A comparison of SOTW and MoH

This is what I wrote by way of review for the program. Please bear in mind that I am speaking candidly to my homeschooling group and don't mean to offend anyone using any other program.

I'm going to go through what I see as the strengths of Mystery of History (MoH) and what I like about it vs what I don't think we'll use and make comparisons with Story of the World (SOTW) and Truth Quest.

I'll start by saying that as well written as I think Story of the World is, I am getting
dissatisfied with it. I just feel that if I am going to spend money on
a History program, I should be getting one that is more overtly
Christian. Now, I am talking from the point of view of someone who has
bought both the read-aloud book and the activity guide for SOTW. Story
of the World gives a good overview of world history in chronological
order and is very good to use with younger children. However, it is
still NOT a Christian view of the world which is being put forth. Susan
Wise Bauer has deliberately kept the book “open” in that religious
sense so that a broad audience can use her materials.

I know that I can supplement and always add Christian perspectives with my
children but two things made me stop and take stock – 1. Do I always
want to be the one doing the work to provide the Christian perspective?
This was the BIGGEST factor in seeking change and 2. Can I get
something that my older children can pick up and read for themselves
that I'll be happy with? I feel that for me, right now, Mystery of
History Volume 2 fits this broader aim. My older two can focus on
slightly harder read aloud texts and we are able to talk about it more
than we could last year.

For those of you who haven't seen MoH yet, it still follows a chronological sequence and covers western and eastern cultures. Volume 2 goes from the Early Church to the end of the
Middles Ages. Each week you are able to read a page-two pages of text
from the author about the topic, there are questions suggested for
younger, middles and older students and t you can do an activity
suggested. There are activity sheets and maps and a book list in the
back. It is an all embracing thing and I like that in some ways.

WHAT I LIKE:

I like the text and most of what I have been evaluating is how well it is
written and whether I could see myself sitting there and reading this
to my children. I was going to do a practice run on them today but some
of them were sick so I didn't push it. 

I am also drawn to the fact that if I have a “bad week” with my children,
I don't have to worry as I really can just stick with the book and just
do that. It won't be my favourite option but I will be happy enough
with that whereas I don't think I could say that with SOTW. I would
still feel that we hadn't done enough because of the lack of Christian
perspective and would feel worse because I didn't have the time that
week to make more of it.

On the weeks where we are going “great-guns”, MoH then becomes my spring board. It will help me think of other ideas for a topic or to remember that I actually have *that*
book on my shelf and that it would tie in nicely here! I could focus
mainly on MoH with #2 ds -as he will be 7 next year when I use it- and
add other things in for #1 ds to read with me or by himself as he will
be 9.

I like the maps and the fact that the sea is already coloured in – a **BIG** plus for boys who don't like colouring them in!!

Like most programs, she includes a booklist. If you are new to home
educating, most programs have these and it's good to see and
investigate these suggestions yourself.

WHAT I WON'T USE:

I don't want to say that these are draw-backs to the program as other
people might actually think that these aspects are a “plus”.

I probably won't use many of the suggested activities after each topic. I
do agree with what some other people have said and think you can spend
way too long doing some of these things and they may take up more time
than they are worth. eg. If you go off and investigate heraldry, you
could be lost for months. Now for some, that may be a great digression.
We will probably use some of the suggestions but I think it can be
overwhelming when you see a new program to think that you must “do it
all”. I certainly won't be even trying to – I have finally learnt not
to do that now. I see this as a small part of the program and it's not
like I'm wasting half of it by not doing these activities. With the
volume of SOTW activity sheets that we just didn't do, I certainly did
feel like I was wasting it.

I also think that there is often not much difference in what is considered a middle student activity or question and an upper student one. That's where Truth Quest History is
good for the Upper years as it asks really penetrating questions. At
the start of the Truth Quest one on Rome, it starts by asking “What is
Truth?” The whole Roman Empire is then evaluated through that Biblical
grid. That is so fantastic for the upper years but we are not there yet!

I won't use every topic either. I find skipping from one culture to
another to try and stay in chronological “sync” too much for me and the
boys. I like to spend time in one or two cultures and follow the
progression of history in that place for a while -then we might switch
and do that with somewhere else. For example, what's going on in
medieval England and then medieval France (often they inter-relate
too). We'll look at some key figures in this period of history and then
we'll move on. Spending one week on India and one week on China just to
see what they are up to only to skip back to France again doesn't
appeal to me. Often these chapters on Eastern cultures are not long so
don't despair – I have not gutted the program until I am down to hardly
anything. I'm sure it must seem that way by what I've written.

So, for me, MoH vol 2 is a bit for me and a bit for the boys. I don't feel
bound to use all of it but feel there's enough in there, especially in
the text, to be of use to us next year. This does not mean that we will
go on and use MoH Vol 3 if that comes out in time. I am looking at my
immediate need for next year and think that this will really help with
that. I might be fine after that to try and co-ordinate all the
resources I have by myself. I am starting to take things as they come
and realise that I don't need to be wedded to a program for years at a
time. It is my family situation of having two smaller ones which is
driving how I spend my time right now and I know in time, that will
change. I will not have the “perfect curriculum” for my children nor
the perfect mother to teach it to them. I have to just pray that I will
make the wisest choices I can for our family as we go and that God is
pre-eminent in that.

Posted on on September 1st, 2005

Who Owns the Sun? Aug 2008

If you have never encountered this book, I would say that you have missed something special.  It is not my favourite Five in a Row book (FIAR) but it is certainly amongst my top ones.

The story starts with a child, we find out later that it is a boy, asking his father who owns the sun, the stars, the flowers and so on.  The pictures are stunning and the explanations given as reasonably good.  The freedom of these natural wonders is there for all to see – no man can hold them captive.  Although no man owns such things in creation, as a Christian, I would say that God does "own" these things.  That would probably be the only difference I would have with the author.

That "no man holds the works of creation captive" is the argument that is slowly built up, page by page, as this young son tries to make sense of his world.  The trust, respect and love he has for his father shows through deeply as well.

The book then shifts slightly, for the young reader.  Older readers will pick where this supposed "aside" is going…  The story then centres on the father, Big Jim and his work in the fields, the pride his son has of his father’s reputation and finally, the betrayal and humiliation that is felt as this son realises that his father, and therefore, he, is a slave on a plantation, supposedly "owned" by a man.

The father, somewhat bowed, is also courageous as he speaks to his son of the inner man that still is captive to no one.

These truths are told simply and yet profoundly through the rich pages of this picture book.  Whether you use the Five in a Row program or not, I would heartily recommend reading this book with your children and talking through the issues it raises about captivity, freedom and the spiritual side of our existence.

Posted on on August 5th, 2008 

FIAR in summary - Aug 2008

I guess I haven’t posted anything in the Five in a Row section for a while because we haven’t had any magnificent art work to put on show.  FIAR has taken a bit of a back seat this year but we have still been doing things quietly in the background.

For instance, we read Make Way for Ducklings in preparation for going to Boston and did see some of the streets and landmarks of that book as we toured the city in May.

I even took Maybelle the Cable Car by Virginia Burton so we could go through that while in San Francisco. Yes, it isn’t officially a part of the program but you can use many of the ideas with any picture book once you get used to it.

We bought another copy of Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel with an audio CD and listened to that in the car with Mark as we travelled into the industrial north of the USA.  That didn’t mean much to him but we do read this book a few times in the one year and always seem to get more out of it. I think Andrew preferred not having the man reading the story or maybe it was just in the confines of the car???

We read The Hatmaker’s Sign soon after we got back from our trip and that was great because we had been to Philadelphia and Boston so it made more sense to the boys with that context in the background. Adam appreciated the humour of this book and even Mark caught on to the diminishing sign as the story unfolded…

I also thought it would be good to do Who Made the Sun? soon after we got back as we had talked about slavery and the Civil War, visiting Gettysburg in April.   I will put up a separate review of that book after I post this.

So, we are not doing a FIAR book every week and we are picking and choosing our way through books from volumes 1,2 and 4.  This time is mainly for Adam & Mark and is about appreciating a good story.

We just seem to have too many things on in the afternoon to allow the extra time for the art work.  Each picture takes a couple of days and I guess it’s all or nothing.  I might try to build some of this time in as the days get warmer and we scale back on outside commitments.

Posted on on August 4th, 2008

Papa Piccolo - Nov 2007

As promised, here are the pictures from Papa Piccolo. It’s taken us three weeks to get through this book as we have had a few things on and now, gastro in the house!

These drawings were finished late last week. We took two days to do the pictures. The first day we concentrated on getting the shape and proportion of the figures right. The second stab was to do all of the detail in the coat, put in the colour and the finishing touches. Each part took about an hour. Even though it is extra work at the time, I think that we all do a better drawing that way.

Zac said at the end of the first day, "I’ll never be a good artist, Mum!"  I thought he had picked one of the more difficult pictures and was doing well with it. I reminded him that the last bit of effort would produce the result, he just had to stick with it until the end!  That extra bit of work has made his drawing come alive and I love it. I hope you like these pictures too. If you do, please leave us a message – I know it will encourage the boys.

My picture

Stephen’s Piccolo

Zac’s picture

One of the kittens – Marco or Polo??

Adam’s kitten

We also loved reading the book and learning all about Venice. There’s great pictures throughout and the front and back end papers have interesting information about the city too.  Next time, I’m going to get Vendela in Venice from the library all lined up to go at the same time as it’s a great children’s book on Venice as well.

Posted on on November 26th, 2007 

FIAR Map - Nov 2007

I know some of you are interested in our Five-in-a-Row (FIAR) studies. We took a break from this for a month and spent a bit longer on History.

I have promised to put up our map of the world, so here it is:

At the time of the photo, we had done 20 books. Each round disk represents a story that we have read this year. The rectangular ones are about animals of the world that we have looked at.

This map is laminated and is at the end of our hallway. The first day that we read a new book, Adam has to go down to the map and place the disk on the story’s location. For some, like How to Make Apple Pie and See the World, there were various choices. We decided to do Sri Lanka from that story as it wasn’t going to be a popular location in other books! Others like The Story of Ping, tell you that the location is the Yangtze River, so it has to go on China.

It’s a fun thing to do and is teaching all of the boys how to find different parts of the world. Often the older boys will help Adam if he gets stuck and their general knowledge is quite good.

We have started Papa Piccolo this week. Adam had to find Italy and then Venice. We might have another entry on that book a bit later!

Posted on on November 12th, 2007

The Gullywasher - Aug 2007

Normally, these books are meant to be read in a week and the projects/ art work/ lessons are done in that time. Partly because I was getting tired a couple of weeks ago but also due to other distractions, we only finished the art work for this last week.

The Gullywasher is a lovely story about growing old and is told in a humourous way. A "gullywasher" is a huge, torrential storm. The boys liked the craziness of the Grandpa and the lovely drawings. I’m not a watercolourist (though I appreciate watercolours) so we did our pictures using watercolour pencils. I like having more control and a pencil will give that to you more than a brush.  As The Gullywasher  was done in watercolours, I reluctantly submitted and we gave it a go.  Here’s mine:

Green stick trees were mentioned in the book and there were a few on one of the pages. We all decided to do landscape scenes and leave the people out.

Adam did the green stick tree too.

Stephen wanted to use pastels. I had them on hand as well for either using on their own or with the watercolour. I was half tempted to use them myself…This scene captures the "gullywasher" coming.

Zac’s picture took a while to finish. After the first session, he had done the shadowed part of the old building. The brick/tower part on the end and the shading on the ground were done last week. It doesn’t look like it, but this picture actually took him a long time. He has at least 8 colours in the shadowed sections and had more intricate work to do than the others. In the book, there’s a lady grinding up some meal and chillies hanging on the side of the brick tower.

I let Zac finish before putting in a few others details like pots and chillies as he had spent so much time on it. He wanted to stop after the first session but the picture was only half done at that stage. I gave him a couple of weeks break and then we had another go. It was more a lesson in persistence for him but I think he is secretly pleased he was "encouraged". He knows it looks better now and was proud to display it to Daddy.

Posted on on August 28th, 2007 

The World of Roxaboxen - Aug 2007

This week, we read Roxaboxen for Adam’s Five in a Row book. When he first flicked through the book, he screwed up his nose. He thought it would be boring…

As each page turned, he got pulled in by the story of this make believe town the children created and played in. When the bandits fought against the girls in "Fort Irene", he was hooked!

In my perfectionist way, I wanted the boys to do a drawing from the book. So, I led from the front and did this one:

It was fun to have my pastels out again and they liked watching me make different purples (I didn’t have a ready made one in the set). I suggested that after they had done their sketches of their own Roxaboxen, they should have a go. 

Little did I realise how their imaginations had taken off with the idea of making their own town. I read two chapters of our read-aloud book while they kept working on these plans. In the end, I decided (with some coaxing) that this could be their art work this week and they could try pastels next week instead.

Here’s the fruit of their labour:

Stephen’s

Zachary’s

Adam’s

Zac was so enthusiastic about his that he showed Andrew when he got home. Dad had to hear where everyone lived, what amenities were there and what went on…

He wasn’t "just" there under sufferance either. He thought Zac had done a great job.

Posted on on August 2nd, 2007

The Raft - July 2007

Last week, while I was reading The Raft to Adam, the older boys were finishing up some other work at the table. After hearing about this unusual Grandma who carved wooden bears, was called a river rat and liked to draw, Zac came over and said, "I want to see what she looks like." It was nice to see his curiosity piqued.

The boys did some drawings this week, based on pages in the book. Stephen did an otter:

Zac liked the picture of the boy jumping off the raft into the water. It did look like a fun thing to do:

and Adam really stuck at his drawing this time. He took on board my suggestions and changed the antlers as he originally had them double the thickness. He also drew in a whole eye as he thought it should be there. When I pointed out you could barely see the actual eye, he changed it. I helped him smooth out the colouring but it is essentially his own picture.

Posted on on July 10th, 2007

And the winner is... June 2007

I usually don’t run contests in our household but this one was an exception. I knew my brand new Volume 4 manual for Five in a Row was on its way, I got some books in from the library and they just sat there…and sat…and sat… Instead of taking them all back to reborrow another time, I thought we would readHanna’s Cold Winter this week.

It’s such a heartwarming story so if you just want a great children’s book to read, check it out from your library!

Part of the FIAR program is the story disk to place on the map of the world. This time, the story was set in Budapest. Well, of course we didn’t have a disk yet so I thought we’d have a contest to see who could come up with the best design.

Zac and Adam decided to focus on the straw mats which were collected and taken to the hippos in the Zoo:

Zac- left, Adam-right.

Although Zac put more effort in than Adam, he still didn’t spend much time on it. I guess Stephen saw an opportunity and took this task seriously. He drew a picture of the Zoo front entrance. It did take him a while and when he was done, I proclaimed his to be the story disk we would use.

Drum roll please…

Posted on on June 21st, 2007

Focus on Japan – June 2007

The focus on Japan has changed that we are doing this week in other areas. For Adam’s FIAR book, we are reading A Pair of Red Clogs. They actually had a wooden pair on display at the Japanese Embassy and we were able to hold them and feel how light they were. After the first read through today, Adam appreciated the weather-telling game a bit more!

Posted on on June 4th, 2007

FIAR reading

My friend Susan once told me several years ago that her family had a reading pattern for Five in a Row books. I listened with interest and stored up the information for later, after all my eldest was 6 back then! Well, now we are at "later" and are following the same sort of pattern.

The first day, I read the Five in a Row book and set the model for how it should be read – the tone, the expression, the pronunication etc.

Day Two – One of the older boys reads to Adam (6)

Day Three – the other one reads

Day Four – I usually read again

Day Five – sorry, we have a four day week so it’s four in a row for us!!

This week, we read How to Make Apple Pie and See the World. Well, by the time Stephen was to read it, it was the third time through. As soon as he said he was going to read to Adam, all of the boys literally flocked to the lounge. I had to sneak out and get the camera and take a shot – it was one of those moments!

Mark loves the books so much that he often looks at them again after they have been left on the lounge…

and it was just glorious with the sun coming through that window.

Posted on on May 17th, 2007 

Make Way for Duckings - May 2007

Last week, we read Make Way for Ducklings and did some art work based on the book. There are some nice charcoal drawings in there so I thought we would give it a go. Well, I got mixed reactions from the boys. Stephen in particular didn’t like the feel of this messy medium and found the grass hard to draw. I also chose a rough textured paper and to a boy of precision, this was a little hard to cope with!

Anyway, he had a go at a second picture after I suggested (and drew) an alternative. I think we were both very pleased with the way it turned out and I was glad that he tried again.

Here’s our pictures:

My one of the grass.

Zac practises his cursive as well!!

Adam’s grass drawing.

My one of Mrs Mallard nesting.

Stephen’s picture.

Posted on on May 9th, 2007

A Giraffe for France - March 2007

This week, we used the book, A Giraffe for France. I bought it a couple of years ago to use a replacement for  the out-of-print book, The Giraffe that Walked to Paris. It is a longer book than most of the FIAR titles but it is lovely. There’s a great map of the giraffe’s trip and beautiful illustrations throughout.

Inspired by last week, we did some drawing again! I’ll put the pictures below:

My drawing.

Stephen’s. I was impressed with his work and effort on this one.

Zac chose a different picture this week. Apparently, they made up this coat for the giraffe to wear in France. Here’s a close up as well:

Zac has done a lovely picture. He started with the feet and worked up. Realising it would not fit on one piece of paper, he just grabbed another piece and kept going.

Adam chose yet another picture from the book, one with the giraffe’s tongue out. In the book, it is reaching for some leaves to eat.  Adam struggled with this so I let him keep it small and simple (one of those battles it wasn’t worth waging).

I might put up a couple of pictures from the book another time. It’s late now…

Posted on on March 22nd, 2007

The Story of Ping -March 2007

We have started using Five in a Row again this year. My son, who is 5, is enjoying the stories and so are the rest of us!

I am following the advice of a friend – I read on the first day, Zac reads to Adam on the next day, then Stephen reads, then I read again. So, I set the model for how the book should be read at the beginning of the week, giving the appropriate expression and then the other boys follow.

Day one is always the story disk. We look at where the book is set, place the story disk on the map of the world and look at the clues for the culture in the story itself.

Usually by Day 3 or 4, we are looking at the artwork in the story and this time, we all drew Ping in the yellow waters of the Yangtze River. I’ll put the drawings below:

My Ping. I drew and demonstrated to the children to help them with their drawings.

Stephen decided to do two different pictures of Ping from the book and I really love the one at the bottom. He showed some initiative, which was great.

Zac’s drawing.

One of the lines in the book comes from the Chinese boatman when Ping is caught, saying "A duck dinner has come to us!"  We all decided Zac’s duck would make a nice dinner.

Adam has a nice duck dinner too   He worked well on this and enjoyed the challenge of a larger project.

Posted on on March 14th, 2007

Bushrangers!!!!!!!!!! August 2009

Our house is abuzz with Bushrangers right now as the boys are working on a research project.  They have each chosen an Australian bushranger and are learning more about their lives and bushranging activities.

Back in late August, we got to go to the National Library and have a guided tour of some of their holdings.

This sketch of Ned Kelly’s armour was done soon after his arrest.  Did you know his iconic helmet weighed 97 pounds (about 40 odd kilos?) and that was without wearing the rest of his armour!

The library tour guide also read to us a story about the "Death of Ben Hall", a bushranger famous for being a gentlemen.  He apparently didn’t kill anyone in his robberies though was betrayed to the troopers at the end.  We went into a storage room at the Library where we were able to see some impressive art works:

This one is "The Death of Ben Hall" and you get a sense of the size by seeing the children (below) standing in front of it.

I was amazed at all of the work just hanging ther in storage.  I suppose it is used for exhibitions and displays both in the Library and further afield but it seemed such a shame that so much was just hanging there, out of sight!

The older boys were able to see Ben Hall’s gun and both group saw Captain Moonlight’s famous lantern, used on his daring midnight raids.

Each group got to draw up their own "Wanted" poster, having the example of the Kelly Gang’s poster on the reverse side.

After a great visit, we went on to Questacon for lunch and some "Science" time in the afternoon.