of your curriculum in to a book (copywork, poetry, maps, hands on work, illustrations, book of centuries/timeline work)
My personal take on RC History: used in entirety it can be overwhelming. So...given that...it is still a fantastic history curriculum (guide and booklist based on living books) and can work really well as long as you look over it with an eye toward:
** how you work/plan/execute as a homeschool mom
** how many children you have
** their reading abilities
** your own comfort level/inclination toward extras (like crafts, projects, etc.)
** your personal/family home education philosophy (ie: are you a Charlotte Mason homeschooler? unschooler? prefer a text/test/out of the box program?) You'll probably want to tweak and make use of different aspects of the program based on WHO you are as a family of home educators.
...and then just implement the program in a way that fits your family. Don't be afraid to adjust - it doesn't make the guide or booklist any less valuable!
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Jen Mackintosh
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Ancient History Spine
