With four children homeschooling this year, ages 5-12, my goal is to study history in a way that brings all of my children together despite their different academic learning levels. I want my children to have a firm grasp on the stories and events throughout history, and make it come alive with hands-on learning and living experiences.

In this blog post I am sharing my review of The Story of the World history curriculum, plus how we are using it in our homeschool this year.

In this blog post:

• What is The Story of the World curriculum?
• How my family is using The Story of the World with ages 5-12
• My favorite things about The Story of the World
• Peek inside The Story of the World history curriculum
• Other history resources we are using this year

What is The Story of the World curriculum?

The Story of the World is a history curriculum by Susan Wise Bauer that is a story-filled, integrated approach to the history of the whole world. The four-volume curriculum takes children through history in chronological order, featuring the Ancient Times, the Middle Ages, Early Modern Times, and the Modern Age. Each volume can be used as a full academic year of history, particularly when paired with its coordinating Activity Book.

The series is known in part for its total coverage of human history, divided into four volumes:

• Volume 1: The Ancient Times – Includes the First Nomads, Egypt, the Jewish People, Abraham and Joseph, Hammurabi and the Babylonians, the Assyrians, Ancient China, Ancient Africa, Exodus, the Phoenicians, the Greeks and Rome. (Grades 1-4)
• Volume 2: The Middle Ages – Covers from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance. (Grades 2-5)
• Volume 3: Early Modern Times – Studies Elizabeth the First through the Forty-Niners, including the Sun King, how the samurai became sumo wrestlers, what the Black Hold of Calcutta was, and stories about settlers in California. (Grades 3-6)
• Volume 4: The Modern Age – Spans from Victoria’s Empire to the end of the USSR. (Grades 4-8)

This curriculum uniquely blends short, digestible chapters (many less than seven pages) with memorable facts and stories about history. Throughout the curriculum are also imagined stories about what children would have done in different cultures throughout time. 

The curriculum is well-suited for families who do family-style learning, meaning children in different academic levels or grades study the same material together. The age guidelines in volumes 1-4 are very broad, because all of the age recommendations can be adapted with the activities you choose for your children. The main consideration for age is that the curriculum does progress in sequence from volumes 1-4. It is possible to adapt up, but it would be challenging to make the advanced volumes doable for very young learners. Still, this curriculum includes a lot of flexibility and is great for families with different grades and ages.

How my family is using The Story of the World with ages 5-12

This year we are using Volume 1: The Ancient Times with all of my children. I am adapting it up for my 5th and 7th grade children. So far we have learned about early writing, the pyramids of Egypt, the first Sumerian dictator, and the Jewish people.

We use Audible to listen to the chapter in the curriculum each week. The kids enjoy listening to the narrator’s voice and it gives me a break from reading aloud. The older children follow along in hard copies of the book. 

We do history three days a week together as a group. The lessons take about an hour, but the older children spend a little more time separately doing their notebook pages. Here is what we typically do each week:

• Day 1: We listen to the chapter of the curriculum on Audible. The older children will narrate the story and the younger kids will answer questions about the story. I use the Discussion Questions in the Activity Book. We will also do the mapping activity for the week in the Activity Book, and my younger children will color a coloring page related to the story provided in the Activity Book.
• Day 2: We read library books from the list in the Activity Book about the week’s subject and the older children do read from the encyclopedia. Then, each child chooses an element from what we are studying and starts a notebook page about it. The older kids will do Internet research and/or listen to related podcasts to build their writings. Sometimes we use drawing tutorials for the notebook pages. We also add events from the chapter to our timeline books.
• Day 3: We finish our notebook pages and do a hands-on project related to what we learned that week. For example, when we studied early writing, we made Clay Cuneiform Tablets. I get these ideas from the Activity Book or through my own research. We also do an oral “pop quiz” using the Test Book.

Sometimes we add in a field trip or another project, like when we went to the Museum of the Alphabet after studying hieroglyphics and the beginning of written language.

Overall we have really loved using The Story of the World to dive deep into a history study that includes comprehensive lessons, opportunities for differentiation for each learning level, and hands-on learning. My children have developed a really comprehensive grasp on all of the lessons we have studied so far.

Resources we use for The Story of the World

Here is a list of resources we are currently using for The Story of the World:

• Hard copy textbook – This is the narrative history chapters for reading, told in chronological order. Independent readers can easily enjoy the stories on their own, or parents can read aloud to younger students. I order one book for each child to read along to the audio version or read independently.
• Activity Book – This is a variety of hands-on projects to complement each chapter in the text, including map activities, coloring pages, games, cooking experiments, crafts, board games, science experiments, puzzles, and more. I order one physical book and the digital download so I can print as many copies as I need. (I use the hardcopy book myself, and the digital download to print pages for each child.)
• Test Book – This book provides simple tests and answer keys for each chapter in the text. I order one booklet.
• Audiobook (Audible) – My children enjoy listening to the audio version.
• Timeline Book – We love this blank timeline book with blank pages so each children can fill in their own timeline. It can also be used over several studies or years. I order one book for each child.
• Timeline Cards – This digital download includes printable cards that coordinate with the lessons in the curriculum. We use these cards to illustrate our timeline notebooks.
• Reference books, like The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History and The Kingfisher Atlas of World History

My favorite things about The Story of the World

My favorite thing about using The Story of the World so far is that the readings are quick and engaging. In previous years, we loved using Beautiful Feet Books history curriculum, but this year I found that The Story of the World is a better fit for us, as we are focusing on doing read-alouds in other ways outside of history.

I love how the activities are open and go, and on busy weeks we can jump right in, or there is plenty of room to add in projects, additional reading, field trips and more when we are able to. Most of all, I love that it is a curriculum that all of my children can share in.

I also am enjoying the way The Story of the World incorporates Biblical history, even though it isn’t from a Christian perspective. For example in the study of the Jewish people, it includes stories about Abraham and Joseph. I appreciate that the “Bible stories” are incorporated to help children weave it all together and see it laid out on a timeline. (The Story of the World includes religious history from a factual perspective only and does not present a Biblical worldview.)

Peek inside The Story of the World history curriculum

Here’s an inside look at The Story of the World curriculum, including the textbook, activity guide book, and tests, plus a few of our notebooking pages.

Other history resources we are using this year

Here are some other history resources we are using in our homeschool this year.

Treehouse Book Studies

This year we are using Treehouse Book Studies for read-aloud selections every four to six weeks. All four of my children share in this activity together. We typically read aloud during our lunch time. Either I will read aloud to them, or we will all listen to an audiobook. The guides from Treehouse Book Studies include a reading schedule, discussion questions, coordinating activities, and ideas for book club meet ups. So far we have loved the historical fiction selections, like The Sign of the Beaver and Rascal, and have had fun discovering more about different time periods from the perspective of the characters in the books we read. Find more favorite historical fiction books for kids here.

A Treasured Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving unit study teaches the historical story of the First Thanksgiving with Scripture, poetry, art studies, picture books, projects, baking, geography, and narration. A Treasured Thanksgiving unit study dives deep into themes like the Pilgrim’s voyage to America, the Wampanoag people, the First Encounters, the First Thanksgiving, and the relationship between the Pilgrims and Native Americans in the first year.