Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources History anyone?

Yes! Fantastic book! The other Usborne books we like are: Encyclopedia of world geography, science encyclopedia, book of the microscope, and mysteries and marvels of nature.

Sadly, not history buffs here.

We have used the SOTW activity books, mainly for the maps... and I also really like their guided outlining in the 4th volume.

We've gone off on tangents quite a bit throughout the series. Lately it's been the Russian Revolution, cryptography, WWII (and more cryptography!)... I think what I like best about SOTW is that on the topics that we're really not that into we can read the chapter, color the map, and get on with our lives... but when we hit something that piques our interest we can add in whatever seems appropriate, either from their recommended book list (in the activity books) or on our own.

We used Story of the World along with Wikipedia, Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia Exploring History, National Geographic's Eyewitness to the 20th Century, lots of other books on toys, weapons, art, music, etc., Cosmeo videos, lots of History channel shows, and computer games like Age of Empires, Civilization, Pirates, etc.

I really liked this book and this author. He is fair and honest and scrupulously documents his stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teach...mp;s=books&qid=1238688047&sr=1-1

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Unfortunately, Wikipedia is starting to dissapoint me.

The article on the Korean War is just one example. Someone had gone to a lot of effort using some good writing to go into details about various events and battles including the Chinese perspective in a fair and balanced way which induced me to go get some books on the war and read them in parallel.

I checked back last week for a map I liked and the original article had been edited into a barely comprehensible mish-mash with the fine writing gone and some kooky gibberish about massacres.

I've started looking at the edit pages and it looks like a lot of revision is going on not only on the Korean War but on classic novels and other historical events. Wikipedia should hire some subject matter experts to vet edits.

I don't homeschool, but I love history and have been constantly disappointed by the lack of history books (good or bad) for very young children. Most publishers seem to assume that young kids can't grasp the concept of a past. Usborne is one big exception. I've got several great Usborne history books that DS4 loves, so their stuff for older kids might be worth hunting down as well.

WE're also doing SOTW 1 Ancients. For those that might not like history, I know of a few boys who have really been turned onto history by playing Age of Empires and Civilization. My 5yr old talks about Alexander the Great after playing Civilization. Also, we watch a lot of History channel shows which really brings it alive for my son. He especially loves archeology. Also, we read the fairy tales and myths from that culture/period of time which my kids enjoy.

OH we enjoy historical fiction as go-alongs.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, my son has a healthy sense of skepticism and doesn't believe everything he reads or hears. I think he would really like the book Lies My Teacher Told Me.

We just started reading the book An Incomplete Education and I know that most of my son's gifted friends would not like this book, even though his friends are several years older than he is. But his dad likes history and at the moment he is reading Thomas Paine's Common Sense. I think it is nice that they have common interests that bridge the generation gap, but I really wish that my son could find other kids near us that shared his interests. He has one friend that likes history but he does not care to study it as in depth as my son does. We have also read some of a book on a cultural history of American movies that he found interesting. Because of his interests I would really like to see him work toward a liberal arts degree when he is high school age and then later, at normal college age, a degree in some science related field.

We are not a homeschooling family. My kids have read and enjoyed Gombrich's book (in fact it was me who read it to them many, many years ago). I also second the suggestion of Horrible History books, especially for boys!
Both of my kids really enjoy their respective history teachers. My S's teacher is extremely well organized, taught the class how to take good notes (in 7th grade), but still allows intelligent debate in the classroom. S thinks very highly of him.
Are you familiar with History Fairs? Very similar to the science ones, but there are many different cathegories to choose from. My S loves flying, planes and making movies (besides math). He did a documentary about a local pilot who took part in Berlin Airlift (look up candy bombers). He took first place in region and is going to state competition!

I added "An Incomplete Education" to my list.

I really like LMTTM.

The author reminds me of my favorite college history professor who would come into class with no notes and lecture for an hour on the subject in a highly animated fashion, cites, and all. I would be wrung out and sweating after the lecture.

Something fun to look up on the web are "ooparts." Most of the stuff is folderol, but a few things are pretty interesting such as the amphorae found in Rio De Janiero harbor. A lot of history was lost when Alexander sacked Tyre and then when Scipio sacked Carthage as the Phonecian civilization was lost.

There is currently a lot of effort going into retracing the pre-Conquista civilizations that used to cover South America.