The Story of the World by Bauer

Even though we are not using The Story of the World this year I thought it would be a good idea to discuss it as I think this curriculum complements the philosophy of the Trivium quite well. Here is a review I did and was posted at www.exodusbooks.com.  

After using Bauer's complete set of Story of the World, Ancient through Modern, with 2 of my children starting in the 1st grade and ending the 4th, I felt I could give a brief review.  Susan Wise Bauer uses an easier to read writing style with volume 1, but by volume 4 the reader is exposed to more information and more intense themes.  For this reason, I believe a first or second grader would enjoy Vol. 1, but an older reader my find it a bit childish.  Respectively, fourth graders would enjoy the 4th volume as it is written at a higher grade level and provides a greater amount of information, but it may be beyond the understanding of a first grader.

The activity books are a must as they not only provide questions and answers for each chapter, corresponding pages in Kingfisher and Usborn Encyclopedias, and a list of books for further reading, but maps and other hands on activities are included as well.  There are numerous activities to pick and parents can find those to fit the personality and learning style of the student.  The activity books for the first volumes are geared toward younger students (coloring pages, etc.), but the 4th volume has the student learning how to outline, work on a timeline and doing more map work (2 maps per chapter instead of the one).

The test books are not necessary, but provide the parent with a way to verify the student's retention. Tests for the early volumes consist of multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank and 1 essay.  By the 4th volume the tests are more intense:  gone are the multiple choice and true/false questions and instead the tests are almost solely essay, a few fill-in-the-blank and placing events in chronological order.  One problem I did notice with the test books is they do not always correlate with the questions and answers in the activity books. Many times the questions in the activity books would focus on a certain topic, but the student would be tested on something else. (To be fair the information is covered in the text book.)

Bauer has attempted to provide ancient through modern history in 4 volumes written at the elementary grade levels.  Therefore, some events in history are skipped entirely and other events are covered only briefly; but all together the amount of information presented is quite impressive.  Consequently, this is a good beginning history curriculum for grades 1-4 which children will enjoy and, more importantly, retain.

In conclusion, for those who want an all encompassing curriculum that takes little prep time on the parents part, or those that want to follow the Trivium, this series may be for you.