I am new to CM and am planning for a 4 and 2nd grader with a 31/2 year old running around. (may also have my 6th grader home)I was going to start with year 1 because it has been a while since we did the ancients. My question is “Is there a good replacement for Ancient Civilizations book by Oxford?” Or is there a discription of what is read each week instead of chp 1,2, 3 ….are topics listed so that I could find other sources with same information? I ordered the guide so if the answer is there, I will see soon. Just was hoping someone has experience with this. Or do you suggest I just spend the $60 and use it for the year and following years.
but there are further divisions within the chapters. I think missingtheshire had it all typed up in a post somewhere….. Linda, do you still have that handy?
Melissa, I have maintained that the book was not so much money if you are going to use it over and over – (I am). That said, so far in Mod. 1 we aren’t using a lot of it – a section (2 pages) out of each chapter. I was a little suprised by that. =) We are not very far into Mod 1 yet, though, so that may change as we are easing our way through the creation vs big bang theories…I would get it just because that is who I am. =) As an additional note, there are lots of Usborne books that have brief notations and lots of narrated books that illustrate the things that the Oxford book talks about. I am using them together.
Some people have mentioned that the Oxford Children’s Ancient History worked as well. Haven’t actually seen it in my hands so I can’t verify that, but it makes sense. Also, probably any well written book about Ancient _____ would cover the same topics listed in the modules.
If you do not want to buy the book, the best thing you could do is look through the Module you’ve chosen and write down the topics for each history lesson (and maybe what the point of the lesson is) along with what lesson number it was. Then you could look for specific things that are on that subject. I have done that a bit anyway to give my older children some additional reading time in history after the family time is over. =) HTH
Or, pray that Linda finds that post… =) Other post hit while I was typing this one =)
Here is what I posted about the book, it is all the headings and subheadings. Hope it helps. Linda
Ok this is long, bt I have typed out all the parts, chapter and subheadings of the chapter of the book which I hope will bless some of you asking for this. Each chapter has subparts which are mostly 2 page spreads on each topic. The book has wonderful pictures and illustrations. Anyway, here is the book contents:
PART 1:On the threshold of history
Introduction – The Stone Age
Chapter 1– First Civilizations
The climate changes
From food gathering to farming
From hunting to stock farming
Attraction of river valleys
Irrigation and flood
The rise of the leaders
Chapter 2: Sumer
The first settlers
The useful date palm
Nam-sha learns to read and write
Clay Bricks and Buildings
Gods and Heroes
Houses and everyday life
Conquerors and kings
Law Givers
The royal tombs at Ur
Babylon
Science in Babylon
Reading the wedge-shaped writing
Chapter 3: Egypt
Before the pyramids
The Discovery of metal
Building temples and pyramids
The oldest ship in the world
Cleopatra’s needle
Mummies and tombs
Akhenaten and religion
Tutankhamen’s tomb
The lost toy cupboard
Everyday life
The disappearing queen
Paper, ink, hieroglyphics
Chapter 4: Other early civilizations
The Indus valley
China
The Hittites
The Hebrews
The Assyrians
The Persians
The Phoenicians
Chapter 5: Pre iron age Britain
The first farmers
Skara Brae
Silbury, Avebury and Stonehenge
Bronze age barrows
The coming of the iron age
PART 2: The Greeks
Chapter 6: The Minoans
The legend of the Minotaur
Sir Arthur Evans
The palace at Knossos
Daily Life
Religion
Bull Leaping
Michael Ventris and Linear ‘B’
Atlantis
Chapter 7: The Mycenaeans
Homer
The Trojan War
Heinrich Schliemann
Schliemann at Mycenae
Chapter 8: Early Greeks
Achaeans and Dorians
The emergence of cities
The early days of Athens
Chapter 9: Greek civilization
How the cities were ruled
Solon, Cleisthenes and Pericles
Everyday Life
Other members of the family
Art and Pottery
Ships and trade
The Gods
Chapter 10: The Persian Wars
The Persian Empire
Persian rulers
The Battle of Marathon
Thermophylae
Salamis
Chapter 11: Pericles and the Golden Age
The wise men of Greece
Slavery
Clothes
The Acropolis and its buildings
Greek legends
Music
A day at the theatre
The Oracles
Chapter 12: Athletics and games
Legend of Pelops
Olympia
The Olympic Games
Other games and pastimes
Chapter 13: The Peloponnesian wars
Sparta
Why the war started
Soldiers and battles
Athens is conquered
Chapter 14: Alexander the Great
Early days
The army
Battles and sieges
Persepolis
Alexander’s last battle
Death of a conqueror
The empire is divided up
Chapter 15: Greece conquered
The Romans come to Greece
Greece becomes a Roman province
The Greek legacy
PART 3: The Romans
Chapter 16: Origins
The legend of Aeneas
The legend of Romulus and Remus
The truth behind the legends
The early kings
Sabines and Romans
The Etruscans
Horatius and the bridge
The Celts
Chapter 17: Rome and her neighbours
The Greeks
Carthage
A sea fight
Hannibal and the Punic Wars
Chapter 18: The City of Rome
What Rome may have looked like
Aqueducts
The baths
Temples
Private houses and flats
Shops
Nero’s Golden House
Chapter 19: Republic and empire
Why the kingdom ended
The republic and its end
The early emperors
The empire expands
The decline of the glory
Chapter 20: Daily Life
Pompeii
Food and Drink
Clothes
Education
Time and the Calendar
Painting, sculpture, drama and literature
Earning a living
Games and pastimes
Chapter 21: The state and religion
Government and the law
Religion and legends
Christianity
Slavery
Chapter 22: The arena
The amphitheatre
The Colosseum
Gladiators
The Circus Maximus
Chapter 23: The army
The citizen soldier and the legion
Uniform, weapons and tactics
Siege engines
Marching camps
The officers
Roman roads
Chapter 24: Barbarians at the Gate
Barbarians settle inside the frontiers
Some provinces are abandoned
Constantine, his town and the division of the empire