Core 1 with Readers 1 - 4-Day

The first half of a two-year introductory course in World History. Covers world history through the Roman Empire. You may wish to use this program, with modification, as the basis for teaching one child in 1st through 3rd, or more than one child in K through 3rd grades.

Includes History, Reader and Read-Aloud Books, plus a Core Instructor's Guide 1TB. The Readers in the "Two-Year Intro to World History I" Core Regular Readers program were chosen for use by first grade students: those who have mastered the letters of the alphabet and can read three-letter, short-vowel word.

Curriculum Overview:

Lay a firm mental foundation on which your children can build their understanding of history, culture, and geography.

Under the masterful guidance of V.M. Hillyer, (former headmaster of the Calvert School in Baltimore, Maryland,) as well as the artists and editors of several Usborne books, not to mention the tale-telling talents of more than a dozen other top authors, you and your children will enjoy a journey that traverses the globe and covers the time period from Creation to the Fall of Rome.

You will discover the amazing range of houses that people live in − from tents and mud huts, to caves and high rise buildings. You will visit villages, cities, and even underground houses. You will find out about some of the world's great religions−Judaism and Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others. You will learn about money, food, clothing, jewelry, hairstyles and makeup. But more than that, you will begin to understand the flow of world history, from the very earliest civilizations, dated thousands of years before Christ, to the closing period of Imperial Rome.

As always, Sonlight's unique world focus shines through. You will study the precursors to and earliest development of Western civilization, but you will also learn about the foundations of the other great civilizations of the world.

Introduction to World History, Part II, will tell "the rest of the story" from the era of the Fall of Rome to 1914, just prior to World War I. (Due to the truly awful violence of the two great World Wars of the 20th Century, not to mention the horrendous policies of governments around the world that led to tens of millions of people's deaths, we have chosen to postpone dealing with the bulk of 20th Century history until the Core 4 program and after.)

Of course, no Sonlight^® program is complete without a boxful of tantalizing stories crafted by master wordsmiths. In Core 1, you and your children will have the pleasure of reading such deservedly famous books as:

• E.B. White's Charlotte's Web
• Robert McCloskey's Homer Price
• Meindert DeJong's The Wheel on the School

These and other deft, insightful tales will provide you almost limitless opportunities to discuss with your children what true friendship is all about, how one should treat other people.

Since your children are just learning to read, you will find that the Readers 1 program included in this package will take them from decoding basic short-vowel, three-letter words like bat and dig to the point where they are reading short chapter books. As in everything else we do, we have attempted to make even our first reader a delight to the child's heart.

Students with more advanced reading capabilities can use the Readers 2 program.

Bible readings include the Gospel of Mark, the Old Testament books of Genesis and Exodus, St. Paul's letter to the Philippians, and a few Psalms and Proverbs. Please note that the Bible program is not included in the Core package anymore. However, Bible readings are still scheduled in the Instructor's Guides. See the Bible 1 program.

Estimated time requirement for all subjects including Science, Math and Language Arts, using either the 4- or Five-Day schedule: Student: 2.5-3 hrs/day; Parent: 41.5-2 hrs/day direct involvement, availability for remainder of time.

Have questions? Talk to the real experts in our Sonlight Curriculum Discussion Forums -- other families who are using this very curriculum right now. We have a special forum just for this curriculum level:

• Core 1 Discussion Forum

Browse our Instructor's Guide Samples for more information.

More things you should know about our complete Core packages:

• The 7 Remarkable Benefits You'll Get from a Sonlight^® Core Program
• Why do we call it CORE when it doesn't include Language Arts or Math?
• Core Curriculum Scope and Sequence
• Core Package Themes by Course Number
• Relative Difficulty Levels of Sonlight's Core Curricula
• How Can I Possibly Use a K Program with a Second Grader? What Makes a Sonlight^® Program Useful for Multiple Grades?