For those who have used TruthQuest History

[BizyPenguin]

I have a few questions:

1) Has this curriculum been a hit or a miss for you?

2) If this has been a miss, why? What did you replace it with?

3) If you've successfully used this, how do you use it? (i.e. Do you add in notebooking, mapwork, require written narrations?)

4) What makes this program better than a free booklist like, A Book in Time?

5) Any other comments?

Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm really trying hard to figure out what we'll use for history next year (6th grade) and I'm leaning heavily towards TQ. FWIW, my other consideration is Winter Promises' new American Crossing program, but it's very expensive and I'm wondering if we'll burn out on all of the hands-on stuff.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I have a few questions:

1) Has this curriculum been a hit or a miss for you?

We've been using the curriculum for the first time this year. and it's definitely been a hit. My kids are enjoying history much more this year.

3) If you've successfully used this, how do you use it? (i.e. Do you add in notebooking, mapwork, require written narrations?)

We do narrations about people and events that I consider important and turn the narrations into booklets for our lapbook. We also do mapwork.

4) What makes this program better than a free booklist like, A Book in Time?

I've found the program to be much more comprehensive in the numbers of topics it covers and the number of books that it recommends than any other booklist that I have used in the past from the internet, catalogs, or even ATTA.

5) Any other comments?

I love the flexibility of the program. We can set our own pace, have the resources to go more in depth on topics that interest my kids, and just read the commentary when I expose the kids to a topic without going in depth. Overall it's been a great fit for us, and we'll definitely use it again next year.

 

HTH

[RhondaM.]

I have a few questions:

1) Has this curriculum been a hit or a miss for you?

2) If this has been a miss, why? What did you replace it with?

3) If you've successfully used this, how do you use it? (i.e. Do you add in notebooking, mapwork, require written narrations?)

4) What makes this program better than a free booklist like, A Book in Time?

5) Any other comments?

Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm really trying hard to figure out what we'll use for history next year (6th grade) and I'm leaning heavily towards TQ. FWIW, my other consideration is Winter Promises' new American Crossing program, but it's very expensive and I'm wondering if we'll burn out on all of the hands-on stuff.

 

It was a hit for us. We used it very lightly for 5th, but for 6th we took our time w/ TQ MA.

 

I made a SL type schedule for the year, printed up Knowledge Quest maps and some notebooking pages and compiled it all in a notebook for him.

 

Besides picking out, buying and reading the TQ great literature, our favorite part was the commentary and the wonderful discussions they sparked between us.

[Julie in GA]

I wanted something to read as a spine, instead of just a list of books loosely held together with comments. Truthquest definitely has strengths, but for me, seeing all of the choices listed with every lesson was very hard. I kept thinking that I needed everything on the list!

 

We have replaced it this year with the Famous Men Series for my 3rd & 6th grade dc. We read out loud & discuss or narrate. Then they put things in their Medieval History Portfolios. We also build a timeline using the Homeschool in the Woods CD figures. Sometimes I have my 6th grade ds read supplemental stuff, or even the corresponding SOTW chapter. He writes descriptive paragraphs about what we've read for his portfolio.

 

When we finish with Famous Men, we will be using the Genevieve Foster books and the Beautiful Feet guide for Year 3 in the cycle (explorers, colonial U.S., early modern period). This guide is designed for middle school/junior high aged students.

 

HTH,

[TeaTotaler]

I have a few questions:

1) Has this curriculum been a hit or a miss for you?

2) If this has been a miss, why? What did you replace it with?

3) If you've successfully used this, how do you use it? (i.e. Do you add in notebooking, mapwork, require written narrations?)

4) What makes this program better than a free booklist like, A Book in Time?

5) Any other comments?

Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm really trying hard to figure out what we'll use for history next year (6th grade) and I'm leaning heavily towards TQ. FWIW, my other consideration is Winter Promises' new American Crossing program, but it's very expensive and I'm wondering if we'll burn out on all of the hands-on stuff.

 

Our experience is based on the three AHYS guides and we have thoroughly enjoyed it. I wanted to spend a little more time on US History so I decided to add in the TQ guides. We have read some fabulous books

listed in the guides. We used it in a very low-key manner. We continued to do narrations, map work for SOTW but just read the books that were listed in TQ. Of course, we did discuss issues as they came up but I did not do any note-booking, writing etc when we covered the additional topics in TQ. I found TQ very helpful because ds is a voracious reader and I wanted a source of books that I could trust. The books are categorized by age and a brief description given so it was helpful in picking books for ds to read without having to pre-read everything.

 

We will be starting our second rotation in the fall and I'm not sure what we will be using. I'd love to stay with TQ but I feel the pressure to have things more structured, to be more focused on just a few books...I don't know...I'm still mulling over things.

 

Hope this info was helpful. If you have any more questions send me a PM.

 

VH

[Pam H]

We absolutely loved TQH! I so admire Michelle Miller. But we were spending too much time reading history. <as I type that, I wonder if that's possible> We decided to get something with more of a schedule. We went with Tapestry of Grace.

[Tami]

I wanted something to read as a spine, instead of just a list of books loosely held together with comments. Truthquest definitely has strengths, but for me, seeing all of the choices listed with every lesson was very hard. I kept thinking that I needed everything on the list!

 

We have replaced it this year with the Famous Men Series for my 3rd & 6th grade dc. We read out loud & discuss or narrate. Then they put things in their Medieval History Portfolios. We also build a timeline using the Homeschool in the Woods CD figures. Sometimes I have my 6th grade ds read supplemental stuff, or even the corresponding SOTW chapter. He writes descriptive paragraphs about what we've read for his portfolio.

 

When we finish with Famous Men, we will be using the Genevieve Foster books and the Beautiful Feet guide for Year 3 in the cycle (explorers, colonial U.S., early modern period). This guide is designed for middle school/junior high aged students.

 

HTH,

 

 

Would you mind clarifying? Every TQ guide we have used DOES include spine reading. The guides I have even schedule the Famous Men and Genevieve Foster series. I don't understand your comment that TQ doesn't have a spine. We have used TQ Rome, Middle Ages, Reformation, AHYS I, and AHYS II, and all of them have a spine running throughout.

[Tami]

And it does not compare to the free booklists. TQ is more comprehensive in the coverage of topics that any curriculum I have seen, including SL or TOG. It is very in-depth. Of course, you are free to choose what you deem most important to cover.

 

For main topics there is a spine such as Famous Men or This Country of Ours. We have used that as a read-aloud and as a basis for notebooking and map work. There is Christian commentary, and I have found it extremely helpful to tie in Christian thought with the living books. Mostly, I read the commentary for myself, and use it as informally as we discuss things during the week. I will also throw suggested TQ books from the library in the book basket, and I have her read books of choice for 30 minutes per day.

 

There are also minor topics. For these, I have mainly checked out library books from the booklist and thrown them into the book basket. Often times, these are high interest topics such as "Civil War Photography" or "Civil War Animals" that most lists and textbooks don't even touch! My dd loves these and reads about them on her own time. I don't require narration or notebooking...but usually narration comes naturally when they are enjoying the books!

 

Basically, I have read-aloud time from a spine 2x a week and notebooking/geography 1x a week. THen, I have dd read from the book basket every day for 30 minutes. She chooses her books, and there are only worthy choices in the basket. We discuss naturally, and I use notebooking or projects as an assessment and record of what dd has learned. I also keep a list of books read.

 

TQ seems to work best for moms who really want a true literature approach and want depth of coverage over hurrying through. I don't see the need to rush through, but would rather enjoy the ride! TQ is great for kids who like and need choices and freedom in their schooling. I don't see TQ working as well for those who really want to stay on a strict 4-year rotation or for those who don't tend to be sold on a literature approach.

 

As far as scheduling, it's easy to make your own weekly routine. I have chosen to schedule spine reading and let book basket reading be a little ahead or a little behind of where my read-aloud is. That wey, dd can pursue topics that most interest her, and I never feel "behind."

 

HTH!

Tami

[Julie in GA]

Yes, let me clarify this. I bought one of the Guerber books to be my spine, but wanted to be able to read straight through it. Truthquest has you read only certain chapters, making the Truthquest guide the "actual" spine (i.e., the book that holds everything together). The comments provided were written in a very casual style (sort of like MOH) and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to read this out loud to my dc, or what. Then, the Guerber turned out to be a bit dry for my younger ones, so I switched to "Famous Men" and love it.

[Tami]

Yes, let me clarify this. I bought one of the Guerber books to be my spine, but wanted to be able to read straight through it. Truthquest has you read only certain chapters, making the Truthquest guide the "actual" spine (i.e., the book that holds everything together). The comments provided were written in a very casual style (sort of like MOH) and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to read this out loud to my dc, or what. Then, the Guerber turned out to be a bit dry for my younger ones, so I switched to "Famous Men" and love it.

 

 

Gotcha! Yes, I actually prefer to use my spine to organize our studies as well. I will schedule a couple sections of read-aloud from the spine per week and cover whatever TQ topics correlate.

 

So, I do TQ in the order of my spine. This helps me to easily choose what to cover as my "main" topics.

 

Of course, TQ isn't for everyone, I just wanted to share that I actually agree with you and found a way to modify TQ a bit.

[BizyPenguin]

Gotcha! Yes, I actually prefer to use my spine to organize our studies as well. I will schedule a couple sections of read-aloud from the spine per week and cover whatever TQ topics correlate.

 

So, I do TQ in the order of my spine. This helps me to easily choose what to cover as my "main" topics.

 

Of course, TQ isn't for everyone, I just wanted to share that I actually agree with you and found a way to modify TQ a bit.

 

Tami, I think your spine for American history was Hakim's 'History of Us', right? So, are you saying that you'd pick one of Hakim's books as your spine and then go to the TQ guide to see which books fit in with the current Hakim book your dd was reading? If so, did you skip the sections in the TQ guide that had nothing to do with your spine book? While I'm at it, I know you guys do the book basket method for history/TQ, but what do you use as a way to make sure your dd is comprehending and retaining what you read about? If I remember correctly, you're not necessarily having her do a scrapbooking history page every Friday anymore. Are you just doing oral narrations, written narrations, or discussions? Thanks in advance Tami.

[Tami]

Tami, I think your spine for American history was Hakim's 'History of Us', right? So, are you saying that you'd pick one of Hakim's books as your spine and then go to the TQ guide to see which books fit in with the current Hakim book your dd was reading? If so, did you skip the sections in the TQ guide that had nothing to do with your spine book? While I'm at it, I know you guys do the book basket method for history/TQ, but what do you use as a way to make sure your dd is comprehending and retaining what you read about? If I remember correctly, you're not necessarily having her do a scrapbooking history page every Friday anymore. Are you just doing oral narrations, written narrations, or discussions? Thanks in advance Tami.

 

 

Hi StacyTea,

 

I don't have a lot of time to post, but you might want to check out a PDF copy of one of the schedules at my blog. No, I don't schedule certain books, but just lined up Hakim and TQ topics.

 

See my above post about less important and how we handled that with the book basket.

 

Some form of narration is always done, whether oral, scrapbook page, projects, or whatever else we can think of. I consider this vital because it is active learning. However, I don't like to do the same thing week in and week out so I mix it up. Our spine book is formally narrated in some form every week.

 

Narration of book basket books - happens naturally. WHen dd is excitedly telling me about the finer points of the book she is reading, I have no doubt she is comprehending it. A child cannot tell what she don't know.

 

Sorry to be so brief, but I am out the door.

 

I'd say that if you are on the fence, you may want to join the TQ yahoo group and they can help you with many specifics. The address is at the TQ website.

 

HTH!

[BizyPenguin]

Hi StacyTea,

 

 

See my above post about less important and how we handled that with the book basket.

 

 

HTH!

 

I totally missed that post of yours! I'll go read it now and thanks for your input. I'll check your PDF file on your blog later today. Have a good day!

 

Editting to add: Tami you make TQ sound so so wonderful!! Your post was very helpful for me. With so much traditional stuff in our homeschool, I long for freedom and relaxation in at least one subject area. I absolutely hated history in school. It was dry, boring, and so very text-booky. All I remember is having to memorize a bunch of dates and facts which never really stuck. For this reason, I want to make sure history is lively, interesting, and enjoyable for my ds. *I* also want to get something out of it, since I never retained much during my school years. One thing that also appeals to me about TQ is that it's very inexpensive compared to so many history programs out there. I was thinking that using TQ and adding in something like Time Travelers or History Pockets might be fun. Have you had success with any hands-on projects like these? I joined the TQ yahoogroup a while back, but never posted. Perhaps I'll post some of my questions there as well. Again, thanks a bunch for your input. I really appreciate it. I'm about 99% sure we'll go with TQ in the fall. All the best!

[Pensguys]

bump

[hose]

I had a hard time finding a lot of the books at the library.

[Tami]

I had a hard time finding a lot of the books at the library.

 

Just a note on this subject. TQ is not book-specific. If I don't find the specific book listed, just running a Subject Search turns up a ton of titles. If nothing comes up, which is rare, we will simply read the spine or a Wikipedia article.

 

: )

Tami

[claussenpc]

We use TQ alongside SL. My children and I enjoy the commentary.

 

It is a hit here.

[fulytymewyfe]

We used it for 4 years and LOVED IT! It worked well w/my younger children. We did notebooking and narration using Hold That Thought. As my children have gotten older, we switched to Tapestry of Grace b/c I needed something that streamlined a number of subjects. I DON'T regret using TQ for those 4 years, though. Michelle Miller has such wonderful commentary in there!

hth.

[kjol]

I know this is an old thread but I was wondering what the name of Tami's blog is thats mentioned. Thanks you