Story of the World, Vol. 2: History for the Classical Child: The Middle Ages

Susan Wise Bauer has done it again. This book is a quick read for adults, but it is packed with information. The target audience is young children, after all it is "The Story of the World" and it doesn't bore young children. Our children often would rather hear the next chapter than go play. And sometimes I'll catch my oldest reading it on her own. The book does a good job of providing a balanced look at the major events during the Middle Ages. The book will focus on one area of the world, going over the major events, who was in charge, and who accomplished some of the important things, like discovering America. Then the book will move on to another part of the world for a couple chapters. Susan Wise Bauer did an excellent job of weaving in various parts of history. For example in talking about a culture the book might go into a major myth or story of the group. The variety in pacing flows nicely from history, to what it might have been like to live at the time in a given culture, to some of these myths, and then back again. This helps keep the children interested. The book is just right for young children. When they are young they don't need another 1000 pages of details most of us forget anyways. This book is written in such away that young children really want to listen, they want to know what happened, and then what will happen next. They can develop a love for history such that they'll go back and read in more detail about the parts of history they found interesting. If you are looking for a good book for young children covering the major events of world history during the Middle Ages, this is the best I've found.

We use this as our history curriculum in homeschool and the kids really enjoy it. It's written in a way that engages the reader and asks questions to involve them in the story telling. This book is part of a series and I would recommend them all. You can buy a corresponding course book to go along with it but it's not necessary. Highly recommend!!

I have been homeschooling my children for three years, and "Story of the World" is by far one of my favorite programs! The main text is wonderful, written in a very conversational style that is easy for children to understand, but includes many interesting facts that even adults may not know. Even my very young children love curling up on my lap as we pass the book around and my oldest child and I take turns reading the pages. Instead of being the dreaded subject that you might remember from your school days, History is a treat, and my children beg for us to read more. The main text alone would be a great resource, but combined with the activity and test books, this program is an absolute joy. I don't spend much time at all planning lessons, perhaps 30 minutes every weekend choosing worksheets and picking up library books to enrich our study. And for all this, it is priced quite low -- a steal for all the information that your children will be getting! It's also nice to be able to teach all of my children from one book, despite age differences, and many of the enrichment activities can be done or at least "assisted" by young children as well. I highly recommend this book!

Super description and service.

We have really enjoyed using Stories of the World for our history curriculum. I home school our children and though they take an outside history class at a nearby learning center, I decided to supplement it with Stories of the World. They've had more fun and learned more in our short little sessions than any other class they have taken at the creative learning center they attend. They can turn around and teach what they learn to Dad when he gets home and are enthusiastic for the next lesson. Some reviewers think the coloring during the lessons are dull and not useful, but we've recently found a study that when people doodle/color during lectures they retain 20% more information. I love that they color quietly while I read the stories to them. And of course, I constantly ask them questions while reading to see if they are comprehending it all. Amazingly, they fully get it all and can't wait for me to get back to the story. We use this for our 9,7, and even 3 year old. She is right there coloring with them, and soaks up a lot. Later I'll catch them outside reenacting what they learned. We love the extra activities and the map work areas too. Our kids are every bit as excited to do the map work and then color the maps. We've learned a lot about geography because of those simple maps and when we talk about them our kids know exactly where we are in the world. Great resource, great curriculum. I'm so glad I found this awesome program!!

子供用の本ということで、シンプルな文章で書かれててとても読みやすいです。物語調で書かれているというのも、理解しやすい理由の１つだと思います。ただ、年代があまり書かれていないので、時間の流れは少し理解しづらいところがあります。

Comprei o livro para que meu filho pudesse praticar e o inglês e aprender um pouco sobre história medieval ao mesmo tempo. Tem funcionado maravilhosamente.

I love this series. The stories and method of telling history as a continuing story helps the kids remember and push the information so that it sticks. The activity books are properly cool with the best activity in the first book being how to mummify a chicken. Properly gruesome and brilliant.

We enjoy listening to the story of the world on road trips. Jim Weiss is a great narrator. I’m looking forward to listening to other books by him.

I love story of the world for homeschooling with my daughter. I would highly recommend this series to anyone.