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Originally Posted by arelyn
DS and I are looking into doing a more in depth history study next year. I was wondering if any of you would like to share some pros and cons of the different programs you've used.
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Story of the World is a great overview of history. We've done all four units at least twice. The Activity Guide has far more supplemental work than we could realistically do in a week, so you can do it again without having to duplicate projects. (The first year I was horribly sleep-deprived and overwhelmed and wish I had given myself permission earlier in the process to not do absolutely everything just because it was in the book!) The literature and extra reading suggestions are wonderful. There are free lapbooks that people have put online for each book, too if you'd rather do those. I've used those for my littles just for something different but connected. There's the occasional typo and some awkwardly worded things, but overall they're a nice supplement.
We bought the MapQuest software the first year we were homeschooling and I'm still using it. (I haven't used the SOTW maps as much, primarily because it's easier to print than copy.
) For older kids, I've used the Penguin Historical Atlases that I just picked up used online.
Homeschool in the Woods has lots of hands-on activity units and a large collection of Timeline figures. We've done some of the larger activity studies and used the Timeline figures a lot. The artwork is Old World Style drawings, nothing cartoon, which I like. One nice feature is that you can print out each figure in lots of different sizes, including as a coloring page. My Littles really liked that. It's written from a Young Earth creationism perspective, so if you choose to print the figures with text the dates reflect that. It's also more expensive than other programs. Each unit goes more in depth for a shorter time period.