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Subtitled “From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor,” this volume covers early writing and farming, ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, the Hebrew people, Babylonians, Assyrians, ancient India, ancient China, ancient Africa, Phoenicians, Ancient Greeks, Persia, the Roman empire, the collapse of the Roman empire, early Christianity, Attila the Hun and other barbarians. Volume One was revised in 2006 and now features more illustrations, maps, several timelines and additional parent/teacher notes. The text is available in both paperback and hardcover, and the Curriculum Guide/Activity Book is a bound paperback.

Customer Reviews

 
Heidi S. from Rochester Hills, MI wrote the following on 08/28/2009:
I guess I am a dissenting voice with regard to this curriculum, but I hope a reader will understand my intent. SOTW has plenty of information, but it is important for a person to know that the author goes out of her way to be VERY NONSECTARIAN. For example, in the section on the ten plagues of Egypt, the first nine are covered, but the 10th (and most important) is given no time. When two major world religions hinge on this one plague (Judaism with Passover and Christianity with the blood that saves us), you would imagine that this would be covered. It is her right to be non-sectarian, but I think a potential user should know this ahead of time. We believe that history is HIS STORY, so I don't believe that this fits our family as well. I know there are thousands of people that love SOTW, but I respectfully submit that it tries too hard to be all things to all homeschoolers, with the end product being watery with regard to Biblical authority.

 
Kathy A. from Southeast Wisconsin wrote the following on 10/23/2009:
Story of the World is authored by homeschooling graduate/homeschooling mother, Susan Wise Bauer. The series consists of a four volume set of "storybooks" which tell the history of the world from the earliest nomads to the events of the late 20th century. The series is written in a narrative tone, reminiscent of the late V.M. Hillyer's style of writing. Volume 1 covers the time period of the earliest nomads to the last Roman emperor. Volume 2 covers the time period fall of Rome to the rise of the Renaissance. Volume 3 covers the time period from Elizabeth I to the Forty Niners. Volume 4 covers the time period from Victoria's empire to the end of the USSR. To round out your history curriculum I would highly recommend purchasing the activity books which accompany each volume. The activity books correspond with the chapters in each of the four volumes. For each chapter there are review questions, narration exercise, additional history reading, writing/craft/art projects, and an activity. In the back of each activity book there is a section titled student pages which consists of maps, coloring pages and review cards to create a world history notebook. Science is not included in this study, but you can use Jim Wiese's book "Ancient Science" as a starting point. Based on our experience with this series and the content of the curriculum I would recommend it for Grades 5-8. Overall I am pleased with Ms. Bauer's approach to world history and look forward to using this as a unit study in our homeschool.

 
Angie P. from Fredericktown, Ohio wrote the following on 04/01/2007:
This history curriculum was suggested last year during our end of the year assessment. I purchased it from Rainbow Resource Center last year for the 2006-2007 school year. At first, I wasn't sure it was the curriculum for us - the kids weren't too excited about the material, although they did seem to pay attention. I decided to stick with it and found that the issue was really that "Ancient Times" just wasn't as exciting to learn as Christopher Columbus, the Underground Railroad, and other history topics that we had previously studied. I am really glad I stuck with it! We are enjoying this history curriculum and it is easy to use. We have the text book and the activities book; we read aloud the portion of the chapter (already marked in the book) and orally answer the review questions in the activities book. The kids draw and narrate what they have learned that day on a sheet of paper which goes in their history notebooks. We do all of the suggested map work and coloring pages which also get added to their history notebooks. Sometimes we read some of the recommended literature (listed in the activity book) to add to our knowledge and ocassionally we also complete a suggested craft activity. Sometimes the kids are so enjoying the story that we read two or three days worth of material. We include history in our schedule two days a week and will complete about 2/3 of Volume 1 in this school year. I\'m excited about the idea of each kid having a history book of their own making that begins with the nomads in Ancient Times and will continue clear through history. The kids often get out their notebooks and look through them on their own - they enjoy looking at their work and they get a wonderful review in the process. Going through history chronologically is helpful to put it all in order in our brains and having Biblical stories/characters included help my children to understand that the Bible is a true historical record and it strongly reinforces our Bible studies as well. Are they retaining the information? The other evening we were watching an educational show on PBS when the Sahara Desert was shown and mentioned - the kids (grades 1st and 3rd) started yelling out to their dad, "Did you know that the Sahara Desert used to be full of trees and plants and many people used to live there?" Then, as they showed pictures on the show, my 3rd grade daughter started yelling, "Look it's a shaduf! That was the first farm machinery ever used!" Yes - they are retaining this information - that information was discussed in a history lesson 5 months ago! It's refreshing to have a curriculum that all of the family can do together (multi-age) and it's a relief off of my shoulders not to have to plan/create/gather any more than I desire!

 
Colleen Y. from Ohio wrote the following on 04/13/2007:
I bought the entire four book series of Story of the World and handed them to my 12 and 15 year olds to see how they liked them. I perhaps deviated from the original plan for use of these books as I use them for a little bit older children . I also asked my children to keep a notebook where they record a bit of writing, narrations and pictures via the internet every day about what they are reading. They both have told me that before this year, they hated world history. They both have said that these are their favorite books of all they've read in our years of homeschooling. It has been no problem to get them to read these and they've been so unusually enthusiastic about it that my 11 and 12 year olds have picked them up to read now, too. These are definitely keepers for us.

 
Chalee G. from Jerome, ID wrote the following on 05/21/2007:
This history program is great. I used this with my 1st and 3rd grader. They both loved it. It reads just like a story which keeps their interest. The activity book is a great teacher help. Loads of hands on activities and map work, plus additional reading you can choose from, (which is completely optional). Plus there are coloring sheets which my girls love to do while I am reading. We will definitely use Volume 2 for next year.

 
Katrena R. from Shingle Springs, CA wrote the following on 11/14/2010:
Our family absolutely loved the Story of the World. I have three girls that are each 13 months apart and I loved that I can use it with all three at the same time which makes it well worth the money! Because one of my girls has a learning disability and the Story of the World is actually told like a story I really didn't have to do any extra work so she could understand. Very easy to use! Well worth it. Enjoy!