History of the Ancient World Study Guide

I've been waiting for this book for awhile and I suspect there are others waiting right there with me. History of the Ancient World gave us a sequel to Story of the World for older readers but left us with the need to design our own curriculum and study materials. This is so much better! Now History of the Ancient World can function as a stand-alone high school (or middle school if your child is ready) history/geography course.

There is a set of exercises for each chapter. Some sections Who, What, Where and Comprehension are answered in one or two complete sentences and can be done "open-book." The Critical Thinking section (not done open book) requires the student to produce a brief written reflection on the ideas presented in the chapter. The student is helped in this by preliminary exercises. The fourth section Map Work (not included with every chapter) asks the student to go through a carefully structured set of steps tracing repeatedly, then copying while looking at the book, and finally, reproducing from memory. [All needed maps are provided in the back of the book. Map Work will require black pencils, colored pencils, and large amounts of tracing paper.]

The set of 85 worksheets (reproducible for families) are in the back third of the book. The front third? Well, I guess you would call it the answer key, but it feels like more. Each item/question to be identified or answered is specifically referenced to the text (by page and paragraph number). Sample answers are given for each item including the essay questions. That's it! There are no lesson plans or additional information or teacher helps - just what you need to provide a strong history course. Although there are no quarterly or final tests, these would be easy to compile based on the information provided here. 533 pgs, pb. ~ Janice