Wednesday, April 11, 2012

TruthQuest History ~ TOS Review

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We love history here at Miskatonic Prep. Well, all right maybe that is a slight exaggeration (or just wishful thinking on my part), but we do thoroughly enjoy learning about history. We use Charlotte Mason’s methodology of living books so much of our studying is done in the context of sitting down with a good book.

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One of the time periods we have seemingly done very little with is the Middle Ages. We have only been homeschooling for 3 years after all. I suppose now is a good time to start; so when I got the chance to review TruthQuest History: Middle Ages (500-1400) I took it. TruthQuest History is a curriculum guide written for grades 5-12 and covers history from the aspect of “God’s reality and rightness.”  Meant to challenge both the teacher and the student in their definition of history each volume (11 in all) includes a commentary and booklist.

Using living books, this history study focus is on the Big 2 Beliefs. Who God is, or rather who the people in history think he is, and Who man is in relation to Him. Taking, not a humanistic view of history, but one that reveals and glorifies God. Every topic in the guides are introduced with an engaging commentary, helping to connect the stream of history with the Big 2 Beliefs. Accompanying literature recommendations are provided but in no way set in stone. The use of the commentaries makes it possible to use whatever literature resources you may have available.

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Our Thoughts:

We loved the literary basis for this study and the commentaries, while difficult for my child to sit through, were very interesting and thorough. I found I got much out of them. My 9 year old wall bouncer found them a bit like torture, however he was asking some thought provoking questions during his interruptions, so I did not mind.

There is no schedule so I found it worked best to just pick one or two topics and then, after going through the guide’s introductions, reading our books on them, freely picking up whatever bits of info my child felt was important. For older children, who may not need to be so gently introduced to the time period, the guide can be used pretty much on their own, of course you would want to be involved in some discussion with them over what they are getting from the readings. Visit the website for more ideas on How To Use.

We mainly use narration (telling back) or notebooking as a follow up activity to many of the readings in our school, but there are 11 Think Write assignments throughout the guide. These Think Write assignments, I feel, are essential in really getting my child to think about history in terms of the Big 2 Beliefs and not just as stories. Some of the assignments are started and then last throughout the year others are shorter in duration. It would be beneficial to perhaps schedule those for your child so they don’t forget to work on them. I just know for us they would not get completed otherwise.

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For my family this is a pretty good fit. My son, while not crazy about the amount of listening required, really does well with this type of study. We happen to be in a situation where our “normal” has fallen away to be replaced with “getting by”. When we get back  to normal this is the way we will be going. With a new baby things have been lax and my children are getting too comfy with that. This will be perfect to get back on track with our Charlotte Mason methods.

TruthQuest guide pricing varies and come in both printed and PDF formats. There are 8 guides that cover World History and three that cover American History for young children, grades 1-5. Feel free to check out the Samples & Pricing for each guide.

Click the banner at the top of this post to visit TOS Crew as many different products have been reviewed.

Mandy

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of the above product at no charge, in return I have provided my honest opinion which has been my family’s experience. Your experience may not be the same. No other compensation has been received.

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