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Carrie,
I was wondering why Mystery of History II, which includes the medival era, is not being used. I'm sure you have a good reason, however I don't remember anything being said about it. Would it be too much to incorporate it wth the other books in RTR?
Thanks,
Diane

Here's a very old thread where MOH is mentioned.

In the old thread that was linked, Carrie wrote:

"While I do believe that MOH is a wonderful history option, to me it does not feel as living as quite a few of the other history "spines" we've used at our house. At times the flow of MOH can even feel somewhat textbookish. Each volume of MOH is also quite a bit of information to cram into a year, which doesn't fit well with the CM-style philosophy we have at HOD of fewer, truly living books read slowly over time in order to savor the content."

She may have written that before MOH Vol. 3 came out. But, I am wondering how or why MOH Vol. 3 is considered a living book, and Vol. 1 and 2 aren't. I had a copy of MOH Vol. 1 for a while, and was going to use it (this was before I knew about HOD!), but after reading through some of it, I can say I agree with Carrie's above comments. I didn't like it, and I ended up selling it. I have never seen a copy of Vol. 2 or Vol. 3.

This is a good question! From our perspective there is a huge difference between MOH I and II when compared to Vol. III for several reasons. One is that Volume III is separated into a reader and a companion guide. This means that the timeline, activities, note-taking, and card-making activities that used to be included in Vol. I and II have been pulled out into a separate guide, which makes MOH III's reader feel much more like a book that you're just reading through. It takes away that textbook feeling of the readings being interspersed with follow-up assignments all in the same book.

Another change in MOH III is that it is hardbound and in full-color. While this doesn't affect the writing style, it again changes the overall feel of it making it more book like and less like a Teacher's Guide. A third change in MOH III is the length of the writings, which are longer and more biographical in MOH III. We can also tell a big difference in the uniformness of the writing and the author's style, as she is truly coming into her own as a writer. There is very little of the talking down to the child (with phrases such as cool or neat), while still retaining the chatty style that makes the writing narrative.

We definitely like variety at HOD too and like to hear from writers with varying perspectives, so we find the balance among the authors included in RTR to be very strong (as it gives kiddos a broad range of writing styles and authors to glean from). While many moms love MOH I and II because they are a full curriculum for history all in one, we have always desired to have a more CM focused follow-up to our history readings. We also enjoy having more than one spine for the year, which ruled the first two volumes out for us. So, with the release of MOH III in a separate reader (along with the changes I've already noted above), we were able to incorporate it into part of our HOD guide in the manner that suits our philosophy and still retain the CM flavor we desired.

I hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie

Yes, that helps alot! I'm so glad to hear MOH 3 is much different from Vol. 1. I didn't like the writing style, though I personally know many moms who have used MOH 1 and loved it.

Thank you for explaining.

Thanks Carrie for explaining the difference between MOH 1, 2, and 3. I didn't know about the seperation of the reader in MOH 3. I am excited about starting RTR this fall.
Blessings,
Diane