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