The Story of Civilization: Volume II (TAN Books)

Memorial Day has come and gone. That means summer is officially here. If you're a parent who sends their children to school, you are probably counting down when your children will be going back to school. On the other hand, if you are a homeschooling parent, you are already plotting next year's curriculum. If you don't have a good history program in place yet, allow me to give you a brief review of The Story of Civilization: Volume II. The volume begins with an introduction explaining how history is like an epic book or movie series, i.e., The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, or Star Wars. Since history is a long period of time, it works better to divide it into manageable chunks. The first division is entitled the Ancient World and the second division is called the Medieval World. The Medieval World starts shortly after the passage of the Edict of Milan and the spread of Christianity, and this is the product I would like to tell you about.

The volume then begins where the previous one left off. With the early spread of Christianity, we also see the spread of heresies and Christendom fighting against them. In addition to heretical priests, there were also emperors trying to exert their will over the Church and steer it in their direction and not the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Western Roman Empire then falls, and all that is left is the Eastern Roman Empire with Justinian. After this we see St. Benedict and his rule, the Irish missionaries, and the rise of the Islamic world. The volume continues on to show us the Crusades, Avignon and the papal controversy, the Hundred Years War, War of the Roses, and an early glimpse at the Renaissance. Apart from the lively storytelling nature of this text, I appreciate the honesty of it. "History is written by the winners," so it would have been easy to whitewash the black marks of the Church, but this text shows us the whole picture, for better or worse.

In addition to a text book, if you buy the whole The Story of Civilization: Volume II pack, you will receive CDs, streaming lectures, an activity book, a test book, a timeline, and a teacher's manual. I have not received all of these to review, but I would like to tell you about the test book and the timeline. The test book has a test for each lesson and the questions are a mix of matching, true/false, and multiple choice. By sticking with this format, you can test a wide-range of students. You also have an objective way to score them, opposed to short answer/essays. That is not to say that you shouldn't give your children additional "tests," but the test book serves its purpose and is a good barometer to how much your child learned/retained. The timeline is a nice large laminated sheet that fits nicely on a wall. On one side is a timeline that provides you a comprehensive and sequential view of what your child is learning. This helps to crystallize the concepts for them. On the other side is a "trivia" section, which your kids might find to be a fun game. Overall, this is a great series for the homeschooling parent, and one I would gladly recommend.

This product was provided to me for free by TAN Books in exchange for an honest review.

SNEAK PEEK: The Story of Civilization: Volume II - The Medieval World (TAN Books)

With Easter and Spring Break right around the corner, it's that time of the year again. Time to start thinking about next year's curriculum. Today I'd like to give you a little teaser for a product I'm super excited about!

Last year TAN Books furthered their mission of providing Catholic homeschooling parents with the launch of a new history series called The Story of Civilization. Unlike other history books, this series has the belief that history should be lived and not learned. Therefore, instead of just presenting your child with dry facts and dates to remember, they will experience history in a narrative format that truly makes it come alive! The series will consist of four volumes, with one releasing every year. Last year, we saw the release of The Ancient World, a 35 lesson volume that begins with the dawn of civilization and takes your children through Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome. In addition to Old Testament stories sprinkled in, they also get to see the birth of the Catholic Church and its infancy in the first few centuries after Jesus' death.

This year they are releasing Volume II: The Medieval World, which picks up where Volume I left off. This volume is 33 lessons long and begins after the conversion of Constantine. In this volume, your children will see how Christian Europe grew from the seeds of the Early Church. They will see the Western Roman Empire end and the Eastern Roman Empire come to prominence under the Emperor Justinian. They will also meet famous Christians like Augustine, Benedict, and Boniface. We also see the Irish Missions, Crusades, Great Western Schism, Hundred Years' War, and the Fall of Constantinople.

All volumes in this series have textbooks, teacher's manuals, test books, activity books, audio CDs, streaming videos, and a timeline map. This gives your child a variety of resources, depending on the type of learner they are. You, the parent, can also choose to buy the whole set and save some money or piece together what pieces you need and forego the rest. I hope you have enjoyed this preview, and I will share more with you in the summer once I have had time to thoroughly review the program.

The Story of the Bible (TAN Books)

There are many ways to educate your children. I am the product of Catholic school and public school, and my wife was strictly Catholic schooled. In a few years, she and I will have to decide how to educate our child(ren), and for us there are only two options - Catholic school or homeschool. Homeschool used to be a dirty word, but in the past decade, the number of parents choosing to homeschool their children has increased exponentially, and I for one am pleased about that, because with this rapid growth means better curriculum, both secular and religious. Leading the charge for quality Catholic homeschool materials is TAN Books. TAN Books has recently launched a new website called TAN Homeschool, which includes blog posts, freebies, and a recently released, groundbreaking Bible education series called The Story of the Bible!

The Story of the Bible is a comprehensive program, which includes a textbook, test book, activity book, teacher's manual, dramatized audiobook, AND lecture DVDs! I was provided with a review copy of the Old Testament materials, so let me tell you about it. The textbook is approximately 300 pages long and is divided into five parts:

1. How God Came to Promise Us a Redeemer
2. How God Founded the Nation from Which the Redeemer of the World Came
3. How God Protected His Chosen People and Led Them Into the Promised Land
4. How God's Chosen People Lived Under Their Kings
5. How God's People Went Into Exile and Returned

As you can see, Part One deals with the Creation story. Parts Two and Three deal with the Pentateuch. Part Four is during the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon; and Part Five is under the time of the Prophets. Now don't be confused. Even though the textbook has Scriptural quotes in it, it is not an actual Bible. This book is part summary of important Bible stories, part explanation, and part reflection. Therefore, your child will want and need a Bible with this book. Different people have different opinions on which Bible to get, but I always recommend the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), since that is what they will hear every Sunday at Mass.

The Teacher's Manual contains guided lessons, which include a Bible passage for Lectio Divina, questions for review, narration exercises, craft projects, and even food projects! The manual also corresponds with an Activity Book, which contains coloring pages, word searches, and crossword puzzles. There is also the dreaded Test Book. No child likes tests, but these tests are all multiple choice and matching. I would prefer if they added some essay exercises or short answers, but any good homeschooling parent can improvise and come up with these for his or herself.

And now for my favorite part of this comprehensive program...the audio CDs and DVD lessons! The CDs are dramatized audiobooks, which are produced and read by Kevin Gallagher, who has narrated a handful of TAN Books. He has a rich voice and one that you can listen to for hours. There is also music and sound effects, which children young and old will appreciate. Having a physical book is nice, but younger kids sometimes get intimidated by so many words. With the CDs, they can still listen to the book and follow along. Plus, the whole family can listen to it, without having to fight over the textbook! The DVD lessons, which I have included a sample of one below, are presented by Brian Kennelly. He has a nice way of presenting the material so it is accessible, but not dumbed down.



Overall, I found myself very impressed with this series on the Old Testament, and if the New Testament is half as good as this one, I'm sure it's a home run as well. As stated earlier, this is geared toward the homeschool crowd, but I believe any Catholic family with children will find value in this program. Religious education begins at home, and if your child goes to Catholic school or public school, you cannot expect the Church to solely teach your child about their faith. I highly recommend this program for all Catholic families. Be sure to sign up at the bottom of the TAN Homeschool page and receive 30% off your first order. Also check back frequently at TAN Homeschool for all the updates they will be rolling out. I guarantee it will be great!

This program was provided to me for free by TAN Books in exchange for an honest review.