TruthQuest vs Veritas Press Self-Paced History

[Baseballboysmom]

I am stuck between these two curriculum choices. I have 2nd & 4th grade boys. One likes the idea of Veritas videos & the other likes the idea of living books & notebooking. I can't decide if we would rather dive deep into American history with Truthquest or Creation & Old Testament with Veritas Press. I would really love input from those who have tried them.

Edited May 30, 2016 by Baseballboysmom

[Baseballboysmom]

Anyone? 😊

[SoCal_Bear]

Perhaps you can do VP with both and fill in with books pulling from a list like this? http://homescool-ed.blogspot.com/2007/04/sonlight-books-arranged-by-well-trained.html

 

For the one that likes notebooking and books, he could create a history notebook as you go along and fill in with literature selections? I actually use 3 history programs and sync them with Veritas Press. SOTW has had many literature and history book selections in the activity guide. There's lots of books in there for enrichment. 

 

[Another Lynn]

I have friends whose kids love VPSP.  We tried it here a couple times and my kids didn't.  I don't think it's something someone can tell you if it will work for you or not until you try it (if you decide to.)  I also had a couple Truthquest guides years ago.  I like it in principle, but I had a hard time deciding how long to spend on what topic and when to move on.  I guess I like a little more structure - a spine like SOTW (or other) and then for some reason it's easier for me to tweak and decide to spend longer on something or not.  If you like a looser schedule, TQ might be great for you.  Several years when I tried something and it flopped, I just went right back to SOTW or CHOW and extra books and salvaged the rest of the year.

 

Not sure if that's helpful, lol.   :)  

[Ewe Mama]

i used TQ with some of my kiddos, Early American 1 and Medieval/Middle Ages. I, too, had a difficult time knowing when to move on from a given topic. Everything looks so important, I didn't know what to skip over. I must admit, I also got a bit weary of the ongoing commentary about God's presence throughout all of history. I had no problem with the fact that it was there, and I agree with her, but I just got tired of her making all the connections and pointing it out, rather than letting the kids make the connections for themselves. A little bit is great, but a steady diet put me off of it. If I'm raising my children in a godly manner, I am making sure they can see God's presence, so we don't need to have it pointed out constantly. Other families might appreciate it, and it is great in many ways, but I chose to set it aside and use something else.

 

We tried the VPSP as a free trial, but my kids didn't really enjoy it. Often it seemed as though the lessons were emphasizing something that didn't seem terribly important and kind of glossing over the more important points. We only used it for a couple of weeks a few years ago, but that is what stood out in my mind.

 

We are currently using Biblioplan and have been very pleased with it.

[SnowWhite]

I used TQ Amer History for the Young Student 1 and 2 with my eldest, and Beginnings with both my older two sons.  Then eldest did Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome for the second semester of eighth grade.  I will be using Age of Revolution 1 with him for 10th grade (I had wanted to do the Middle Ages and Renaissance/Reformation for ninth, but he ended up being too bogged down with cottage school assignments, so I just tweaked HOD Res2Ref for him).  I have no experience with VP, so I can't speak to that.

 

The way I manage the planning is to go through the guide and pick titles we will do. I don't care at all whether we touch on all the topics.  I frequently compare the list of books I've chosen to other curriculum providers' lists for the same time period in history.  I will visit the websites of Sonlight, Winterpromise, Heart of Dakota, Build Your Library, and My Father's World to see whether I have missed anything crucial.  Once I have a set of books chosen, I schedule them out through the year using scholaric.com online planner.  Usually I have a "spine" book, a read-aloud, and a reader going all the time.  I also read aloud the commentary, and assign the Thinkwrite work, often having it done orally.

 

If you can't decide between Old Testament/Ancient and American, one popular option with Truthquest is to use the Beginnings guide as "Bible" time and study it alongside American simultaneously.  Beginnings is super thick, and covers the time period of the Old Testament, so much of the content is Biblical anyway.  We did that, during the TQ Amer History for the Young Student 2 study.  Beginnings could actually be spread out over three years if you wished.

Edited June 4, 2016 by SnowWhite

[PeterPan]

Well I used the TQ guides for years as book lists to fill in our VP (print materials) studies.  Then, when the self-paced came out, dd worked through all those at a very accelerated rate.  Like she did 2-3 a year.  The self-paced did certain things better than I could have, so it brought some of that repetition, mapping, etc. that was really nice.  

 

My strength is the hand them a pile of books thing.  I'm actually a really lousy history teacher, lol.  I would read her the card, hand her a pile of books, walk away.  She's going to minor in history and loves it, so apparently I didn't stunt her too much, lol.  At the time, for where I was, TQ didn't have enough structure for me.  Now I *get* it and could relax and maybe go with it, but not really.  I still just like a lot of structure.  

 

My ds has significant learning disabilities (and is wicked bright!), so I haven't decided what I'll do.  He can't understand the language on the VP self-paced.  It was surreal to watch it with him and see such a different response, when my dd had LOVED the VP self-paced so much.  It's just too language-based for him, with his disabilities.  It focuses on things that aren't going to be strong for him (memorizing facts) and doesn't have the depth he enjoys on other things.  And yet for my dd, who like I said LOVES history and was considering a double major but has whittled it down due to no time in her main program, VP was perfect.  It just depends on the kid and what is intriguing to them and what adds to their understanding.  For my dd self-paced filled in the cracks of memory work and basics that I hadn't done well.  My ds isn't ready for those basics, so he's better of watching History Channel, listening to read-alouds, etc. and extracting what he can.  I have books of activities to use with him to be more kinesthetic.  I *may* end up using SOTW with him to give us some structure.  My dd abhored, hated, detested SOTW, probably for the very reasons that it works for my ds, lol.

 

You could:

 

-use TQ as your spine but add in the VP cards as you come to them

-use TQ sections as the correlate to the cards.  

-use TQ and self-paced and not try to merge them

-use TQ but do self-paced later, at double pace.  A day's chunk of self-paced is only like 20 minutes, because they assume you'll be doing other things.  (reading, projects, etc.)  

-use VP self-paced but plug in your TQ books

 

Many of my dd's favorite books at that age came from the TQ guides.  Unfortunately, they *tend* to be older, oop books, so you're going to find yourself wanting to buy things.  I think, and this is just me, that it's really insane.  The sanest, most sensible way to use the TQ guides at this point, at least with the library *I* have access to, is to take the guide, sit down at that section of the library for juvenile non-fiction (pony express, pilgrims, whatever you're studying) and use the books that are there.  

 

I also really like the American Girl guides btw.  See what your library has.