I am hearing good things about the "Kingfisher History Encyclopedia" as a spine for an elementary history course. I wondered if anyone here has actually used it and could give me their thoughts.

Note - I have heard (from WTM) it also used as a complement to "Story of the World". I have heard this is also a great spine for elementary history. Yet on the Amazon reviews, I have read the information presented is not historically accurate, which makes me hesitant. I would love to hear from anyone who has used this as well.

We used SotW briefly with my DD6 when she was in, ohhh-- 3rd grade.

(It was a Calvert textbook for world history at the time).

I was DEFINITELY underwhelmed.

I preferred the Usborne History of the World (an encyclopedic tome) instead. Vastly.

My major objection to SotW was the very clear cultural and religious biases revealed by loaded word choice and narrative accounts which were-- uh-- sketchy in places.


Let's face it, the Spanish conquest of the western hemisphere was not "primarily" motivated by deep and genuine concern for the plight of un-churched native peoples. {ahem} I'd prefer that texts at this level NOT address motivation than oversimplify it to the point of this kind of half-truth (at best, I mean).

Thanks HK. This is the type of information I was seeking. You were right to mention the grade level too. We are looking for something in the 3rd/4th grade level. I am deeply disappointed with world history at this age range.

I noticed Usborne has 2 offerings: "The Usborne Book of World History (Picture World)" and "The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History". Which of these two did you use? I am concerned the first one is a bit young. That being said without seeing any text. There is also an internet linked option now (not sure if it was available back in the day) which I assume points you to more articles/artifact websites.

The latter-- DEFINITELY the latter.


We loved the timeline presentations in it. It was a lovely WORLD perspective, too-- not Euro-centric.


DD's approach has been very much like your son's-- I will say that it leads some interesting places, but I think that her learning is VERY deep, and often transferable so that it is quite easy for her to learn through analysis, rather than the fact based THEN analysis approach favored by most secondary programs now.

Some other possible resources which may of use for this purpose include:

- There are several different versions of history timecharts, including this, and this, depicting world history by illustrating concurrent events.

- The Hermes House Illustrated Encyclopedia, Exploring History

- The Hermes House Encyclopedia of Ancient History, which covers the stone age, ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Aztec & Mayan worlds, Inca world, the Chinese empire, and ancient Japan. There are several hands-on, step-by-step projects which guide children through cultural crafts.

You might also want to look at

- History Year-by-Year, by DK Publishing (written for young people

- Infographic History of the World, by D'Efilippo and Ball (written for adults but obsessed over by 9yo ds nonetheless).