We used SOTW Vol 1 this year and have enjoyed it, but I’m considering switching to MOH in order to use it longer with my children. Can anyone compare the two or give advice about this? Also, if recommending MOH, what resources did you purchase?
I am very interested in the responses to this too! I am considering MOH for next year.
I can’t compare the two but we have really enjoyed MOH. We just bought the book, reproducibles CD and notebooking pages from Bright Ideas. Those are SO helpful!
Thank you! What ages are you teaching and what volume were you using?
And, are you using the timeline figures?
We’re using MOH Volume 1 this year and we really like it. My son is in 1st grade, and it’s our first year teaching history. I’m trying it keep it simple, so we just do the reading from the teachers manual while the kids do a coloring page (I ordered some Dover coloring books, but a lot of the lessons I just print off a page online, all though I know you can purchase a set of coloring pages that are from the MOH curriculum. I didn’t b/c all 3 lessons for the week are on the same page, and I wanted a separate page for each lesson). We also do the activity at the end of the lesson, and the timeline figures, which are great. We love having our timeline on our wall! So all in all, I ordered the big ‘teachers’ book, the Homeschool in the Woods timeline figures that go with it, and the Student Bible Atlas that they recommended and we do use that some.
My kiddos are in kindergarten, 3rd and 5th and we are doing Volume 1 
Oh and we bought the timeline figures but haven’t got them out yet. I think we will spend a day doing that rather than little by little. We haven’t figured out a good way or place to put the timeline so that is part of the problem!
MOH and SOTW are quite different history resources. Last year we read SOTW 3. My kids enjoyed listening to me read and doing a few of the activities. This year I wanted a more biblical approach to our history so we have decided to use MOH primarily and I add in the chapters of SOTW that are relevant (to us). We listen to MOH in the car on Mondays en-route to our co-op. So far every lesson has been bible based. She begins the book with creation. We like the tone and cadence of the author’s voice. You can hear samples here: http://www.themysteryofhistory.com/curriculum/#volumeI The lessons are not too long and have sparked some great discussions.
We read SOTW on another day of the week, usually just one lesson. I find that my kids don’t retain as much if I try to squeeze in just one more lesson, however we often listen to two lessons of MOH.
SOTW begins with The Earliest People…Nomads…Nomads Become Farmers. We skipped this part and went on to Chapter 2, Egyptians. The first mention of the Bible or God comes in Chapter 6, The Jewish People.
I do have the MOH companion guide that we occasionally use. Mostly I have the kids narrate and we discuss what we read/listen to.
There are some great blog posts out there that define each of these much better than I can. I would check some of those out.
http://www.halfahundredacrewood.com/?s=Mystery+of+History scroll down and she gives an comparison.
http://religiousaffections.org/articles/articles-on-children-and-family/history-curriculum-2-story-of-the-world/
http://religiousaffections.org/articles/articles-on-children-and-family/review-of-mystery-of-history/
All that being said, I am quite interested in Guerber’s Histories http://www.nothingnewpress.com/books/guerbers-histories/ we will finish out our year combining MOH and SOTW, but I’m wondering if this collection marries what I like most from each of these.
Thank you so much for all the info!
We use MOH and my littles, kindergarten and 3rd grade, love it! We are using volume 1 this year. I purchased a used bundle from vegsource.com that included the book, reproducibles cd, and the timeline figures. I also just print coloring pages from the Web for them to color while I, or my 3rd grader reads the lesson aloud. My 20 month old enjoys the coloring pages as well we then do the activity at the end. I love that this can be used with multiple ages and over and over again. We have not used the time line figures yet but I have seen where a trifold poster board is suggested as it works well for easy storage. I printed off basic time line pages from the Web to used in a 3 ring binder as an option as well.
Thank you! I’ve heard some people complain about the author’s wording. Has this been an issue for you?
It has not been for us. We are Christians and enjoy the biblical approach. Most of the complaints I have heard are from people who do not like the biblical approach of it.