Mystery of History

Mystery of History
Bright Ideas Press

This is a series of three volumes covering history from creation to the growth of nations (1707) in view of the Bible. Wonderful series!

Bright Ideas sent me volume II to review, which covers the early church to the middle ages. I really enjoyed going through this thick volume. I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about the specifics of the curriculum, but will give you a general layout.

The book is laid out in twelve steps:
1) Quarter Summaries – Introduction to the time period.
2) Pretests – 8 questions to introduce students to people, places, and events.
3) Lessons – This is the story, with key words highlighted. Most real-life biographies.
4) Activities – Activities broken into three age levels. There are a good selection to chose from.
5) Memory Cards – Suggests making one card per lesson includes name of lesson and main points and timeline.
6) Review – Offered after every three lessons. Guidelines for timeline and mapping work. Suggests a “Wall of Fame” timeline project using simple household items.
7) Exercises – Cumulative review every six lessons.
8) Quizzes – Cumulative quizzes every six lessons.
9) Quarterly Worksheets – Similar to exercises and quizzes to review material from the previous quarter.
10) Semester Tests – self-explanatory.
11) Student Notebooks – Suggests that each student keep a notebook divided by continent to store students’ work.
12) Supplemental Books and Resources

There is a lot of information in this book! She gives great detail in setting up memory cards, timelines, and grading. She also breaks down the classical approach to education which she used as a guideline when writing these books.

Now as far as it relates to a deaf learner: This book will require a good reader. A fourth grade reader should have no trouble reading the stories. There are a few activities that could be skipped over, but there are plenty of other activities. Many lessons include re-acting the story and hands-on projects. Both great for a deaf leaner. There are lots of discussion questions to insure that the student is retaining and comprehending the lessons.