The Top 10 Homeschool History Comparison Review (Social Studies | Geography)

hey guys welcome to my youtube channel home school on my name is Rebecca homeschool mom of five young children and this is my final video in a series that I have been doing reviewing elementary homeschool curriculum so far we have the top ten home-school math curriculum comparison review we have done the top science the top Language Arts and I'm finishing it off with our top history programs so if you have been in the market for anything for elementary ages then you're gonna want to check out the series of videos which is gonna give you some insight just into some of the more popular ones that are out there there's always ones that we're missing there's always new ones coming out so there's lots and lots of resources available but it will give you a glimpse at least into some of the different styles that are available one of the things to keep in mind is that the curriculum I'm showing you today is not being shown in any particular order it's not my favorite - my least favorite it's not the number one - the number ten it's just in random order of what I thought was fair because I've done four of these videos I'm trying to kind of alternate what I show first so there's no preferential anything and the order of what I'm showing you I'm trying to actually keep my personal opinion out as much as possible so that you can make a decision based on what you see rather than what I might feel or be telling you because all of our home schools are very very different so keep that in mind when you go through it look for something that excites you look for something that inspires you look for something that your kids love or want to try let's get into it I have a whole bunch to show you and I'm gonna try to move fairly quickly but remember you can always pause and screenshot table of contents or anything else and don't forget that all the links for these curriculum companies and some coupon codes as well are in the description of this video below so let's get started all right so the first curriculum we're gonna be talking about is BJ you press home school and they have a whole bunch of different resources available for all your subjects for all your grades and they have textbooks they've got tests and answer keys and everything that you need from student workbooks and for all of your ages so there's a lot of resources available that you may want to go and check out one thing to keep in mind when you're looking is that they have both print as well as online options so their online options you actually get to sit down with a teacher and watch videos and do online quizzes and just you know work through some of the online modules which takes away some of the teaching off of you as the parent so the one that I have right here is heritage studies 6 so this is their social studies curriculum for grade 6 which is our upper level of elementary but I wanted to make sure I showed you guys a good range so let's take a look at some of the features of BJ you press homeschool so one of the first things is who is this going to work the best for I think after looking through this especially if you're getting the online component or reading it aloud to your child or having them read it aloud I think it's gonna work really well for visual and auditory learners because they're gonna see it's full of pictures but they're also gonna get to hear it if they're doing that online component as well so I think it's gonna be a great fit for those learning styles price points so it's about two hundred and ninety-nine dollars if you're wanting the complete kit which comes with the answer keys which comes with all of your different activities and which comes with your textbook and your student notebook so all the things that you need are included and then you also have the online videos and the online quizzes so that is 299 that being said as a home schooler there is a more affordable option you could also just go print get the tests and quizzes and everything else do it all yourself and now you're gonna be looking at less than one hundred and forty dollars so you can go and check out on their site see the different options that are available I'm gonna show you just a little bit of what the videos are like so you can get a glimpse of them I like how they have a little bit of teaching but then they also mix it up with slide so your kids are actually getting to visually see what they're talking about while they're teaching it it's just it's well done so if you are needing something that is more hands-off for you as a teacher if you need something that your kids can work on more independently then BJ you press home school may be a good fit for you because your kids can work on it online and they can work through their textbook and they can work through their notebook and know exactly what is expected of them this is also going to work really well if you have any sort of state requirements where you have to show samples or proof of work or tests or do grading if you have those kind of requirements where you live then something like this is going to work well because it's a little bit more traditional in its approach and you're gonna have that proof you're gonna have the quizzes and tests and the grades and the marks to show for what you are learning so the most important thing about this curriculum I feel like that we need to point out is the biblical worldview and I'm gonna be talking as well about which programs today are secular and which ones are Christian this is definitely definitely Christian and I love that about it it's built into all of their texts and so if you are looking for something that is a biblical worldview then this may be a really good history program for your family all right so the next one we're gonna be talking about is sunlight now I have talked about sunlight before today I'm gonna be showing you one of their history ones which is the intro to world history this is you're one of two so this is level B this would be for around six to eight years old so if you're looking for something for that earlier elementary this may be what you're looking for but remember that if you go on to their site you can get the year two of two or you can get one of their higher level ones so they have programs for pretty much every single grade for every single subject on their site so this will give you an idea of the flavor of it but if you like the flavor of it you're gonna want to go and see what they have and check out some of their free samples all right so one of the things that I really love about sunlight is that it is a multi subject approach it also can work from multiple ages so this doesn't just cover your history this is going to cover your history your Bible as well as your reading so when you go and you look you're going to notice that it has grade 1 or grade 2 at grade 3 readers you can choose their reading level and you're gonna get a reading KITT attached that they can read alongside of their history so you're gonna read books to them they are going to be doing different activity sheets and projects throughout this as well as their Bible and they are also getting to do some independent reading on their own so it makes it a little bit more well-rounded and kind of almost that unit study approach which is really great because you're teaching more things than just one thing another thing I love about it is the fact that this is this is geared towards kids 6 to 8 years old so it's very easy to adapt and use for multiple ages you could use this for a younger age of that spectrum you could use it for older kids as well they're gonna get a ton out of it the books are very high quality literature and that brings me to the third thing I love about sunlight which is the literature based approach I love the massive package of books that you get with it they're high-quality someone's done all the work of picking them out for you you get them at a really reasonable rate and they're all just there you're building a library at the same time and I personally value that a lot so I love those components of this it's definitely more Charlotte Mason and literature based in its home school style and because you're reading aloud to your kids plus they're doing hands-on activities and they get to look at the same time through all these amazing high quality books it is very very adaptable for multiple different learning styles I would say sunlight is one of those programs that could be used for all three learning styles and that any kid could really enjoy as long as they have the attention span to sit and listen to you read it so those are the things that I really really love about it so price point obviously with all these amazing books that you are getting you are looking at a higher price point just because of what you're getting so four hundred and seventy two dollars is the price for just the intro to world history and that gets you all of these books here I'm actually even missing one that my kids took off with and read somewhere and it's gone but you're getting a ton of books with it and that is where that value and price point is coming from so something to keep in mind I do that they also have payment plans available and so and there's sales and different things you can watch for so definitely keep that in mind check them out if you're interested and don't forget that you can combine your kids which can make that price point come down a lot more if you're using it for multiple children all right let's move all right the next curriculum company we're going to talk about is the well-trained mind now the one curriculum I'm actually gonna be focusing in on is story of the world which this is a really popular one that you have probably heard about if you have been dabbling your feet in homeschooling for any length of time it's really really popular it is a classical approach to homeschooling in that there's a four-year cycle and you can go back through that cycle depending on the different stages of the classical method of Education so it's really well done it's really in-depth it's also done in a story format which is very popular with homeschool families it's easy to digest and understand lots of kids really really love it it has activity books they can be coloring while they're listening it has the audio so you can actually just put it on for them and you don't even have to be the one reading it or they can be reading it so because of those different things it works well with kids that are more auditory but they also have lots and lots of hands-on applications that you can add to it so that also makes it work well for kids that are more kinesthetic so depending on how you use it would mean who is gonna work the best for whether it's more kinesthetic or auditory learners but it is a very adaptable program the price point for this is about 96 dollars and that's gonna get you the audio and the book and the activity pages and the teacher book it's gonna give you everything that you need if you just want the book you can also get these all separately so it's a fairly affordable history option one of the things that's great about it is that if you have a larger family you could do this as an entire family you can have your kids working on coloring or doing their student you know pages activity pages while you're listening to an audio book and having a snack I mean it's very very easy to element and check off your history in a way that's digestible and interesting so that's why a lot of families really really love it and so you can kind of catch a glimpse of what is included and what that looks like inside so what I love about this is that when you can turn on audio any of these that have audio is a huge plus for me or for anyone that has a big family because you can turn it on it makes it less teacher intensive which takes some of that load off your shoulders now something that you need to keep in mind is that this is more of a neutral worldview so lots of secular families use it it does talk about Christianity but it also talks about other religions and so it tries to keep it more neutral and like you as the parent be the teacher in respect to how you're going to introduce it or talk about it with discussion with your kids so it's again if you're a secular home schooler and looking for an option lots of secular home schoolers really like story of the world so that's something to keep in mind lastly they have been super generous and offered a 20% off coupon code for any of their story of the world resources vol 1 2 3 or 4 so if you use Rebecca Spooner 19 you're gonna get 20% off and they have made that good all the way until April 2020 so if you're watching this video and it's been months since it's been posted you can still use that coupon code and get a 20% discount off of story of the world so that's just huge huge value to you and I'm really excited about that so check out the link in the description below alright the next one we're going to talk about is truth quest history now I have to be honest as a home schooler who was home-schooled and reviews curriculum I kind of get into this little lull where I'm like I've tried everything and this was one I had never tried before somebody actually brought it up to me and said can you review this and I was like yes I can so I am super excited to have the chance the opportunity to leap through and see what it's like inside I'm really liking what I see it's one of those programs that is you know for a lot of families I could see that are more like me and want more freedom and flexibility and just the baseline there to be able to take it where they want to take it in discussion and that'd be more of a family led curriculum this is the one for you so I'm gonna talk about it and take you through all of the different details of this program so the first thing is the price point 29.95 gets you this right here which is technically everything that you need there is also some additional resources you can get for lap booking and note booking and time line resources those are super affordable it's like $39 this is not just biblical worldview this is this is not just coming from the source of God of Christianity this is history through the lens of Christianity and there are a few different social studies programs that do this this is something like mysteries history which I do not have to show you just so far disappointed about but some of these programs master books is another one where they choose to teach history through the lens of the Bible and everything from the perspective of God and how God is seen all throughout history so it's one of those really special I think gems especially for Christian families that are looking for something that is is gonna in some ways combine I guess Bible and history and show them how those two things integrates so I think it's really really unique in that sense this is recommended for grades 5 through 12 however there is adaptations there's books for all the way down to kindergarten so they definitely keep in mind younger ages it's just for your kids that are really gonna be learning the concepts they're deeper concepts then generally you're looking at around that grade five middle school age range for them to start to really be able to pull in as much as they possibly can so that would be one thing I would recommend is that if you're using this with a large family I would make sure that your oldest is at least within this age range and then use it with your younger ones as well but if you are key if your kids are all really really young I personally would probably wait until they were a bit older so that when we go through it for the first time we're getting value out of it it will work great for multiple kids you can do it with multiple kids together and it's very discussion based very very interesting in the way that it's written very conversational tone is not boring it's written like someone is talking to you and so I think it's really unique I think it's incredibly unique in the way that it's written and laid out and I'm super impressed with what I see so it's very literature based as well so you have that classical component but you also have the Charlotte Mason literature based component and unlike some of the other programs that include all these books they give you book lists and they give you as the parent flexibility to go and choose what you want to assign to your kids to read so you're going to do little bits of digging and of learning and then you're going to assign them books that are going to you know just help them grow in those different areas and everything everything pointing back to their face it also ties in multiple other things like drama art and literature so that they are getting more than just history they're getting all those other subjects similar to some of the other ones as well a little bit like a unit study and I love that it makes it really rich in what they're getting so if you're interested in this or want to see more or want to check it out then I do have affiliate link that is posted in the description of this video below so go check it out and otherwise you can go to their website and see what other programs they offer and how it works more in-depth all right the next one I'm going to show you is from my father's world so the one that I have is adventures in US history again my father's world is incredibly biblical world view in everything that they do and so you're gonna see how this brings in this Charlotte Mason approach but also brings in nearly all of your subjects into just this history program so it brings in all sorts of different things they're doing nature studies they're doing note booking they're doing time lining they're doing science they're doing Bible they're doing history they're doing geography they're doing social studies all throughout as well as arts they're doing art and it's got fantastic art resources so you have this multi subject approach again and like some of these more adaptable programs you also have the ability to use this with multiple students it is recommended for grades 2 to 3 but I absolutely think you could use this for you know grades 1 to 4 and blend multiple kids together to get the most use out of it so there's readers read-alouds everything that you need comes in this massive huge box and you can see here the massive pile that I have it's a ton a ton a ton of books and I want to break down a little bit of this approach and how it works as far as learning styles my father's world has every learning style in it you've got the beautiful pictures and the picture books you've got you know songs you're listening to and you're reading to your kids with these beautiful real Louds and there's tons of hands-on activities that they're doing so it really is a program that can be completely adapted to suit any learning style so I think that makes it really really easy to implement in a home school and implement for multiple students because all our kids are generally different learners so when you have something that's adaptable for multiple learning styles now there's a little bit of something in there for everybody so I think that makes it really easy to use price point again because of the amount of books that are included in this is higher you're looking at about four hundred and twenty-nine dollars for the complete kit but again that includes everything here and remember if you are blending multiple kids then that brings your price point down as well you're blending so many subjects in there all you really need to add to this is language arts and math and you are good to go for everything that you need so it's very very comprehensive in what you're getting and high value in what you're getting as well so if you like what you see and you want to see more you can go and learn more on their website I actually have a unique landing page that you can shop from and if you shop from my landing page and get anything from my father's rolled over $1.99 then you can get their library tote bag for free so that's to get that you have to go to the link that is in the description below it's my father's world and FW books.com /home school on that's gonna take you to my landing page again the link is in the description and you can get that free tote bag if you shop through them and get any of their curriculums so that's a really just fun option that they were super generous to include so go check it out see what you see again they've got something for every single level for every single subject check out my father's world all right so the next one I have to show you is Alpha Omega publishing a Opie comm and they have all sorts of different resources from life packs like these right here that have individual unit little notebooks that your kids are going to work through independently on their own to monarch which is online that they would work through to switched on schoolhouse they have tons of different resources on their site the ones I'm showing you today are the grade for history and geography life packs so this comes in a box set and when you open up the box you're gonna have a teacher's guide that shows you the scope and sequence and the answer key and how to use it and mark it and all those different things as well as your ten student units so essentially they're gonna be doing one of those books every single month and it works really really well for families that don't have a lot of time that need their kids to work through something independent from them because a lot of times you know we get so bogged down with with trying to do all these hands-on things with all of our kids or we have so many kids or one kid needs us more and so it's nice sometimes to be able to just say okay just work in your notebook so it's definitely a more independent student-led program rather than teacher-led and they're just gonna read and do their work there's there's tests and quizzes and everything else built right into their units so there's no other books associated with it very easy to take with you wherever you go because it's one little notebook and to see and plot what they're learning as far as learning style it works well for more visual learners because it's laid out in a very visual way it's not super hands-on for those kinesthetic learners but for anyone that's looking for a more traditional model of Education it is a great fit and lots of people love using the life packs alpha-omega publishing is a Christian company so all of the life packs have a very biblical worldview it built right into them so if you are a Christian home schooler that's been looking for something for history and geography that's gonna kind of bring it all together then a life pack might be a good fit for your family it's also gonna work really well for people that don't have a lot of time or need their kids to work on something independently if you live in a state or province then it requires you to show proof of work or to have tests and quizzes and grades for your child's then this is another situation where something like a life pack would be a really good fit for you because it's gonna have that all there so that is kind of the situations that it works really well for and ones that you might be interested in if you are more kinesthetic hands-on or wanting something that's more literature based kind of thing then you may want to check out one of the other ones but it gives you a really good idea of an option that is pretty much entirely done by your student and they have the younger ones as well they were done in a way that your kids can actually do them they're really not gonna need a lot of help from you even in the younger levels they do it very very well so that your kids generally get the feel and flow of it and can just go so in that sense for anybody looking for independent it's a great fit all right so the next I'm going to show you is America's story and this is by Angela Odell the author of math lessons for a living education as well as a bunch of other books she's written a lot of different things now this is from master books master books for history options has a lot I just pulled out one to show you because I'm trying to show one from each company but they also have my story for younger grades this is that middle of your elementary age range and then there's also resources for that middle school aid so um so definitely go check them out if you're looking for something on the younger or older range but this will give you an idea of a Charlotte Mason resource with a very very biblical worldview from master books com so America's story is written in a very conversational Charlotte Mason method all of the even worksheets and different things are gonna be doing there's lots of questions for discussion and there's oral narration there's written narration very Charlotte Mason principals brought in their sketching and map work brought into every single worksheet then lesson that they're doing so it's very well done in that way for anyone that's looking for a Charlotte Mason program it's designed for grades three to six and price point is around seventy dollars if you're shopping somewhere else but on the master books website there is a significant discount on all of their books if you order direct through them plus they have free shipping and different things if you order over a certain amount so check it out first from their website if you can and if you live in Canada or something then you can also get it different places like Amazon they've got lots of different distributors that they sell through so you can check out some other online stores as well to see if it's available one of the things that I love about Angela's history series both this one and the older one is how many pictures are in it it is definitely a living book it is full full full of pictures and so just to have your kids gather around and even look through the pictures in this I think it's fantastic it's really well done it's very interesting to read it's not dry boring or dull so if you're looking for something that can be done even in your morning basket with your kids I think this is a really good fit so as far as learning styles if you're reading it to your kids it's gonna work for those auditory learners if you are having your kids look through the pictures it's gonna be a really great fit for those visual learners kinesthetic it's a little less hands on as far as the make and bills and do but they are doing sketching and written narration as well so there's a little bit of hands-on there if your kids are artistic or really enjoy to sketch that they would be doing in their student notebooks so I think it's super adaptable I think it's super adaptable to use with multiple different ages and a well done program that is an excellent resource for American history but remember they have their world history as well as my story which is more community and then global for the younger kids so if you're interested go and check them out and you can see a sample on the website that will show you a lot more detail and probably higher resolution of all the different pages that are in this amazing series so go check it out all right the next one we have is from winter promise and this is hideaways in history which is a very Charlotte Mason approach kind of unit study style and it is engaging and visual and also super hands-on so if you're looking for something that's really really hands-on one of the first things that stood out to me when I was looking through all the different that I was sent was the hands on different forts that they make that they're building once a week to go along with what they're learning so you're gonna be collecting cardboard boxes and building forts and igloos and all sorts of different things throughout the year which i think is really really unique and hands-on so again if you have kids that are kinesthetic learners there's a lot of hands-on activities that they'll get to do throughout this and experiments and different things so definitely a program that's gonna be very well adapted to any learning styles super visual great for auditory learners is written in very kind of story way so adaptable for any learning style so when you want to winter promise if you look at the top menu you'll see that they have themes and they have all different things again for all grades all ages and all different subjects but their themes work and coincide together so if you were to get something like hideaways in history you can also get a language arts program and it will go along with this so it's really unique in that way that they kind of help you put together your own custom unit that all integrates so lots of great resources you can see through here some of the different ways that it works and what the books look like and some of the different activities that you would be doing and how easy the guide is laid out for you it's super easy you just open and go and so it's just a great program if you are looking for something that's more hands-on and engaging to do with the younger elementary aged kids that you can do with multiple kids at the same time price point is about two hundred and twenty nine dollars if you want to get the print version here they also have add-ons available they have a science book that you can get as well that would go along with this and bring in some nature study type stuff so there's lots of different resources you can check out on their website as well as seeing samples and learning more about the program frequently asked questions it's all on there so definitely go and check it out and see what you think the next one I want to talk to you about is not grass history now this was my number one requested history program to review and of course as things would just happen to pan out we had shipping difficulties like two different times we had shipping difficulties but I am NOT going to go through this without reviewing them because you so wanted to see it and I so wanted to see it so I went and actually looked at the samples that they have available on their website the one that I was dying to see because I already leaf through it at a homeschool convention and by the way it's amazing is our star-spangled story so this is again US history for early elementary grades 1 to 4 again adaptable again unit study it combines rich literature that you can do together with multiple ages of kids altogether it has poetry in it very Charlotte Mason it's written in a very story way living book tons of pictures lots of discussion questions I was really really really impressed by it and so I decided to go and see what they had on their site and actually if you go to their site when you go and you're learning about it you can actually see a sample of every single resource even listening to the actual CD that comes with it to see what it looks like so I'm going to show you through a few of those different things so you can get an idea of how rich this program is and why I think it would be a fantastic fit for any home school family that has multiple homeschool styles that is looking for something Charlotte Mason that is looking for something that is engaging but not too time intensive I love how it's only three days a week I think that a lot of those histories social studies science there's no reason for us to have to do everything every day and so I think there is very very adaptable in that and saves us a lot of time as home schoolers so I think that's fantastic I think that it works well with blending your kids I think that it works well for parents that don't have a lot of time I think it works well when you want to blend in those different subjects and have those balancing points of discussion because there's lots of great discussion questions throughout tons of great pictures it's just really really well done I feel like I want to drink tea and do this program there's also a timeline book that you can get to go along with it and this is unique again because for that grades 1 to 4 for those younger sometimes it's daunting to have to put together their own timeline and this is done with a timeline book with beautiful pictures all Illustrated that you would look through and find the different periods and time you're learning about as you're going through it without you having to actually create it which i think is super age-appropriate for grades one to four it just takes away again for us as the parents the idea of having to go and create and print or cut or any of that stuff and just makes it all accessible open and go there's nothing you need to grab or do it's a very easy to implement program and one that I think is fantastic for any learning style and in multiple multiple kids families that are trying to home-school more than one the other thing that's great about not grouse is it's fairly affordable eighty-five dollars to get the entire kit is crazy affordable and they also have this literature connection so you could do these amazing read Aloud's that are high-quality throughout the year they're gonna coincide with the program so if you're interested in checking out these samples for yourself click on my link below that's my affiliate link and that's gonna take you to their site and let you see through these samples for yourself alright the last one I'm going to show you today is curiosity chronicles now this was another one that was new for me and this is one of the resources in fact we have shown you a neutral option that is used by secular home schoolers this is the other one that is used by secular home schoolers so it is a secular history option for families and it's very unique from any of the other ones I've shown even though some are story based this one is actually done as a dialog so it's between two people and they talk to one another and it actually lays it out almost like a script they also have when you purchase it there is an audio that goes along with it so you could read it with your kids or you can actually just play the audio and have it be read to them which is great there's also an additional timeline resource so they could be building their own timeline all built into it and there's all sorts of different hands-on activities again choose to do them choose to not do them there's lots of different books and extra resources that you can add to it but I think it's unique I think it's engaging because you have that dialog it can make any thank dialogue can make anything interesting when it's done in a way that's kind of funny and humorous and keeps kids connected to what they're learning and this definitely does it so I think that's very unique about it so curiosity Chronicles is classical in its approach it has a four year cycle that it goes through so again you would do it and then you could go through it again when your kids are a little bit older and that's designed kind of with the same classical method of Education and the different stages that they go through so um that's the home school style is best suited for but again I could see this being used by any family with any home school style because it's got so many hands-on components and different things you can do this would also be really adaptable to use with any learning style I can't see one that is more geared towards than another I think with the audio component I think with the hands-on activities and the pictures in the book that you're getting really all three learning styles built in one which makes it more adaptable for multiple kids the other thing that makes that great is that again you can use this for multiple students all together which is fantastic when you can combine your kids and save yourself that extra time price point is $95 for everything that I showed you and that gets you an entire year that you can use with your family including the different resources like the audiobook and the timeline resource that are given to you as a digital resource when you purchase so the other thing I'm super excited about is that they have also offered to give a generous coupon code so if you click on the link below in the description and you use the coupon code home school on 15% then you're gonna get 15% off your order on their store and that is good until the end of December 2019 you can learn more on their website so if you're interested in curiosity Chronicles go and check them out so there you have it that is a whole whack of curriculum that I got to show you inside today again this barely scratches the surface there's a lot more I didn't get you I was really hoping to include mystery of history which I used to have but I lent out to my mother and I never got it back so apparently it's being redone I think it is redone and so I'm really excited to see it and hope to be able to show it to you maybe the road but another fantastic program that you probably should go and check out just add into the list of of products that you want to look into but again there's lots and lots of other resources if you want to know any personal recommendations please feel free to send me a message on my Facebook page or you can email me Rebecca at home school on comm I hope this helps you in your shopping endeavors I know it's really overwhelming choosing curriculum and I encourage you that look for what sparks your interest look for what sparks your kids interest try to combine those together as much as you can so that you aren't going crazy and your kids aren't going crazy and you're gonna have a great home school year so deep breaths you can do this go have some fun shopping online on their different sites don't buy anything without your husband knowing and keep calm in home school on

Channel: Homeschool On

Views: 70,979

Rating: 4.8632479 out of 5

Keywords: homeschool, homeschooling, homeschool history, history, history curriculum

Id: LeViqjZmWrM

Length: 35min 47sec (2147 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 17 2019