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Ok, so if you've read previous blog posts that I've made, you made have come across one where I don't speak that highly about Story Of The World. Well, that opinion has since changed...

Ever since I tried SOTW with my oldest son several years ago, I held on to the curriculum JUST in case we'd want to try it again. You never know how curriculum is going to work -- whether it's great for you and your kid hates it, or vice versa. We are amazingly blessed with an insane variety of curriculum on the market that you're bound to find something that will for well for your family -- regardless of how it works for others you know. SOTW was once thought to be a total bore in this house. I could barely handle and it sure couldn't keep the attention of my kid. However, that same kid now begs for me to read it!

It all started when I was trying to calm my wild monkeys -- I mean handsome boys -- and get them ready for bed. They were literally climbing all over and hanging upside down on their bunkbed. They asked for me to read them a book while they tried to go to sleep, so I tried to think of something boring. I LOVE reading to them before bed, but if it's even remotely interesting or catches a hint of their attention, we'll end up sitting there reading several chapters with them begging for more. It is totally awesome, except when they really need to be asleep instead of wide-awake listening to an adventure story. ;) So that night, I decided to go into our school room and dust off our Story Of The World book. I knew it used to put them (and me) right to sleep -- maybe this was the perfect solution! Maybe, just maybe, they'd be asleep by the second paragraph. Wrong. They were so drawn in, we read a couple chapters, with lots of discussion in between, before I finally said we had to stop for the night so we could get some rest. They couldn't get enough! I guess it's an age thing? An interest thing? My oldest was the same age as my youngest is now when we first attempted it so who knows. Either way, SOTW is a total win in this house now! 

I honestly don't even think they consider this school when we're reading it. When we knock out our Saxon math or phonics/writing curriculum, sure...they know they have to sit down, press on and get through it. Sometimes it's with joy, sometimes it's a bit of a drag. But they know it's school and it's something they need to do. With SOTW  they'll randomly just ask if I'll read it to them while they're playing. We've been doing several day-trips lately, so I'll bring different books in the car to read -- both read alouds and books for them to read on their own. They'll specifically ask for me to read SOTW with much excitement. It's pretty awesome, ha. 

On one of these recent day-trips that I mentioned, I decided to bring along art pads on the drive so that they could do one of the suggested activities in the SOTW Activity book. As I handed each boy their art pad and colored pencils, they both grabbed them with enthusiasm and actually put the effort forth to work on it as I read without one complaint. I mean, it was like the twilight zone! My 4th grader generally has a good attitude about things, but let's be real. He's 9 and school work can be a drag at times. His life goals are to be outside, during every waking moment, playing Beyblades and having Nerf Wars. Even in the car, if I mention knocking out some schoolwork on a long drive, it is received with some deep sighs. Not that day. Not with Story Of The World! 

Can you sense the excitement?!

This guy took it very seriously and worked hard on his drawings...

Here is a photo of their finished product. They used the key in the Activity Workbook to create their names in both hieroglyphics and cuniform...

So...if you read my last review of this curriculum and you found yourself in the same spot -- give it time. You just never know how things might change! Here I had planned on using a different curriculum as my spine, but it never showed up. It legit got lost in the mail and we received the empty bubblewrap envelope instead (insert crying emoji). I guess that was a blessing in disguise, because it appears as though we're good to go with our SOTW set!