TruthQuest History

     I hated history.  As a child.  As a teen.  And as a college student.

     Now, we've taught our children to not say "hate" unless it is regarding something evil and worthy of that word, so please don't be "hateful" and think that we talk like this all the time! 

     Growing up, though, I had little discretion on when and where it was appropriate to use the word "hate."

     And history was nearly at the top of my "hate list."

     Why?

     Because I had a really hard time memorizing dates, places, and names of people.  And history was taught by reading boring chapters and answering questions at the end of the chapter, followed by a hard test.

     And that was what learning history was all about, right?

     Ugh.

     I even flunked my first midterm in college, in my Bible history class, because we were supposed to list all of the Old Testament kings and prophets in order, chronologically.  Except that the prof never mentioned we'd ever need to know that information or do that in order.  I barely escaped passing the class with a D.  Sigh.

     So when my girls were much younger, and we were going to be just starting out learning history, I knew I wanted to do something different than how I learned in school.  But what?  I hated history, after all, and didn't look forward to teaching it to the girls.

Brittany and Kelsi in 2007

     I did, however, enjoy reading historical fiction, starting around my junior high school years.  

     Hmm.  Maybe we could choose a curriculum that included lots of literature books. 

     After lots of searching online, dial-up internet, no less, I found a curriculum that would meet our needs.  And we have loved it, over the years!

     It wasn't TruthQuest History, although I did take a quick glance at their online sample all those years ago.

     This spring, however, I've had the opportunity to use and review TruthQuest History with our family, as a part of The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) Crew.

     We were able to select which era of time we wanted to use and review.  Since I am currently beta testing another history curriculum in great depth, I decided to select Age of Revolutions III (1865-2000) because this selection would easily accompany the era we were already learning about at home.

What did I think about this?

     I have to admit it.  At first, I wasn't all that impressed.  I had scrolled down in the Guide to where we were currently studying at home, and there wasn't all that much to read through in the curriculum itself:  reading 4-6 sentences about an important event in history, and then choosing a literature selection for each child to go into a bit more depth.  Hmm. 

     We were used to reading an in-depth lesson about an event or person, that wove God's view of history and humanity into the lesson.  And we loved that!

     I checked out two books for the library, one for each of the girls, for the particular topic we were studying (World War II - The Holocaust).  I do love the way that TruthQuest History has books listed in age-appropriate order, so it's easy - at a glance - to see which books would most likely be in the right age range for my children.

     I thought it would take the girls a week or so to read their books.  Not so.  They had them read in 1-2 days.  Wow!

     But then I did what I should have done from the beginning. 

     I took the time to start reading through the entire TruthQuest History guide from page one.  Why didn't I do this earlier? 

     What I noticed right away is that there are many multiple-page, in-depth narratives contained within the TruthQuest guides.  Not just 4-6 sentences here and there, although you will find short bits and pieces from time to time.  But often, there are lengthy descriptions of historical events.  What the author of TruthQuest, Michelle Miller, has done is to show us how each human being's view of God and humanity has swayed history for individuals, groups, and nations.  She reveals how a nation's worldview changes history for the better...or for the worse.

     What I realized, after reading through most of this guide, is that our children will learn that their own individual worldviews (humanism, materialism, God-centered) will greatly effect the rest of their lives - and the lives of those around them.  Maybe their worldviews will even influence nations!

     That's when I became excited about TruthQuest History Guides!  While they could be used as a stand-alone, I really like having in-depth lessons on each event or person we study.  So, I'm going to use TruthQuest History Guides as a supplement to our core history program.  They compliment each other beautifully, and I'm thrilled with the lengthy book and film list contained in TruthQuest, especially since the beta history program I'm testing doesn't yet contain book and film lists, although it will in its finished form. 

     Some notes about the book and film lists in TruthQuest History Guides:

     Not only will you find lists of books (and some films) for each event or person that is studied in this Age of Revolutions 3 (Modern History) Guide, you will also find book lists on:

• well-known authors of that era
• artists
• Native American groups
• famous inventions and inventors
• explorers
• achievements of women
• achievements of blacks/African Americans
• musicians
• missionaries

     Even though children of different ages in my family would be reading different book selections based on their ages and reading abilities, we can be having wonderful discussions as a family about what they are learning as we sit at the dinner table together. 

     Older students who want or need to research particular topics in greater depth are free to do this with TruthQuest History.

     Families can include extras to their reading and literature selections by adding in oral reports, skits, projects, foods, lapbooks, notebooking, timelines, and anything else they can imagine - although please note that those activity and project ideas are not contained within the actual TruthQuest History Guides themselves.

     The TruthQuest History Guide website sells some Companion Resources to be used with the Guides:

• AJTL Binder-Builders (lapbooking kits)
• Notebooking page kits
• AJTL Map/Timeline/Report packages

although those products don't seem to be available for Age of Revolutions volumes 1-3 yet.

     A quick note about the books listed throughout this guide (and all of their guides):  while some of the books have been published more recently, many of the books listed in the guides are much older books, which means that quite a few of them are available free on the internet in eBook form!  (Think Kindle, Nook, downloading to your computer or device, etc.)  That is exciting!  Free is always a good thing!  Mrs. Miller notes that the older books tend to be more conservative and morally appropriate for young readers.  I like that, too!

So, what's the final verdict?

     I really like the spiritual and historical tone I see throughout the TruthQuest History guides.  It is amazing and life-changing! 

     I like the fact that my children (and me!) don't have to be subjected to memorizing long lists of dates and events.

     My girls loved reading the book selections that we chose!

     I still want to combine this with our current history program, but it could easily stand alone and be very useful for families.  I think the time-consuming part for the parent would be to identify which books each child would read, since the whole family can do this one curriculum together, and then to either buy or borrow from the library - or download free from the internet - the books a family wants to use for each section.

     This is a fabulous curriculum, one of my most favorite products I've reviewed this school year. 

     You may look at the Table of Contents for my specific guide (Age of Revolutions volume 3 - 1865 to 2000).

     You may view samples of American History 3 as well. 

     TruthQuest History's website shows the many Guides they have available for different areas of history.

     A TruthQuest History user has created an online discussion loop for fellow users. They would love to have you join them as they share ideas, victories, insights, and questions. To join, simply send an email to: HIStoryQuesters-subscribe@YahooGroups.com.

The cost?  Each Guide is from $24.95 to $34.95, with the PDF versions (if available) costing $5 to $6 less per Guide.  Since these Guides could easily be used for a full year of history, for all of the children in your family, this is quite reasonable!  Any additional costs would be for purchasing various books, buying lapbooks and notebooking journals, etc., which are all optional.

     If you have questions about TruthQuest History, please let me know in the comments section below.  Thanks!

 




Julieanne
Joy In Our Journey.com

Disclosure:  I received a PDF version of the TruthQuest History Guide:  Age of Revolutions, Volume 3 in exchange for an honest review of this product.  No other compensation was provided.

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