The core component of The Story of the World curriculum is the text which tells the story of history. There are 4 volumes. Most families complete one volume per year, but the timing is up to you.
The Story of the World Activity Books include all the materials in the Student Pages and the Coloring Pages. (Note this exception: Volume 4’s activity book does not include Coloring Pages.) In other words, both of the companion products are subsets of the Activity Book, and were created to make things a little easier.
The first part of the Activity Book is oriented toward the Instructor/Parent, and includes vocabulary, review questions, directions for all of the suggested activities and assignments, and additional reading lists to help the Instructor/Parent.
The second part of the Activity Book is the Student Pages. These are perforated for easy removal from the Activity Book. They include maps, puzzles, games, and, except for Volume 4, coloring pages. These pages are “used up” by the student. We created the separate sets of Student Pages to save you the trouble of copying or reprinting them from the Activity Book. (Also, some people like to keep their Activity Book intact.) Everything in the Student Pages is in the Activity Book. You can see a sample of each on our web store--click the Sample button under the product's photo. (Please note that the Volume 4 Activity Book was designed for older students and includes additional age-appropriate assignments. Volume 4 does not include the Coloring Pages, but you can get them separately.)
The Coloring Pages are a subset of the Student Pages. If you have purchased a printed copy or PDF of either the Activity Book or the Student Pages, you already have the Coloring Pages, which you may copy / reprint as often as you wish for use in your own family. We created this product to make it easier for you to reproduce just the coloring pages. This product comes in PDF format only; you can see a sample on our web store.
Early in each chapter of the Activity Book, there is a set of Review Questions, with suggested student responses. Parents and young children do these orally. However, when The Story of the World is used with older students, instructors/parents often choose to ask for written responses from the student to assess comprehension. We created the Written Comprehension Responses so you could print out the questions (with space for student response) without having to retype them yourself. The answers to the questions are in the Activity Book, not in the Written Comprehension Responses. This product is available only as a PDF; you can see a sample on our web store.
The Test Booklet has a test for each chapter, in a format ready to give to the student. It includes questions in a variety of formats including multiple-choice and short-answer. The answers are included in separate pages. Both the paperback and PDF include the questions and the answers. You can see a sample on our web store. The Story of the World at Well-Trained Mind Press' Store