BellaOnline Forums Education Gifted Education Gifted Homeschoolers

For newbie homeschoolers and especially those who attended my presentation at the New England Gifted Conference yesterday, please feel free to contact me if you would like suggestions on particular resources for your gifted child. I'd be happy to share my recommendations. You can post here or email me privately.

do you have book suggestions for world history? my son thoroughly enjoys the "my dear america" series (mostly the ones with boy main characters). i'm hoping to find a realistic fiction series with a similar approach (main character is journaling as they personally live through an historic event in american history, so it reads more like an intense, really good story - instead of a more typical, dry history text). however, i want to find one that goes past u.s. borders.

ideas are greatly appreciated
btw, he just turned 6, so i need ones without too much gore.

Hi Zandes-

My kids use Story of the World for elementary history. The books and their companion activity pages are by Susan Wise Bauer, co-author (with her mother) of The Well Trained Mind. They cover world history in a chronologically based manner, which I find more conducive to long term understanding of history and the 'big picture'. We use SOTW as a history spine, and get lots of supplemental books and add in arts and crafts that relate to the topic. My kids were so crazy about ancient Greece and Rome that we spent over a year on them!


Does anyone else have world history recommendations for kids?

We use Bauer too and really enjoy it! The nice part is all of the books (1-4) have accompanying activity books that include hands on activities and websites, etc. that help supplement the reading.

i'm familiar with bauer and have taken out the first volume of story of the world for extended periods from my local library. we used it more as a timeline guide, reading the stories and myths and supplementing fun activities. however, we're not in love. any others?

activities you enjoyed? favorite realistic books on any of the ancients? (we're starting ancient, it's more logical to me and easier for him not to be personally affected by the violent events.)

Sorry. SOTW is the reading series we liked best after bouncing through about 8 others.

If you can find National Geograhic DVDs in your local library, they have an entire series on ancient history. I can't say they're violence free (much of history is violent). But, they hold the interest of both my 9 yo and my 4 yo.

The Kaleidoscope Kids books are fun- there's one on ancient Egypt, another on Medieval Times, etc. There are a few books on Ms. Frizzle's adventures in different time periods that are cute. We also like The Aztec News, etc. by Candlewick Press. And the Horrible History books can be gruesome, but my son adored them at that age.

SOTW is definitely written from a Christian viewpoint, and that does put some people off. There are also a few glaring inaccuracies, but the format is so good that I choose to overlook this.

I hope some other suggestions will come along...

mine has seen the horrible histories workbooks and done some. he likes them a lot. i didn't know there was a book series! i just requested some from libraries. thanks! he also liked Frizzle's Adventures for Egypt.

alicia

This wouldn't work for the entire course, but my son enjoyed the Larry Gonick books, Cartoon History of the Universe. Humor is a great way to lure some kids in -- my son is one of them.

I'm having a devil of a time trying to find anything in the "Horrible Histories" line. My local librarian just rolled her eyes at me. US Scholastic doesn't have these any more they tell me. Thoughts? Resources?