The Story of the World: Volume 1: Ancient Times by Susan Wise Bauer

The Story of the World: Volume 1: Ancient Times by Susan Wise Bauer was one of our favorite homeschool read-alouds this year.

This book introduces children to ancient history through engaging stories, beginning with the earliest nomads and moving through major civilizations like Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Greece, Rome, and more. Rather than feeling like a dry list of dates and facts, the book presents history in a narrative style that made it easy for my children to follow and enjoy.

We read it slowly over about three to four months, usually as a bedtime read-aloud. My children were six and eight at the time, and I was honestly surprised by how much they loved it. By the end, they were often asking me to keep reading another chapter.

To help make the history more concrete, we paired the book with a hands-on wall timeline project. As we read, the kids created event cards for different civilizations and pinned them to strings on our wall. This helped them see how different parts of ancient history were happening at the same time, even when the book had to tell the stories one chapter at a time.

You can read more about our experience with the book and our project here.

This ended up being a wonderful resource for introducing ancient history in a way that felt meaningful, memorable, and fun.

Best for: elementary-aged children, homeschool read-alouds, ancient history studies, classical education, and families who enjoy story-based learning.