Mystery of History Vol 2 [Paperback]

Linda Lacour Hobar (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mystery of History | Publication Date: July 2, 2007

Classical, Chronological, Complete. Goes from AD 30 to 1460. 750+ pages

Product Details

• Paperback: 752 pages
• Publisher: Bright Ideas Press; 1ST edition (July 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892427060
• ISBN-13: 978-1892427069
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Takes The Mystery Out of Homeschooling, February 2, 2009

By 

CD "devotedmomof7" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mystery of History Vol 2 (Paperback)

I just have one complaint about this curriculum - I didn't write it! As a two-decade home educator, I've been trying to write a needed missing link in home education. But this book is the link I've been looking for!!!

There seems to be two basic types of history books out there:

1. Textbooks that give trite summaries that fail to inspire our kids to interact with historical periods and that tend to instill a sense of boredom.

2. Exciting "idea book" type hands-on programs that give timelines, maps, ideas, crafts, etc. that you are told to integrate with historical instruction. The problem is, most of us don't have the time, knowledge, or money to buy or research these historical periods to teach the "meat" of information we don't know ourselves. Plus, there are those days as a homeschooler where we need the kids to be more autonomous than others. If the curriculum depends on us 100% of the time, we're going to fail. If the curriculum depends on handing a kid a big book or computer and hoping they discern what the key points to isolate, they will often become distracted and fail. With this self-directed approach, assessment becomes a big issue - either by neglecting to test or by exhausting the home educator who is required to create these constant assessments.

Mystery of History gives the beginner to advanced home educator the best of both worlds. A great, easy-to-read segment of history is covered each day. The student is able to read it themselves and then, is asked to write a summary card of the key point and dates. A timeline is recommended with the choice of format. The teacher can be as involved or uninvolved in the process as life dictates that day and then, can assess student comprehension based on the cards and regular testing provided in the manual. Additional ideas, crafts, reading etc. are given for varying grade levels that allow the teacher to amplify and expand the info given when desired.

It's chronological (very helpful with learning challenged kids) and a perfect balance between self-directed and teacher supervised. Ample opportunities for creativity abound, but consistent no-frills flow is also insured. It works well with multi-grade teaching since the text is supplemented with advanced work suggestions.

I love this and will just have to file away my efforts at writing the same concept.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most interesting and easy to use history program, June 7, 2008

By 

Roberta Schroeder (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mystery of History Vol 2 (Paperback)

When I was looking for a history program to use with my son, I asked several families what program they used. Nine out of ten told me Mystery of History. When I asked why, I received a number of answers, but all said because it was so enjoyable and had such easy but interesting activities for elementary, middle school and high school students. My son never complains about history now. He looks forward to our daily reading and the easy activity that we do with it. We decided on making history cards rather than a timeline, which he can do on his own. He even looks forward to the tests and pretests at the end and beginning of each section. Everything that we need in one text, including maps.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, March 31, 2010

By 

M. Roberts (Lockhart, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mystery of History Vol 2 (Paperback)

This year my son and I have been learning about the Middle Ages. This book covers that time period. I do like that it is chronological and covers a lot of different people that I don't ever recall learning about in my history classes. The conversational tone is also great and makes the readings enjoyable.

All that said I am giving this book 3 stars because I wish it was organized more like a typical textbook. There are pretests and lots and lots of suggestions for assignments, but not too many of them were practical if you want to spend less than an hour per day on history. My son did not enjoy doing the timeline so we gave that up about half way through. I would have liked to see some review questions at the end of each lesson to act as some sort of guage as to whether my son understood the lesson. Instead there are assignment suggestions (for 3 different age levels which IS great) that aren't practical and require going outside of the text for information. This isn't always convenenient.

Overall the content is fabulous and interesting, but to use as suggested you need a healthy amount of time in your day as well as access to reference materials or a great library to complete some of the assignments.