Veritas Press Self paced history

[bethben]

Can I have a review of this?  I'm looking at it next year for my 5th grade dd for a "do it yourself" history program.

 

Also, how do you know what books go along with the online component?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[nixpix5]

Well, my daughter is only in 2nd but she is LOVING Ancient. It is really neat and while she didn't retain much from SOTW she is retaining every speck of her self study and the timeline song is so catchy we all find ourselves singing it constantly.

 

You need to purchase the flashcards to go with the unit and at the bottom of the card they are on it lists what they should he reading. We then throw in other books as we see necessary but really, I have nothing but glowing things to say about it and will use it all the way through each level because she begs to do history and her tests show it is being retained well.

[OneStepAtATime]

They provide a list of the books but I think you get that once you purchase the program?  Definitely get the flash cards.  I was able to buy a set, already laminated, on Amazon (used) for very little.

 

We loved it.  One caveat, though, is that some of the games built into the lessons are exceedingly hard to play, especially if a student has any dexterity or visual/spatial issues.  Unfortunately, you cannot skip the games.  DS has dysgraphia so sometimes I had to do the games for him.  He answered the questions but I did the physical act of playing the game.  Also, sometimes they throw in a long vocabulary word that is not necessarily phonics based and the student may only be introduced to the word once before being expected to spell it within a certain time frame.  If they don't pick up how to spell words quickly through just one or two visual exposures then you may need to work with your child specifically on that word before they can get through the "test".  I mention this so that if your child is upset/complaining about not being able to spell a word, they have reason to complain.  They aren't just being lazy.  Help them out.  The program won't.  I love the program but I think both of these areas could be improved.

[nixpix5]

They provide a list of the books but I think you get that once you purchase the program? Definitely get the flash cards. I was able to buy a set, already laminated, on Amazon (used) for very little.

 

We loved it. One caveat, though, is that some of the games built into the lessons are exceedingly hard to play, especially if a student has any dexterity or visual/spatial issues. Unfortunately, you cannot skip the games. DS has dysgraphia so sometimes I had to do the games for him. He answered the questions but I did the physical act of playing the game. Also, sometimes they throw in a long vocabulary word that is not necessarily phonics based and the student may only be introduced to the word once before being expected to spell it within a certain time frame. If they don't pick up how to spell words quickly through just one or two visual exposures then you may need to work with your child specifically on that word before they can get through the "test". I mention this so that if your child is upset/complaining about not being able to spell a word, they have reason to complain. They aren't just being lazy. Help them out. The program won't. I love the program but I think both of these areas could be improved.

This is a good point. My daughter is a great speller for a 2nd grader but some words are huge. Luckily they don't happen often but if I hear the sphinx say "ooh, nice try but not quite" or whatever he says, I go to assist. Otherwise we find the games and activities to be, for the most part, really great for reinforcement.

[SoCal_Bear]

Mine loves this program. It's never a chore to do a history lesson. 

[teeniebeenie6]

We have done numerous years of Veritas and have decided not to do it next year. One of the writers is very focused on the gruesome parts of history. Explaining things in too much detail. More detail then I ever learned in school. While learning about the Salem Witch trails. They read very scary accounts of the reports of the supposed witches such as people's head spinning, people flying around, people falling and screaming, etc. and then went into detail about how the falsely convicted were killed. Such as being crushed with a stone. The details were too much. This week they played a Mummy game, where you unwrap the Mummy. My kids were horrified when the deteriorating bodies of real mummies were shown. They go into details such as someone being stabbed into their brain and someone having an ax in their head. They went into great detail about Baal and how the children sacrifice ceremonies went such as the playing of loud drums to drown out the babies screams because it took a while for them to die. My kids have been having many nightmares from this curriculum. If the gore was played down, I would have loved it. 

[PeterPan]

My dd blew through a bunch of the VP self-paced courses around that age. She LOVED them. She's a huge history lover anyway. 

 

The reading is optional, and the courses will stand on their own. Just so you know, VP has a focus on memorization of basic facts, pegs, and sequences, so the games are focused on that. If your dc doesn't like history or maybe needs to approach it from a very different angle to engage, that could be an issue. If the dc has SLDs, could be an issue. For as much as the self-paced courses were a great fit for my dd, I don't think I could get them to work for my ds, with his SLDs and autism.

Edited November 17, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[alisoncooks]

We do it very superficially. I stream it on my tv, and both daughters and I watch it together. We answer the questions together, though oldest usually does the map work and spelling bits. I've said in other threads: we like it but don't love it. It all could be so much shorter if they trimmed down the long intros and 4+ minute memory song (my kids hate that song, anyway, and you can't skip it).

 

FWIW, we've done OTAE and we are now using Explorers-1850.

[nixpix5]

Since this thread is still up I had to jump over and say that my DD8 woke my DH up this morning with "daddy, I can do my whole history song!" Then she proceeded to sing 32 timeline events for Ancients at the top of her lungs like a pro. She then said "I just love this history so so much!" So there you go. Out of the mouth of babes ;)