Country Girl Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Has anyone used any of her programs? The website looks interesting but I'd love to hear more. What program are you using and for what ages? What parts of the program do you think are essential to purchase? How are you and your dc enjoying it? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 This program, for me, I fear is going to be a bit too loose, however. I cannot tell you how much we LOVE her audio-tapes, though!!!! No matter what I choose for history, we will use these. They are so engaging and so enthusiastic. I actually have her ancients book and we are "trying out" her unit on Greece. The program is basically a student book and a teacher book along with her audio CDs. There are 9 units in each book, so you spend four weeks per unit. Each week is designed to fit a different type of learning style...feeler, thinker, etc. You have to add in additional resources and she suggests many to go with her program. There is map work and timeline suggestions as well as many activity and writing suggestions. Basically, you spend the first week reading the text, listening to the CDs, and reading other books. The second week, the child selects a topic to focus on and does more in-depth research on it. The third week focuses on mapwork, timelines, architecture, art, music, etc. Honestly, I cannot recall the 4th week right now!! It is more "fun" stuff. To me it seems like all the "work" is in the first two weeks and all the "fun" is in the last two weeks. I would say it would work well for 5th grade and up. She does NOT include American History in her program. Like I said, we are trying out a unit right now, but I am already sensing that her whole she-bang isn't going to be quite right for us. For next year, I am leaning toward doing Biblioplan as scheduled for three days a week and then listening to her audios one day a week. As I previously stated, her audios cannot be beat! If you are fine with gathering a lot of your own materials and a program this is looser in structure, I think you will like it a lot. If you are more of a box-checker as I am, I am not so sure. HTH and YMMV! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 There are not solutions to the maps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 We have her Ancients material and CD's. While I think an older child would gleam more from it, it can certainly be used successfully w/ youngers (invest in her Ancients Elementary Act. Book). We, too, LOVE her audios. Diana is such an engaging story-teller. My dc listen to the audio while coloring a coloring page pertaining to the unit. We are doing Egypt and the Exodus right now. I love the way she breaks up the weeks (phases) into different learning modalities. We also use MOH and find the shorter lessons work better for my dc, but we use Diana's material for the audios, activitiy suggestions, etc. I'm saving History Alive! for my dc to use on the second go -round of Ancients (in about 4-5 years). I'll have 2 high schoolers then, a middle schooler and late elementary schoolers. Personally, I think older dc would get the most out of her RICH material. 2 thumbs up for History Alive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginger Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 ...and I listened to sample audio from Modern History. Something must be wrong with me, because I could not get into her story telling..if that is what it is called. She spoke very quickly, her breaths were audible, and I couldn't tell you one thing about what she said. Maybe the material was just over my head--that wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say. But I just felt disappointed in what I had heard because I had high expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah CB Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I listened to one of her Ancient CDs and I couldn't stand it. She was talking about Out of Place Artifacts and that's all fine and good, but many of them aren't proven and there's certainly no Biblical evidence to support the specific things she talks about. Like the spark plug that someone found in a rock close to a Ford factory. She said that it was from ancient times and used the verse from Ecclesiastes 1:9 saying there was "nothing new under the sun" so the spark plug must have come from before the flood and, "Isn't God AMAZING?!!!" I don't like the fact that she was presenting all of this as fact. The sparkplug was discovered decades ago and then conveniently lost. The geologist who "studied" was never named. It really bugs me that she connects God being amazing to all of these things that may or may not be true and are not said to be true in the Bible. What I appreciate in a history book is the author's ability to speculate - as in, "maybe the sparkplug was from before the flood because I believe that when the Bible says that there is nothing new under the sun that it means that every discovery we have now was actually discovered and in use before the flood, but we don't know for sure whether that particular artifact was from that time or not - wouldn't it be amazing if it was?" Not a fan of Diana Waring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I can say that Diana DOES NOT present everything as fact. She talks often of there being soooo much speculation in Ancient History especially b/c of the lack of concrete, written accounts for each and every event, leader, etc. For example, we listened to Egypt and the Exodus yesterday and she often repeats how it's nearly impossible to know for sure which pharaoh was in power during the time of the Exodus, etc. New evidences support a revised timeline and she leans toward it based on that evidence, but repeats that we can't know for sure. I think, in her defense, that no one historian can be perfect. There are many critics of SWB's Story of the World, claiming it utterly erroneous but we must take it with a grain of salt. Personally, I LOVED SOTW and didn't find it to be awful as many critics claimed. I think one must also know Diana's heart and her point of view. She views History as God's story plain and simple. God's hand was there from the very beginning. There's no arguing w/ her about that. While SWB and many others prefer to keep religion OUT of History (and that's her choice and there's nothing wrong with that! I happen to love SWB as much as I do Diana!), saying that they want their reader to have an objective view...Diana's opinion is that you CANNOT keep God out of History b/c HE wrote it. Anyway, so sorry you don't like her material. Another example, she would say, of God being amazing and creating us all so different! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 Wow, thanks to everyone for responding to this. Based on the mixed opinions, I think I definitely need to listen to the sample of the audio myself. I was also thinking of using this with my ds next year for 2nd grade along with the Elementary Activity book. However, from the posts, it seems the heart of the program might be better suited to olders. I'll have to continue to think about this. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Diana's language is much better suited to older dc (4th or 5th+). While youngers can certainly gleam something from it, olders would get so much more out of it. You might want to check out MOH for a 2nd grader. Bite-size lessons, fun activities, classical in nature (Diana's material is not classical in nature), etc. I like both for different reasons. My youngers certainly do better w/ MOH. I'm blessed to have both to work with b/c Diana presents so many interesting questions to ponder for the olders and suggests so many great books, activities, recipes to try, craft projects, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 No matter what we are using for history we always include her cds. I have never used her written materials but I think she is fabulous. My older dd's comment the first time we listened to volume 1 was, "Mom, she cracks herself up a lot". I told her it was just because Mrs. Waring was so enthusiastic about her subject that is just bubbles out.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrykiddos Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 We listen to these in the car and absolutely love them! I was playing them once when I had a friend in the car and she didn't like Diana's storytelling style. Definitely check out the samples and see if it's for you. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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