by Susan Wise Bauer
This volume of the History of the World is the second in a series of four and covers the time from the fall of Rome to the rise of the Renaissance. The author recommends it primarily for grades 2-5, but it is very appropriate for multi-level teaching. This year, I used it with my first and third graders and even our preschooler enjoyed listening to the narrative. The author recommends it as a "central text, or 'spine', that tells the story of history chronologically...a 'springboard' into the study of world history" to be used to give your children a basic understanding of the time period and an excitement about history. It consists of 42 chapters, each representing about a week of history lessons when read in conjunction with activities in the accompaning activity book. My children love this part of the school day and usually beg for more when we have to stop. In this particular volume of the series, my children especially enjoyed learning about how life was lived in the Middle Ages and then changed and improved upon by the "rebirth" of the Renaissance. The book could be used alone as a story book or together with the activity book to provide a comprehensive history and geography program for the time period. I do recommend that you read ahead a bit as you go, so that you can edit out chapters or portions of chapters that you deem innapropriate or simply not helpful for your family. For example, we chose not to devote time to pagan cultures like the Mayans. These are personal decisions and need to be made by each family. I think overall this is a great book and a great program when coupled with the activity book. By editing out certain portions, I was easily able to devote two or three one hour sessions a week to history and finish in a school year.