History has always been one of my favorite subjects....ok, let's be honest. I wanted to become a History teacher. But because a homeschool mom instead. Now I get to have fun with teaching our kids history. Now like with most kids, this is not an easy feat. So finding a program that keeps their interest is also not easy.
We were pretty excited to try out this program on early American History. The program we were using was Ancient History and the kids were tiring of that. So we were ready for a change.
This program written by Michelle Miller is written to be flexible with whatever educational style your family has. It can be used as Classical, Charlotte Mason, or even unit study. You can choose how much your family does at a time. You can visit their suggestions on how to use the program here.
Our educational style is all over the spectrum. We lean more toward a Charlotte Mason/Unit study style. I like to plan out how much we need to cover each week. Because as laid back as I would like to be, I know that they do need to learn as much as possible according to their attention spans. So TruthQuest fit into their sort of laid back, and yet still structured style of learning.
So how do you get started?
First you pick what area of time you would like to study with your family.
American History - Grades 1-5
- American History I (Exploration to 1800)
- American History II (1800-1865)
- American History III (1865 - 2000)
World History - Grades 5-12
- Creation/Ancient History
- Ancient Greece
- Ancient Rome
- Middle Ages (500-1400)
- Renaissance Reformation Exploration (1400-1600)
- Age of Revolution I (America/Europe 1600-1800)
- Age of Revolution II (America/Europe 1800-1865)
- Age of Revolution III (America/Europe 1865-2000)
While visiting the TruthQuest website, you can view samples of pages from the book, to see if this is the information that you are searching for.
You can also purchase lapbooks that have been specially created for use along with this curriculum from A Journey Through Learning.
Once you decide whether you want to order the printed book or the ebook, the only other thing you need is your library card. That is how economical this series is. You order the guide, and then get the books from you local library. All the books selected for this series do not teach a secular viewpoint, you will be guided in the right direction.
Now I found planning a bit trickier for us. (I am a bit of an overplanner....and had a hard time deciding what to include and not include. This is an area I always struggle in. But that is a reason to homeschool...extreme flexibility for our children. I include Lydia and Caty in on the initial subject area, but after covering basics and reading shorter books to them about the explorers, I would then sit down with Joey and we would do more research on each explorer and see if we could find new facts that we did not know about that individual.
The program gives you the details and rough outline.
2 Discover the Discovery!... ...............................................................................................2
ThinkWrite 1: “Lifting the curtain...”......................................................................................2
2a General history of American discovery ............................................................................3
2b Activities.........................................................................................................................4
2c Leif Ericson.....................................................................................................................4
2d Christopher Columbus.....................................................................................................5
2e Amerigo Vespucci............................................................................................................7
2f John Cabot.......................................................................................................................8
2g Ponce de Leon.................................................................................................................8
2h Hernando de Soto............................................................................................................9
Each section is broke into the main subject/era and then into several sub-topics. They include a good sized book list (which you are kindly reminded that you DO NOT need to read every book) for each section. Books are listed by subject and suggested grade levels. I was able to find a good number of the books at our local library. And I was able to substitute easily any that were not. In fact it encourages you to "whatever you choose and what you have available to you." But warns you to be aware of the viewpoints that could be presented in secular books.
Under each Initial subject area, talking points with your children are written. A brief summary of this era. Also included are ThinkWrite topics for the section of time you are reading about. The nice thing here is you are given suggestions for the younger children who may not even be writing yet through your older children. This curriculum is so easily adjustable for a wide range of educational levels that most homeschool families are working with.
TruthQuest is written with a Christian viewpoint. From the TruthQuest Curriculum:
Gladly! I hope you think about history in a brand new way, for it is not first the story of mankind,
but of the One who made mankind! Yes, the Lord God Creator initiated all life and, of course, the
laws that govern life. He towers over all human existence. Thankfully, He chose to make us in His
image; He chose to make our humanness special by giving us free choice. In other words, we have
the privilege of deciding how we will respond to His preeminence! God’s initiation and our response...
that’s history. To the degree that we choose to believe and obey truth, to that degree our lives are
blessed, our nations free and healthy, our science beneficial, our laws wise, our businesses
prospering, and our art glorious. Each of these spheres of life cannot be understood without
grasping the spiritual issues at their base. Again I say, now that’s history!
How did this program work for us:
I enjoyed having a full outline of what topics to teach. The flexibility that is given here is wonderful. I could study explorers in one week or spend a few weeks studying several. You can easily skip over some topics if they are above your child's learning level or just an individual or topic you do not feel you want to teach your child.
The ability to pick and choose what books and videos to allow the children to watch is also wonderful. But this presents a challenge if you are not used to planning out your curriculum. I do that already, so this was nothing new for me. I already had several resources to print out coloring sheets and worksheets to go along with what we were learning. So far I have bought just a few items, and everything else I have checked out from the library. (I will not include the late fees that I pay because I forget to renew stuff all the time...even with e-reminders...lol!) I bought the Dover Coloring Books for the kids to do while I am reading to them. For kids, this kind of activity is necessary to allow them to concentrate better on what they are hearing.
Would I recommend TruthQuest...without a doubt YES!! The price is extremely reasonably for a history package. The ebook that we received sells for $19.95 and a print copy is only $24.95. That is a full year curriculum!!!! So much cheaper for most families. Now you can purchase lapbooks from A Journey through Learning also on the website and those vary from $13.00 to $18.00 with discounts given for buying them all at once. Those are all in ebook format.
Interested in TruthQuest for your history needs, please visit their website. Every question that you can imagine is answered on this site! You can view samples of all of their materials to see where you want to start your family.
You can look them up on Facebook.
Check out what other Crew Mates thought of their experience with ThinkQuest.
*****Disclamer....I received the ebook version of the above title from TruthQuest free of charge for the sole purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The views I have expressed are my own and are real experiences with my family. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html>:"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
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