Reading List: Story of the World, Volume 1 (Ancient Times)

We are using Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times in our homeschool this year. I knew the moment the first book came in the mail that this would be our history curriculum for the grammar and logic stages. We absolutely love it! Using this as our guide to the past, the real fun comes in with the additional reading! (We do not follow a separate literature curriculum, as all of our literature is based primarily on what we are studying in history. They go hand in hand.)

I have spent way too much time looking through our local children's library for books that would accompany each lesson (I can do this all online!). We have already read so many great books this year that I needed a place to document them so that I know what books to borrow when we cycle back around in four years with my younger children. I have also found books online that are highly recommended that I wish our library had. Some I was able to purchase, others I have not. I've included those here as well.

While I am currently only homeschooling a child in the grammar stage, I have come across a few books that are more appropriate for the logic stage and am recording them here for my own future use.

If you are unfamiliar with classical education, the "Grammar Stage" refers to grades 1-4 (or ages 6-9) and the "Logic Stage" refers to grades 5-8 (or ages 10-13). Books appropriate for the Grammar Stage are marked as "(G)" and books appropriate for the Logic Stage are marked with "(L)".

This list is still a work in progress.

Introduction: How Do We Know What Happened?

What is History?

Me and My Family Tree by Paul Showers (G) (L)

What is Archaeology?

Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke (G)

The Magic School Bus Shows and Tells:A Book About Archaeology by Joanna Cole (G)

Chapter 1: The Earliest People

One Small Blue Bead by Byrd Baylor (G)

The First Dog by Jan Brett (G)

Little Grunt and the Big Egg by Tomie dePaola (G)

Discovery in the Cave by Mark Dubowsky (Step into Reading) (G)

The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully (G)

The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein (G)

The Cave Painter of Lascaux by Roberta Angeletti (G)

First Painter by  Kathryn Lasky (L)

Boy of the Painted Cave by Justin F. Denzel (L)

Painters of the Caves by Patricia Lauber (L)

Maroo of the Winter Caves by Ann Turnbull (L)

Chapter 2: Egyptians Lived on the Nile River

Two Kingdoms Become One

---

Gods of Ancient Egypt

Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie dePaola (G)

Croco’nile by Roy Gerrard

The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Leonard Everett Fisher (G)

The Star-Bearer: A Creation Myth from Ancient Egypt by Dianne Hofmeyr (G)

The Voyage of Osiris by Gerald McDermott  (G)

Chapter 3: The First Writing

Hieroglyphs and Cuneiform

Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroplyphs by James Rumford (G)

Chapter 4: The Old Kingdom of Egypt

Making Mummies

You Wouldn't Want to Be an Egyptian Mummy! by David Stewart (G)

Egyptian Pyramids

Zekmet The Stone Carver: A Tale of Ancient Egypt by Mary Stolz (G)

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder! by Jacqueline Morley (G)

Chapter 5: The First Sumerian Dictator

Sargon and the Akkadians

The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story by Rebecca Hickox (G)

The Three Princes: A Tale from the Middle East by Eric A. Kimmel (G)

Chapter 6: The Jewish People

God Speaks to Abraham

The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac by Mordicai Gerstein

Joseph Goes to Egypt

The Coat of Many Colors by Jenny Koralek

Chapter 7: Hammurabi and the Babylonians

Hammurabi's Code

Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled by Milton Meltzer (L)

Chapter 8: The Assyrians

Shamshi-Adad, King of the Whole World

---

The Story of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh the King by Ludmial Zeman (G)

The Revenge of Ishtar by Ludmila Zeman (G)

The Last Quest of Gilgamesh by Ludmila Zeman (G)

That is all for now! Check back in the future for additions to our reading list as we work our way through the ancient world! 

If you have a recommendation for a book that is not on my list, please let me know. We'd love to find it and read it for ourselves!

SOTW, Ancient Times: Introduction

Books, projects, and activities in this post are appropriate for children in the grammar stage of their classical education (grades 1-4 or ages 6-9). 

Introduction: How Do We Know What Happened?

What Is History?

First we read the section titled "What Is History?" from our book. Then we read pages viii-ix from our Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.

NOTEBOOK PAGE

I created my own notebooking pages to go along with our history curriculum. Nothing out there seemed to be exactly what I wanted. Because we are currently in  the grammar stage, I do not expect a lot of writing from my daughter. Just one or two sentences showing me that she understands what we read. I also wanted a notebooking page with a large area for an illustration, as I feel that art and creativity are an important part of learning and understanding. For a child unable to express themselves through writing, illustrations are the next best thing.

PROJECT

To understand what a timeline is, I had my children make a timeline of their lives, showing them from birth to their current age. Bridget is my primary student studying history, as George is only 3 years old. He will stick around for the fun things like stories and projects.

TIMELINE

After the children made their own timeline, I introduced them to what we will be using for our big history timeline. While we did not necessarily study a specific topic in history, I felt that the best way to begin our timeline of the world is with Jesus Christ. They know who he is and that he lived a long time ago. Because we will begin our studies with events that happened before Jesus Christ, this is my way of putting things into perspective into their minds of when an event occurred.

What Is Archaeology?

We read the section from our book and also page ix from our Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.

NOTEBOOK PAGE
Her drawing illustrates how archaeologists dig to find artifacts from long ago.

COLORING PAGE
I printed out this coloring page of an archaeologist from here. My 3-year-old always wants to color with us. So my first graders is on top and my preschoolers is on the bottom (though I am sure you could have figured that out).

MAPWORK
Our first bit of mapwork is an introduction to the continents, along with rivers and mountain ranges and the villages and cities built around them.

BOOKS WE READ

VOCABULARY

We add these words to our "dictionary" which is basically pieces of binder paper divided by letter with handwritten (by me) words and definitions. I try to make the definitions as easy as possible so that she can soon read them on her own.

-history
-historian
-archaeology
-archaeologist
-artifact

AROUND THE WEB

I do not get to do nearly as much as I want to do with my children and various school subjects, as time does not always allow it. I do love getting ideas from sites like Pinterest and other blogs, and as I find those I will put them here for future use, as I have two more that will be moving up to grammar stage history before I know it!