Teaching Story of the World Vol. 1 (Ancient History)
The resources listed below are a conglomeration of videos, books, websites, freebies, products, etc. that I have found and/or used. We have been reading Story of the World 1 this year with plans to continue with volume 2 next year. So, I am pulling out the resources I have found and creating this page as a sort of index to keep track of resources that I have used or want to potentially use in future. I hope it is helpful for you!!
This is more of a “work in progress” - so I plan to update this in future as well as create future articles for the other volumes as we go through them.
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What is SOTW?
The Story of the World (SOTW) is a 4-volume history curriculum written by Susan Wise Bauer and published by Well Trained Mind Press. The volume one text provides a “spine” (basic curriculum) for studying ancient times with elementary aged students.
Each volume in the series has optional add-ons such as an audiobook version and student activity pages. You can purchase each volume of the text separately. And, each supplement can be purchased separately (or as a bundle).
For more info about Story of the World and why I like it - check out this post.
Where Can You Purchase SOTW?
The books, CDs, workbooks, etc. can be purchased in a variety of places. Aside from searching used book sources, you can find their products online at a variety of websites. Following are some places I would look. Be sure to do you research to find the best deal!
For more info on where to buy homeschool curriculum, check out this post - Where in the World do I Find Homeschool Curriculum?
Where to Buy SOTW Volume One
Links to other Resources from the Publisher
This link should take you to a page that includes all of the publisher’s resources available on christianbook.com for this volume. At the time of writing this includes hard or paperback versions of the storybook, the activity book (which includes teacher’s notes)
Coloring book for the series
I haven’t used this but wanted to include it here. It has 30 images from the original stories (which I assume means they are some of the ones included in the student pages for each volume) as well as some new ones. Note that this one book is intended to use for all FOUR volumes. That may be a plus or minus depending on your perspective. I think I prefer the coloring pages for each volume separately. But, it could be useful to have a combined set!!
Year Long Resources
Online Resources
Kids Animated History with Pipo - I purchased the season download, which was cheaper than buying each of the 32 episodes individually. However, you can always buy one or two episodes to just try them out first. (I also saw some of the DVDs for sale on ebay - might be worth looking there too.) I feel like we have gotten our money’s worth out of them because we have watched all of them in the past (some multiple times) and will be starting them back up again for this round of ancient history.
Brookdalehouse.com - HUGE list of FREE videos about ancient history. Although many of these videos are intended for educational use, some may not be appropriate for younger audiences. Make sure you preview them to decide if they are appropriate for your children!
Ancient Egypt
Online Resources
Write Your Name in Hieroglyphics
University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology - Free PDF downloads of the “alphabet” to write your name in hieroglyphics.
Ancient Egyptian Name Translator:
Ancient Society - Ancient Egyptian Name Translator - type in your name and it shows your hieroglyphs
Penn Museum - Write Your Name in Hieroglyphs - same as above. Type in name and it shows your name in hieroglyphs.
Books
The books shown below are Amazon links. Some can be purchased as physical copies, while others are available digitally on Kindle Unlimited. You can also check your local library and other book stores for these titles.
Ancient Sumeria
Online Resources
The Language and Writing System of Ancient Sumeria - This website looks like a fascinating one if you like to deep-dive down rabbit holes and question everything.
The Epic of Gilgamesh in Sumerian - This YouTube video shows a man singing the Gilgamesh in Sumerian.
We found a lost temple using maths sent by an ancient Sumerian god - This YouTube video shows the oldest known archeological plan. It includes
Books
If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, there are a number of books by “Baby Professor” that go with the ancient world studies. These books have LOTS of pictures and fairly simple explanations. I read some a couple years ago, but don’t recall which ones. Here are a few that tie in with ancient times.
Ancient Assyria
Online Resources
How to Write Cuneiform
The Library of Ashurbanipal
Books
Ancient Babylon
YouTube Videos
The Babylonian Map of the World with Irving Finkel
Evidence ancient Babylonians were far more advanced than we thought
Ancient Greece
YouTube Videos:
Antikythera Mechanism - the Ancient “Computer” That Simply Shouldn’t Exist - The discovery of an ancient calculating machine with tons of gear wheels causes us to rethink the history of technology
