VERY NEW to this forum - does anyone use Truthquest History?

[mommysweird]

I just purchased this and would like to know how it works for some of you.

 

--Kim

[PeterPan]

I have the 3 AHYS guides, the ancients guide, and I think the middle ages guide, but it's way too de-structured for me as a thing to implement. I just use it for booklists and then I use VP as our structure. http://www.veritaspress.com

[Kris in Wis]

We love the flexibility! You go through the guides, reading the notes (I assigned them as reading for the older children; paraphrase for the younger), and assigning the reading. True, you need to be able to have book discussions with your children and/or assign written narrations or essays based on the readings. But that, for me, is the fun part!

 

It isn't structured. There's no day-by-day schedule. Some people need that, but our family likes the flexibility to spend more or less time on a topic as we see fit. We're fairly relaxed, as homeschoolers go (but definitely not unschoolers).

 

You don't have to finish each guide in one year. You can skip sections you don't want to cover, or don't feel are important at this time. You can pick and choose from the booklists, or use books from your own or the public libraries. It's really pressure-free history!

 

Yes, the booklists are terrific. But if you don't use the commentary, you're missing a huge and very important part of the program. You'll get insight from the commentary you won't find anywhere else, and all from a conservative Christian perspective.

 

We sometimes use the Think/Write questions, but not always. My area of expertise is English/communications, so I often simply make writing assignments that correspond to the area of history we are studying. Sometimes they are narrative, sometimes persuasive - whatever suits the topic under study.

 

Here is a Yahoo group where you can exchange questions and ideas about TQ. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HIStoryQuesters/ Feel free to join, if only temporarily, to learn more about the program. It will be time well-spent.

 

Blessings,

[mommysweird]

I stumbled across it in another message board while asking questions about Beautiful Feet Books and library use. I was concerned about the lack of structure, too, but I'm going to try and build it into our lesson plans and see what happens. I really was thinking I'd be doing MFW this year (1st grade) but the money didn't come together and I never felt completely sure about it. I've ended up hodge-podging (sp??) and we'll see what happens. A friend told me you can't mess your kids up the first 3 years, so I keep clinging to that hope.;)

[mommysweird]

Thanks for the link and info Kris!! I'll go check out the Yahoo group now. You were posting while I was typing.

[Beth in IN]

I have really learned to love the Truthquest guides, but it took me a few years to grow into them. I think it really scared me at first to use something so "unstructured", but now I really appreciate not feeling the pressure to move off a topic we are really enjoying because someone or something tells me it is time. I really enjoy the extensive list and Michelle Miller's commentaries. If you love reading and so do your kids, this is the way to go.

 

HTH,

 

Beth