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I have another question about this book, and thought it best to start a new thread. The answers on my other thread about this book were helpful!

I think, since I have only read the first 5 chapters, that the best thing to do is get a hold of a copy of the book (which I can do) and read it. Preparing is a year away for my oldest so I have plenty of time to read the book for myself.

I was reading a few back threads on Carrie's comments on MOH and SOTW and CHOW. I appreciated very much the comments that you had Carrie about each of the books.

You mentioned that the reason that you don't use the first three volumes of SOTW is that those volumes are not God-honoring. I have a lot of respect for the author of SOTW, but I would agree with you. I pre-read them, some, at one point and found them to not be God-honoring too.

The first 5 chapters I read of CHOW, at one point, did acknowledge God as our creator. It did overall though take more of a position of evolution overall. I wouldn't consider what I read as Christian though, or even particularly God honoring or honoring of the Bible.

So my main question regarding CHOW, for those of you that have read all of it, is did you find it God-honoring overall?

I am thinking ahead, but sometimes in the end it can make us more prepared for the future.

We are absolutely loving Bigger and LHTH, and once my second son is finished with his phonics I am really looking forward to doing Beyond with him.

Thank you!

Preparing does not schedule the first few chapters of CHOW because of the way it talks about the beginnings of mankind. The rest of the CHOW readings are very good, and HOD balances it well by including Grandpa's Box and the rest of the main history resources. I think you will be pleased

blessedmomof4 wrote:Preparing does not schedule the first few chapters of CHOW because of the way it talks about the beginnings of mankind. The rest of the CHOW readings are very good, and HOD balances it well by including Grandpa's Box and the rest of the main history resources. I think you will be pleased

Thank you blessedmomof4! I found your answer very reassuring.

Blessings,

We found the chapters of CHOW scheduled to be neutral, and like the pp said, the other books balanced it out nicely. Grandpa's Box continues to be a favorite with my boys. My oldest ds can't wait for his brother to get to Preparing so he can listen in on Grandpa's Box a second time!

Preparing is a wonderful, wonderful guide. I used to say it was our favorite year, but I think it may now be tied with this year. Bigger and RTR rock, too.

I would suggest if you are going to read ahead, that perhaps you get the Preparing guide, and Grandpa's box, to get a better idea of how Carrie uses it. I am really looking forward to it now I've had a chance to look at all the books together and see how the different books are pulled out at different times. I think the children and I are all going to get an education this year.

I agree with Molly. If you are going to pre-read you really need the Preparing guide and Grandpa's Box to see how CHOW is used and implemented. Carrie draws the dc to the Bible often when reading CHOW. I would also agree that the parts of CHOW used are neutral. Grandpa's Box and the others are very God-honoring.

LynnH wrote:I agree with Molly. If you are going to pre-read you really need the Preparing guide and Grandpa's Box to see how CHOW is used and implemented. Carrie draws the dc to the Bible often when reading CHOW. I would also agree that the parts of CHOW used are neutral. Grandpa's Box and the others are very God-honoring.

Thank you for the insights. I was just going to pre-read it to give it a second chance beyond chapter 5. Grandpa's Box sounds wonderful. Thinking...

HOD is so Christ centered and God honoring as a curriculum. Does the neutrality of CHOW distract from that? Or, is the way it is used with Grandpa's Box make it work? Would it work to substitute it with Mystery of History, or is that way way too much work and unnecessary?

I am thinking of using it as written, but I am also thinking that I want to read CHOW beyond chapter 5 sometime this winter or spring first. I can tell from one of the pm that I received that Carrie handles CHOW very well in the TM, and uses it to start discussions. Grandpa's Box sounds simply wonderful.

My DH agrees with me that I should read it, and see what the rest of the book is about.

I would still love to hear your thoughts!

blessings,

LovingJesus,

The following link should help answer your questions as to why CHOW was selected as one of our history resources for Preparing Hearts. Link: http://www.heartofdakota.com/preparing- ... hild-world

I'll also paste the explanation below to make it easier to find:
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.

I'll also paste a portion of my response from a previous thread that will help explain this more fully.

The reason we chose Hillyer for "Preparing Hearts...", is because it a very living retelling of world history, written in a more Christian fashion than many books today. It is important to note that at the time Hillyer wrote CHOW, Christians of the time believed that evolution was a way of explaining the Biblical story of creation. Charlotte Mason herself thought evolution was a way of explaining the Bible just the same as Hillyer, and she was an avid Christian.

Since the overall tone of "A Child's History of the World" is from a Christian worldview, we do not mind skipping the opening chapters which contain evolutionary content by today's standards. But, that is because the error is due to the time period is which Hillyer lived and wrote, rather than because he was seeking to disagree with the Scriptures. We feel that is much different than choosing a modern evolutionary book and skipping the evolutionary portions, because the modern book is working to undermine what is put forth in Scripture. You will see Hillyer's Christian belief system shows through much of his writing.

We have also read "A Child's History of the World" through out loud more than once to our boys and have really enjoyed it. From a Charlotte Mason perspective, it is a wonderful living book told in narrative form by a single author who is passionate about his subject matter. In our opinion it is unequaled in its presentation of world history as a story told in a way that children can understand.

We have also enjoyed Hillyer's other books "A Child's Story of Art" and "A Child's Geography". Though out of print, they are written in the same living, narrative style.

In "Preparing Hearts...." we do weave in a large dose of Biblical history, directly from the Bible and using "Grandpa's Box" which is an overview of Biblical history. We also add in "Life in the Great Ice Age" to explain that period of time from a Christian perspective, and "Hero Tales" to link evangelism with the reading about pagan cultures. Our storytime read-alouds in Preparing are almost all from a Christian viewpoint as well.

We know the study of world history can bring up many controversial topics, and feel that the selection of books is one of the most important choices we will make in each curriculum that we write. So, it is not without MUCH thought and prayer that we bring our selections to you knowing many families will be impacted by our choices. You, ultimately know best, whether this philosophy lines up with your family belief system, but I hope this has shed some light on why we do what we do!

You will see a book or two that mention pagan gods in "Preparing Hearts...." such as Leif the Lucky, but that book also contrasts the paganism with his later conversion to Christianity. Even Aesop's fables which mention greek gods are discussed in light of the Bible.

It is important to note that before entering any study of history that talks about pagan gods and cultures, we have laid an excellent foundation in Bible knowledge and study through "Little Hands...", "Little Hearts...", "Beyond..." and "Bigger....". We feel that by laying a strong foundation in the Bible prior to teaching world history, we will have that foundation in place when it comes time to know more about the pagan cultures that surround us. Then, the paganism can be seen in a correct light and not glorified to be just something fascinating to learn.

With the thoughts I've shared above, I'll caution you that simply reading through CHOW will in no way gave you the full picture of how we use this book in our guide. I can say this with all honesty, as I have tried this myself! We used CHOW through Sonlight with my own oldest son, before we wrote our guides. CHOW, in my humble opinion, should never be used on its own as it would be missing so much! However, when woven with all of the rest of the spines, storytime titles, and deluxe package books used in HOD's Preparing (in combination with the plans in the guide), it is a wonderful resource for drawing the pieces of history together. The only real way to see this in action is to order the packages and read all recommended resources on each day of plans and read the actual plans that go along with the readings.

You'll find that with HOD, everything comes from the plan book and the connections it draws among the various threads in the reading materials to create the big picture. HOD is about so much more than the spines used. Each spine is just one thread that brings history to life, but without the integration with the threads from the rest of the books, resources, and Scriptures, it is not a strong single strand all on its own.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote: With the thoughts I've shared above, I'll caution you that simply reading through CHOW will in no way gave you the full picture of how we use this book in our guide. I can say this with all honesty, as I have tried this myself! We used CHOW through Sonlight with my own oldest son, before we wrote our guides. CHOW, in my humble opinion, should never be used on its own as it would be missing so much! However, when woven with all of the rest of the spines, storytime titles, and deluxe package books used in HOD's Preparing (in combination with the plans in the guide), it is a wonderful resource for drawing the pieces of history together. The only real way to see this in action is to order the packages and read all recommended resources on each day of plans and read the actual plans that go along with the readings.

You'll find that with HOD, everything comes from the plan book and the connections it draws among the various threads in the reading materials to create the big picture. HOD is about so much more than the spines used. Each spine is just one thread that brings history to life, but without the integration with the threads from the rest of the books, resources, and Scriptures, it is not a strong single strand all on its own.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you Carrie. This makes a lot of sense.