I have spent hours looking over the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia (UILE) as well as Story of the World v. 2 and the table of contents of History Odyssey level one middle ages ( available on the Pandia Press website). After studying all three, I have started my master spreadsheet. I created a list comparing chapters from the three different resources:
UILE chapters
|
SOTW Chapter
|
HO Chapter
|
|
202-203
|
byzantine empire
|
4
|
2
|
204
|
barbarian kingdoms
|
1, 11
|
|
205
|
return Christianity
|
2
|
4
|
206-207
|
rise of Islam
|
6, 12
|
5
|
208-209
|
Arab world
|
7
|
6
|
210
|
Vikings at home
|
14
|
7
|
212-213
|
Vikings abroad
|
14
|
7-8
|
214-215
|
Anglo-Saxon England
|
15
|
8
|
216
|
Charlemagne’s empire
|
13
|
3
|
217
|
holy roman empire
|
9
|
|
218
|
Norman conquests
|
16
|
10
|
219
|
hundred year's war
|
26
|
11
|
220-221
|
kings, nobles, peasants
|
16, 17, 19
|
12
|
222-223
|
knights soldiers war
|
17
|
13
|
224
|
living in a castle
|
16
|
14
|
226-227
|
living in a village
|
15
|
|
228-229
|
living in a town
|
15
|
|
230-231
|
traders and towns
|
||
232
|
power of popes
|
18
|
|
233
|
enemies of church
|
18
|
|
234
|
building a cathedral
|
18
|
16-17
|
235
|
going on a pilgrimage
|
18
|
|
236-237
|
monks and monasteries
|
4
|
|
238-239
|
art in middle ages
|
||
240
|
crusades
|
18
|
18
|
242
|
black death
|
25
|
11
|
243
|
criminals and outlaws
|
19
|
19
|
244
|
kingdoms of Celts
|
20
|
|
246
|
rise of burgundy
|
21
|
|
248
|
war of roses
|
27
|
22
|
250
|
Mongol invaders
|
21
|
23
|
252
|
triumphs of Turks
|
24
|
|
254
|
kingdoms eastern Europe
|
23
|
24
|
256
|
rise of Russians
|
23
|
25
|
258
|
struggle for Spain
|
18, 28
|
26
|
260
|
conquerors of North Africa
|
29
|
27
|
261
|
cities of east Africa
|
29
|
|
262
|
kingdoms of west Africa
|
29
|
|
264
|
conquerors of northern India
|
5
|
28
|
265
|
Southern India
|
||
266
|
southeast Asia
|
29
|
|
268
|
dynasties of china
|
8, 22,
|
30
|
270
|
land of the samurai
|
9, 17
|
31
|
272
|
explorers and sailors
|
22
|
32
|
274
|
people of pacific
|
10
|
33
|
276
|
native North Americans
|
34
|
|
278
|
Aztec empire
|
33
|
35
|
280
|
Maya and Toltec
|
32
|
35
|
282
|
Andes
|
32
|
35
|
284
|
artists of Italy
|
35
|
37
|
286
|
ideas and inventions
|
35
|
37
|
288-289
|
voyages of discovery
|
31
|
38
|
296-297
|
exploring the world
|
41
|
38
|
298-299
|
Ottoman Empire
|
36
|
|
300-301
|
mogul - India
|
30
|
39
|
302-303
|
Catholics and protestants
|
34, 36
|
40
|
304-305
|
Elizabethan England
|
38, 39, 40, 42
|
41 -42
|
314-315
|
age of ideas
|
37
|
37
|
I have color coded the chapter titles from UILE by region. At a glance, you can see how Eurocentric all three of these resources are. Ah well! I would like to cover China and India, Africa and the Americas in more depth but I also don't want to miss out on major European events which have shaped modern times so much. For now, I think I'll stick with these resources and satisfy myself with the small bits of non-western history they include.
It seems like History Odyssey (HO) mostly follows UILE. I think I like this better than the more strictly chronological order of SOTW. SOTW is still a great supplemental resource since my kid likes the presentation but I think I prefer to switch away from it as my primary spine.
Getting started on this process sure is daunting and I was wondering last night as I poured over UILE and SOTW whether or not it is worth it or if I should just get the SOTW Activity Guide or History Odyssey and be done. I still may take that approach but I am excited about doing the research myself. The more I look, the more I find. It is the matter of staying organized and creating a coherent curriculum that will be easy to follow that is the trick.
I checked out a sample lesson from History Odyssey and I like the format of a checklist of things to read, research to do, words to define, maps to color, projects, and related books. I think I could create something like this for each Unit/Week of study.
I still have to decide on how exactly to break down the chapters in fewer lessons. I'd like to have somewhere around 35 weeks planned rather than 40-50.
My next step is to start making an outline that includes related reading and project ideas for each section. As I go through, I will find the sections that I want to spend more or less time on and hopefully condense into 35 or so lessons after gathering a lot of stuff. Another option would be to break it down into larger units and spend 2-6 weeks on each. We shall see as the process continues and my resource list takes shape.
