My School Monday: History

Last week we hit a good groove with history. I pulled out My Father's World from last year which we hadn't quite finished up, and realized how much I miss it. I miss the assigned Bible readings, the art, the Jewish feasts, and even the classical composers. I miss it so much I'm considering purchasing the next one (Rome to Reformation) even though I'm already implementing history lessons with all of the following:

A Beka
Mystery of History
TruthQuest

I just can't help it. I love it all. And I think there's time to cover it if we're reading together and I'm doing most of the reading. A Beka provides a Boom Boom Bam with quizzes and tests and the traditional textbook feel. It's at a fast pace and could bring us all the way to modern times within one school year (if that were all I was doing.) Mystery of History is more overview with interesting bits of info brought to attention, timelines, and written to the student in an informal "isn't this so cool" style. And Truthquest... ah, Truthquest is my heart. A Living Books approach with introductions to each era or country topic specifically designed to help students view history as His Story. All of the activities of mankind--every rise and fall of a nation, every war, every advancement--is seen through biblical glasses, teaching students to ask how people's beliefs about God affected their activities. Reminding them that it is God who has set this world in motion and He has always been in control.

I love all these things so much I'm tempted to teach two history courses simultaneously instead of trying to move quickly from ancient world history to modern times. I may begin a US History alongside our continuing World History so that we can spend all year on both. I'll give us a few more weeks to decide that though. Our schedule isn't down pat yet and I do need to make sure we don't get overloaded. Especially since she'll soon be starting a theater class once a week and next month, hopefully, a ceramics class.

This week we are looking forward to finishing up with Greece and diving into Rome. I can't wait to examine the landscape that Christ was born into and pop in our Drive Thru History video, Rome If You Want To. There is just so much good stuff out there.

I miss Amy during the day and wish she could go through these things with us, but we've also watched some good, solid videos on the Origin Of Humans and on Dragon Legends with her--things to give her food for thought as she sits through hours of teaching on how "early man" evolved and did this-or-that, or how humans sprang up long after dinosaurs died out. The great part is, she gets extra credit for it. *grin* Interested in these yourself? Here's a link to the free streaming videos: the Origin of Humans , Dinosaurs & Dragon Legends. There are a lot of good free resources on the AIG site so look around and be inspired!

I think Trevor's color of the week is going to be GREEN. I'll be posting some more pictures of him and his "school" projects on my facebook page so if you're a FB friend, come see my cutie! We made a school bus, some leafy crayon rubs, and lots of construction paper projects over the last 2.5 weeks. =)

Oh yeah, don't forget to visit my other haunt--Clash of the Titles. We just put up a new vote: Snappy Dialogue. Fun!