Story of the Old World [grades 4-6]

Christian Schools International

The publisher states that this beautiful, hardcover text is written at a sixth-grade reading level, but I would judge it easy enough for children as young as fourth grade. I imagine most eighth graders will find it too young. Some of the subject treatment is superficial in comparison with A Beka’s Old World History and Geography, which makes it more appropriate for younger learners.

The book follows the traditional approach to history, concentrating on study of the old world with the exception of a section at the end covering the exploration of North America. (See the comparison of content within the review of A Beka’s Old World History and Geography. Geography coverage is minimal since that is not the purpose of Story of the Old World.)

There are a variety of questions that take children beyond the information-recall level. On student text pages are small purple boxes with the headings “discuss,” “discover,” or “do.” (“Do” activities are primarily research and writing, not hands-on.) We can use as many of these as we choose to broaden learning activities. This is a thoroughly Christian history text, continually tying the story of history to the Bible and Biblical principles. Because of this as well as great thought and application questions throughout the book, Story of the Old World is a good resource for developing worldview ideas in the upper elementary grades. The teacher’s edition contains the answers to student questions, although it would be possible to use the student text on its own or to purchase only the smaller answer key.0874633699