Social Studies (history, geography, civics, etc) -- Please share what you've used.

[Soliloquy]

I'll update this OP as people post. Feel free to leave a personal review, ask questions, etc. Even if you see a program already listed, feel free to add your own personal review in the thread.

This listing is not an endorsement by GCM.

Story of the World

Mystery of History.

A Little History of the World by Gombrich

A Child's History of the World by Hillyer

The Story of Mankind by Van Loon

The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid

BBC Bitesize https://www.bbc.com/bitesize

Heart of Dakota

BJU Geography

Notgrass American History & Notgrass Word History

CNN 10 https://www.cnn.com/cnn10

Big Fat Notebook for World History (American perspective) https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Ne...8DV7VKB204MVEP

Big Fat Notebook for American History https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Ne...QM5SVCCNVTN71Z

[MaybeGracie]

Twice we've done a big-picture overview of world history using:

* A Little History of the World: Illustrated Edition by E. H. Gombrich
* A Child's History of the World by V. M. Hillyer

We tried a third time through using Hendrik Willem Van Loon's The Story of Mankind, but it was so bad we gave it up early on.

This year we've been exploring the world using The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid. It has been an excellent and enjoyable launching point for all sorts of geography and social studies.

[Vicki_T]

I'm not sure if this quite fits into this category, but BBC Bitesize has lots of video clips that cover subjects like history, geography and religion (and also other subjects, including lots of science clips). Some of them are now quite dated, and they are based on the English national curriculum, but nevertheless there is quite a large range of video clips so you may find something that fits in with what you're studying. In case it helps anyone, these are how the key stages correspond to age ranges:
Foundation Stage (FS) - under 5
Key Stage 1 (KS1) - 5-7 years
Key Stage 2 (KS2) - 7-11 years
Key Stage 3 (KS3) - 11-14 years
Key Stage 4 (KS4) - 14-16 years

[Stonebeck Farm]

Elementary/Middle

Story of the World
Heart of Dakota

High School
Heart of Dakota
BJU Geography
Notgrass American History
Notgrass Word History

[MaybeGracie]

We start each morning by watching CNN 10, "a 10-minute digital news show that explains global news to a global audience." This has been another significant launching point for various social studies (geography, politics, history, etc).

[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.

[Aerynne]

Story of the World has audiobooks! It has a lot of other resources and coloring pages in the teacher manual (or you can just buy student pages). It has suggestions for more in depth projects or you can keep it simple. There are lapbooks for all of the chapters as well as timeline stickers you can get. Because so many people use it, there are lots of online resources. But did I mention the audiobooks? One less thing to read- you can just turn it on and listen. Nothing wrong with reading out loud, but I do a decent amount of that anyway, so it's nice just to be able to listen.

[ViolaMum]

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.

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.