The Story of Civilization, Volume II The Medieval World

I am a private tutor for Catholic home schoolers. It is difficult to find a history textbook that teaches the truth about the past with regard to Catholicism and how its institutions helped save Western civilization. Mr. Campbell writes very well and includes stories to help illustrate historical events. I use this text for grades 3-6. I taught Volume 1 last year and will do Volume 3 next year. That said, I would avoid buying the Teacher's Manual. The "activities" are not at all helpful (hand out gummy worms when discussing the Concordat of Worms---seriously??) , and the review questions are trivial and do not really challenge the students to think critically. I have had to come up with activities of my own as enrichment material (for example, designing a heraldic coat of arms based on what the students can find out about their family ancestry, building a model of a medieval castle with Legos, designing a menu for a medieval courtly banquet , geography activities, study questions, quizzes, etc.). My students typically read far more than they are assigned each week because they enjoy it so much!

My sons love this history course! It's the first time I've ever had a homeschooling resource that they actually do all by themselves without being nagged. This test booklet is the perfect way to review what they have learned in the chapters.

Engaging for all ages! We use this series as the "spine" of our history curriculum at home. We prefer it to Story of the World.

My 12 year old’s favorite part of our homeschooling program.

Mr Campbell has written another FANTASTIC history book. If you loved Vol 1, youll love Vol 2. The format is easily turned into unit studies or subjects to read upon further, should you not chose to use the supplimentary materials from Tan books like the Activity book with coloring pages, puzzles, etc for each chapter. By itself its a great history book that would work well with any classical or homeschool curriculum, but is completely accessible enough to simply be read as a great history book for leisure reading. It is fully accurate and has "sidebars" in some chapters that allow you to delve into the culture further with actual commentary, elaborate depictions, and discussion between historical persons of the time in a realistic scene. At no point is this a dry or boring history book. We use it as the main text in our homeschooling and my kids ASK to do history first daily (not kidding) because of the wonderful books by Mr Campbell and team.

As a homeschool mother, I have analyzed countless history curricula, both Catholic and secular, and this is by far the best and most engaging I have found. I highly recommend you get the Audible version to go with it. This series of books is solid and the books truly do make history come alive; in fact, history is one my kids' favorite subjects and I have learned many things I was never taught in school. The teacher's guide and activity book are good but not essential. I like to compliment this with map work and historical fiction as well as books of the lives of the saints (Bethlehem Books has great historical fiction, and Vision Books are wonderful for studying the saints), but this curriculum is solid enough to not need any other books complimenting it. Highly recommend this series.

The Story of Civilization: The Medieval World by Phillip Campbell is an excellent homeschooling history textbook for Catholic high school homeschoolers. The book tells the story of how the Catholic Church built Western Civilization and made the world a better place. Here’s a history textbook that is fascinating, in that it tells history as a thrilling adventure.There are many points made that you won’t find in a typical high school history textbook:After the Roman Empire fell, the Catholic Church stepped in to maintain order, and laws and customs came to be based on Christian principles, making the world more humane. For example, the Christian emperor Constantine passed laws prohibiting gladiatorial combat and feeding criminals to wild animals.Catholic monasteries preserved ancient learning and they were centers of learning and charity.One of the great contributions of the Middle Ages was the concept of chivalry. Here is how Phillip Campbell talks about chivalry:Knights in the latter Middle Ages were expected to live by an ideal called chivalry. Chivalry was a code of conduct that guided knights on how they were supposed to act. It called them to defend the weak, be courteous and helpful to women, be merciful, respect the property of civilians, keep one’s word, and stand up for the rights of the Church. A man was judged to be a good knight to the degree he could abide by these rules. [Chivalry is a noble ideal, and all men should be chivalrous.]War is always a hard and dangerous thing, but chivalry was an attempt to Christianize war by ensuring that those who fought maintained certain standards of goodness. It taught that the strong were not to oppress the weak but rather to be at their service. [The concept of chivalry helped to reduce the number of war crimes committed by soldiers. The duty of the strong is to protect the weak.]This history textbook also discusses something truly rare and valuable - a truly saintly king. Here is an excerpt talking about King Louis IX of France:But the most famous knight-king of the Middle Ages was St. Louis IX, king of France. St. Louis IX ruled France from 1226 to 1270. Louis practiced the knightly ideal with Christian piety so perfectly that he was honored as a saint even within his lifetime.St. Louis cared for the poor, protected the defenseless, showed mercy to enemies, defended the Church, and spent long hours in prayer and penance. He also fought in two crusades, which he thought was the duty of any Christian knight. King Louis IX was a true Christian knight.The spirit of St. Louis was a spirit of piety and chivalry. Most political leaders are such scoundrels that the rare saintly leader should be highlighted in a history book.This excellent survey of the Middle Ages not only teaches history, but it teaches some of the important lessons of history which will delight and inspire you.