Mystery of History, Volumes 1 & 2
Review
Review by Cathy Duffy as seen in her new book: 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum published by Broadman and Holman Publishing © 2005.This excerpt is printed with permission from Cathy Duffy:
Volumes I and II of a projected five-volume series hold great promise as history resources for Homeschoolers. They are designed so that even inexperienced parents can break free from traditional textbooks. They combine read aloud information with age appropriate activities to create a multisensory curriculum for history and geography with a very strong biblical base. They are designed to be used with children in grades K though 8, although the reading level is about sixth grade.
Volume I relies heavily on Scripture since the Bible is a source for much of what we know about ancient times. Other than that, the historical information is all presented within this book as it might be in a textbook. No other reference works are required for this study except for research activities older students might pursue. However, other books and videos that expand upon subjects are listed in the appendix, lesson by lesson.
Beginning with creation, the study follows biblical history, incorporating other sources as they fit into the chronological story. Thus, Stonehenge, early Egypt, and the Minoans are taught before Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. The little we know about world civilizations is represented by inclusion of lessons such as those on Chinese dynasties, India and Hinduism, and early Greek city states up to the point where the historical record broadens and we have more sources for learning about early civilizations. Although Easter civilizations are given some attention, the focus is much strong on Western civilizations.
Each volume is structured for a school year, with four quarters divided into two semesters. Lessons are arranged in sets of three with the expectation that you will complete three per week. . . .
Three lessons follow, each with a similar format: read aloud information is presented from the book, then you choose an activity for each child to complete. An activity is given for each of three levels. For example, the lesson on Noah suggests that young children play a concentration-type card game. Middle grade to older students might use their Bibles to find answers to a list of questions regarding the account of the Flood. Older students might instead tackle the third option, which requires research about supplies needed on the ark for Noah, his family, and all the animals.
At the end of every third lesson is a reminder for students to create “memory cards.” These are three-by-five inch notecards with key information on each event. . . These are used for oral drill, games, or independent review.
Field trip suggestions are sometimes included at the end of the three lessons, but review activities are always included. This includes work on timelines, maps, and a review quiz. Ten reproducible map masters are at the back of the book.
Linda also shares creative and inexpensive ideas for making timelines, with detailed instructions for using folding sewing boards as the base for portable timelines.
. . . .
Volume II: The Early Church and the Middle Ages follows the same layout as the first volume . . .There are fewer lessons but each lesson has more content information than do lessons in Volume I. . . .Linda’s selection and presentation of topics is fascinating. Given the huge time period she covers in Volume II, she does a great job of pulling out key people and events so students also get the big picture.
Also read Cathy's reviews of Christian Kids Explore Biology and The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide.
Reviewed by Laurie Bluedorn of Trivium Pursuit
I wish The Mystery Of History had been written
fifteen or twenty years
earlier so that my own family could have used
it. It would have been
perfect for our large, young family and would
have relieved me of the job
of putting together my own history curriculum,
and it is so much more
thorough than anything we ever studied in our
years of homeschooling.
I'm not going to describe how the texts are
arranged or how they are
supposed to be used -- others have done that
much better than I could. But
I do want to list here my observations and
respond to some comments which
have been directed at the curriculum.
The cover of MOH Volume I tells us exactly what
we'll find inside the book.
Within the title -- The Mystery of History --
the "T" is a cross dividing
the word "History" into two sections, making the
title seem to say "The
Mystery of His Story" -- meaning Christ's story.
Isn't that what history is
really all about? Under the title and in the
center of the cover, taking up
the largest portion of space is a picture of a
stairway -- an ancient,
stone stairway -- going up. Going up from a tomb
and into the sunlight.
Whose tomb would that be? Perhaps it is the tomb
of Jesus, the Author of
this "Story" we are about to begin. Jesus came
up out of the tomb so that
this "Story" would have a happy ending some day.
But even more significant
on this cover are two small pictures at the
lower right corner, pictures
which seem to be bowing to the larger stairway
picture. One is a picture of
Egyptian art and the other is of the Greek
Parthenon. All history bows in
submission to the Author of history Who Himself
entered history as a man.
I have listed here the comments which have been
directed at MOH along with
my responses.
Doesn't balance religious with secular; too
heavy on religious.
Some texts make a pretense of trying to balance
the religious with secular,
though the secular always seems to end up on the
heavier side of the
balance. "Secular" literally means "of the age,
worldly." We use the term
to refer to indifference toward or exclusion
from religion. All of time --
past, present, and future -- revolves around the
Potter and how He deals
with His vessels. All of history is religious.
So if we want our history
compartmentalized into separate secular and
religious boxes, or if we like
our religion thinly spread, then we really do
not want history as it
actually is, but only as secularists want it.
Here is one of my favorite quotes:
"... I concluded that one of the only reasons
why we are here on earth is
to know God and to make Him known. We are
designed for relationship.... And
I wanted this incredible story to be far more
than the short-term
accumulation of scattered dates and events. I
wanted the living story of
God and man to be one of our "long-term" core
subjects......I believe
history is the story of God revealing Himself to
mankind and that He did it
most perfectly through the person of Jesus
Christ." (from Volume II)
The author treats pagan gods and non-Christian
topics respectfully and
honestly, though always compared and contrasted
with the truth. For
example, separate lessons are dedicated to
Buddha and Confucius. After
discussing each -- who they were and what they
taught -- we are shown how
they differed from Christ -- who He was and what
He taught.
Lessons too short; only 2-3 pages which includes
the activity suggestions.
Here are the statistics:
MOH I -- 108 lessons of 600 words each
MOH II -- 84 lessons of 700-1000 words each
Besides the lessons, the activities in both
volumes vary in length, but
there are about 2-3 paragraphs per activity with
at least three activities
per lesson, often more than three. Volume II has
more activities per
lesson than Volume I.
The shorter lessons allow flexibility for
homeschoolers. When longer
lessons fit the schedule, students can do two or
three lessons at a time.
On days when time seems scarce, the single
lesson may be just the
adjustment needed. Either way, each lesson is a
thorough treatment of its
subject.
Lessons fluffy with little information; shallow.
If this is true, then the Bluedorn family,
including our grown children,
must have fluffy, shallow minds, because even
now, as adults, we have
enjoyed reading through several of the lessons
in both volumes. The lessons
in both volumes are as thorough as you would
find in any history curriculum
on the market today. In my opinion, this
curriculum would best fit children
from ages 5 through 14, but could be adapted for
older students.
I would consider the Mystery of History to be a
narrative history, similar
to the Helene Guerber histories, which were
first published in the 19th
century and recently republished by Nothing New
Press. Next to historical
fiction and biographies, narrative histories are
the method of my choice
for studying history. The first narrative
history I ever read to my
children was "A Child's History of England" by
Dickens, and the history we
learned from that book still sticks in our minds
even though that was 15
years ago.
But not only is MOH a narrative history, it is
also a history curriculum.
The author adds all kinds of hands-on activities
and projects, photos,
timeline and mapping assignments, memory work,
supplemental resources, and
exercises and tests.
Language and writing style dumbed down; modern
and gushy -- neat, cool, gosh
Yes, the author does, on occasion in Volume I,
use "hip" words such as
"neat" or "cool." And I guess if I must have any
complaint with MOH, this
would be the only one. The author avoids those
types of words in Volume II.
But as far as the overall language and writing
style is concerned, there is
variety and complexity in the vocabulary, and
the sentence structure is
pleasing and flows easily -- the reader doesn't
have to struggle to
understand. It is an enjoyable text to read
aloud and doesn't fall into
that mind-tiring simple baby-language of some
narrative histories.
Activities silly and lame
There are a large number and a wide variety of
activities which I found to
be fascinating. One of the reasons writing this
review has taken me so long
is that every time I sit down to write, I am
drawn into the text and the
activities, planning which ones I would like to
do someday do with my
grandchildren. No one family could possibly do
all the activities, and
there are plenty to choose from.
Resource list disappointing; items impossible to
find at any U.S. library
or bookstores; too many videos and toys
recommended
Volume I lists 8 pages of resources; Volume II
lists 19 pages of resources.
Recommended resources listed in Volume I
includes 64 videos, 117 books, 17
toys, and numerous passages from the Bible. I
calculated our family had in
our own library at least one quarter of the
books. But I wanted to find out
what other people thought about the resource
list, so I asked this question
of a group of mothers who use MOH. Here are some
of the responses:
"We don't use the videos ... but of the
recommended books for the younger
grades in the first 27 lessons of Volume I,
about 75% of them were
available through our library system."
S.
"I just looked up all the resources for the
first 20 lessons of Volume I. I
found at my library at least one resource for
each lesson, often more than
one. The rest I found on Amazon. The only one I
had problems with is Lesson
11 -- World Wise Series on Egypt."
Heather
"We have used the resource list and have not had
much trouble locating the
books and videos at our library when we want to
explore further."
Christina D.
"...what my local library hasn't had available,
I've been able to find
through interlibrary loan."
Debbie
"...25 of the recommended books in Volume I are
found at our local county
library. I have not tried interlibrary loans,
but I'm sure many more could
be found that way."
Cheri
Here's a quote from Volume II of MOH concerning
the resource list: "Please
bear in mind that these are merely suggested
books, movies, and other
resources that could enhance your study of the
Early Church and the Middle
Ages through spice and variety --- but they are
not necessary to complete
this course." The MOH texts are really a stand
alone curriculum -- no
outside books are necessary, but the resource
lists were compiled for those
who choose to add to the texts.
The author never claimed to create a
comprehensive resource list. Through
contact with the author, I learned that her
resource list was created from
her own collection and research -- it is not a
compilation of other lists
of supplemental reading compiled by others. I so
much appreciate this.
Publishers complain that plagiarism of lists is
widespread in homeschool
circles.
Table of contents incomplete
The Table of Contents for both volumes are about
as complete as anyone
could ask -- nine pages of TOC in Volume I and
eight pages in Volume II.
Leaves out a lot of world history. Concentrates
only on people, rather than
on people and events
MOH approaches the study of history from a
chronological standpoint,
looking at events happening around the world
near the same time. This
approach gives us a sense of how God has been at
work in every corner of
the globe throughout all of history -- He was
not just working with the
Israelites in their little part of the world.
Indeed, MOH shows how the
events happening in all corners of the world
impacted the lives of the
Israelites.
All of history is shown to be a continuum, not
just a series of isolated
events and famous people. For example, Volume I,
Lesson 66 points out the
connection between the history of Cyrus the
Great with the prophesy in
Isaiah 44. This lesson also clears up the
confusion between Darius the Mede
and Cyrus. Lessons on the Biblical prophets are
inserted in their proper
places, showing the who, what, and where of
their importance.
With 108 lessons in Volume I (472 pages) and 84
lessons in Volume II (704
pages), MOH is about as complete a treatment of
Ancient and Mediaeval
history as any homeschooling family would desire
at this level. In Volume I
the standard ancient history topics are covered
along with chapters on
China, India, and American Indians. Volume II
covers all points of the
globe -- north, south, east, and west.
And, yes, since history consists of people doing
things -- inventing,
conquering, writing, speaking, ruling -- the
lessons of MOH deal with
people AND the events surrounding them. In
Volume I, approximately 60% of
the lesson titles are of specific people, while
40% are of specific events.
Author takes too long to get the volumes
finished.
It takes time to do a good job in researching,
writing, testing on an
audience, rewriting, formatting, printing, and
publishing -- particularly
with a history curriculum. All good things come
to those who wait. I'd much
rather wait and allow the author to write a
thorough, well researched world
history than read something thrown together in a
hurry just to please an
editor.
We know Mrs. Hobar has a young family which
requires her primary attention.
We don't want the writing of this curriculum to
interfere with raising her
family. The quality of her work makes us willing
to wait.
If you are a Christian family looking for a
thorough history curriculum you
can confidently use with your children up
through age 14, and is downright
fun, you'll want to look at the Mystery of
History.
Our family has been involved in homeschooling
for thirty years. I have seen
lots of curriculum come and go, but it seems
like the very best is produced
by homeschooling families themselves. They see a
need and proceed to fill
it. Linda Hobar has done this with her creation
of The Mystery of History.
Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn
triviumpursuit.com
christianlogic.com