Story of the World: Vol 1: Chapter 1: The First Nomads

Post contain some affiliate links, though which I can earn commission.  

This is part of a series where I share about our Story of the World lessons.   Even if you don't use SOTW, I think you'll enjoy the ancient history activities shared (especially if you are studying the Stone Age or Pre-history).

Since my son has a short attention span we did each sub-chapter of Story of the World on a separate day, and sometimes even broke that up into small parts.   I decided to break up "The Earliest People - The First Nomads"  into two parts, then did a special activity on the third day.  We used Stone Age People, a book we found at our library, to supply the pictures Story of the World was lacking.

Stone Age People is part of the Make It Work Series, which has a lot of crafts and projects kids can do related to the time period, as well as a lot of great historical information.  We mainly used it for the pictures, but might do some of the crafts later.

It does have info about human evolution in a few of the beginning pages.  If that's something you want to skip, it's easy to when using the book piecemeal as a backdrop for the Story of the World reading, as we did.

DAY 1

On the first day, we read the first four paragraphs of the section "The First Nomads" in Story of the World.  We were doing this as part of "play school" today  (I teach a lot of my lessons pretending to be a dinosaur teacher, and my son pretending to be a number of toy students in a pint size classroom...it works for us).   So some of the other toy "students" answered the questions along with my son.  My son said that he slept in the same place every night, but his toy "Lion" slept in a different place every night...we even talked about why that might be (ie, because lions needed to follow the prey).  That made a great segue to paragraph two.

At paragraph three I pulled out Stone Age People and turned to the page where they have a scene with hunter gatherers that made a perfect illustration for what we were reading.  As we read the paragraph I asked him to find some of the things it talked about, like people gathering berries and hunting.

 
Then we turned to the next page, where they had pictures of various types of homes and shelters, and I asked him which ones you could take with you or set up quickly if you were traveling around, which ones you could build a fire in, and which ones would be nicer when it was cold vs. when it was hot.  Then I read the last paragraph and we looked at the cave pictures later on in Stone Age People (pg 36 - 37).

Later  we read The First Dog by Jan Brett, a beautifully illustrated story about a boy and a wolf who befriended him, and became the first dog.



Day 2

On the second day we read the story of Tarak and her brother in Story of the World , looking again at page 16 - 17 of  Stone Age People.   Also, the older version of Story of the World actually had a nice illustration of Tarak catching lizards, one of the few illustrations I think is better in the older, un-revised version.

Afterwords we started a book about Tarak and her family using a cave printable I made (free to download). 

You can see she made handprints on the cave wall, like some of the cave art we had looked at, and in this story Tarak had a wolf like the story of the The First Dog (and the wolf had a pup in his version).  The green thing to the left of Tarak is one of the lizards she caught.


EXTRA ACTIVITY - ROCK ART
We didn't do this while studying this chapter, but later we did a rock art activity when we were learning about the prehistoric artwork in the Lascaux caves, and it's something that would fit in nicely here.  

To pique interest you can watch a short video about these caves here, or take a 365 degree virtual tour here (on the Lascaux FB page another cool but shorter interactive Pano).   I also suggest googling pictographs in your local area or state, and sharing any pictures you find with your kids.   You might even find a site you can visit.

First, I collected rocks to paint on.   Because of time we just used regular paint...but I tried to match the colors to those used in the Lascaux cave, and we talked about why they used those colors and what materials they would have made their colors with.   You can also make your own paint using minerals or gathered material, which would be really fun.  For older kids, this article has more about prehistoric paints, and they have some links toward the bottom to paint-making activities that look more at the chemistry of making paints.

Here's our rock art.   Our son really enjoyed this.

DAY 3 - Hunter Gatherer Hike

For our activity we decided to do a "hunter gatherer" trek on a nearby hiking trail.   I invited another homeschooling family to come along, and discovered that they were doing Story of the World too!  

I made some really simple toy bows and arrows and spears.  SERIOUSLY SIMPLE.  Those are branches from our tree and some weed stalks (we have some really vigorous roadside weeds here in Texas...I suggest wild goldenrod if it lives near you). The string is just brown yarn, and the tips are cardboard.

The bows actually sort of  worked (they could shoot the "arrows" a few feet...not fast enough to hurt anyone, but far enough to be "cool."

I attached the tips of the spears by splitting the top of the branches and inserting the cardboard ...then binding yarn around to make it tighter.  If I had thought better I would have cut a "shaft" on the tips and wrapped the yarn around that.  They might have stayed on longer that way....but they worked well enough.  The kids were happy about their weapons.

I've seen some other bow versions that may shoot a little better made from  bamboo or PVC (And I love the idea of an eraser capped arrows).   If you have older kids and want to try your hand at making a really realistic primitive arrow (with bone), there's a nice tutorial here. 

After making our arrows we headed for a nature trail.  We didn't know beforehand that the trail had been decorated with funny scarecrows for Halloween, so we ad-libbed and wondered out-loud who had made these strange statues, and what they might mean.

One of the kids found snails and we talked about how that would be great in our soup that night (No, we didn't really eat them...no wild escargot for us!).

We stopped for a break of seeds and berries my friend had brought (um..."gathered earlier"), and then hiked down to a small stream.  I had hoped to find animal prints near the muddy bank...we did find one dog print (um...I mean..."wolf" print), and lots of tiny fish we pretended to catch for supper.  AND, my friend found an edible plant, purslane, which we tried, with mixed reactions (her daughter hated it so much she drank her whole water bottle to wash away the taste away...but I liked it.  It sort of tastes like lettuce.).

So, if you are trying this, it might be fun to see if your library has a book on common editable plants to familiarize yourself with beforehand (in case you don't have a friend with who just happens to know of some).  Be careful...do your research well, but you should be safe with common, easily recognizable plants like dandelion (purslane actually has a poisonous doppelganger, spotter spurge, so make sure you study up on look alikes and know how to tell the difference before sampling).  Also, you want to make sure to wash anything well before you eat it (you can rinse with a water bottle), and avoid collecting anything where pesticides or herbicides might have been sprayed (our purslane was found well off the beaten path so should have been safe from those).

Overall the nomad hike was a great success!  The kids enjoyed it and it really made what they had read come alive.




RESOURSES/SUPPLIES WE USED:

During Reading:  
Stone Age People (for illustrations)

Supplemental Reading:

• The First Dog 

Rock Painting Activity:

• Lascaux Cave video
• Virtual Tour
• Interactive Pano 
• Rocks
  
• Paint (or gather things to make your own paint)
• Paintbrushes

Cave Book Activity:

• Cave Book Printable
• Crayons
• A stapler
  

Nomad Hike Activity:

• Straight Branches (and something to cut them with)
• Yarn or Twine
• Cardboard  
• Water plus snacks for the hike (berries, dried fruit, nuts, jerky:things available in the stone age)
  
  

MORE RESOURCES

Stone Age Lapbook

Free Cartoonish Caveman and Mammoth Graphics

Stone Age Axe Out of Paper Mache

More Activities to use with The First Dog

LINKING UP AT
Field Trip Friday
Hip Homeschool Moms
Dear Homeschooler Bookshelf
Country Kids at Coombe Mill
Homeschool Highlights
Throwback Thursday

Last Lesson :: Next Lesson

See All Our Story of the World Posts

 

Story of the World Vol 1: INTRO - What is Archaeology

Post contain some affiliate links, though which I can earn commission. 

We did separate lessons for each section of the introduction of Story of the World - Ancient Times.   For this lesson I prepared some visuals to illustrate the text using the book Stone Age People and found something outside to "discover" as well related to archaeology.

Since we had previously done a lot of study of dinosaurs, I introduced the concept of archaeology by comparing it to paleontology, like this...

 "Paleontologists are people who study dinosaurs and look for dinosaur fossils.  There are other people that also dig in the dirt looking for very old things, but they are not looking for dinosaur bones, they are looking for things that people left a long time ago.  They are called archaeologists.  They can find out things about history even if it wasn't written down."

Then we watched the 1 minute video National Geographic Kids:  Archelogy Part 1.  It's short, and leaves off like it's going to go to the next video, but that was sort of ideal for this lesson (I couldn't figure out which YouTube video  was next in that series anyways.  There are some other videos about the Egyptians and Mayans that were probably part of that film, but I'm saving those for when we get to those parts.)

Then we turned to Story of the World.  I skipped the first paragraph (first two in the revised version), since the video and my intro had covered that.  I asked my son to close his eyes and try to imagine things as I read...but after the first couple sentences he was saying he couldn't.  So, impromptu, I grabbed some blank paper and a pencil and drew out a couple houses and a river, some scratch marked grass and some stick people from the story, and continued.  He was able to listen then, and even asked some of the stick people to talk to him (that's his thing...we rarely read a book where SOMETHING on the page doesn't have a conversation with him).

When we got to the place where the grain dried up and the people moved, he got really sad about them, and I ended up adding another impromptu part where the family found a nice place to live with lots of rain further down the river, and the little boy grew up and had a family of his own.


 Then we got to the part about the archaeologist finding the place the family had left.   After reading the first few sentences I pulled out the book I had borrowed from library, Stone Age People and turned it to the page where there was a picture of an archaeological dig.   I only needed to tweak the SOTW text a little bit to fit the picture (for instance, in OUR STORY he didn't just come back with tools...but brought people to help him).  My son asked about the round object with a hole in it towards the bottom of the picture and I told him it was an oven and that that's how they knew they had found the kitchen of the house.   The broken pottery on the table I said were pieces of the pot the mother in the story broke.

This worked really well...my son was able to pay attention much better with the pictures in front of him, and he asked lots of questions about what he saw. 

THEN, I had a surprise for my son.  Earlier this week I found some broken bricks in a corner of our yard...probably something the builders had left before we came.  So I told him that I had found something in our yard...something from people who were here before we were, just like the archaeologist in the story.  He got excited about that, and  we went and looked at what I'd found and tried to figure out why it might have been there.

If you don't have any real life "artifacts" for your children to find in your yard the archaeology dig suggestion in the Activity Book sounds like great fun (though a bit time consuming to set up.) 


 

Suggested Resources

Some of these I used in our lesson, and others we didn't,

but they would also make wonderful supplements.

VIDEOS:

National Geographic Kids:  Archelogy Part 1 - INTRO (1:02 min) - Video I Used
(See all videos in this series here.  Some you might want to save for later....or could view now as a preview of what's to come.  Egypt, China, Pompeii)

Bible Adventures in the Holy Land:  Archaelogy (13:26 min)
Talks about how archaeology is used to learn more about the Bible.  (NOTE:  There's an appeal for donations at the end you can skip (starts about minute 11:20), but it has a lot of neat pictures of the Holy Land in the background so you may just turn the sound down and keep watching.



ACTIVIES:

Broken Pot Activity
Many things archaeologists find are broken. You can decorate a terra cotta pot with paint or markers, then break it in a pillowcase and try to put it together. 

You could also write on it with any ancient script, as broken pottery was the "paper" of commoners in many ancient society, and also what students would practice writing on (this is an activity we did later for Chapter 3 though, so you might want to save that activity).   


You could combine this with the activity suggested in Story of the World for a fake "archaeological dig" with area divided by ropes by putting the pieces of the pot in this area (maybe even tossing the pot into the area to break it, then covering with dirt), but to simplify you could do this activity inside if you prefer, just doing the reconstruction and not the "finding."  If you are using the Stone Age People book, as I did in the lesson above, it also has a section that explains techniques archaeologists use when reconstructing pottery (pg 60-61).

Archeology Layer Cake
This is a fun activity mimicking a dig that DOESN'T involve digging up your yard. 

AIA Lesson Plans
There are some more wonderful lesson plans aimed at older students (upper elementary through high school) with great activities at the Archaeological Institute of America.

Junior Archeologist Workbook
A free archeologist workbook through the National Park Service.  If you compete the book you can mail or email it in to receive a Junior Archeologist patch.


BOOKS:

Stone Age People
We used this book to illustrate this chapter and the following one "The Earliest People."   It has excellent information about what we have learned about the daily life of early peoples from archaeology, illustrated with dioramas and children in costumes, and has many great crafts and even a recipe for kids to make.   Only a couple pages are specifically about archaeology though.

NOTE:  The beginning of this book covers evolution.



The 5,000 Year Old Puzzle
While we saved this book for a later chapter (it also fits well with the chapters on Egypt), this book would make a great supplement for this chapter as well.  The story  about a boy who accompanies his family on an archaeological dig draws on real records from a 1920's dig by famed Egyptologist Dr. George Reisner, and includes both drawn illustrations and photographs related to the actual historical events this story includes.

Next Lesson  ::  Previous Lesson

All Our Story of the World Lessons

 

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This post has been shared on Throwback Thursday.

Story of the World Vol 1: INTRO - What Is History?

I knew that Story of the World would be a little challenging for our 7 year old.  My son is a visual/tactile learner, with a short attention span.  The first section on history...well, it's a lot of just listening for him to take in, without any good pictures to accompany it (even in the workbook).  Up to this point he had struggled to focus when listening to more than a paragraph without pictures.   So, I decided to do each section of the introduction on a different day, and see what other ways I could break it up.

The text included a lot of questions which helped to break up the reading as we stopped to answer them.   When it asked how we could find out about  what mom and dad were like as a baby, we talked about how we could call Grandma and Grandpa on the phone and ask them about it.  But my parents passed away several years ago.  So how could we find out about what I was like as a baby?

That's when I brought out my Baby Book.  My mom had collected all sorts of things in my baby book (clippings of my baby hair, my identity bracelet from the hospital, so many pictures).  She had written so much in it, and we talked about how, even though we couldn't call Grammy on the phone and talk with her any more, that reading my baby book was sort of like listening to her tell stories.  I had brought his baby book too, and my dad's, and we spent a while looking through them.  I explained my baby book was a history book about me, and his baby book was a history book about him.

I tried to go on and read the rest of the chapter but honestly I should have stopped right there.  It really was too much reading for his short attention span, and the details of someone else writing a letter about some hypothetical baby really confused him (I think if I had asked a question then pulled out a real letter which had the answer, that would have worked better).   By the time we were done reading the section he was burnt out and disinterested and didn't want to do the timeline activity I had planned...but he enjoyed looking at the pictures of himself at different ages.

Still, compared to how he usually does with pictureless text, this was good.  The props really helped. 

Next Lesson:  What is Archaeology 

More "Story of the World" Posts

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Shared on Throwback Thursday

TIPS For Reading Story of the World to Wiggly Wompus Learners

I love Story of the World.  It's such an engaging way to present history to younger children.  I love how it weaves the stories of different civilizations together, and presents gritty history in a manner that's gentle, but not sugar-coated.  But, I wasn't sure how it would work with my child, who has a very short attention span for text without pictures.  People kept telling me the sections were very short, but I knew that even a short page of text without any pictures would be hard for my kiddo.   But, for the other reasons I mentioned, I still wanted to give it a try.

Here is how we made Story of the World work for a visual/tactile wiggly wompus 6 year old with a short attention span.  Most of these tips work for stretching a short attention span for other materials as well.

1.  Split it Up
I broke up some sections into smaller parts by doing a single section over two or three days.  For example, in Chapter one in the section about Nomads, we read the informational part (paragraphs 1- 4) on one day and read the story of Tarak and her family the next day.


2.  Pause and Ask Questions
This is pretty easy, since there are some questions built into the text and others suggested in the activity book.   I wrote additional questions in pencil in the margin where I wanted to ask them, and underlined ones already in the text. This helped pull wandering attention spans back into place.


4.  Use the Activity Pages
There are pages in the activity book that you can show your child and have  them color while you read Story of the World to them.  If you didn't get the activity book, you can look up printables online to use in stead, or purchase the pdf of just the consumables here.

5.  Borrow Pictures
I check out books from the Library on the same era, and look for pictures that could be used to illustrate Story of the World.  Sometimes I also go online and print pictures.  I often pause the reading and ask questions to connect the pictures to the text (Do you see anyone hunting in this picture?  Can you find the canals in this picture?  Who do you think is the king in this picture?)

6.  Draw Your Own Pictures
I know of some people who have made their own illustrations for the story.  I did this only once so far (too much work to do it for every chapter).    You could also have your child try to draw the story as you read it.

7. Use Props
I sometimes look for tangible objects related to the section to let my child look at and play with during the reading.  For example, during the "What is History" section I brought out old baby books for my child to look through while I read.  When reading the story of Joseph, you might have grain for the child to run their hands through.  There are so many options for making this more hands on.  Montessori types might want to make a sensory bin related to each chapter's subject.

8.  Have a Snack
Having a snack during the reading keeps the mind awake and the hands busy.  You can even make the snack something related to the reading (like, during Mesopotamia, we had pistachios and pomegranates, two foods from the area.)

8.  Break Up the Reading With Activities
In stead of waiting until the end of the reading to do activities, you can pause and do an activity half way through, then return to the reading after it's done.  This is a great way to break up the reading into smaller bits.   Or, in some cases, you can have your child complete the activity DURING the reading.  This works especially with with activities that take a long time but only need a little instruction in the beginning, like weaving, like making a pyramid with Legos, or wrapping a doll with cloth to make a mummy.

9.  Keep Hands Busy With Non-Related Activities
Actually any quiet activity during the reading can help...such as doing a puzzle, building with blocks,  or "story threading."  (Of course, if you have a puzzle related to the period that's even better...but non related quiet games can help).  Children can often listen better when their hands are busy, so long as it's the sort of activity that doesn't take active thought.

10.  Use Alternative Book for Myths and Legends
For some of the myths and stories, you can find fully illustrated versions of the same stories to use in stead of reading the SOTW versions.   For instance, Idecided to use  Bible storybooks I had for the stories of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses in Story of the World.  You could do that with some of the other  myths and fables presented too.  Usually it's not hard to find library books that cover the same material.   I don't do that much because for the most part I like how  Story of the World presents things, but it's definitely an option.  (Because I like the style of writing in SOTW, sometimes I read the Story of the World version, but show pictures from a library book that tells the same story).

11.  Use Video
I've on occasion replaced sections of the text with a video about the same subject.  (Examples:  Vol 1 Chap 1, and Vol 1 Chap 3)  Usually we watch the videos on phone or iPad, so we could still sit at the table.  You could at times find YouTube videos that would replace a whole chapter completely, though I don't often do that.   Occasionally I will have my son watch a wordless video WHILE reading the chapter (for instance, while I read about the Indus River in SOTW, I had my child watch a video with aerial photography of the Indus River Valley). 

12.  Puppet/Paper Doll Theater
I haven't tried this one yet, but I can see using paper dolls to act out some of the story sections.  It's not hard to find historical paper dolls online.  Though it would be harder/more expensive to get historical puppets or dolls with historical costumes, those would work too.  Both have the advantage of becoming play-toys afterwards, increasing engagement.

13.  Readers Digest Condensed Book Style Editing
That's right...I just went through and with a pencil crossed out sentences and sections I thought we could skip, shortening it (don't hate me SOTW purists...I promise I left the best parts in).

How do you help your child listen through longer reading passages?

See More Posts Related to Story of the World

Story of the World: Our Lessons and Resources

I am starting a series where I share our Story of the World adventures.  We started when my son was 7, and went very slowly at first, adjusting lessons to his short attention span.   The next year we joined up with a co-op doing this Volume, and went at a much faster pace, so later chapters (7 and on) show that somewhat.   I took notes and am gradually adding these as I have time.  Sorry for the slow place on adding new units.

NOTE:   I don't want anyone to think you HAVE to do all the supplementary stuff we did for SOTW.  Many people just read the chapters and talk about them, maybe do an extra activity now and then.    We did so much at first because I have a kiddo that needed that to get him engaged, and also because I love history and just wanted to do some of these things with him.  But as we progressed we gradually did less projects and supplementing.
 
STORY OF THE WORLD POSTS
All of my Story of the World posts will be linked below, once they're published.

GENERAL SOTW RELATED POSTS

• My Review of the Story of the World
• Adjustments for Learners With Short Attentions Spans
• SOTW Bible Integration
• Historical Errors in Story of the World (Volume I)
• SOTW Guides on Other Sites
• Index of Changes in Revised Version
• Magic Treehouse Reading Alligned to SOTW Vol 1 and Vol 2

OTHER HISTORY RELATED POSTS

• Resources Combining History and Science
• Dover Sampler Free History Printables
• You-Tube Through Ancient History for Middle and High Schoolers 

OUR LESSON PLANS/IDEAS BY CHAPTER
Each post will be linked as it is added

INTRO
How Do We Know What Happened
- What Is History
- What is Archaeology

Chap 1
The Earliest People
- The First Nomads
- The First Nomads Become Farmers

Chap 2
Egyptians Lived on the Nile River
- Two Kingdoms Become One
- Gods of Ancient Egypt

Chap 3
The First Writing

Chap 4
The Old Kingdom of Egypt
- Making Mummies
- Egyptian Pyramids

Chap 5
The First Sumerian Dictator

Chap 6
- The Jewish People

Chap 7
- Hammurabi and the Babylonians

Chap 8
- The Assyrians

Chap 9
The First Cities of India
- The River Road
- The Mystery of Mohenjo-Daro

Chap 10
The Far East:  Ancient China
- Lei Zu and the Silkworm
- The Pictograms of Ancient China
- Farming in Ancient China

Chap 11
Ancient Africa
- Ancient Peoples of West Africa
- Anansi and Turtle
- Anansi and the Make Believe Food (Sorry, we skipped this)

Chap 12
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt
- Egypt Invades Nubia
- The Hyksos Invade Egypt

Chap 13
The New Kingdom of Egypt
- The General and the Woman Pharaoh
- Amenhotep and King Tut

Chap 14
The Israelites Leave Egypt (Moses/Exodus)

Chap 15
The Phoenicians

Chap 16
The Return of the Assyrians

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Chapter 18 - 25 (Ancient Greece)
For now, I'm just sharing a outline of the resources I used for these chapters.

Please stop by often to see what's been added!

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This post is linking up at Hip Homeschool Moms, The Homeschool Nook, A Little Bird Told Me, Love to Learn Hop, School House Review, Dear Homeschooler Bookshelf, Throwback Thursday, and Back to Homeschool Blog Hop 2017 (no longer up): Curriculum, and various other homeschool link-ups.

If you would like to share this post but need a more  square graphic....here you go....

Story of the World - Review

This post contains some links through which I can earn affiliate commission. All opinions are my own.
It used to also contain Amazon pictures, but alas, they stopped letting us do that, so now you get a picture of my years old, used when I bought it, dog-eared volume.

Our second year of homeschool, we finally started studying History in earnest.  As I wrote about earlier, choosing a history curriculum was a struggle for us.  I finally decided on Story of the World, and am really happy with that choice.

I love how the book is written, interweaving traditional stories and moving from one place to another (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Lower Africa, India, China and back to Egypt), showing the relationships and interactions between different civilizations.  And I also love how the writing style draws my son in.

There are question built into many of the passages, and when I'm reading the text these are great for engaging my son as we read (giving us pause places to stop and discuss things we're learning about).   Some of these questions are "Do you remember..." questions referring to previous chapters, which helps us review.  

But while overall I love this curriculum, there are a few things that could be better.  When we first began the passages were rather long for my son.  I had to break up the sections into smaller bits, since he has a short attention span for listening to long texts without many pictures.  Oh, yes, the lack of pictures was a problem for us...but one which we have been able to remedy with illustrations from library books or pictures found online.

And, unfortunately I learned after we started that the book had a few historical errors.  Most of them are small things, simplifications which are understandable in a Children's history text, or matters of interpretation which aren't really errors, just choices some disagree with...but there's some which I felt the need to "edit" in our lessons (that's harder to do if you're listening to the CDS, not reading to your child out of the book like I was).  Still, in spite of these problems I'm happy with our choice.  My son has enjoyed these lessons and it's made a great spine for teaching history.

I will be posting about our Story of the World lessons soon, and will link those on my other Story of the World post here to make them easy to find.  We only got through the first six chapters last years (for various reasons...a late start, intentionally slow progress, illness, etc.).  But this year our local Co-op is covering this same volume of Story of the World, and we are excited to be doing this with a group,  so I will be sharing what we do there as well.   In co-op we will be doing two chapters a week...a very different pace than I originally took with my son!  But his attention span has grown a lot this year so I think he'll do ok with it.  I look forward to sharing our journey with you all!


Where to Find It/What You Need
The Story of the World textbook can be used alone, but I find that the activities, comprehension questions, consumables, and resource suggestions in the activity book are worthwhile.  There is an audio version of the text which I've heard good things about, but don't use personally, and  also a test booklet available which some may find helpful.   I've seen the best prices for these new at ChristianBook.com and Amazon,  unless you want to buy it in digital form (go to Well Trained Mind for that).   But, because Story of the World has been around for a while its easy to find used materials for even less on homeschool forums or places like Thriftbooks and Ebay.


Old vs Revised Addition

If you go with used materials,  you should note that there is an older and a newer revised version of the materials (the newer version is shown up at the top of this post, and the older version is shown to the left here).  The changes to the textbook in the newer version are mostly minor spelling and formatting changes, though there are a few substantive changes (additional paragraphs added, changes to reflect new information gleaned from archeology, etc....though sadly there were not corrections on some of the historical errors I mentioned earlier).  There is also improved pictures, an improved index, and the addition of a very helpful "Chronology of Ancient Times" in the appendix .    In the Activity Book the consumables in the revised version are much, much better.  If you pick up an older activity book used I suggest also buying the pdf of the newer consumables  for $7.95 at Well Trained Mind.

Free samples of Story of the World can be found here.

See My Story of the World Lessons & Resources

Story of the World Volume 1 - Error List (Updated 12/1/16)

While I love Story of the World, I have found some inaccuracies in it and read about some others.   Since I'm reading Story of the World to my child, editing these out is usually not hard.  To save others the trouble of re-doing my search, I've included a list of what I found found below.  Some are not so much errors as omissions or choices of one historical theory where there is some controversy among historians over what really happened.  A lot of them are trivial, but I included any error I found just to be thorough.


I've added the following categories to these "errors," as well as whether I've had a chance to fact check through a secondary source.   Well Trained Mind also has a list of corrections between the original and revised version.

TYPES OF "ERRORS" INCLUDED

Error -
Any clear error I've been able to fact check through a couple good sources

Minor Error -
Yes, it's an error, but it's minor/trivial. 

Possible Error/ Not Fact Checked -
I've been told this was an error, or read this was an error in a homeschool forum or from some other similar source, but have not fact checked it through a more reliable source, or could not find info on it, or am still uncertain about it even after researching.

Outdated Info - 
Occasionally a new archaeological or historical discovery will change how we view things.   So, if I'm aware this is a newer discovery than when the book was written, I like to call it something other than an error. 

Historical Disagreement -
Historians disagree on this.

Simplification -
Sometimes history is complex, or not child friendly.  Sometimes these are just incomplete explanations, and other times they could be considered errors, but may have been done on purpose to make things easier for children to understand.   They are often about things that are not important for a general understanding of history.

Omission -
Some things some people think should have included.   These were not errors but choices.   I included just a few of these that I thought were worth noting and some may want to add these through supplementation.

Confusing Wording -
While it may not technically be an error, the wording could make you think it's saying something inaccurate.

Theological Issue/Extra-Biblical Content -
Anything related to how Biblical content was portrayed (some think too secular, some think not enough.   While I don't personally dislike her framing of the Biblical stories, I thought this was worth including.)

CHAPTERS

Chapter 1
(Historical Disagreement/Possible Error/Theological Issue)
In this chapter it says "around 7,000 years ago families didn't live in houses and shop at grocery stores" but were nomads...some take issue with this because of evidence of cities dated to 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia.  If you believe in young earth theology and that those dates are misdated you might think that 7,000 years is too long.  Dates are an easy fix, though, as you are reading to the child.  You can even omit the dates altogether by saying "A long time ago" in stead of 7,000 years.

Chapter 3
(Error)
The description of how papyrus was made is wrong.  The book says that the papyrus reeds were softened and mashed into a pulp.  That is how modern paper is made (and probably some other later ancient papers too), but not how papyrus is made (now or ever).  Papyrus reeds are cut into thin strips, pounded to flatten and soaked, woven into sheets and than pressed (now in presses, then, under stones).  In the book it also says "But paper has a problem!  When paper gets wet, the ink on it dissolves and the paper falls apart."  The part about the ink dissolving in water is true, but unlike pulp made paper, papyrus can be soaked in water and does not disintegrate.  You can wash off old paint and ink and re-use it.   So, while her main point about loosing papyrus to time still stands, some of the finer details were wrong.  (Interesting side note:  Papyrus, which less sturdy in the short run than leather, in the long run, over thousands of years, holds up better than it...so we have more papyrus than leather scrolls from Ancient Egypt.  But of course stone beats all in longevity). 

(Error)
The cuneiform alphabet listed in the Activity pages for chapter 3 is fabricated.   While I'm not an expert on cuneiform, and there are various alphabets that were used, the letters A, B, C in the SOTW activity were the exact same as the numbers 1, 2, 3 in this list of Babylonian Cuneiform numerals (and several others I found), which seemed highly unlikely.   I've listed other cuneiform alphabets you can use in stead in my post on chapter 3.

(Simplification)
The Hieroglyphic alphabet in the activity is pretty accurate, though it is is technically a little different than the original too (because they didn't have some of our letters and have some letters we don't).   This is a pretty common practice and not really a problem.  You can learn a little more about that here and here. 


Chapter 4
- (Simplification/Possible Error) Describes New Kingdom mummification practices in the section about the Old Kingdom and the pyramids.   However...a new discovery in 2021 may push some of those "New Kingdom" mummification practices back as far as the Old Kingdom, if carbon dating proves that the mummy they found was who they think it is, and not someone mummified later and put in a borrowed tomb.
- (Possible Error/Have Not Yet Fact Checked) States that Pharoahs weren't buried in mastaba tombs when some may have been before the invention of the pyramid.
- - (Simplification) States that the pyramid capstones were plated with gold when they were plated with electrum, an alloy of silver and gold  (OK, honestly, I think this "error" is nit-picky and only include it to be thorough.  Electrum is "a natural or artificial alloy of gold with at least 20 percent silver"...since it contains gold I think gold is close enough for a children's text).

Chapter 6
(Theological Issue/Extra-Biblical Content)
Both secular homeschoolers and Christians have expressed concern with this chapters framing of the Bible stories.  Secular homeschoolers sometimes feel these stories are presented more like history than religious stories.  Some Christians dislike the use of extra-biblical sources and free interpretations which have been added in to the Biblical story.   While it says the story is from the Bible, it's more of a interpreted retelling like you would find in many Children's Bibles.  ( Finding another version of these stories in a Children's Bible is not hard if you do not like this one, and of course you can read the story straight from the Bible in stead as well.)

Chapter 10
(Minor Error) SOTW notes..."she could hear the noises of trading caravans, the sound of camel-hooves on stone," -    Technically, camels don't have hooves.

Chapter 12

(Historically Debated)
From "Egypt Invades Nubia" section:
Whether Queen Kiye was from Nubia or not is debated, but regardless, during this period of time the part of Nubia she might have been from was actually part of Egypt, so she was certainly Egyptian even if she was of Nubian ancestry (which, I should note, is actually a different question then whether she was "black," a racial distinction that wouldn't have meant the same thing to the Egyptians as it does today--they didn't have the modern conception of race, and Egyptian art shows that native Egyptians had various skin tones, from very light to very dark. )   More on this here.

(Outdated Info In Original/Updated in Revised)
From "The Hyksos Invade Egypt" section:
There is a meaningful difference between the original and revised version of Story of the World in this chapter.  The revised version reflects more recent archaeological evidence that shows that  the Hyksos didn't suddenly invade...they gradually settled in Egypt in large in numbers, and then rose up and took over.   (See more changes here )



Chapter 13
(Outdated Info )
The book said that Hatshepsut didn't fight any wars.  But she did.   According to the book 'Hatchepsut, the Female Pharoah' by Joyce Tyldesley, which came out shortly after the first edition of Story of the World, there is growing evidence of Hatshepsut's military prowess.   During her reign wars were fought against Nubia, the nations of the Upper Nile,  against the Ethiopians, and probably also against the Asiatics.  However, the book also did say that "Hatchepsut's military policy is perhaps best described as one of unobtrusive control; active defense rather than deliberate offense."  (Note, there are various spellings for Hatshepsut, so that is not an error.)

(Simplification)
In this chapter it said that the only jobs women in Egypt were allowed to do was to be a wife and mother, priestess, or dancer.  This was somewhat true for upper class women (though they could also be musicians or professional mourners, and even being a wife involved managing the servants of the household, so it was more than just taking care of and teaching children).     But among the lower classes there were many other jobs done by women.    Women could also be  weavers, servants, cooks, perfumers, and even doctors.   Farmer's wives worked alongside their husbands in the fields, and women were sometimes known to manage farms or businesses in the absence of their husbands or sons.

 

ASSYRIANS - Chapter 16
(Confusing Wording)
In paragraph 3 of the first section,  it says "The Isrealites were never allowed to return back to their own land again."  But later in SOTW it talks about how they were allowed to return under King Cyrus.   That was over a hundred years later, so those people who were driven out by Ashurbanipal indeed wouldn't have returned (only their descendants), which is probably what the author meant.   Still, I felt like it was confusing so I skipped that line.

CRETE/MINOANS - Chapter 18
(Simplification/Historical Disagreement)
There's criticism that she describes that the  Minoan civilization was destroyed by the eruption of Thera when it really flourished two centuries after that explosion. While it's true that the Minoan civilization didn't end with Thera, it did have a profound impact on the civilization and may have caused an end to their "rise" as the apex of their civilization coincides with that event.   And there is a second natural disaster (possibly and eruption of Thera) closer to end of the Minoan civilization that she could be referring to as well (and the dates of both eruptions are in question).   So I think this is more interpretation differences than error (or maybe also simplification).

To quote another source:  " there's still a lot of controversy over what happened. Susan Wise Bauer chose one theory. While it's true Crete wasn't deserted after Thera erupted, it certainly began to lose its primacy around this time to Mycenae. If anything, SWB is guilty of simplification, which is to be expected in an elementary history text."


GREECE -

Chapter 20
(Possible Error or Historical disagreement)
The book says that the Olympics  got their name from mount Olympus.  This is  a common misconception...the Olympics actually got their name from the ancient city of Olympia where they were first held, which is nowhere near mount Olympus (Could that city may have derived it's name from they mythical Mount Olympus or the "Olympian" gods who lived there?  Possibly.  I couldn't find any info on how it was named. There is also a mythical Olympus, a mythical musician to whom the invention of the flute is ascribed, who it could have been named after.  It was mentioned on Wikipedia that Olympian coins featured both Zeus and "the Nymph Olympia."  but I couldn't find more about that.  )









Chapter 24 - PELOPONNESIAN WAR -
(Multiple Errors/Omissions/Simplifications)
Various commenters mention problems with the chapter on the Peloponnesian War.  Some mentioned things omitted, and not enough being said about Pericles...but those aren't really errors, just choices about what to include.   One reviewer (a history teacher) said  "the story of Alcibiades contains many untrue statements. I am not even planning to use this chapter with my students. Instead we will be reading the story of Alcibiades from "Famous Men of Greece." .... An example of this problem in the activity book is the picture of the Spartan boy hiding the fox: he is wearing Roman armor. Ironically this is one of the better drawings in the book, but I hope it has been removed in the revised version."  (It was).

Another commenter said "I studied the Peloponnesian War well enough to know that she is misleading about some things and flat out wrong about others. The author makes it sound as though the war consisted of Sparta marching over and waiting outside the Athenian walls... no mention at all of the Athenian Navy and that that was how they were fighting the war. There is also another mistake that is not just a misleading summary. She states that the plague (as in epidemic) in Athens is caused by fleas on rats. Wrong. We still don't know what *disease* it was, let alone how it was transmitted. She is thinking of the black death and it blows my mind that she could make this mistake." 

(I've confirmed the first part of this elsewhere, but not the part about the rats and fleas.).

Chapter 26 - NATIVE AMERICANS
(Error)
"The most substantial error I found in Volume is that it says native North Americans ate wheat, a grain which was not actually introduced to North American until after 1600 A.C.E. This is a big deal because it's a high protein crop that helped make denser population and labor specialization possible in Europe, and for which there was no North American equivalent. I'm surprised this wasn't caught before the second edition." (From review here, but I've confirmed this elsewhere)


CELTS

(Omission)
Quoted from Review...
"...although the Celts fall well within the time period of this book, they are mentioned on just a few pages that relate to Julius Caesar's military career and later in a short description of Boudicca's rebellion. The latter section is missing from the index, by the way. And she used the less-preferred spelling "Boadicea." Why were the Celts largely omitted from this book? They beat the daylights of the Romans in 370 BCE and motivated the Romans to transform their military strategies from the Greek phalanx to their own new and devastating style. The Celts' never-unified territory spanned Europe from Turkey to Ireland, but what we learn about them here is that "the people who lived in Britain were called Celts. They were tall, muscular, warlike men." Hmmm . . . I wonder how they managed to reproduce. This constitutes a serious omission of a major ancient civilization. They didn't even get a mention in the pronunciation guide." (From review here).


Chapter 39

Christians in the Catacombs
(Oversimplification/Outdated Info)
This chapter makes it seem like the persecution of the Christians lasted throughout the Roman empire, until Constantine.   But really, it differed greatly depending on the emperor, with Christians being able to live in relative peace during some periods, to being severely persecuted in others.  While they were never fully accepted in Rome until Constantine, they were not always being fed to lions. 

Also, Christians probably, did not (at least not in numbers large enough to leave evidence) hide out or worship in the Catacombs (except for funerals and funerary feasts, which are well documented).  More about that here, here, and here.  Because both of these things are so integrated into this chapter section, I re-wrote it here.


Chapter 40

The British Rebellion (Boadicea/Boudicca)
(Historical Disagreement/Omission)
It said "In ancient times, women weren't considered very brave or strong." That was the viewpoint of the ancient Romans, but not the Celts (and even the Romans, who generally held that view, described Celtic women, in general, as being fierce).   I wish that SOTW had spent a few words making that distinction between the Roman and Celtic view of women.  

Also, while not technically inaccurate,  Chapter 40 made her attacks sound like much less than what they were.   I understand the need to soften some of what happened for children,  but I think she went too far.   What she describes as a  "raid on Londinium" was actually a massacre where everyone was killed and the city was burned to the ground.

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