The Story of the World vs History Quest
The main differences
Both build elementary history on a narrative chapter book read aloud to younger children and read alone by older ones, with a guide of weekly activities. The Story of the World runs in four volumes from ancient times to the modern age, with an Activity Book of questions, maps and projects. History Quest has Early Times, Middle Times and United States volumes, each with a study guide of 34 weekly units, and also needs an encyclopedia and literature books bought elsewhere; Middle Times in print was $101.98.
| The Story of the World | History Quest | |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects | History and geography | History and geography |
| Grades | About 1st to 8th grade: Volume 1 is mainly for 1st to 4th grade and Volume 4 for 4th to 8th | 1st to 6th grade; United States is for 3rd to 6th, and the Modern History Bridge book reaches 7th grade |
| Method | Classical | Literature-based |
| Format | Books and workbooks | Books and workbooks |
| Faith label | Not labelled | Secular |
| Cost a year | $53.47. Volume 2, The Middle Ages, in paperback: text $16.96 (list $19.95) and Activity Book $36.51 (list $42.95), $53.47 together on sale today. PDFs cost less. | $101.98. Middle Times, 1st to 6th grade: chapter book $36.99 and study guide $64.99 in print, $101.98 together; as PDFs, $22.99 and $48.99, $71.98 together. |
| Placement | None on the publisher's site | Course map by grade ↗ |
| Parent time | Not stated by the publisher | Not stated by the publisher |
| It fits | A family that wants world history told as one story in time order, read aloud together, with narration, mapping and projects for children of several ages. | A family with several elementary children who wants history told as a story, with a weekly mix of crafts, mapping and writing. |
| It doesn't fit | A family that wants a workbook course a young child can do alone, or a program that continues into high school. | A family that wants a short, low-prep history workbook, or one program that runs through middle and high school. |
The Story of the World
The Story of the World is a four-volume narrative world history, from ancient times to the modern age, written to be read aloud to elementary children or read alone by older ones. Each volume becomes a year of history and geography with its Activity Book: parent pages with review questions, narration exercises, reading lists and project directions, and consumable student pages with maps, puzzles and coloring pages. Volume 1 has a new edition that splits this into an Instructor Guide and a Student Workbook; tests and audiobooks are sold separately.
Does well: One volume and its Activity Book make a full year of history and geography, with review questions, narration, map work and projects laid out for the parent.
Watch for: The new Volume 1 edition and the older Activity Books do not mix, so check that the text and guide you buy are the same edition.
History Quest
History Quest is a world and US history series for elementary grades, one time period a year: Early Times, Middle Times and United States, plus a Modern History Bridge book. Each year pairs a narrative chapter book (also sold as an audiobook) with a study guide of 34 weekly units: read and map the chapter, take an imaginary trip to the period, do a craft or recipe, write or take dictation, then read more widely. You buy the chapter book and the study guide, in print or as PDFs.
Does well: Every week follows the same five-day pattern (read, imaginary trip, create, write, enrich), so the plan is laid out for you.
Watch for: You also need The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History and several literature books, which Pandia Press does not sell with the course.
Lists with both
How we label
Every fact on a card was read on the publisher's own website on the date shown, and the page it came from is linked. A fact we could not confirm there is left out. Costs are for one child and one year of the main package, as the publisher's page showed them that day; prices and sales change. Method and format are the publisher's own description where it gives one. The only thing we say about religion is one label, secular or faith-based, given by the rule above; where the publisher's pages don't settle it, the card has no label.
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