Customer Reviews

Story Of The World Ancient Times Activity Book 1 3e

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I really liked the "Story of the World" volume and eagerly ordered this activity book to go with it. There are good activity ideas in this volume but the coloring pages and other graphics could have been drawn by a 3 year old. For the price, which is more than I would have paid if I had seen it, I expected a quality product. I guess if you are using it for an older child and don't care about the graphics it is a good resource for someone who just wants quick ideas and doesn't want to research their own. However, I don't think the original volume "Story of the World" would be that great for an older child so you end up with activities for one age group and text for another. If I wouldn't be out shipping both ways I would return this book. I highly recommend that you view it somewhere before purchasing.

This book is full of spelling errors which makes me really wonder about the authors. I mean, they're telling us what to use and what to do to educate our children and they can't spell! The projects are nothing more than busy-work and half the time, if you follow the instructions word-for-word, the project does not come out correctly. About the only good thing in the book is the narration questions and the supplemental reading, but SOTW barely scratches the surface of history and if you do all the supplemental stuff and the activities there is absolutely no way you'll get through the book in the time that you're supposed to (one school year).

All in all, save your money and go to the library. Look in the reference section or ask your librarian for both fiction and non-fiction books on whatever period of history you're doing and then read, read, read. The kids learn more by reading and discussing than by trying to mummify a chicken which does nothing more than stink up the house for weeks and the chicken does not end up mummified.

I will NOT be buying any further volumes in the SOTW series (either the text or the Activity Books) and I very quickly sold my copies of both.

At first glance, this seems like a nice supplement to the book, Story of a World. However, the more I looked at the book and read through the pages and "projects" - the more I do not like it. Most of the projects are quite unrealistic for homeschoolers. Two weeks to mummify a chicken? Making a Greek ship out of ice cream? What do kids learn from these? I want my children to learn classical education at home - not try to create time-consuming projects that do not really teach them anything. Education takes a lifetime - Dr. Adler is right on that. I am going back to the time-tested classics of the Great Books - books that have been loved and used for centuries and not use a book like this.

I am thrilled to have this activity book to supplement the Story of the World! There are many wonderful activities in it that I would never have come close to thinking of on my own! Although there are a few activities that I know I would never try, I know others that have done those same activities with their kids and loved them! There is such a variety, that each user can pick and choose the activities that best suit the individual/family. I think it was well worth the money!

This book has:
(1) review questions--a great way to be sure your child understood the chapter in SOTW
(2) additional book suggestions--what a wonderful way to enrich your history curriculum. Our library has most of these and they are great!
(3) activities--the best part of these is that they can be as simple or complicated as you want. For example, for the 'build a pyramid' project, you could make it our of legos (simple) or out of homemade sand-covered blocks
(4) coloring pages and maps--these are wonderful

I can't think of a better way to enrich your study of history!

The Story of the World: Activity Book One: Ancient Times is an amazing resource. Perfectly matched with The Story of the World text, it is an invaluable resource. This book should be required for every elementary school child.
The book starts with a handy pronunciation guide, which is a great help with the many ancient names encountered. It ends with a huge section of student pages, which include maps of the ancient world, coloring pages (many taken from ancient art/architecture), and review cards. Found in between these 2 sections is the comprehensive teaching guide.

The teaching guide has a wealth of information, for every section. The reading is cross-referenced with Usborne and Kingfisher history encyclopedias. Review questions and sample narrations are provided. Lists of optional, supplemental, age-appropriate reading materials are included, as well. In many sections, there are recipes appropriate to the geographical area and/or time period being studied.

Even with all of the above, Ms. Bauer did not stop. Every chapter has a wealth of hands-on activities and projects, correlated to the subject matter. These activities are designed to be done with materials that most people already have in their homes. There are always several activies included, ranging from the simple to the complex. For example, the chapter on The Old Kingdom in Egypt includes a project to make a Lego step pyramid, and instructions on how to mummify a chicken.

This is by far the most comprehensive and well-written history activity guide that I have ever used. Everything that I needed was included. After using this in kindergarten, my son has a deeper understanding of ancient history than many of the adults that I know. I used several of the projects with my teenage daughter as well, and she thoroughly enjoyed them. I would highly recommend this book for every family with children.

This activity guide has many resources which make it a worthwhile purchase. The book lists for each chapter of Story of the World made it easy for me to go online with my library and reserve books ahead of time which would enrich our lessons. The blackline maps for each chapter helped my kids to identify the geographical regions where the historical events took place. The guide includes numerous suggestions for hands-on projects that help to bring history alive for young children. If one project didn't appeal to me or fit with my schedule, another one would. My 5 year old and 7 year old boys enjoyed making a model of the Nile River and flooding its banks, causing the grass seed we planted to sprout: a fun simulation of the real yearly event. The Roman aqueduct model we made recently was a hit! I appreciated not having to come up with project ideas on my own. My boys began to come up with some project ideas of their own after doing several of the guide projects.

The guide offers a coloring page for each chapter, some of which we used. Others we skipped because my kids preferred to draw their own pictures. Some I skipped, because as a Christian, I didn't particularly want to dwell on depictions of other gods. Some of the coloring pages were well-drawn; others seemed amateurish. I did like having the option of a coloring page.

This activity guide greatly ehanced our enjoyment of the book The Story of the World and our study of the ancients this past year. I highly recommend it!

This Activity Guide made my children history lovers, no doubt! As I read the history lesson for the day, the kids colored the coloring pages and referred to the maps provided in the Guide. We then jumped into a project...some of our favorites were making our own coats of many colors (when we learned about Joseph), building sand pyramids, and making a living model of the Nile River. We included pictures of the children working on their projects in their history notebooks and they really love to look back over the many subjects we have studied this year. We are now busily and happily enjoying Volume II!! I recommend this book to anyone looking to add more depth and excitement to their history studies!

The Activity Guide compliments SOTW beautifully!! My first graders can't wait to do history. And I love the review questions and the example narrations. They love the coloring pages and the map work. Mostly they look forward to the projects. Most of the projects are easy, and do not take much prep time. Being in the grammar stage, it is a great way to do hands-on work while introducing them to new material. They truly understand what a 'cuneiform tablets' is after making their own. I am so thankful for this book. I believe this book is a start of a life-long interest in history. Thank you Susan Wise Bauer.

I've been using the Activity Guide for the Story of the World for five weeks now, with a 7yo girl and a 5yo boy.
This is not a stand-alone book, but this book plus the Story of the World (plus access to a library) gives you everything you need for a very complete history curriculum. I think it would be suitable for most children in grades K-3.
Here's what you get in the Story of the World Activity Guide (basically everything!)...
Review Questions - my kids compete to answer these. They are fun, not too hard, and cover all the main points in the chapter. Which makes it very easy to follow up with...
Narration Exercises - OK, we're still trying to get the hang of these. Neither of my guys knows how to summarize, really. But I'm sure we'll get it, and it'll be a valuable skill later on.
***Additional History Reading and Corresponding Literature Suggestions*** - I LOVE these books! So far my library has had almost all of them. They are mostly simple fact books and gorgeous picture books. This is the most valuable part of the guide, for me.
Map Work - I like this. My kids are getting a real sense of the geography of Egypt and the Middle East. It helps to have a globe handy, so we can match the maps with the "real" world.
Coloring Pages - Well, to be honest, I find the pictures really vary in quality, but my kids don't seem to have noticed. And it's nice to have them right there.
Projects - Once I got over the idea that I wanted to do them all, I found myself really enjoying these. We've made cave paintings, and a model of the Nile. We're planning on doing the sand cube step pyramid some time next week and I haven't totally ruled out cuneiform tablets (if I get around to picking up the clay).
The projects are fun and easy, and don't require anything you can't find at your local hardware store or grocery store.
There are several projects suggested for each chapter, so you can always pick the ones that suit your family best. Do as many or as few as you like.
Review Cards - We cut them out and colored them, but to be honest, I'm not quite sure what to do with them. Maybe I'll pick up a box of paperclips and let the kids hang them off of a piece of yarn, like a timeline.
As well as all this, there are page referances at the beginning of each chapter to corresponding pages in four different history encyclopedias. They are: The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World, The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, The Usborne Book of World History, and The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History. This is a nice extra if you already have one of these books on hand, but you won't miss it if you don't. All the information in the encyclopedias is covered in the library books you'll be borrowing to read aloud.
So, in summary - I love this curriculum and would recommend it to anyone. Even non-homeschoolers could use it for summer enrichment activities. My kids have been playing at being archaeologists for weeks now, building tombs and pyramids and temples out of blocks and digging up the backyard in search of artifacts.