Story of the World

Well, I managed to get a copy of the audio book version of this series and we listened to the first CD this week. I was well aware that this had a heavy christian slant so before starting, Catherine and I talked about history. We talked about how there are objective facts like dates and how there's interpretation of the meaning of events marked by those dates. There are fancy German names for both concepts courtesy of Wolfhart Pannenberg but bugger all if I can remember them. We also talked about myth and how, despite there being no facts involved, they can tell us a lot about the people who told those myths. On to the Story of The World.

It was really interesting. Catherine drew as I cleaned and when she had a question we'd pause the CD and talk a bit. When we got to 'Abraham and God' and 'Joseph' I'd make it clear that we were now firmly into mythical (possibly legendary) territory. It got interesting when we learned that the story of King Sargon of Akkad involved him being floated down a river to be found by a royal servent. Echoes of Moses anyone? So Christian myth gets presented as history but the threads that built the myths are still in there for listeners to ferret out.

I know there are workbooks availible but frankly, we'll have enough workbooks and worksheets when we start up some curricullum. Catherine picks stuff up easily enough when she's interested and worksheets often seem like busy work. To supplement I'll see what we can explore on the internet and look for some documentaries on early civilizations.

The Story of the World seems like it's going to be a nice resource so far. One you really need to approach with a little scepticism and the tools to question and research what it claims but that's really not a bad thing at all. I think it's probably good to introduce some materials that you intend to challenge so your kids can see that just because it's in a book doesn't mean you need to accept it all without question.