Veritas Press Self-Paced History Review

History has been a bit of a struggle for us this past school year. We started out really enjoying it, but then as time went on it seemed like we were spending way too much time on one topic.  Hailey started asking if we could please study something else.  So, for most of the year I came up with our own history curriculum.  It was time consuming and not something I want to do again in the fall, especially since I’ll be busy with a new baby.  So, I have been busily searching for a new history curriculum.

We were given the opportunity to review a history curriculum from Veritas Press.  I checked out what they had to offer and decided that we would just start at the very beginning and review the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt, which one of the Veritas Press Self-Paced History choices.

The self-paced history courses each have 160 lessons, which if you do 5 lessons each week, will take you 32 weeks to complete.  Since the classes are self paced you are able to complete them in the way that works best for your family.  Tuition for each course is $199 which will give you access for one year.  If you have more than one child using the program there is a $100 sibling discount.   The self-paced courses are meant for children in grades 2-6, with the recommendation that your child be at least 7 when starting the class.

There are 5 different courses available:
Old Testament and Ancient Egypt
New Testament, Greece and Rome
Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation
Explorers to 1815
1815 to Present

The courses also have flashcards that are very helpful in learning all of the major events during the time period your child is studying.  We were able to use the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt Flashcards, which cost $19.95.

The courses are completed online, so you will need internet access.  Be sure to check the FAQ to make sure you computer and internet connection will meet the minimum requirements.

The first thing your child has to before starting any of the lessons will be the tutorial.  This is a great way to become familiar with the way the course works.

When your child first logs on each day, she will be able to go to look at her assignments.  This page shows the lessons that have been completed as well as the upcoming lessons.  Your child’s current grade is also displayed at the top.

 The lessons have different actors teaching the information.  It is all very interactive and the students have to answer questions very frequently, which helps to keep them focused where they should be.

 There are also talking characters, which will certainly keep your child interested in the information!

 In addition, there are interactive games, which are educational as well as fun.

Every 5th lesson has a test, which is usually pretty short, but very complete.

 So, how did we use Veritas Press?

Hailey started out using the tutorial.  With these courses you have to complete the tutorial in order to move on to lesson 1.  Then lesson 1 must be completed in order to move to lesson 2, etc.  I had planned to just have her do the tutorial on her first day, but she begged to go on and check out lesson 1.

Each day she completed 1 lesson.  Some of the lessons were longer than others, but I think they average around 20 minutes each.  Of course, that is going to depend on how long it takes your child to complete the questions and interactive games, so it could be more or less.

There is a fun song to help your child remember the 32 major events in the time period being studied.  The first day Hailey heard the song she said, “I’ll never be able to remember all of that.”  But, it’s a catchy little song and before she knew it, she had most of it memorized.  I often heard her singing it when she was taking her tests.

We also used the flashcards- this is the front of the first flashcard.  Each flashcard has a picture on the front…

and some information, as well as resources available on the back.

On the back of the first flashcard the 7 days of creation are listed- so I had Hailey make her own art work to go along with it.

This is her completed version of the 7 days of creation flashcard.

Veritas Press Self-Paced History is an amazing program!  Hailey absolutely loved it and would ask to do it.  Some of the lessons were a little bit shorter than others and on those days she would beg to do just one more lesson.  She learned so much from the time that we used the program- and I did too!  In addition to the online lessons and the flashcards, there are several historical fiction books that are recommended to use along with the program.  I was not able to find them at our local library, but they are available for purchase through Veritas Press.  Hailey asked if we could please keep using this program when we start school back up in the fall.  So, we are definitely planning to continue to learn all about the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Very easy to implement
Fun characters that children enjoy listening to
Very little teacher prep time- most days we just watched the lesson and didn’t have to do anything else.  There are hands on activities that can be done as well, which would involve a little bit of prep time, but not much.  This will be perfect for us since we’ll have a newborn in the fall.
Hailey loved it, learned a lot, and asked to do it every day

Cons:
It is only available online, so you have to meet the minimum requirements in your internet connection
Cost- I think $199 is expensive for one subject

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Week in Review

I am a couple of weeks behind in posting my weekly reviews, so I am going to do my best to remember what we did.

Language Arts:

We continued our author unit study about Tomie dePaola from Around the Kampfire.

Hailey really enjoyed reading the books we used in our author study!

We read several books that had Big Anthony in them and we talked about cause and effect- how all of the things that Anthony did were the cause, and then the effect was the result of his actions.

On the left, Hailey wrote several things that Anthony did and on the right she wrote the results of those actions.

Hailey also made a post card pretending that Strega Nona had gone on vacation- she decorated the front of the post card and pretended that Strega Nona was in Disney World.

On the back she pretended to be Strenga Nona and  wrote a message to one of Strega Nona’s friends- she decided to write to Bambolona and told her about the fun she was having on vacation.

Science:

Our caterpillars arrived at the beginning of the week to go along with our study of caterpillars and butterflies.

Only a few days after their arrival they were already preparing to go into a chrysalis.

By Friday we only had a couple left that hadn’t formed a chrysalis.

We did a comparison of butterflies and moths and learned how to tell the difference between the two.

Hailey and Hunter painted one side of a butterfly, then folded the other side over to show how butterflies wings are symmetrical.

Hunter’s butterfly on the top and Hailey’s on the bottom.

Every day Hailey read us a book about butterflies.  She even used a butterfly puppet when she read on this particular day.  Hunter definitely enjoyed it!

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Week in Review

Wondering what we’ve been up to?  Here’s a few things we have been working on:

Language Arts:

Hailey finished up working on a story that she has been writing.  She wrote up a rough draft, we typed it, and then she illustrated each page.  She was very proud of her work!  She read her story to Hunter and he really enjoyed it.

We have been having a lot of fun doing an author unit study about Tomie dePaola from Around the Kampfire.  Hailey drew pictures of the main characters in some of his books and we discussed the traits that each of those characters have.

Science:

We started a fun unit all about caterpillars and butterflies.

Each day we read a different book about caterpillars/butterflies.

The first craft we made were these cute caterpillars- which are simply pom poms glued onto a clothespin with googly eyes added.

Then next day we put our caterpillars into toilet paper rolls and wrapped yarn around the outside- this represented a chrysalis.

Hailey and Hunter colored coffee filters with washable markers,

then sprayed them with water.  The colors all bled together and looked really pretty.

We used the coffee filters to turn our clothespin caterpillars into butterflies.

We sang a song about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.  Hailey and Hunter loved the song and the hand motions to go with it.  Here are the words that we sang:

I saw a caterpillar
climbing up a tree.
He wiggled and he wiggled,
he wiggled right at me.
I put him in a box,
“Stay right there,” I said.
But, when I opened up the box
a butterfly instead.
I couldn’t do it,
even if I tried.
Only God in heaven
could make a butterfly.

Hailey made this pretty sun catcher butterfly.

Of course, we read more books.

Hailey and Hunter worked hard on making the life cycle of a caterpillar.

Here is Hailey’s completed life cycle project- from egg to larva (caterpillar) to pupa (chrysalis) to butterfly.

We watched a Magic School Bus episode about butterflies.  We also learned about metamorphosis on Brain Pop.

Math:

Hailey has been working on multiplication and we played a memory game using the math facts she is learning.  For example- one of the cards might say 7×3 and the matching card would say 21.  It was fun to play and I love it when Hailey asks to play again!

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Week in Review

Here is a little peek at what we’ve been up to:

Language Arts:

We had some great weather and it was perfect for getting outside to do a little reading.

Science:

We finished up our worm unit.  Any of the printables you see are from The Razzle Dazzle Classroom worm unit.

Hailey created an All About Worms book using the information she learned during our unit.

Here she is drawing a picture to show how worms help the earth.

Hailey drew an observation of her worm habitat on the day she made it and then again a week later.

We finished up our unit by making yummy dirt pudding with worms (chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms).

Hunter and Hailey both loved it!

Hailey’s finished book about worms.

We learned how important worms are to the earth, so when we finished observing our worms, we let them go in our garden.

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