When I was in school, I didn't enjoy studying American History. I didn't want my children to feel the same as I did. I wanted to make American History interesting and fun for them to learn. I was very happy when I was told we would be reviewing The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set and 200 Questions About American History Set by Memoria Press. This meant that two of my children would have the privilege of using this curriculum.
When the sets came in the mail, my older son, who is in the 11th grade, asked if he could be the one who taught the classes for these sets. I was thrilled to hear Ryan wanted to be a part of this experience and agreed he could be the teacher. He loves History and I knew he would only enhance what the books were going to teach.
Due to the amount of writing involved, The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & Great Republic Set was used by our 12-year-old son, Josh. He was a little apprehensive at first, but after hearing his big brother bring the stories from Guerber text to life, he was excited to do the class each day. The textbook is a great resource and reading it aloud made it fun for the kiddos. All children love to be read to no matter what age. When they finished reading the textbook, Josh would open up the Student Guide and answer the questions. When he was finished, Ryan would check his answers in the Teacher Guide and then offer any help when Josh had difficulties answering the questions. After completing 8 lessons, Josh would take the Test of those lessons. I feel the tests were a great way for me to see exactly what he was retaining. I was pleasantly surprised how well he did on each one. He was remembering most of what was being taught.
Our 9-year-old daughter, Hope used the 200 Questions About American History set. This set was made to be used with the Guerber text and Everything You Need To Know About American History Homework book. We happened to have this book already in our homeschool library, but since it is out of print, you can go to their website page with the 200 Questions About American History Set and get the compiled list of modifications to use instead.
Each day, Hope would sit in and listen to Ryan read the Guerber textbook, then she would come to me and we would read the pages from Everything You Need To Know About History Homework book. She would then work independently to answer the questions in her Student Guide. After she completed the questions that went along with the lessons read for the day, I would check her answers with the Teacher Guide. We would discuss any questions she got wrong and I would quiz her with the wonderful flashcards that were included with the set. It was a fun time for us. I got to see what she was learning and she enjoyed sharing her knowledge with her Mama.
This Student Guide has a few extras that helped reinforce the lessons. Filling in the timeline of American History and going over the famous quotes that accompanied the daily lesson was very informative. The next part of the guide is reviewing the Presidents of the United States. We will be filling those in soon as we memorize each of them.
On Fridays, Ryan would get out the flashcards and they would race to see who got the answer right first. Josh and Hope love to play games, and this gave them another opportunity to go over what they were learning throughout the week. It was a such a joy to watch them. Their giggles were contagious. Who would have thought learning History could be so much fun?
I absolutely love these two sets. This was just what I was looking for. I have always wanted for my kids to be able to study History together and these sets made that possible. It wasn't too hard for our 9-year-old and wasn't too easy for our 12-year-old. They worked together perfectly! The Guerber Textbook was written very well and filled with information that even impressed our History buff. As I listened to Ryan read to the kids, he would stop and say "Wow, that isn't in the other History books." I knew that this set was teaching my children more than they had ever learned from their other History curriculum. We will be praying about buying more of their wonderful resources for our next school year.
To learn more about these resources and much more please visit the website of Memoria Press, or their Facebook page: Memoria Press. We also have some more reviews for you to read over on the Homeschool Review Crew site. I always enjoy seeing different perspectives of books we are considering for The Daley Academy.
May God bless you!
We've loved the Memoria Press resources!
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