Customer Reviews

Mystery of History Vol 2

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I went through Volume I with my 7th & 4th graders and found it to be interesting, thorough enough without being overwhelming, and offering the opportunity to do as much or as little as you want on a daily basis with the addition of extra activities and projects. This volume surpasses the first volume, which was great.

My favorite aspect of her history courses are the pre- and post- tests scattered throughout the book. Never before have I seen a subject reviewed so constantly in such a fun way. My girls love to do the tests together as a form of competition to see who can remember the answer first in the post-tests and who can guess what the answer might be in the pre-tests. She whets their appetites for what is to come and keeps what has been fresh on their minds. In fact, the post-tests keep the subjects so fresh that by the end of the last topic in the book they still remember the first topic they studied. They are short and fun but require them to remember past lessons. What a joy!

My own complaint is that Volume 3 is not ready yet!! I will need it next year!!!

This is an impressive history book! It is a tome to be sure, even a bit intimidating for the younger grades, but it is easily adaptable to a wide range of age and ability levels. My 8-year-old son enjoys history, so he loves it, but I think the activities are interesting enough to engage less enthusiastic students, as well. It is also appropriate for much older students; the author, in fact, recommends going through the book in its entirety at different stages of a student's development. If you're looking for a great history series (this volume covers A.D. 29 through the Middle Ages)written from a Biblical worldview, you'd be hard-pressed to do better than this!

In my quest to find great History material to guide us through our 4 year cycle of beginning of time to current for our homeschool, I stumbled across this great book. I cannot give it enough stars. I am not proficient in History but am soaking it all up and learning as we go as I teach my 6th grader. I wish I had had volume 1 for our first year but am thoroughly glad I ordered volume 2 and just ordered volume 3 for this year. The material goes into much more detail than other curricula I have compared it to. Based on reading material alone I would give it 5 stars, not even having the chance to fully use all the activities and tests available. Thanks for providing such great material. I am thoroughly looking forward to a volume 4!!!

We used Volume 1 last year and loved it. We have just started Volume 2 and have the same opinion. This volume has a little more "meat" to the reading---with more details and insight into various places/events. It also has highlighted words within the text and this helps my son (and me) find important information. We do not do all the activities listed as this would be too overwhelming. We also do our own version of the memory cards in addition to a timeline book. It is a very flexible curriculum and gives you a good starting point for digging deeper into various topics.

Highly adaptable to different grade levels with wonderful suggestions for art and science projects that coincide with the history lesson plans. Short chapters make it a great manual for teaching even to very young students. Also enjoyable education and review for the adult instructor.

This is one of the best history books we have used in 6 years of home schooling. It is very thorough, well planned, covers information and activities appropriate to a variety of age levels. I wish I had used this text all along.

This is a fantastic history book for any school-age child. My 8th grader enjoyed Volume 1 so much he requested Volume 2. At the end of each days' reading is an activity to do, broken down by age so you choose the activity that fits you child's ability. They keep track of memory cards and do a time line at the end of each week. Last week we grew salt crystals during the study of The Dead Sea Scrolls.

This history book keeps my son interested and wanting to read more. I highly recommend this book!