by Susan Wise Bauer
This book is the companion to "The Story of The World: History for the Classical Child, Volume I, Ancient Times." Both of these books are meant for grades 1-4, and appropriate for multilevel teaching. Many of the activities in this book would be enjoyed by students as old as 8th grade. Last year, my kindergartener, preschooler, and 2nd grader really enjoyed this program and learned so much!
As you read to your child or children from "The Story of the World", each of its chapters has a corresponding chapter in this book full of ideas to expand the historical narrative you will be reading through. Every 4 chapters or so, they provide a summary review in the form of review cards. What kind of ideas are included in this activity book? For each chapter, review questions and sample narrations as well as suggestions for additional history reading and literature suggestions are supplied. In addition, each chapter has a map and directions for mapwork. Chapters also include some of the following: coloring pages, art projects, craft projects, recipes, games, and ideas for costumes and reenactments. As our family worked through this material, we always used the maps and then would decide based on our schedule, time constraints, and the children's interest how many of the other activities to use. I think this book is a valuable one and together with "The Story of the World" provides a comprehensive history program for Ancient History. We devoted 2 or 3 1 hour sessions to history a week and completed this program in a school year.