Is SOTW secular? - Page 2

[sha_lyn]

SOTW is the early ele story telling phase of TWTM recomendation of telling history as stories to younger children. SOTW does not have the middle/high school levels of history. It is really not meant to be a stand alone history. It is just the stories. Their activity guide has reccomended reading list and activity sheets.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by mother_sunshine

Has anyone "read" The Usborne Book of World History? Is this the only truly secular children's resource on history out there? :

thanks for the links! We have book called World History Encyclopedia printed by Dempsey Parr. It is an oversized book that has spreads on different aspects of world history, with a timeline running along the top and lots of pictures and maps. It doesn't have a lot of text, though. Less than half of each page is text. I would really like to find a good history story book to go along with it -- but I want something not eurocentric and not christain.

[BelovedBird]

Actually I taught the Judeo/Christian version

Since you are educating your kids and wanting to be factual, I think that you'd want to be informed that there is no "Judeo/Christian" anything. Its a misnomer. There is judaism and christianity- two different relligions. feel free to search the term for deeper discusion on the topic here at MDC.

[sha_lyn]

I think we all know they are 2 different religions. However they do have the same roots thus the Judeo/Christian refferences.

[rsps]

I know some very conservative chirstians who won't use it because of too much myths from other religions. I think it's all a matter of perspective.

[Hera]

I've just been giving this a read-through... I would say that it is not exactly Christian, and that they do a pretty good job finding stories from many parts of the world (I was afraid it would be primarily the history of the western world, and it seems like they are trying to avoid that.) I'm not up to the birth of Jesus yet, but I would say that in the "history of the Jewish People" section God is referred to as God, and God talks to Abram and tells him to go to Canaan, for example. However, in the section about urgh, I'm drawing a blank, might it have been Hammurabi writing his laws? The language is more like "Hammurabi believed that his gods had told him to write the laws." So, it is kind of theocentric (is that a word??)

[sha_lyn]

Hera.... your post brings up a good point. When mentioning the Judeo/Christian God, SOTW gives it as "fact". When mentioning other religions it says "they believed that their gods".

IMHO this makes it Christian, but like I said before it is not "in your face" and those of us who are not Xtian can easily work around it.

[BelovedBird]

Originally Posted by sha_lyn

I think we all know they are 2 different religions. However they do have the same roots thus the Judeo/Christian refferences.

I really think you should read up on the issues involved in that term.

[BelovedBird]

Originally Posted by sha_lyn

Hera.... your post brings up a good point. When mentioning the Judeo/Christian God, .

You just exactly proved my above post correct! There is no "judeo-christian G-d!!!
Not at all. Two different religions, different beliefs, different concepts of the divine. Sorry, you really are wrong here.

[feebeeglee]

Originally Posted by BelovedBird

Sorry, you really are wrong here.

I dunno.

I think it might be better to say, "Sorry, I really think you're wrong here."

As a member of the other half of the illustrious duo of lumped-together monotheistic religions using a whole bunch of the same books and considering them the holy inspired Word of God, I can safely say

"Sorry BB, I really think you're wrong here."

because I do think there is a demonstrable Judeo/Christian 'tradition', for lack of a better word.

Here's a book I'd really like to read that touches on some of these same issues:
http://www.salvationisfromthejews.com/

And just to keep this on topic, I'm getting a copy of SOTW vol I tomorrow from another local hser as a loan and I'll give you the remaining $0.98 after I peruse

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by BelovedBird

I really think you should read up on the issues involved in that term.

I'm totally lost as to what you mean or what one should read up on. It is my understanding that Jews follow the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament.

I'm not being snarky -- I truly have no idea what you are getting at or what I should read to fill in my ignorance. Could you give me a little more to go on -- a link to another thread or website or something.

[BelovedBird]

Originally Posted by feebeeglee

I dunno.

I think it might be better to say, "Sorry, I really think you're wrong here."

As a member of the other half of the illustrious duo of lumped-together monotheistic religions using a whole bunch of the same books and considering them the holy inspired Word of God, I can safely say

"Sorry BB, I really think you're wrong here."

because I do think there is a demonstrable Judeo/Christian 'tradition', for lack of a better word.

Here's a book I'd really like to read that touches on some of these same issues:
http://www.salvationisfromthejews.com/

And just to keep this on topic, I'm getting a copy of SOTW vol I tomorrow from another local hser as a loan and I'll give you the remaining $0.98 after I peruse

I don't think you are wrong. I know you are wrong. The only way you could possibly be right is if you knew enough about judaism to argue with me. You don't and you are wrong. READ the threads on this topic HERE at MDC already in existance and then maybe you will understand.

[BelovedBird]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

I'm totally lost as to what you mean or what one should read up on. It is my understanding that Jews follow the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament.

I'm not being snarky -- I truly have no idea what you are getting at or what I should read to fill in my ignorance. Could you give me a little more to go on -- a link to another thread or website or something.

Well, to start with, your understanding is wrong. As far as links I asked the OP of the comment that I was having an issue with to search MDC. Why not just do that?
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...an#post1102717

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ighlight=judeo
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ighlight=judeo
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ighlight=judeo
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ighlight=judeo

HTH

[BelovedBird]

Oh, and Feeb, just FYI- Jews don't even believe in "salvation"!

[Linda on the move]

For those who don't wish to read through all the links, the upshot is:

The reason that "Judeo Christian" can be offensive is because it often means that Christian views are being presented as being both Jewish and Christian.

[Staceyhsmom1]

Just chiming in here

I did SOTW 1, 2 and half of 3 with my ds. We loved it. I found it to be very secular. I am not christian at all and I enjoyed using SOTW to teach my son about all religions.
I highly recommend the activity book and teacher's guide. My ds, now 11 and in public school, loves history and its all because of SOTW and all the activities and real books we used with it. I plan on using it with my dd.
the well trained mind website also has an awesome board for talking about wtm curriculim and other stuff, they have tons of hs links too :-) I haven't been their in a while, but it helped me alot when I hs'ed ds.
btw, ds asked for the SOTW on tape for christmas ;-)

[feebeeglee]

Originally Posted by BelovedBird

Oh, and Feeb, just FYI- Jews don't even believe in "salvation"!

Oh and BB, just FYI - the book's title, Salvation is from the Jews, refers to the New Testament passage John 4:22. 'Nother FYI - I have some vague ideas about Jewish belief given that 3 of my 4 siblings are Jewish.

It does not refer to Jewish belief, but rather to the Christian belief that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and not the abolition of it.

I'm done with this in this thread! Not in a snarky way, just this has nothing to do with SOTW anymore. Nice discussion though.