Homeschool History Curriculum Comparison | Sonlight, Story of the World, Abeka, Mystery of History

Great video!

Thanks for sharing

Great video. We are huge lovers of Story of the world. We love the workbook as it has review questions for each chapter, extensions for older kids and like you mentioned, there is an optional test book. They also have the chapter book on audio. We tend to do the coloring page while they listen, the map work and review questions after. I love it incorporates geography so well. The author also includes tons of excellent suggestions for supplemental reading/literature. So we have our lit follow us along chronologically. It’s been the greatest blessing to our homeschool. History is my kids favorite subject now, mine too. ❤️

I guess your family never has used Notgrass history? I wish that curriculum had been in the mix. I’m really curious about it. I would have loved knowing your thoughts about it and how it compared to the other four.

Thank you for this video. It really helped to see these four side-by-side.

Great video thank you 🙏

Yah!! I was so intrigued with MOH and almost chose it when I was trying to decide what fo replace TGTB history with. Still intrigued by it. But since my girls wanted to do American history and MOH level 4 looked too complex for that.
I love this though bc church history is on my heart for next year!! But I love that this has audio books!! So you think vol 3 is too much for my youngest who will be 3rd grade next year? Middle child will be 7th but she’s not super motivated for things like this.

This was such an excellent video!!!
“Some homeschoolers run at the site of a textbook!” Lol!!! Yep!!! I’m not sure what my homeschool style is but I know it’s NOT traditional! 😜😉😉 I like having imaginary homeschool curriculum chats with you!!! Thank you for making me giggle!!! 😜

Thank you, thank you for this video comparison! I’ve gone back and forth between mystery of history and story of the world forever it feels like. This was super helpful.☺️♥️

I love history, too!!!! Great comparison video. Thank you!

I need a walk through of just Mystery of History. How would you compare it to My fathers world.

We are going through Notgrass this year, and I think it is going to be a good fit for my elementary aged kids! It has so many stories of people from different ethnicities and cultures, and it feels like a well-rounded history course!

This is so helpful as I think ahead to Highschool.

Love the curriculum reviews, especially the history reviews! I just discovered your channel and you have some great videos. Thank you!

I am not sure if this will help any homeschool families, but I am a history professor. All my lectures are on my channel. Anyone is welcomed to check it out as a free resource. :)

this was a great review! thank you!

So comprehensive ~ thank you!!

Sonlight incorporates Story of the world into their G and H cores.

We are using SOTW but I want to take a break between 2 and 3 and do US history- do you then recommend Sonlight for it? I will have a middle schooler and two elem.

Well, I applaud your hard work. I have read history all my life. To me, if you are going to homeschool history, you have to have an end goal. My end goal in World History would be to teach the Rise and and Fall of Civilizations. In American History, I would teach the original intent of the constitution and then follow our movement away from the constitution. I would ask if we are getting more or less prosperous and free? This would make your child an informed citizen capable of safeguarding liberty in a republic.

I was a history major & love history. I borrowed Story of the World (audio) from the library when I was first starting homeschool. I had been given the impression that it was a Christian program, so I was put off at the outset by the author's use of the secular "BCE" instead of "BC" when referring to dates. But, as I got deeper in, I began hearing history that I knew well, but that had huge non-factual portions. For example in the story of the Biblical Abraham, the author shared far more details than are historically known of his life, but the details were presented as if they were history, not fiction. I realized that this was a fictionalized re-telling of historical events, rather than a straightforward history. At that point, I decided that this would not be a good choice for us, as it would plant fiction alongside fact in my daughter's mind, and it would be nearly impossible to sort it out later (my daughter remembers *everything*).

We use Notgrass history, and love it, but I wanted to see if adding in Story of the World would be doable. Thanks for all the insight on each of these!😊

Ooh, could you give us a library organization tour/chat sometime?

Yes, a liiiittle boring learning the same history every year! Admittedly, Abeka is excellent, for what it is. But goodness, the Fertile Crescent, to Martin Luther, to the Pilgrims every year of my growing up... Nothing else happened anywhere else or in between! I'm grateful it gave me a good foundation. Especially in phonics, so I can read other stuff. 😂 But very good point about there being a time and a place for easy! This is the golden wisdom for which I listen to you! You are good medicine for a bedraggled, perfectionistic purist's soul! I must also confess to having a solid collection of historic American paintings imbedded in my head, though. Repetition is the mother of memory!

I really appreciate your review of all of these curricula choices that I am looking into. I have to say that Story of the World and its activity book are amazing, I feel. The story format allows for more engagement for my kids, and they truly listen and enjoy the readings. I just wanted to mention that if you wanted to use the activity books, they are key for more understanding with map work, narration exercises, review questions, review cards, coloring pages (Volume I at least for grades 1-4) and a choice of very engaging and creative project and craft ideas for each chapter that aren't too much, especially for younger children that they love. The prep is not too much for us and is doable in a short period of time. Additionally, I know that it correlates well with Sonlight B and C and the other Sonlight World History courses from what I have read in Sonlight groups and Sonlighters use both together.