Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic and 200 Questions About Amerian History Homeschool Review Crew Review

Oh my word, what a blog title, huh?  It may be a long one, but stick with me, because it is so worth it!  You know we are history buffs around here but this review, well, it exceeded my expectations and has covered two kids and one adult! ME!

Yes, a while back we had the opportunity to review H.A. Guerber's The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set as well as the 200 Questions About American History Set from Memoria Press.  It was easy to jump in and say yes to this review because we love Memoria Press, having reviewed several of their other products in the past.  They never let us down and are becoming one of our favorite homeschool companies!

So let me start with the product details and then tell you the fun stuff!



The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic set includes:
  •  The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Book
  • Student Guide (which contains the written worksheets)
  • Teacher's Guide (which contains the answer keys, a huge appendix, tests, and test keys)
200 Questions About American History Set
Grades 5-8

The 200 Questions About American History Set includes:
  • Student Guide (which contains a recommended reading list and test schedule, drill questions, timeline, notable quotes, president list, and lyrics for a few songs.)
  •  Teacher's Guide (includes answer guide, tests, and test key)
  •  200 flashcards 
 


Recommended Use-
In the 200 Questions About American History Set you will find a Weekly Schedule for 34 weeks of use.  For each week there is a reading selection(s) from Guerber's book, drill questions that correspond with the reading, specific timeline events to memorize, quotes to memorize, and any presidents during that time to memorize.  Quizzes and tests are also listed.  Teamed with the recommended Story of the World, Volume 4, this weekly schedule makes this a complete year of history.   The target age is grades 5-8, but honestly I would easily use this as a read aloud to younger children without the questions, or for older kids who love history or need to review facts!


How we used it-
So you know the beauty of homeschooling is you can do things however you want, right?  Well this is how things played out in our house.  We are currently finishing up our school year which includes history.  Therefore, I decided I would review this curriculum by myself with the intention of using it next year when we started fresh.  So much for that plan!  I picked up the Guerber book first and began to read.  Hooked!  Seriously, I loved it immediately.  While chronological, each chapter is independent and are only a few pages long so each can be read in short spurts.  I even took it on vacation and read it on the beach.  I have decided that I should have paid more attention in school, but that is a whole different blog post.  

Since then, I have also been reading the chapters out loud to my almost 10 year old son who loves anything history these days.   

In the meantime, my high school freshman has been studying for the CLEP tests and we realized that the 200 Questions are a PERFECT way to review for it!  We are currently using the flashcards to quiz him.  Well, we are quizzing each other, really.  He and I have had contest to see who can get the most right, and his father even got in on the action one night.  Let's just say he remembers more than we do.  After a few days of reviewing, we saw an improvement on his CLEP practice test, so we are continuing to use the flashcards to review.  Once he is finished with his current history program, he will begin to go through the written questions provided with the 200 questions set as well as read    The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic book.

 
This is what happens when the competition gets intense!


One of the subsets of the 200 Questions is a group of presidential flashcards.  Ironically, my 9 year old has an obsession with anything presidential and loves to entertain anyone who will listen with his knowledge.  He also loves seeing if you know more than he does, so those flashcards have become his quizzing cards.  Hey, if it works, go for it!


We HIGHLY recommend these two sets and well, anything from Memoria Press, quite frankly!  


Other reviewers also reviewed Memoria's Literature and Greek programs- check out those reviews!
 
First Form Greek, Iliad/Odyssey and American History {Memoria Press Reviews}
Crew Disclaimer

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for commenting. I love hearing from you!