These collections of stories from world history make the past come alive for your child. Each volume includes helpful maps of the era covered. (Grades 1–6) See full description
Mr. Morris’s narratives, originally published in 1901, make you feel as if you are listening to a kindly grandfather recounting tales from the past. And now Lorene Lambert has brought this history up to date by adding more living narratives. These delightful books will introduce to your child famous people and events that occurred in the nations around the world. Volume 1 presents stories from Queen Elizabeth through Garibaldi (1550–1850). Volume 2 presents stories from Count Bismarck through Queen Elizabeth II (1850–2012).
Looking for Volume 1?Stories of the Nations, Volume 1 is now out of print and has been replaced with a wonderful new World History book for the Early Modern era. Our Neighbors: Their Stories, Volume 1 by Lorene Lambert is a captivating living book that all ages are sure to enjoy.
Delightful Living Book—In a captivating yet gentle style, the people and events of world history are unfolded in true stories about their day.
Interesting to the Whole Family—Though addressed to young readers, Mr. Morris’s grandfatherly story-telling pleasantly attracts and educates any age. Volume 2’s chapters, contributed by Lorene Lambert, are written in a style similar to Mr. Morris’s.
Easy to Narrate—Both authors paint pictures with their words that make it easy to see with your mind’s eye, and narrations naturally flow from those mental pictures.
Leisurely Pace—These little history books invite you to take your time meandering through world history and enjoy other living books of the time period as well without worrying about fitting everything into your year.
Natural Geography—The stories often refer the reader to the historical maps in the back of the book to naturally connect geography to the events and people of whom you are reading.
WOW!!!!! This rivals Hillyer’s “Geography of the World”! May I just say that I’ve been looking for a book like this for years! Thank you for all the hard work that went into providing it to our homeschool community! You may be sure that I will be ordering VERY soon!
Ladyofthehouse –
Thanks for including the index in the sample, really helpful!
Diane –
What age is this appropriate for narration?
Doug Smith –
Charlotte Mason recommended starting oral narration at a first grade level (age 6). Stories of the Nations is enjoyable for all grades but is mostly targeted to grades 1 through 6.
Alicia –
Thanks for all the work you have done to provide such wonderful resources on your wonderful website!
peg –
One of my children has severe LDs and it would help so much if we could get your history books in audio format. Any plans for creating audio versions??
Sonya Shafer –
Peg, creating audio versions of these history books is on our to-do list, yes. We don’t have any definite dates yet, but it is a project we want to make available.
Sandra –
Is there anything you could suggest for teaching world history at the high school level…really am struggling to find something suitable. Any input would be appreciated!
Sonya Shafer –
My recommendation would be to use the books listed for Grades 10-12 for World History in both our Early Modern and Modern modules. Each of those modules is set up to do American History alongside World History, so you could do just the World History components of both.
Lori –
I’d like to do a simple world history unit study for my 3rd grader…do you think these volumes would be enough?
Sonya Shafer –
These would work great for a world history overview. Keep in mind that Volume 1 starts around 1550. So if you’re wanting to start with Ancient world history, you would need to use different resources up through 1550. You might take a look at the history section of our Curriculum Guide for some suggested resources for those earlier time periods.
Rated 5 out of 5
Sarah Smith –
We will be using both this and Stories of America this year. With our previous history program, I was getting concerned that there was too much emphasis on negative events, wars, conquests, etc. I love that these SCM books focus more on other historical events as well, such as inventions, explorations, etc. I do wish there was an audio CD version of these SCM books, as that can make it so convenient to extend our learning time to include time in the car on errand day.
We have read through most of Volume 1 this year in our homeschool. We love this book! My children are 7, 9, and 11. Just tonight the whole family was enthralled in one of the chapters (Dad included!). Highly recommend this resource.
Amy @ simply necessary –
WOW!!!!! This rivals Hillyer’s “Geography of the World”! May I just say that I’ve been looking for a book like this for years! Thank you for all the hard work that went into providing it to our homeschool community! You may be sure that I will be ordering VERY soon!
Ladyofthehouse –
Thanks for including the index in the sample, really helpful!
Diane –
What age is this appropriate for narration?
Doug Smith –
Charlotte Mason recommended starting oral narration at a first grade level (age 6). Stories of the Nations is enjoyable for all grades but is mostly targeted to grades 1 through 6.
Alicia –
Thanks for all the work you have done to provide such wonderful resources on your wonderful website!
peg –
One of my children has severe LDs and it would help so much if we could get your history books in audio format. Any plans for creating audio versions??
Sonya Shafer –
Peg, creating audio versions of these history books is on our to-do list, yes. We don’t have any definite dates yet, but it is a project we want to make available.
Sandra –
Is there anything you could suggest for teaching world history at the high school level…really am struggling to find something suitable. Any input would be appreciated!
Sonya Shafer –
My recommendation would be to use the books listed for Grades 10-12 for World History in both our Early Modern and Modern modules. Each of those modules is set up to do American History alongside World History, so you could do just the World History components of both.
Lori –
I’d like to do a simple world history unit study for my 3rd grader…do you think these volumes would be enough?
Sonya Shafer –
These would work great for a world history overview. Keep in mind that Volume 1 starts around 1550. So if you’re wanting to start with Ancient world history, you would need to use different resources up through 1550. You might take a look at the history section of our Curriculum Guide for some suggested resources for those earlier time periods.
Sarah Smith –
We will be using both this and Stories of America this year. With our previous history program, I was getting concerned that there was too much emphasis on negative events, wars, conquests, etc. I love that these SCM books focus more on other historical events as well, such as inventions, explorations, etc. I do wish there was an audio CD version of these SCM books, as that can make it so convenient to extend our learning time to include time in the car on errand day.
If it is helpful to anyone, I have compiled a list of both Stories of America (Vol 2) and Stories of the Nations (Vol 2) in roughly chronological order, to make it easier to use the two side-by-side. You can see that list on the Links and Tips page for “Modern Times, Epistles, and Revelation” here: https://simplycharlottemason.com/product-links-tips-info/modern-times-epistles-revelation-links-and-tips/
Cassandra –
We have read through most of Volume 1 this year in our homeschool. We love this book! My children are 7, 9, and 11. Just tonight the whole family was enthralled in one of the chapters (Dad included!). Highly recommend this resource.