Mary,
This is a good question!
With our own kiddos, we discuss that from our family's viewpoint any resource with millions of years ago within it means that we need to proceed through it with an especially discerning eye. When we get into resources that use thousands of years ago instead, we know that from our perspective these resources are coming much closer to lining up with a younger earth view of the various ancient time periods.
This doesn't mean that we read these resources with a blind eye, yet they are typically less evolutionary sounding than materials containing millions of years ago.
Whenever we get into resources that discuss dating from ancient times, we find that it is necessary to discuss them. The discrepancies in dating among resources just begs for discussion, whether the discrepancy is in millions of years or thousands of years.
It is important for kiddos to know what the Bible says, what "you" think, and what your family believes on this topic. It is also important to teach our children that it doesn't mean that if we don't agree with the dating that the entire resource is faulty. So, this becomes the paradox. At times the dating does change the feel of the entire resource, because it calls into question everything the author writes. At other times, it does not affect the entire resource, because the author was just writing with the information in mind that was available at the time he/she wrote his material. This is the case for A Child's History of the World, which was written many years ago.
I'll paste our thoughts from our website on using that resource below. Hopefully, this will give you an opportunity to discuss this very important area and share your family's thoughts on it in light of God's Word.
Why was A Child's History of the World chosen for use in Preparing Hearts for His Glory?
We chose to use Hillyer's A Child's History of the World because it is unmatched in its grandfatherly, story-telling style of conveying an overview of world history to children. We looked carefully at all of the alternatives currently available and felt that Hillyer's 1920's retelling has not been secularized like the many other texts available. It still contains Biblical history naturally interwoven with world history and tells the history of the Jews interwoven with the rest of world history. Hillyer tells about the tower of Babel, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, the Exodus, Samuel, Saul, Solomon, and Jesus.
We do choose to omit the first 3 chapters of Hillyer, which requires some explanation. In Chapter I, while Hillyer gives an evolutionary sounding view of how the world was created, he does show that he believed in God as the creator, when on p. 5 he says," ...before this, there was a time when there was NO WORLD AT ALL! Only the stars, and God, who made the stars."
It is important to remember that many Christians during Hillyer's time believed that evolution was a new scientific way of explaining the Bible. He also characterizes the worship of other gods in the following way: "The Greeks believed in many gods, not in one God, as we do, and as the Jews do." "Their gods were more like people in fairy tales than like divine beings." This gives us the idea that when Hillyer says "we", he means Christians, and he is grouping himself there. That is Hillyer's point of view throughout his writing (although he does not come right out and say that Jesus is the Son of God).
We omit Chapters 2 and 3, because Hillyer gives the Stone Age view of cave man, complete with grunting. Yet, he points out the obvious difference between man and animals in saying that man had "better brains" and could "think". This was one way of reconciling the evidence of cave men with the Biblical account. In place of these chapters, we include resources such as The True Story of Noah's Ark, Life in the Great Ice Age, and Grandpa's Box that coincide better with the Biblical account and show that man was made in God's image and so was very intelligent from the beginning.
Almost all of the other events Hillyer records are a part of historical record, so there is no need to question his overall accuracy. Throughout his presentation of history, you'll find Hillyer continues to acknowledge God and is always respectful of Christianity. In screening literature, it is important to remember that there is only one truly infallible book and that is the Bible. All others require a discerning mind as you read.
You might even choose to read and discuss Hillyer's opening chapters alongside our scheduled resources, if you wish to point out differences in world-views, keeping in mind the goal of the program is to be Preparing Hearts for His Glory.
Blessings,
Carrie