Sunday, April 8, 2012

TruthQuest History - A TOS Review


We reviewed TruthQuest History: American History for Young Students III. This guide is written for grades 1-6, and is available as a printed book for $29.95, or as a PDF download for $24.95.


TruthQuest History is a deep and rich literature-based history study…but with a difference. You will not learn the story of mankind; you will learn the lovestory of mankind. You will not focus on the rise and fall of human civilizations; you will focus on the arrow-straight line of God's unchanging existence, power, love, truth, and plan for civilization. You will not simply 'meet the culture' or 'get the facts;' you will probe the truths of history so deeply that your students will be equipped to change their world!

This guide couldn't have come to me at a better time.  It came when we hit the weeks for WWI, WWII, and the Cold War at Classical Conversations and I had no idea how to approach that with Bear.  I considered skipping it altogether, but then got the chance to review the TruthQuest History: American History for Young Students III, which covers history from 1865 to 2000

There are 36 sections to the guide. You can see the Table of contents here and read a sample here.
The TruthQuest guide is conversational in style, and comes with comprehensive book lists by grade level (fiction and nonfiction) to complement the history guide.  The sections are not long; I find them well-suited for a young student.

While the brief conversational blurbs have helped give Bear context for her memory work, I found the guide a bit too conversational and neither my husband nor I liked the way some things were worded or explained.  For example, here is an excerpt from the introduction:
Okay, I'll admit it. When I was a girl, about your age, I once ran away from home. I packed an outfit and stomped out the front door. I was so mad!
I'd had enough of my mother telling me what to do and how to do it! Couldn't she tell that I could run my own life?
My husband and I both agreed that we couldn't read this out loud to Bear because we didn't want to put these ideas in the forefront of her mind.  I'm pretty sure I annoy my 4.5 year old when I ask her to do her chores or complete her school work, and while she may share the author's sentiment, I don't want her to hear it and then turn around and tell me she's had enough of me.  I had enough of that with our Nemo incident (in which Nemo tells his Dad he hates him and my daughter repeats that to her Dad not long after). I appreciate the point the author later makes with regards to that paragraph: that Americans started thinking, once life got easier, that they didn't need God telling them what to do (think of the lawlessness of the Wild West).  However, the way the parallel was made, is not a good fit for us.  Parents are cautioned throughout by the author, Michelle Miller, to consider their children's ability to handle certain topics (like the Holocaust) and to leave out what they don't think their children will be able to handle.  I did read quite a bit of the guide to Bear, because I like how TruthQuest helps the learner see God's presence throughout history, but I left out the parts I didn't want her to hear, and I made sure she wasn't sitting right next to me, silently reading what I was omitting. I learned many new things by reading this guide as well and do wish I had it earlier to coincide with our studies.

I do enjoy the literature list.  I've had good luck finding the titles that I wanted at our library.  I did find a lack of appropriate titles for Bear's level (for read aloud) in some sections, but I do think it is more due to the nature of the sections (Holocaust, Cold War, Korean War). Bear loves living history books and the TruthQuest history guide's booklists have made it much easier for me to know what to search at the library.


There are companion resources available to go with the guide, such as student sheets, notebooking pages, timeline pages and maps.  You can view the list and samples here.


To see what others thought of TruthQuest History guides, visit the Crew blog

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this TruthQuest History Guide in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received.

1 comment:

  1. This is the danger with reading reviews like these, you end up having curriculum envy.......

    ReplyDelete