My 4th grader recently asked that I teach/tutor her in history. She is disappointed that history isn't taught until middle school. She is particularly interested in Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt.

We have some history books at home, but I was wondering if anyone has favorites. Lexile level is around 7th-8th grade, if that matters in choosing a text.

I really like K12's Human Odyssey series (three volumes).

I love Usborne books for history:

http://www.usborne.com/catalogue/history.aspx?cat=1&area=H&subcat=

and DS9 is in love with the Horrible Histories books.

What state ... Private message me if you don't want to post it

We are in PA.

For a compelling and readable narrative overview, I'd recommend Story of the World (Vol. 1). It covers ancient history in a compelling way -- meant for elementary but I enjoy it, too. We liked the audio version.

Greek myth, greek plays, the Odyssey. You could start with an abbreviated version of the Odyssey and then move into a longer translation.

George O'Connor's graphic novel series about the Greek gods were a hit here (he took some liberties with the stories so don't read if you're a purist, but we enjoyed comparing versions and these are gripping). For example, Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess: http://www.amazon.com/Athena-Grey-Eyed-Olympians-George-OConnor/dp/1596434325/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Horrible Histories are hilarious (book and video versions).

Documentaries about archeology and history...

That's probably enough to start!

Not such a fan of ancient Egypt

History isn't taught till middle school?!? Presumably the schools would claim they teach history in an integrated way, combined with other subjects, not that they don't teach it at all?

My 2pworth is that though narrative is great, a gifted 4th grader is likely to be able to cope with more than just narrative - I'm very uncomfortable with the SotW approach because it (apparently) doesn't really do history beyond stories. The most interesting part of history is the evidence and its interpretation!

A general point, then, is that you might consider books written for UK schools, because history here is evidential from the start. For example, So you really want to learn History is supposed to be good, though it's English history. (Key Stage 3 begins at age 11, fwiw.)

Not a book, but have you considered the Great Courses? We all very much enjoyed Bob Brier's History of Ancient Egypt when DS was about that age. He also has shorter courses there on Egypt, and has written several books, though I haven't seen any of them.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. We do have some of the Horrible Histories, as well as the Usborne World History. We also have something called The History Book - cartoon style history since beginning of time until present - and I really like that one.

I ordered a used copy of Volume 1 of Human Odyssey, so we'll try that. I like the So You Really Want to Learn History. I might need to make a UK Amazon account (already have had a .fr account for years).

ColinsMum, the public schools don't really seem to teach history until 6th grade. DD9 was in a private French immersion school through 3rd grade, so she did get history there. Probably didn't get a lot of US History since the school was very European in teaching style and mainly used French textbooks. As my DD18 looked back on her K-12 years, she realized that she preferred the French school curriculum, at least for the elementary years.

We didn't get history until the equivalent of 10tb grade and then it was a great disappointment. There are heaps of books though. I would just get a stack from the library and see what gets most interest.

Here in k-5 it is more social studies...which is different than history.

History is part of any good Social Studies program. Social Studies just includes more than just history, such as geography, and current events. In CA very little history outside local/state/US history is taught until 6th grade either. (On the other hand US history is taught in 5, 8 & 11th grades.) The only non US history before 6th involves the European Explorers. So you are probably correct, your daughter won't be learning about Ancient Egypt until 6th or 7th grade.

My recommendation would be to find books at the local public library. In my experience there are a lot of good history books for kids in the library stacks than the bookstore. In addition they are shelved by subject. Libraries keep books that go out of print, and much of history doesn't change much. Don't hesitate to check out the adult shelves. Many adult history books have lots of pictures. National Geographic has a number of adult books that are more than accessible to a elementary school kid who is reading at a 7th grade level.

The key word is GOOD.