Tag: world history

The World’s Story 3 Set: A NLPG Book Review Crew Review

Grace-Filled Writer

My favorite part about homeschooling is just how rich our history and literature studies are. My love of these two subjects comes from my parents. They read aloud to me from before I can remember and dad would tell me stories of the people from history. Knowing I wanted these two subjects at the heart of all we learned, I chose a curriculum which focused on this. It has a Charlotte Mason feeling and I love almost everything about it! The one exception was the elementary world history book. Although a classic within the homeschool community, it does not have what I consider a Christian worldview. I used it twice before with Rose and Beth. My husband would hear me correcting some of the language (such as savages or negro) and questioned me as to why I used it. I told him I hadn’t yet found a comprehensive replacement. I wanted something Christian, readable for a 3rd grader, and covering the span of Creation to modern-day, but had not yet found a good substitution. 

I found it! 


Rather than the older text Grace has been using the World’s Story this year for her history spine. This is intended to be used for middle school, but we use the text portion only have have found it to be thoroughly wonderful for 3rd grade! Grace is a bit advanced in her reading level, so she reads much of the text on her own, but the conversational nature of this text would make this an ideal read-aloud for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers. Living books are at the core of this methodology and this text fits right into our way of learning. 

This text covers what is the modern age from European exploration to present day. That is a lot to cover in a year, but I’m very pleased with how it is laid out. It is full of beautiful pictures, artwork, maps, diagrams, and illustrations to help children see a full breadth of history, why it matters to us, and how it fits into God’s plan. I appreciate the thoughtful way history is presented. Not everything is positive, but those topics which are harder to deal with are not dealt with so deeply as to trouble younger students. 

There are wonderful questions in the student book to help guide your student with narration, a wonderful practice which helps children learn how to summarize what they have read. The teacher guide has a layout of what to complete each day for a year. In addition it also includes activity pages, review sheets, research work pages, and… answer keys! Yay! Answer keys really do make homeschooling multiple ages at the same time so much easier. I appreciate that the worksheets are brief, but with high quality, thoughtful questions. There is no busy work here!  

If you are looking for a readable world history text that will engage your kids, this is a great choice! Elementary students will gain much from the text and your middle schoolers will thrive with the added learning materials. 

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the New Book Review Crew at NLPG in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.  All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

The World’s Story 1: The Ancients – A New Book Review Crew at NLPG review

Grace-Filled Writer
History…possibly the most important subject taught in school. Although mathematics and reading are vital to function in everyday society, history is the story of who we are as a people and how we came to be where we are. Many in the world today are looking to gloss over hard things in history, pretending it never really happened. Some countries even have leadership which denies certain provable and documented aspects of history. We need quality resources like The World’s Story 1: The Ancients by Angela O’Dell from Master Books.
The World's Story 1: The Ancients
The very first year we homeschooled our curriculum covered the story of the Pilgrims in very great detail. This was first grade. It became increasingly apparent to me that I was given a very minimalist view of history, one that did not include the God of this universe. My dad loves history and he supplemented my school learning with wonderful facts and stories. I decided I wanted to teach my children as my dad taught me, with living history. The problem I came across was a lack of God-centric living world history books. The most commonly used world history book in homeschool circles started with evolutionary teaching and put all religions on an equal playing field. We are very open about other religions on our home, but we do not say they are equal and viable options. While I have used this book, and others, I always have had to stop and teach the biblical view of false religions. Yes, it has provided some excellent conversations, but I felt there must be a better way! I was right.

This history book is by far my favorite I have ever read. So much so I’m reading it through for myself first which I honestly don’t do that often! Angela O’Dell writes in a beautifully conversational way, just what those of us who love living history like. Beautifully vibrant art graces nearly every page and delights your eyes. The most important aspect, however, is that the author believes the Bible is the true, historical account of God’s story, preserved by Him through time. She does not shy away from hard things like evolution, ancient mythology, or even the belief some hold onto of early alien visitations! The key to teaching and learning these hard things is to do so with the Bible beside you as your guide. 

One concern I have with some history books which are labeled as Christian is the decided European perspective. They basically center their teachings in the Europe. While European history is important, so are African, Asian, and Ancient American histories. I really love the inclusion of all of these cultures which gives a very different view of what was happening world-wide after the tower of Babel than any other world history book I have viewed. 

This coming fall Grace will dive into world history with me. She will officially be in 3rd grade and we will still be using our core curriculum. The difference from her sisters will be that we have a solid Bible-centered history text to draw from and I can’t wait to dive in with her! 

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the New Book Review Crew at NLPG in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.  All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.