This year, my fourth-, fifth- and seventh-graders are studying the Ancient World for their History cycle.

I have opted for us to read through Oxford Press’s The World in Ancient Times book series. One reason I enjoy this book series is that it is very readable, what I mean by that is it isn’t a dry text book. It is packed with information but is presented in a conversational tone that is suitable for our read alouds. Another thing I like about this book series – it is made up of eight volumes and each volume covers a different region of the world. I feel like in many History books, much of ancient history focuses on The Big Four – the Near East, Egypt, Rome and Greece, and other regions of the world are mentioned but with not as much detail. This series of course includes volumes on these four, but also volumes on South Asia, China, the Americas, and an entire volume on early human history.

Here are links to the individual volumes:

The Early Human World
The Ancient Near Eastern World
The Ancient Egyptian World
The Ancient South Asian World
The Ancient Chinese World
The Ancient Greek World
The Ancient Roman World
The Ancient American World

I think even if you are using a different History curriculum, these make a great reference set for your home/homeschool library. And while I have included the Amazon links for the books sold new (as the only option available), I actually ordered these used through Amazon and was quite happy with the conditions of the books I received – most were former library books.

*Note – there are study guides available for each volume if interested, but my preferred approach is to read, discuss/record key terms (see below) and use student narration to reinforce what we’ve read each day.

So how am I using these books?

We do a lot of reading aloud as part of our homeschool – I think it’s a great way for students to get the information without the added work of decoding words and feeling frustrated – books that are written at a more advanced level are completely accessible to younger students. It also allows me to intersperse the read alouds with additional information or clarifications.

For each chapter, I have come up with a short list of terms that I want my students to learn and take note of. It’s easy to just listen to a chapter but not retain anything because you might not know what is most important.

_{Master List for The Early Human World. Downloadable in History Printables.}

How did I select the terms I want my students to retain?

Each chapter has one or a few words bolded and defined in the sidebar or within the text, or include terms that have a lot of details included. For example, in Chapter 1 of The Early Human World, included in the sidebar is a table of the Ages of Life on Earth, that list the Paleozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, and the Cenozoic era. For each era, a time frame is given, and the break down of the words is shown. Paleozoic is shown to be paleo + zoic = “ancient” + “life.” I want my students to learn not only the eras but also the word roots, as they will be found in other terms as we study history.

For each chapter we read, my students will have a Definitions and Details page, and at the top I will list the terms I want them to take note of (from my Master page). For my previous example Paleozoic Era, I expect them to write out the time period for that era as well as the word roots that are given in the sidebar table.

_{Definitions and Details page for The Early Human World chapters. Depending on how many terms I assign for each chapter I will print either the 4/pg or 8/pg sheet. Downloadable at History Printables.}

Occasionally I may include other activities to reinforce what we have read. For example, I have taken a table included in Chapter 2 of The Early Human World that break down the words and meanings for several sciences that study the past and converted it into a simple activity for my students.

^{Sciences That Study the Past activity sheet and answer key, from Chapter 2 of The Early Human World. Downloadable at History Printables.}

In addition to our chapters read during the week, I will also incorporate additional book titles as part of our family read alouds that tie into what we are studying. Some are picture books, some are YA novels, and some are longer books that I will read excerpts from.

_{The World in Ancient Times Supplemental Reading List. Download or print.}

I have shared the Master Pages and Definitions and Details pages for The Early Human World here, but pages for the remaining volumes of this series will be available over at History Printables.

Please feel free to download for your personal use. If you want to share, please share a link back to my page for others to download from, rather than sharing the individual pdfs. Thanks!