Recommendations for World History

[Dooley]

Looking for a good World History, preferably classical or Christian. I do have Spielvogel's Wester Civ, but I understand this text is more along the lines of AP Euro.

Hey, isnt Western Civ. a World History course...??

[Samuel]

bump for more information- what age level/reading level?

[Lori D.]

We've been using Spielvogel's World History: Human Odyssey, which goes from pre-history to 1999 (year of our edition), and which also gives a good amount of coverage to other parts of the world beyond Europe/N. America -- such as Africa, China, Japan, SE, Asia, India, etc. Human Odyssey is our "spine" text, and we add in books as needed for additional information on specific topics or nations. Warm regards, Lori D.

[Anna]

Looking for a good World History, preferably classical or Christian...... Hey, isnt Western Civ. a World History course...??

There is a difference. Western is mainly U.S/Europe. World History covers that plus Eastern civilizations. In our house we chose "World" over "Western". Where do you want your history focus to be?

I have never found Christian history texts that I liked more than Spielvogel. In their attempt to Christianize the history, most Christian texts fall way short in historical accuracy and in writing style. Besides, I wanted my girls to study history and such from secular texts while they were still home with me. Keep in mind, your kids will likely receive secular history in college. Do you want their first taste of it to be when someone else is teaching them in a college setting?

Someone else asked about age/reading level. Spielvogel texts are either high school or college. Human Odyssey is high school level. I used it with dd#2. The others are college level. I used Spielv's World History (college level) with dd#1.

[Heather in Savannah]

I too wanted my dd to read secular texts while under my supervision, so I introduced Human Odyssey. What I have done is split the course into a 2 yr World History. Year one was creation to end of the Middle Ages and year 2 was Renaissance/Reformation to current. I think the split was actually between Book 1 and Book 2 of Notgrass. My dd prefers the Spielvogel Human Odyssey text....she would agree with Anna's posting, that Notgrass is weak. The questions they ask are very simple and truly only about a 7th grade level. She much prefers the deeper thinking questions from Spielvogel....and she is not generally a really deep thinker. I have concluded that she has moved past the multiple choice testing and prefers paragraph answers or essay type questions.

[EKS]

We are using Spielvogel's Human Odyssey. We have gotten to ancient Greece and, so far, I have found the narrative to lack coherence. I have added a second text to help knit things together. I am hoping that as we move on and he doesn't have to cover so much time in so few pages that things will come together better.