Mystery of History, Volume II
Review
Review by Dawn King for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.This time, Linda Hobar and Bright Ideas Press had twins! The
Mystery of History Volume II is twice the size of the first volume, but
every bit
as wonderful. In fact, it is even better. The Mystery of History Volume
II has 84 lessons, versus 108 in Volume I, but the lessons are longer
and written at a slightly higher grade level. Each lesson has vocabulary
words in bold letters so you can pick them out easily.
Let me describe the components of The Mystery of History curriculum for
those of you not familiar with the series. Each book is divided into
quarters, which start out with a summary to introduce the time period
and the lessons to come. Quarters are further divided into weeks with
three lessons per week. To whet you and your students' appetites for the
upcoming topics, there are pretests to see what you already know.
Every lesson has a list of corresponding activities broken down by age
groups. Volume II has more activities to choose from than Volume I. At
the end of a week's study, you take time out to review by making memory
cards for the lessons and do timeline and mapping work. The book includes detailed instructions for making a "Wall of Time" to use for
your timeline. It is an ingenious idea. In order to complete the SomeWHERE in Time (mapping) activities, you'll need a historical atlas.
On alternating weeks there is either an exercise or a quiz to complete.
Because these are cumulative in nature, they help your students retain
what they learned earlier in the year. After you have completed a quarter or a semester, there are quarterly worksheets or semester tests
to examine what your students know.
Although The Mystery of History Volume II is all you need to study the
early church and the Middle Ages, there is a list in the back of supplemental books to enrich your studies. Also included are maps needed
for map work, activity supplements and patterns, and a list of supplies
needed for each week's activities.
All in all The Mystery of History Volume II is a thorough
Christ-centered history curriculum for grades 4 through 8. It can be adjusted lower for your younger students and adapted for your
high-schoolers.