Story of the World...Susan Bauer

I was recommended this gem of a book by an experienced home educator. As a newbie I am keen to learn from those who have gone before me and waded through the endless material and have actually seen how certain books and curriculum have worked.

Susan Bauer has put together 4 volumes of story based history starting with ancient times and bringing it all the way up to the present modern day. I myself find the books a fascinating read. My own history in school was limited to a spot of mediaeval history, a smidgen of Roman history and the majority being the World wars. So this history course is an education to me. What is great about these books is that the core itself is bases upon stories. Each chapter is simple and easy to read which means its good for even young children. The stories although simple gibe a good overview of that particular period and inspire lots of creative opportunities to do some hands on activities.

I decided to go through one volume per year so over the course of 4 years we will have a good overview of the world's history. We really do enjoy our history sessions and on top of reading the book we have got extra books out of the library to look at certain events in more detail, coloured in maps and acquainted ourselves with parts of Europe and Africa and done some hands on activities including building a shaduf, making an Egyptian mummy and creating a Minoan mosaic.

Today we have been looking at ancient Greece, the Greek alphabet, Odysseus and the Cyclops and the Olympic games. After reading the chapter Mr Social had a go at copying the Greek alphabet (I was most impressed at his attempt), some copywork as we did an overview of the chapter and finally we created our own olympic games.

Mr Social made up his own list of games to compete in including wrestling, running race, jumping race, hopping race, wheelbarrow race and long jump. We created some medals, laurel wreaths and an olympic torch. All we need now is a daddy home from work then let the games commence! I shall post the winners tomorrow.