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Melanie32 – Stobaugh World History
- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 1 month ago by
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Hi Melanie,
I think at some point you used Stobaugh’s World History with your daughter, am I right? Would you be willing to tell me what you thought of it? I’ve been looking at it and love how simple it looks – short lessons with narration-type questions at the end of each one, Christian worldview, inexpensive. Also, is there any Bible reading included in it at all?
Thanks!
If anyone else has used this, I welcome all opinions!
Hi Erin!
I did use Stobaugh’s World and American history for a few weeks. We ended up going back to just using living books, as usual. 😉
I liked the very things you mentioned in your post and so did my daughter, which is why we tried it out as our spine. However, we found that it lacked cohesion. The lessons seemed to be all over the place, which is what I guess one should expect from a book that attempts to cover such a broad span of time in such a short space, with such short lessons. Your mileage may vary but it wasn’t a good fit for us. Then again, there has never been a history textbook that has been a good fit for us so the problem is definitely us and not the textbook! We are just die hard living books fans when it comes to history!
I don’t remember there being any actual Bible involved in the American History but I’m thinking it’s weaved into the World History course. You can download a kindle sample and check out the table of contents to see what is covered in each lesson. I gave the books away or I would pull them out so that I could better answer your questions. Also, I could be remembering incorrectly as it’s been over a year since we used them.
I think I would use Notgrass if I had to use a textbook.
Thanks, Melanie. That’s exactly what I’m seeing in other reviews on CBD and elsewhere – that the books lack cohesion and are a bit scattered. I do love the set-up, though. I think I’ll probably pass on these.
Melanie,
If you only used living books, did you follow some sort of timeline? How did you decide what books to use? I am planning to do this in the fall. I printed an American history timeline from HeartofWisdom.com/blog that will help me. But, I was wondering if you used anything in particular to help you keep order of time and also choosing books, would you share that?
Though not a CM way (had to switch away for my son in HS), a very effective use of his history books is alongside Great Courses Plus.
He watches Foundations of Western Civilization I & II, followed by Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century, interspersed with a few from Great Trials of World History Mon – Thur. If we watch together, we discuss and he answers the questions at the end of the chapter in the lecture guidebook; otherwise, he only answers the questions. Each lecture is around 30 min.
On Fridays, he reads and answers the questions in World History. But, I only have him doing the non-Western countries in Stobaugh’s. I created a syllabus for each.
We do watch documentaries and historical-fiction movies together. Currently, its PBS’ The Dictator’s Playbook and recently watched Doctor Zhivago. We try to watch one on Sunday nights. There are many, many available on PBS, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
His class is called: World History: Emphasis on Western Civilization
Next year, I’ll do the same for American History, but use the whole of his book.
So, if anyone finds themselves in a position to need to veer away from CM, here’s a way to still use CM/Classical-like discussion methods. I’ve found, he still thinks in a CM way, based on how I taught in his early years.
I’ve used various book lists, guides and curricula over the years but when high school rolls around, I just let my kids pick what they want to read. Don’t get me wrong, I have to approve their choices and they usually choose from our home library or the public library, mostly from our home library. I ask them which time periods or historical figures they would like to read about and then I do the research to find the best books on that subject or person.
The reason I’ve decided to handle history this way is 1.because my kids asked to! and 2. because that is how I study history as an adult and I have no problems placing each book, mentally, into it’s proper place in chronology. I realized that my high school age kids are perfectly capable of understanding where a book fits in the scope of history without me forcing them to read books that only deal with the same time period for a whole year.
I would love to plan our history courses to cover a certain time period via living books. I love to make homeschool plans! However, they always fall apart when my child wants to read about something else or when they hate a book I have selected. I’ve just found that they enjoy history and learn so much more when they are free to choose their own books.
Thanks. I am thinking my daughter will like it better if she can read what interests her. She does not have a good concept of time and dates mean very little to her. So, a few years back I started at Creation and we are working through chronologically. At least she will see the progression. We are just finishing up the Revolution, using The Mighty Works of God – Divine Providence. It is very interesting for a text. But, I feel like she has missed out on so many good books for that time period and I want her to start doing more reading on her own. So, I’m going to supplement with some library books while we finish the text. In the fall, I will pick up with just living books. I did think about using All Through the Ages to help find books. I purchased that several years ago, but I wasn’t using it much, so I gave it to my daughter-in-law, who is homeschooling her children. I also wrote down SCM book list. My daughter likes to write, so I will have her do written narrations from the books she reads. I wish I’d have done this sooner 🙁 She has not been engaged in our readings like I had hoped. She has dyslexia and does not do much reading, but I think having me read a lot to her is getting old. 🙂 I believe she can handle a little more reading now.
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