Mystery of History

[Katiebug_1976]

Has anyone used Mystery of History? Did you like it? We are currently using MFW, but a friend of mine ordered Mystery of History for her kids for the fall. Since we ordered together, all the books came to my house, and after seeing Mystery of History, I am interested to know what others think of it.

 

TIA,

[Lizzie in Ma]

I combined it with Truthquest and after year one in 6th grade, dd did it pretty independently. I love the way the books are written, I love that it is "plug and play". There isn't anything about it that didn't work for us. Oh, except the timeline, we ended up doing a notebook one.

The lessons get longer in each book and the last book is hardbound and in color, gorgeous. Retention was excellent as well. There are projects and activities that we skipped utterly, I don't do crafts and it didn't do us any harm at all. :)

 

 

I use a master list and plug everything I want to use into it, books, videos, lectures, etc by lesson then our week went like this:

 

Mondays: read spine, begin read aloud of the week and independent read of the week, do pretest

Tuesdays: lesson

Wed: lesson

Thurs: lesson

Friday: timeline and mapwork, finish books, watch movie if a good one fit in.

 

feel free to ask specific questions

[christielee7278]

We are going to use it this year. I have read through a good part of MOH 1 and so far I love it! I love crafts so we plan on doing the crafts, extras, and timeline. My weekly schedule looks the same as Lizzie's. I am really, really excited to start MOH!!!

[Evergreen Academy]

We have used it for the past two years as a supplement to Biblioplan, alongside SOTW and other resources and literature. I liked the information in it a lot - loved adding the Biblical perspective to everything, but I thought that as a stand-alone, particularly the first volume, it was light - at least for how we like to do history. I think if I had used it as a stand-alone, and had taken the time to find the resources I'd like to go alongside it, it would have made a lovely study, and I may do just that in future years. We didn't do their timeline or activities because our days were so full with Biblioplan. Don't know if that helps any, but that was our experience.

Blessings,

Aimee

mom to 6 great kids ages 6-18, schooling grades 1, 3, 3 and 6

[calandalsmom]

I love the biblical perspective, hate the dinos on the ark bits.

[mama25angels]

we're going to use it with biblioplan this year and i've read through most of it and really like what I see so far. I plan to do a few of the projects.

[Dixie]

Mondays: read spine, begin read aloud of the week and independent read of the week, do pretest

 

feel free to ask specific questions

 

Hi! When you say read spine on Monday, are you reading something other than MOH? When you say begin read aloud of the week and independent read of the week, do you on average read 2 books a week in additional to the MOH work?

 

Thank you,

 

Dixie

[MerryAtHope]

We used MOH 1 & 2, my kids and I really enjoyed it!

 

Merry :-)

[ReneeK]

We are going to do MOH 1 for the first time. I bought the Adams timeline chart for times sake and its very colorful. My dc are already excited with this book. I think it goes with MOH very well.

 

I have not yet came up with my weekly schedule. I would be interested in how some of you do a four day schedule with the little ones.

 

Since my dd is only 6,I am doing some of the crafts. I found many coloring pages on the ones that we are not doing a craft. My dc like to color while listening. I also pre-made and marked some of the maps in advanced. My dc love maps and I know if I bring up a country or place they will want to see it. If she wants to mark something on the map she can. It will give her and idea as far as the mapping is concerned and yet not be overwhelming if she wants to take a few minutes to write or draw something. I am excited about using it and I think my dc will also like it.

[A.J. at J.A.]

We are going to do MOH 1 for the first time. I bought the Adams timeline chart for times sake and its very colorful. My dc are already excited with this book. I think it goes with MOH very well.

 

I have not yet came up with my weekly schedule. I would be interested in how some of you do a four day schedule with the little ones.

 

Since my dd is only 6,I am doing some of the crafts. I found many coloring pages on the ones that we are not doing a craft. My dc like to color while listening. I also pre-made and marked some of the maps in advanced. My dc love maps and I know if I bring up a country or place they will want to see it. If she wants to mark something on the map she can. It will give her and idea as far as the mapping is concerned and yet not be overwhelming if she wants to take a few minutes to write or draw something. I am excited about using it and I think my dc will also like it.

 

That looks awesome! I found the Adam's timeline a little cheaper at Amazon and it also has a Teacher's guide.

 

Thanks! A timeline has been something I've not figured out yet, but given lack of time to make our own I think this will be great and it looks SOOO complete!

 

This may be a dumb question...do you know how far the timeline goes with current events? I see it is published in 2007 but wasn't sure how current the most recent info is.

 

Thanks again,

Angela

[christielee7278]

hate the dinos on the ark bits.

 

I'm not thrilled with that part either. Dh and I decided to skip it.

[siloam]

Has anyone used Mystery of History? Did you like it? We are currently using MFW, but a friend of mine ordered Mystery of History for her kids for the fall. Since we ordered together, all the books came to my house, and after seeing Mystery of History, I am interested to know what others think of it.

 

TIA,

 

We loved it here!

 

Heather

[A.J. at J.A.]

Is the young earth info pretty easy to dodge? Is it primarily in the creation story alone or is it sprinkled throughout?

 

I've borrowed it from my friend this afternoon and so far I'm really liking what I see.

 

Thanks,

Angela

[siloam]

Is the young earth info pretty easy to dodge? Is it primarily in the creation story alone or is it sprinkled throughout?

 

I've borrowed it from my friend this afternoon and so far I'm really liking what I see.

 

Thanks,

Angela

 

Angela,

 

Depends on how much it will bug you. It is in the creation lesson, of course, but it till also be mentioned in several other lessons early in book 1 (I think the dinosours, Ice Age and Stonehenge all mentioned it). It lessons around the Summarians, from what I remember but it has been several years, so I might be off. After book 1 it isn't an issue I remember coming up at all.

 

I do know there has been people from an old earth point of view who made it work.

 

Heather

[A.J. at J.A.]

Angela,

 

Depends on how much it will bug you. It is in the creation lesson, of course, but it till also be mentioned in several other lessons early in book 1 (I think the dinosours, Ice Age and Stonehenge all mentioned it). It lessons around the Summarians, from what I remember but it has been several years, so I might be off. After book 1 it isn't an issue I remember coming up at all.

 

I do know there has been people from an old earth point of view who made it work.

 

Heather

 

Thank you!

[ReneeK]

I got mine at the convention for around $18.00 and the teacher guide.

 

It goes into early American(civil war and early presidents) and Europe history. It shows all the Asia leaders, and other rulers in the world. It shows all the Popes. Its a neat timeline and goes up to the 1900. It show inventions and other fun facts. The best part is that it is already put together:D I think it is going to go great with MOH.

[Donna A.]

The young earth perspective is most prominent in volume 1, which of course covers Old Testament, ancients, and the beginning of time (Creation). We have volume 2 on CD and the volume 3 student reader, and I haven't noticed much, if any, mention of Creation in those two volumes.

 

I like MOH.... I think it's very nice. But not really "meaty" unless you add a lot of go-alongs. Thus, we use it as supplemental to read/listen to summaries of the stories.

[dtsmamtj]

Used MOH 1 so far and loved it. I used it as a spine and supplemented with various other reading material including literature. We also did a timeline and map work.

 

T

[Marie in Oh]

I love the biblical perspective, hate the dinos on the ark bits.

 

this to BE a Biblical perspective. ;)

 

I know not everyone thinks this, but there are a few out there that agree with her.

 

Anyway. . .

 

We used it last year and I think the tone is a bit hokey, but overall it worked. I really loved OT history woven in. We read MOH and listened to SOTW 1 so I think they got a ton of perspective.

[stephanie78]

We are using MOH 1 here as well. I have skipped a couple of lessons or didn't go into much detail on a few lessons because my kids already knew them by heart, like with the Ark or David. We have also slowed down and spent more time on other lessons, like with Mesopotamia and Egypt. I think it is a bit hokey at times myself, but I am using it for all of my kids with it really "beefed up" for my older kids, and lots of read alouds for my younger ones. I guess what I am trying to say is that we don't do it "as is".

[bunnytracks]

I really wish MFW used MOH. I love them both!!! I have used ADV, ECC, and now K. Last year I decided to go with MOH instead of CTG. We had a really great year. It is very full if you do the activies, maps, timelines, bible (CLP studying gods word goes along very well with this), and recommended extra reading. That said you do have to make your own lesson plans. MFW is nice that it is open and go.

 

Some food for thought: MOH1 goes 12 weeks into RTR and MOH 2 and 3 are also in RTR. (which confuses me a bit because it seems like they are cramming alot of info in RTR that might be better spread out?? I dont know) I point that out incase you want to jump back into the cycle. You would have to wait until year 4.

 

Another option is to use MOH in your book basket.

 

Both are very good programs and either will be a great year. :)

[Donna A.]

Some food for thought: MOH1 goes 12 weeks into RTR and MOH 2 and 3 are also in RTR. (which confuses me a bit because it seems like they are cramming alot of info in RTR that might be better spread out?? I dont know) I point that out incase you want to jump back into the cycle. You would have to wait until year 4.

 

MFW RTR is very meaty. (As I said earlier, MOH isn't "meaty" at all unless you do the footwork to add a lot to it.) The first 13 weeks of RTR covers Ancient Rome from its founding, through the birth of Christ, through the reign of Rome in all its glory (simultaneous with the growth of the early church and persecution of Christians), and the fall of Rome. Thirteen weeks doesn't sound like much time for all that, but we learned a ton! It was an excellent study... but I couldn't have imagined spending more time on the topic than 13 weeks (as some programs do). :001_huh: Then at about weeks 13 to 15, you transition into the Middle Ages, which seems to transition smoothly into the Reformation and Renaissance periods at about.... week 21? I can't remember exactly.

 

Anyway, I actually like this better than the way MOH does it because the stories in MOH seem very brief and longer topics are "chopped up" so that they seem unrelated unless she happens to mention a reminder. By turning the topics into many short stories like that, rather than going deeper but spending less time, MOH is stretched out farther to take an extra year. (Which is really sad because the author's been working on MOH for so long already -- taking 2-3 years to produce each volume -- and now she's not even going to finish the entire cycle.)

 

For example, in MOH 2 she covers the emperors reigning at the time Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., but doesn't mention the destruction of the Temple. That isn't mentioned until a few lessons later. I was beginning to wonder IF she was going to mention it! (Listened to it on CD.) So they seem *almost* unrelated the way its told in MOH. But in MFW, you see the connection between the Roman rulers, their disgust of Christians and Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem because they're taught simultaneously.

 

MOH does make a nice go-along to MFW... but if you're doing MFW which is very complete, you just don't *need* MOH, so why have it scheduled in? ;) It just works better as a Book Basket/supplemental reading option, IMO.

[Free Indeed]

MFW RTR is very meaty. (As I said earlier, MOH isn't "meaty" at all unless you do the footwork to add a lot to it.) The first 13 weeks of RTR covers Ancient Rome from its founding, through the birth of Christ, through the reign of Rome in all its glory (simultaneous with the growth of the early church and persecution of Christians), and the fall of Rome. Thirteen weeks doesn't sound like much time for all that, but we learned a ton! It was an excellent study... but I couldn't have imagined spending more time on the topic than 13 weeks (as some programs do). :001_huh: Then at about weeks 13 to 15, you transition into the Middle Ages, which seems to transition smoothly into the Reformation and Renaissance periods at about.... week 21? I can't remember exactly.

 

Anyway, I actually like this better than the way MOH does it because the stories in MOH seem very brief and longer topics are "chopped up" so that they seem unrelated unless she happens to mention a reminder. By turning the topics into many short stories like that, rather than going deeper but spending less time, MOH is stretched out farther to take an extra year. (Which is really sad because the author's been working on MOH for so long already -- taking 2-3 years to produce each volume -- and now she's not even going to finish the entire cycle.)

 

For example, in MOH 2 she covers the emperors reigning at the time Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., but doesn't mention the destruction of the Temple. That isn't mentioned until a few lessons later. I was beginning to wonder IF she was going to mention it! (Listened to it on CD.) So they seem *almost* unrelated the way its told in MOH. But in MFW, you see the connection between the Roman rulers, their disgust of Christians and Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem because they're taught simultaneously.

 

MOH does make a nice go-along to MFW... but if you're doing MFW which is very complete, you just don't *need* MOH, so why have it scheduled in? ;) It just works better as a Book Basket/supplemental reading option, IMO.

:iagree: We are doing RTR now after using MOH last year instead of CTG. We are loving how MFW connects all things. It has been a great 12 weeks, and I have learned so much!

[Guest Karian]

My daughter absolutely loved MOH 1 and 2. It was like pulling teeth to get her interested in any program for US history. She also has had amazing retention. It's been a couple years now and she mentions things she learned frequently. The program just worked for her learning style: the activities, the fun quizzes and the extra books and videos we added from the resource list. I have nothing but good things to say about the program.

 

Karian

[Lizzie in Ma]

Hi! When you say read spine on Monday, are you reading something other than MOH? When you say begin read aloud of the week and independent read of the week, do you on average read 2 books a week in additional to the MOH work?

 

Thank you,

 

Dixie

 

Hi Dixie,

We used the Gueber/Miller books as a spine for 5th, 6th and 7th with our mOH/TQ mix. I am very fond of them. Yes, on average 2 books a week, one read aloud, one independent read. Plus, other selections where appropriate from books like "Introduction to the Classics" and " DK Art History"

 

Here is a sample of my master outline for MOH 3. These are ALL my options, we generally pick one of the movies no time for all of them.

 

Week 1

 

MOH Lesson 1. The Wars of the Roses (1455- 1485) Truthquest 11, following all reading TQ 12 -13

DK Art A World History pp 214-231

Movie: Robin Hood Errol Flynn

MOVIE: “Joan of Arc†– 1999/Leelee Sobieski

MOVIE: Plantagenet dynasty: “Princess of Thievesâ€

Reading Landmark Joan of Arc

 

MOH Lesson 2. Cosimo de’ Medici and the Rise of the Italian Renaissance Truthquest 9

Watch netflix on demand “History of Christianity†program 3

 

MOH Lesson 3. Ferdinand, Isabella and the Spanish Inquisition (1469) Truthquest 15 pp37-38

MOVIE: The Royal Diaries: Isabel – Jewel of Castilla (Spain, 1466)

Reading: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer (Spanish fought the Moors under Ferdinand and Isabel/Isabella)

 

The Story of the Renaissance and Reformation, Gueber/Miller Chapters 1-16 (3chpts/day)

 

The Black Arrow, Robert Louis Stevenson read aloud or audio

[Dixie]

Hi Dixie,

We used the Gueber/Miller books as a spine for 5th, 6th and 7th with our mOH/TQ mix. I am very fond of them. Yes, on average 2 books a week, one read aloud, one independent read. Plus, other selections where appropriate from books like "Introduction to the Classics" and " DK Art History"

 

Here is a sample of my master outline for MOH 3. These are ALL my options, we generally pick one of the movies no time for all of them.

 

 

 

Thank you for the sample of your master outline. This will be very helpful to me in trying to plan history for our upcoming school year. We plan to begin MOH 1 this fall and I also have the Guerber/Miller books and TQ guides to use with it.

 

Another question if you don't mind, Did you just do the mapwork that is provided with MOH or did you use something else?

 

Thank you,

 

Dixie

[mama25angels]

Hi Dixie,

We used the Gueber/Miller books as a spine for 5th, 6th and 7th with our mOH/TQ mix. I am very fond of them. Yes, on average 2 books a week, one read aloud, one independent read. Plus, other selections where appropriate from books like "Introduction to the Classics" and " DK Art History"

 

Here is a sample of my master outline for MOH 3. These are ALL my options, we generally pick one of the movies no time for all of them.

 

Week 1

 

MOH Lesson 1. The Wars of the Roses (1455- 1485) Truthquest 11, following all reading TQ 12 -13

DK Art A World History pp 214-231

Movie: Robin Hood Errol Flynn

MOVIE: “Joan of Arc†– 1999/Leelee Sobieski

MOVIE: Plantagenet dynasty: “Princess of Thievesâ€

Reading Landmark Joan of Arc

 

MOH Lesson 2. Cosimo de’ Medici and the Rise of the Italian Renaissance Truthquest 9

Watch netflix on demand “History of Christianity†program 3

 

MOH Lesson 3. Ferdinand, Isabella and the Spanish Inquisition (1469) Truthquest 15 pp37-38

MOVIE: The Royal Diaries: Isabel – Jewel of Castilla (Spain, 1466)

Reading: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer (Spanish fought the Moors under Ferdinand and Isabel/Isabella)

 

The Story of the Renaissance and Reformation, Gueber/Miller Chapters 1-16 (3chpts/day)

 

The Black Arrow, Robert Louis Stevenson read aloud or audio

 

 

Yes, thank you for that example of your plan, it looks great!!

[bunnytracks]

MFW RTR is very meaty. (As I said earlier, MOH isn't "meaty" at all unless you do the footwork to add a lot to it.) The first 13 weeks of RTR covers Ancient Rome from its founding, through the birth of Christ, through the reign of Rome in all its glory (simultaneous with the growth of the early church and persecution of Christians), and the fall of Rome. Thirteen weeks doesn't sound like much time for all that, but we learned a ton! It was an excellent study... but I couldn't have imagined spending more time on the topic than 13 weeks (as some programs do). :001_huh: .

 

First let me remention that i LOVE MFW and often recommend it and I have used multiple cycles. This past year is the ONLY year in which I haven't used it with my older ones (younger did K). So please don't mistake what I am saying. I am not bad mouthing MFW. I was just stating that MFW uses 2 & 1/3 volumes of MOH and that it could be a problem with returning to the cycle should she switch since each volume takes a year to complete. If she uses MOH1 like I did and then wants to do RTR she will have already studied 11 weeks of RTR. (not saying that a review wouldnt' be good and I am sure Marie's plans would be different and therefore not feel like relearning..still something I thought important to point out)

 

I personally do wish that MFW used MOH instead of SOTW. That is just my humble opinion though.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Thank you for the sample of your master outline. This will be very helpful to me in trying to plan history for our upcoming school year. We plan to begin MOH 1 this fall and I also have the Guerber/Miller books and TQ guides to use with it.

 

Another question if you don't mind, Did you just do the mapwork that is provided with MOH or did you use something else?

 

Thank you,

 

Dixie

 

We did the mapwork in MOH. :)

[Dixie]

We did the mapwork in MOH. :)

 

 

Thank you!:)

 

Dixie

[Donna A.]

First let me remention that i LOVE MFW and often recommend it and I have used multiple cycles. This past year is the ONLY year in which I haven't used it with my older ones (younger did K). So please don't mistake what I am saying. I am not bad mouthing MFW. I was just stating that MFW uses 2 & 1/3 volumes of MOH and that it could be a problem with returning to the cycle should she switch since each volume takes a year to complete. If she uses MOH1 like I did and then wants to do RTR she will have already studied 11 weeks of RTR. (not saying that a review wouldnt' be good and I am sure Marie's plans would be different and therefore not feel like relearning..still something I thought important to point out)

 

I personally do wish that MFW used MOH instead of SOTW. That is just my humble opinion though.

 

Oh, I understand! I didn't take your post as bad mouthing at all. I was just offering further explanation to the pp about how RTR is laid out... really as an extension of your post. ;) There is an overlap, you're right. *If* someone who's done MOH 1 is interested in switching to MFW, I might suggest that they just skim through or skip the first 13 weeks of RTR, but then they'd miss a lot of the Bible that's incorporated there. (That's also when the human body study is done for science.) Since Bible in RTR is an overview of the New Testament and reads pretty extensively from Acts (the early church, which is an important part of that period of history directly from the Bible) during those first several weeks, it might be good not to skip that.

 

Just suggestions. :)

[bunnytracks]

((hugs)) I see now what you meant :)

 

I probably should have put in my first post that I am planning to go back to MFW this year. Which is why I know so much about volumes ect. MFW just pulls at my heartstrings and I just can't stay away.

[bess1676]

thank you everyone, i had the same question myself!

[Katiebug_1976]

Thank you all for your replies. I have learned a lot. I'm thinking that since I don't think I could switch away from MFW, that I will try to add MOH to the book basket and use it along with MFW.

 

Thanks so much,