Memoria Press History Users Help Me Understand

[Caviar]

For some reason history seems to be the most difficult subject for me to feel at ease with.  I've come to the conclusion that I need a "boxed" curriculum for history, as it just takes too much time and energy for me to put something together myself, or even choose from reading lists, so, I'm taking a serious look at Memoria Press (MP).  I'm not planning on using anything else from MP at this time, but may consider doing so in the future.  Actually, I'm looking at history for next year already, so I'll have a 6th, 5th, and 2nd grader then.  This year we are studying US History as it was more important to me to have my children be familiar with the country in which they live before we go exploring the world.  The year before we did go all the way through Greenleaf's Guide to Old Testament History, so I'm not particularly excited about starting with ancient history, or Egypt and the pyramids, etc.  I wouldn't mind starting with Greece though.  We're approaching our second year of homeschooling, so my children do not have a background in classical studies, and we're not set on that anyway, we're eclectic. 

 

My first questions is this:  Would D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths along with the MP study guide be sufficient for an introduction, instead of getting their whole Introduction to Classical Studies package?  (I have three years of high school Latin and one full year of classical studies in college in my past, so I'm comfortable with pronounciations, etc., and I'm not pushing Latin for my children, just a basics in derivatives and vocabulary I think is plenty - so is their book of roots sufficient for that? or is there a better option?)

 

Next what are the main differences between their "Famous Men Studies" and their books by Dorothy Mills which start with "The Book of the Ancient World, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans...?"  Are these two series of books separate tracks, or are they meant to work in conjunction with each other?  If they are separate, which one is better and more interesting for children to follow?  Also, is there enough geography work in either of these programs to not need their separate geography I or II course? 

 

Thank you for any input that you may have!

[Curlymom]

Hi!  We don't use the complete core, but we do use a lot of MP products.  

 

First off, my daughter is a big fan of the Famous Men series.  She has worked through Famous Men of Rome and Famous Men of the Middle Ages.  Both offer a nice overview of the time period.   We haven't done Greece but based on our experience I'm sure it is great.  Just be prepared that the program is very workbook oriented - read, work on vocabulary, answer questions. 

 

Famous Men does have a little bit of geography, but not a lot - just locations related to the readings.  I think you will want to add in separate geography, either with added world geography map work or the MP Geography books.  

 

As for the Dorothy Mills books, I believe MP schedules those for higher grades.  The Famous Men series is introduced in upper elementary (4th - 6th), and the Mills books are used after that, I think.   Either way, they aren't used concurrently.

 

I don't know about the Classical Studies package, but the D'Aulaire book is a wonderful introduction to Greek mythology.  

[SevenDaisies]

For some reason history seems to be the most difficult subject for me to feel at ease with.  I've come to the conclusion that I need a "boxed" curriculum for history, as it just takes too much time and energy for me to put something together myself, or even choose from reading lists, so, I'm taking a serious look at Memoria Press (MP).  I'm not planning on using anything else from MP at this time, but may consider doing so in the future.  Actually, I'm looking at history for next year already, so I'll have a 6th, 5th, and 2nd grader then.  This year we are studying US History as it was more important to me to have my children be familiar with the country in which they live before we go exploring the world.  The year before we did go all the way through Greenleaf's Guide to Old Testament History, so I'm not particularly excited about starting with ancient history, or Egypt and the pyramids, etc.  I wouldn't mind starting with Greece though.  We're approaching our second year of homeschooling, so my children do not have a background in classical studies, and we're not set on that anyway, we're eclectic. 

 

My first questions is this:  Would D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths along with the MP study guide be sufficient for an introduction, instead of getting their whole Introduction to Classical Studies package?  (I have three years of high school Latin and one full year of classical studies in college in my past, so I'm comfortable with pronounciations, etc., and I'm not pushing Latin for my children, just a basics in derivatives and vocabulary I think is plenty - so is their book of roots sufficient for that? or is there a better option?) The Introduction to Classical Studies covers Christian Studies (The Golden Children's Bible), Greek Myths and Famous Men of Rome. I rarely see someone on the MP Forum recommend using this over Greek Myths and Famous Men of Rome. Most recommend starting at the beginning with D'Aulaires even if as a read-aloud.

 

Next what are the main differences between their "Famous Men Studies" and their books by Dorothy Mills which start with "The Book of the Ancient World, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans...?"  Are these two series of books separate tracks, or are they meant to work in conjunction with each other?  If they are separate, which one is better and more interesting for children to follow?  Also, is there enough geography work in either of these programs to not need their separate geography I or II course? The Famous Men books are a series of short stories about important figures of the time and are scheduled in late elementary. There is some geography in this series, but it is not modern geography.The Mills books are more complete histories and are assigned in the middle years. I have no idea on the geography in this series because we aren't there yet.  

 

Thank you for any input that you may have!

 

You may want to post your question on the MP Forum. The ladies over there are very helpful and will give you lots of suggestions.

[Heidi]

I'm responding to your pm here.  The post that you quoted of me was from last year.  I was in Germany at that time.  I homeschooled for 6 weeks using that line-up and then put the kids into German school because I was too stressed out with my husband deployed and having a baby at home.  We're back to homeschooling this year though, so I would be glad to show you our history line-up.  However, since my two oldest missed a year in our homeschool, they are off-schedule, and I've changed my mind on a few things, like the Synge books, so I'll share what my *ideal* history/geography line up would be.

 

3rd grade: Greek myths, 50 states (homemade)

4th grade: Famous Men of Rome, The Iliad for Boys and Girls (Church), MP's Geography 1

5th grade: 13 Colonies and the Great Republic (this could take 1-2 years), Famous Men of the Middle Ages, The Odyssey for Boys and Girls (Church), Geography 2

6th grade: The Book of the Ancient World (Mills), Famous Men of Greece, The Aeneid for Boys and Girls, Geography 3

7th grade: The Book of the Greeks (Mills), the Book of the Romans (Mills), The Trojan War (MP)

8th grade: The Book of the Middle Ages (Mills), The Book of Renaissance and Reformation (Mills), The Aeneid (MP).

 

I really wanted to hit the middle ages and the renaissance and reformation right before high school because ideally they would study American history next in 9th grade, and I really love the Mills books and want my kids to read them all.  I'm unsure of the Church books; my 4th grader is reading the Iliad one this year and it seems to be going fine.  They are fairly short; a good introduction to the stories I think.

I don't use the workbooks for every MP book.  I try and use just one MP workbook a year so the kids can practice public school skills like answering comprehension questions in compete sentences and looking up vocabulary words and writing the definitions, but for the rest of the books they either write a written narration or give an oral narration from a written 1-level outline.

I like the idea of studying the Classical world (and Latin) in elementary and middle school because it is so foundational to literature/culture and government today.  A sweeping world history study and modern language study will come in high school.

 

[laughing lioness]

I have used MP extensively. There is a good MP FB page, too, including a place to buy and sell.

 

I'd say the main difference between the Famous Men series and Dorothy Mills is that Mills is written for older students. My older, well steeped in history kid has read two, and finds them a bit dry but chock full of info. All of my kids went through the Famous Men series and loved them. As my kids have gotten older I've given away most of our younger curriculum, but Famous Men is one they all wanted to keep. My youngest two pulled out Greek Myths a few years ago (and Norse Myths) and basically memorized them. 

We've done MP's classical studies,too,but you can certainly start with FM. 

I don't think you need the study guide to have a great year, but we've used several of them and have enjoyed them. 

We have often done U.S. history in conjunction with other times periods. 

[Caviar]

Thank you ladies.  I'm off to sign up for the MP FB page!

[KrissiK]

We are doing the classical studies curriculum this year and are enjoying it. I wouldn't consider it a history curriculum. They combine Bible stories as well as stories from Greek mythology and the Famous Men of Rome. I threw in the Aeneid, too for good measure. They do art, timeline studies, Scripture memory and memorizing other stuff. I like it a lot and am glad we're doing it, but we are doing another history curriculum for history. Though I'm considering the Dorothy Mills books for 7th grade for DS next year.