Story of the World #1 Ancient Times Revised Vol. 1 : From Earliest Nomads to Last Roman Empire

by Susan Wise Bauer

Book Overview

This first book in the four-volume narrative history series for elementary students will transform your study of history. The Story of the World has won awards from numerous homeschooling magazines and readers' polls--over 150,000 copies of the series in print! What terrible secret was buried in Shi Huangdi's tomb? Did nomads like lizard stew? What happened to Anansi the Spider in the Village of the Plantains? And how did a six-year-old become the...

Customer Reviews

Done Well

As a secular homeschooler, I resisted the idea of using Story of the World in our homeschool, but I was not able to find a suitable alternative text. I did end up purchasing it and after reading the actual book and the activity book, I am glad that we made this call. This book is well-laid out and written in an engaging and accessible way to keep kids engaged and boredom at bay. Since it does present a history of ancient times limited to the middle eastern lands (for the most part) we will be supplementing with a few other materials, but no major complaints.

My Kids are Loving History - CD

First thing my 7 and 8 year olds did this morning was put on this CD which they started listening to yesterday. They have been listening to it for about 2 hours today, and show no indication of ever turning it off. Reading through the reviews, I realize there are some people that will not want to buy this CD. 1) If you are a fundamentalist Christian who believes that only what is in the Bible should be taught as history, this is not for you. 2) If you are a fundamentalist secularist who believes anything in the Bible, or from Buddhism, Hinduism, or other religions should be omitted from history, this is not for you. 3) If you are looking for a college textbook, this is not for you. If, on the other hand, you are looking to introduce your younger children to the story of the world, complete with legends and religious beliefs, starting with the nomads of ancient time, HERE IT IS!! It is engaging for children, it is chronological, it brings up great discussion questions, and it gives children a historical outline so when they grow older they will have a historical perspective as they learn more about various cultures. It is quality education that children love- at least mine do.

perfect introduction to world history for children/parents

My children (ages 7 and 9) and I just finished Story of the World Vol. 1 and so enjoyed it (we just started Vol.2, Middle Ages and also love it so far). The author did a wonderful job making world history interesting and understandable. This approach to history (chronologically, beginning with the ancients and moving progressively towards modern) creates a really nice, cohesive "big picture" of the flow of history that is sadly missing in our public school system (which for some reason teaches history in an out of order and out of context sort of way). Learning history progressively and in context helps it all to "make sense" (for children and us adults who missed out on a really good education in history ourselves!) and enables us to see connections and common threads between civilizations and time periods. History "unfolds," rather than occurs in isolated pockets of time, so it would makes sense to me to learn about it in the same way. Susan Wise Bauer sprinkled stories, myths, and legends from each civilization throughout the book, which not only brings the ancient peoples "to life," but also provides kids with something engaging and fun to remember the civilizations by. I would highly recommend this book (and the series) for parents who are homeschooling their elementary grade children, and also for parents who are wanting to supplement their publicly or privately schooled children's history education.

The Story of the World leaves students begging for more!

The Story of the World not only gives readers a wonderful story, it also provides vivid pieces of history through the characters. This book is a very readable narrative that tells the story of ancient times by balancing a massive amount of history with solid characterization. From page to page there is a genuine flavor of the period and of the people who made it what it was.The Curriculum Guide and Activity Book has many hands-on projects for children of all ages. These projects range from coloring pages, to maps, to crafts and games. Each lesson provides many activities to choose from. I highly recommend The Story of the World and its curriculum guide!Elementary School Teacher andFormer Professor of ReadingUniversity of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Breathing New Life into Ancient History

As a history major, I have always prided myself on the fact that I could find fascinating a subject that left many bored. However, when we began my daughter's first grade history lessons using the "Usbourne Book of World History" (using the lesson plan laid out in the excellent "Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise), even I found the material a bit dry; it is, after all, an encyclopedia. Apparently, Susan Wise Bauer felt similarly about its limitations, as she went out and wrote her own history tome. "The Story of the World" is so fantastic, it takes my breath away! The read aloud text on ancient times presents history in small chunks, and is written in an engaging, story-like manner that delights my children, who are 4 and 6 years old. This delightful manner in no way means that the subject matter is "watered down"; Bauer still introduces children to the facts and terminology that are relevant to the subject. For instance, the chapter on "The First Writing" explains the origins and meanings of "hierolglyphics", "Mesopatamia", "cuneiform", and "papyrus". After listening in rapt pleasure to the text, children will delve into the accompanying curriculum guide and activity book. The guide provides thought provoking questions on the text, and offers an example of the type narration that the child should give (the child is expected to briefly narrate back to the parent what they just read about in the text). The guide book provides map work, coloring pages, puzzles, and review cards which can be copied from the book for use, and also includes wonderful craft ideas (most of which, as an inherently lazy person, I found very "do-able" without undue effort). This week, we carved a cuneiform monogram into clay, made a hieroglyphic scroll on paper, and left them outside to see which will prove to be more durable over time; this will illustrate to the children why the papyrus documents of Egypt did not survive the centuries, but the older cuneiform tablets of Sumer did. For our next project, we plan on mummifying a chicken from the grocery store using the directions from the guide. I love this history program, and history is now my daughter's favorite subject. I can't wait for Ms. Bauer to write the next volume (this volume covers earliest nomads to the fall of the Roman Empire). The only downside is that the cirriculum guide comes as a thick packet of pages, rather than being bound into a book. However, the pages have pre-cut holes and are easily stored a binder, and this makes it very easy to copy pages from the guide. ... I feel that this course would be a bargain at twice the price.