One thing I wish I could change about my education is my knowledge on American History. I absolutely hated it growing up, but now I have this passion to learn all about it. I really want my kids to have that same fire to learn about it too, so we decided that this year we were going to really concentrate on nothing but American History from the beginning. Memoria Press very generously gave us two wonderful products to review over the past few weeks. Both, The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set and 200 Questions About American History Set, have been so much fun to add to our history lessons this year.
A little background on Memoria Press ~
If you're familiar with the homeschooling world then you have probably heard of Memoria Press. They are a classical Christian educational company that was founded in 1994 by Cheryl Lowe.
Memoria Press prides themselves on a classical education, and their products are characterized by simplicity, quality, and affordability. They specialize in making sure that their products are easy to use by parents who are not familiar with the subject being taught.
What did we receive for this review ~
- The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic text
- The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Student Guide
- The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Teacher's Guide
- 200 Questions About American History Student Guide
- 200 Questions About American History Teacher's Key
- 200 Questions About American History Flash Cards
**Both of these are recommended for grades 5-8**
How did we use it in our homeschool?
Although you would not absolutely have to have both of these products, I think they really do compliment each other, and both play different roles while learning American history. For example, the 200 Questions About American History Set includes a well thought out weekly schedule for both products. It includes the reading selections, drill questions, any time-line questions, quotes, or Presidents that you will be working on that week. The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Set includes not only the text, but vocabulary and comprehension questions.
First lets talk about The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Set. I absolutely love the text book. It is divided up into short chapters, but they are jam packed with plenty of info about each subject.
We actually have been following the weekly schedule that I talked about before. First Gav and I turn in our workbooks, and go over the vocabulary and "facts to know" sections together. I have found that this helps him comprehend more as we read the text. We read the chapters that coincide for that week, and then we go back to our workbook so that we can do the comprehension questions. I have found that we if we do these together, we can talk about it more in depth than if I just have Gavin answer the questions alone.
The Teacher's Guide is easy to understand and gives very in depth answers to the questions. I love having it right in front of me while we are working on it, so that if I forget an answer, I can quickly refer to it.
Next, I want to talk about the 200 Questions About American History Set. This is Gavin's favorite thing to work on. It is literally 200 drill questions about the reading that you're doing. I have found that this is where Gavin is retaining what he's learning.
In the Student text you have the drill questions, but also a time-line, notable quotes, Presidents, and even some important songs. We always fill out the drill questions after we have finished for the week, because this is what he will study the most. Again, the Teacher's Key is easy to understand and nice to have in front of you while your student is answering the questions.
Another important component to this set is the Flash Cards!! I can't tell you how much fun we have using these! My older daughter even sits in while we are reviewing them to see what she knows! It's always fun, and I get so excited when he remembers important people and events!
My thoughts ~
I love these two programs. They are so much fun to work on, and Gavin is learning a lot. He's retaining so much more information because he's enjoying it! I highly recommend getting both The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Set and 200 Questions About American History. It is definitely worth every penny!
Don't forget to follow along on Social Media!!
There were 100 of us on the crew that were blessed to review some of these products. To read more reviews, some on different products by Memoria Press, click on the banner below.
No comments:
Post a Comment