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INDEX
1 Continued survey of history/literature curricula

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1
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002
Subject: Re: Truthquest History
From: Karen Glass

I've worked through a couple of Truthquest History guides with my children,
and read several more on my own. This is probably the single finest history
resource available to the homeschooler, unless you happen to be a history
scholar already.

These guides contain commentary and book suggestions, but can be used with
*any* set of appropriate books--the ones you own, or the ones available at
the library. This is a huge advantage, from my perspective, because it
allows you to incorporate out-of-print treasures if you have access to them,
but doesn't absolutely require you to track them down.

The guide is not full of hands-on projects or busy-work, but contains
commentary that is written to the student. Very important philosophical and
worldview issues are presented in simple, matter-of-fact language. The
author (Michelle Miller) encourages us to look for God's principles as he
deals with nations. Children learn to ask two simple questions about each
culture/country--what do they believe about God, and what do they believe
about man? This can be discovered as you read about each culture, and once
you figure it out, you can discover how their beliefs affected their
country.

The guides are very comprehensive, taking you through the major events in
each time period, but you are free to spend as much or little time as you
like as you move along. This isn't a "day by day" curriculum with
assignments laid out for you. This could be a strength or a weakness,
depending upon your personal needs, but I prefer it this way. There are
"ThinkWrite" questions throughout the book which can be the basis for oral
or written work.

So many of us, as homeschooling parents, are approaching ancient history or
medieval history for the first time. It's easy for us to get caught up in
learning about things we missed as children--pyramids, swords and armor, and
so on--and overlook the deeper principles that make history important. In
my opinion, no matter *what* curriculum or resources you are using with your
children, the Truthquest Guides make a wonderful supplement for the
*parent*. Would it be worth $20 and an evening or two of reading for you to
get an overview of a time period, and have a deeper grasp of what your
children could be learning and looking for as you work through your
material? You will get a quick overview of time period, but more
importantly, a deeper look at the principles and ideas that fueled the
events. And Truthquest Guides are so easy to read--like a friend chatting
over coffee and donuts--that your introduction into philosophy will be
virtually painless. (And you'll have no trouble reselling the guide if you
decide not to keep it after reading it yourself. <g>)

One of the nicest advantages of Truthquest is that the guides are already
available from ancient history to...almost!...the present. The last guides,
going through the 20th century, are nearly finished though.
www.truthquesthistory.com

~Karen Glass

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I want to say "Amen" to what Karen Glass has written above and add a few
comments. I have two of Michelle Miller's guides, "Ancient Egypt and
Ancient Greece" and "Ancient Rome." I love the cautions that Michelle gives
us. At numerous points she suggests that we be careful in our study of
ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilization, and she shows us which
books would not be appropriate for young children or even some older students.

There is just enough commentary throughout the books to guide us and keep
us on the correct path so that we won't leave out any important historical
events or people. A family is free to spend as long or as little time at
each stop on the timeline as they wish.

If you are studying ancient civilizations you will probably want to get
these two guides. I wish I had had these when my children were young.

Laurie Bluedorn

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Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002
Subject: Re: history books by H.A. Guerber
From: Karen Glass

I live overseas, and when I was in the states during 2000-2001, I purchased
school material for two years' of work. We were getting reading to study
Greece and Rome, so I purchased the "Famous Men" books from Greenleaf for
these time periods, and happened to pick up a copy of "The Story of Greeks"
by Guerber. As we worked our way through Greece (using the appropriate
Truthquest Guide!), my children were captivated by Guerber's writing style.
The Guerber book was much more narrative--a flowing story--than "Famous Men
of Greece," although we read that book, too, for the sake of comparison.
The writing and vocabulary in the Guerber book is definitely superior.
As we came close to finishing Greece, and contemplated Rome, I decided that
we *had* to have Guerber's "Story of the Romans," and ordered it from the
States. It's a wonderful resource--in fact, we purchased Story of the
Middle Ages, too, just to have it ready for our continuing studies.
~Karen

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More on the Guerber histories later. Laurie

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Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002
From: Pilgrim South
Subject: History Curriculums....

History Curriculum
We have spent the 2 years researching and gathering materials for a
Classical Approach to home schooling for our 14 year old son (last child at
home) as well as all our grandchildren that are up and coming. What makes
it easier is that we all live on approx. 12 acres in our own houses so we
can easily share materials. Our two daughters (home schooled) are now
grown, have gone through beautiful courtships, married and are now
wonderful mothers and home schoolers themselves. I would like to share what
we are using with our son (for Ancient History) and then ask that if anyone
else has used the same materials all the way through with older children? I
would be very interested in hearing their opinion (mtexas@ev1.net) of how
it all actually worked out in the final test of the pudding :)

We have:
The Bluedorn's Book
Susan Wise Bauer's Book
All the Henty books for our study this year and next (they are all marked
with the year's so we read them in the right place.
Diana Waring's Ancient Civilizations and the Bible Vol. I Book A
What in the World's Going on Here Vol. I (audio tapes)
True Tales from the times of Ancient Civilizations and the Bible
More True Tales from the times of Ancient Civilizations and the Bible
Parthenon Graphics Time Lines (we have 12 of them including the new one and
love them)
Wall Chart of the World by Edward Hull
V.M. Hillyer's A Child's History of the World
V.M. Hillyer's Young People's Story's Set with Teachers Guide
Susan Wise Bauer's History materials,
The Veritas History and Bible Cards
A Christian Survey of World History by Rousas John Rushdoony
All Through the Ages C. Miller
Western Civilizations Textbook
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
Unborne History of the World
Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Egypt
Streams of Civilization Text.
The Time Tables of History by Grun
Understanding the Times by David A Noebel
How Should We Then Live by Francis Schaeffer
Repairing The Ruins by Douglas Wilson
Building a Christian World View Vol. I Hoffecker Smith
Plus oodles of resource books from Veritas Press Catalog suggestions (I
went looking for many of what they recommend used to save money)

Plus other wonderful used resource books suggested by Diana Waring from
sales at Libraries, used on the internet etc.
We love them all and I emphasize ALL. We incorporate all of them in some
way. We use Diana Warings materials and V.M. Hillyer's as our backbone and
pull from everywhere. Diana's materials and tapes for an older child are
wonderful. The first day our son didn't seem too interested but by the next
day he didn't want it turned off!
We know that one person wouldn't need all the materials that we have
gathered. You could probably give a child an adequate education with one
major back bone but....we are laying a heritage for our grandchildren with
our library to be used by all ages. And, our son is able to then have the
advantage of all of these wonderful things. Both Hillyer and Susan Wise
Bauer do not begin with creation but Diana Waring does and she is very
grounded and strong on creation. We obtained several resources on the topic
suggested by her as well as her breathtaking tapes! We just love these!
I would not throw out Susan's book because she isn't strong on Creation
(and we are firm creationists) or V.M. Hillyer's books either for the same
reason. They both have many redeeming points. Actually, we used Hillyer's A
Child's History with our 2 older daughters years ago and had they been
small now we would use it and Susan's again! And they are here for our
Grandchildren! With Hillyer's you just skip the first part and read
Genesis! They loved Hillyer. As for Susan's you just begin with Creation
and her book and you have a great beginning for a young child. My favorite
backbone would include Diana Warings materials, however.

With all this said however, we began (and we think this is critical with a
child our son's age) with Building a Christian World View. We started with
Building a Christian World View Vol. I. The first week alone our son was
taught more than we ever learned in school as a foundation. I could hardly
put the book down myself! We also are teaching out of Understanding the
Times but it is very large and will take quite some time to work through it
so just a little at a time is giving our son food for thought and laying a
great cement foundation of truth.

Hope this helps someone and if someone has used these and has wisdom for
us, please do write back (mtexas@ev1.net) Blessings, Pilgrim South

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From: "White Oak Classical Academy"
Subject: Re: History/literature curricula
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002

Dear Harvey and Laurie,
Thank you for the opportunity to introduce a new history curriculum just
completed last month.

Home-Made History: 400-1600 AD is a chronological, classically rich,
cross-curricula study of the Middle Ages, Renaissance & Reformation for
grammar and logic stage students.

The student text contains 32 weekly summaries written at two levels (upper
grammar and logic) and vocabulary/discussion questions for each topic.
The teacher's guide contains background information on each topic in a
question/answer format, writing assignments, excerpts from historical
literature, poetry, Scripture and primary writings for copywork, narration
and creative writing assignments, a thorough world geography study,
literature suggestions appropriate to each topic, word puzzles for painless
review, quarterly review quizzes and various templates for scheduling and
writing activities, and a wide selection of art/culture-related activities
for enrichment.

HMH is easy to use and requires minimal preparation and outside resources.
A sample lesson and information on placing an order is available at
www.cottageschoolpress.com .

Warm regards,
Vicki Hensel
HMH co-author

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From: SonKist49
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002

We too are new to the "classical approach" but would like to give some
input regarding the topic of "history curriculum."
My son (12th grader at that time) used David Quine's Worldview vol.2 last
year and it was very comprehensive. It is set up to be a 1 year study but
unless you don't mind just reading and pushing pages, I believe it is more
realistic to use it over a 2 year span. The books used within the course
may be questionable to some, as to whether they should be required reading
at this age. I also felt there was a lot of parroting the information as
opposed to thinking required from the student.
Now for a real desire of mine, what I would like to see is suggested
classical booklists one can use for the different eras of history studied
as opposed to actual curriculum. I say this because it appears that for the
most part we end up tweaking the curriculums here and there, not to mention
how cost prohibitive it becomes.

May we continue to seek the leading of the Spirit for our families as we
grow in the grace and knowledge of Him.
thank you Harvey, Laurie and family for your willingness to serve Him in
this capacity ....

Keisha Kain