Brimwood Press..Beth in SW WA, How did it go?

[Penny]

Hi Beth,

 

I searched the forums and noticed that your children either are currently or have done the Brimwood Press seminar. I am just about to begin going through the entire 'Tools for Young Historians' with mine. It looks like it is going to be FANTASTIC. How did you like it?

 

Thanks!!

 

Penny

[Hoggirl]

She had a post on the hs board to this effect.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I think Beth's on a board break, but if memory serves, Sister Flaming Sword of Moderation used it one year. Point us to what you've said on the subject, Pam?

[Julieofsardis]

Here's a review I wrote back then:

 

I ordered it before she revamped it a little, so the coloring book wasn't included at that time. I'll try to explain each part and how they fit together.

 

A Young Historian's Introduction to Worldview

 

This was a great overview on worldviews. It explains the basic four worldview families. More than anything I think it helped my dd realize that there were other worldviews, LOL. This could be the basis of a great study on world religions. It can be used totally separate from the other items as it isn't dependent on them. My only caveat is that there are quite a few typos. I just looked over them, but if that kind of thing bothers you, beware! Although I am a Christian, I didn't think that this was overly biased one way or another. It was obvious she tried to be objective.

 

Lessons on Time

 

This is just a brief overview of how time is divided up and how the timeline works. She uses toothpicks in a very creative way to explain all of this. I would say the same objectivity is apparent in this portion. She explains different ways to denote before and after year 1 and also explains different ways to begin your timeline depending on your preferences. This could be used alone or in helping to set up their timeline.

 

Calendar Quest (I have the book)

 

This is a story about how the calendar came into being. It hits on 12 important eras in history, so she uses these as pegs for the dc to memorize for later learning.

 

What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization

 

These are the actual lessons. It is a whirlwind tour of 6000 years of recorded history in 14 lessons. We have been able to do about 3 per week. The Calendar Quest book is the spine. I am really loving this part. After you read a chapter, you do mapwork, timeline work, fill out your hat card, and do some sticker work.

 

The mapwork is similar to what you'd find in SOTW activity guide. The timeline activities are best if you purchase their timeline because it gives explicit instructions on what to do. I really like their timeline, but I don't know how much extra info you could put on it for later use. I haven't decided whether we'll try to use it after the lesson or not.

 

The hat card has a picture of the main ruler for that era with dates and period of history, etc. You put stickers on the back and play a game with them to help you put them in chronological order and to get a brief feel of the important happenings at that time.

 

There are pages and pages of stickers. If your kid likes stickers they would love this program. There are pictures of hats for every prominent ruler down through history. As you go through the lessons, she gives assignments on placing these on the timeline in the proper geographical color. There are also stickers for each main era to place on the timeline. There are more stickers to apply to the back of the hat cards and even within the lesson itself. Lots of stickers.

 

There are also review questions, writing assignments(not extremely creative imho), and suggestions for further study.

 

Scroll Timeline

 

This is the actual timeline. It is 14 feet long, on pretty heavy, high gloss paper. It is about 2 feet wide. It has a strip of white at the top and bottom about 2 inches wide. Then it has strips of, I think, 5 different colors, which represent 5 different geographical regions. It has a place for numbering at the top of the color strips and MORE stickers for the actual numbers. It does roll up like a scroll with dowel sticks attached to each end.

 

HATs

 

This is a really great binder that can be used throughout your dc's history lessons. It is a 2 inch high quality D ring binder with a cool cover and dividers for Ancient, Medieval, Discovery and Modern eras, each of these are divided into the 5 geographic regions and color coded to match the timeline. It also includes a map section and a glossary of terms(I'm wondering when we're supposed to use this as we've not been instructed to do anything with it yet.) The dividers are professionally printed and it's very good quality.

 

Historical Fact Sheets

 

This is a book of forms and a CD-rom with the forms on it. It is similar to others I've seen, but I can't remember where. These are great, too but I'm running out of steam here. Ask if you have questions.

 

This program would be best as a wrap-up to grammar and beginning logic stage. It would review 1st round and set up pegs for learning in logic stage.

 

I highly recommend this program, but do still have the caveat that there are multiple typos and other errors.

 

Please ask if something's not clear -- and forgive me any typos as I've forgiven Marcia Brim.

[Julie]

Penny,

 

My kids went to the class with Beths, and I thought it was outstanding, a very big bang for the buck. For instance, they have a much better handle on the perspective of how our neighbor (a naturalist) thinks. I think grasping the four basic world views will serve them well in the years to come.

 

We just started the What Every Child Needs To Know.......without the timeline. It is the best timeline I have ever seen, but I just could not bring myself to fork out the $$. The kids are enjoying it so far and I am able to tie it in with what we are already doing.

 

Additionally, I bought the novels, have read two of them, they really give you a good look into the perspective of other world views. I am waiting for her study guide for Secret of the Scribe and then the kids will start that. Actually, I am toying with the idea of doing it at a co-op, I think it would be great to have some group discussion.

 

HTH.

[Penny]

Julie and Julie,

 

Thank you! I am very excited about finally beginning this. I wish we could do a seminar with Marcia but I don't have a group big enough interested. But then again, maybe with the World View it will be nice to have more time with my kids alone to explain why we believe what we do.

 

Since you mentioned it, maybe I'll look into getting the novels also. (I bought the entire Tool Kit which does not include the novels. I also bought the timeline and I'm hoping this is our answer to finally doing a continuous timeline. I don't have wall space for one, so the scroll idea may work for us. Just keeping a timeline in a notebook is nice, but I don't feel like the kids are understanding how things integrate.)

 

Thanks and Blessings!

 

Penny

[Beth in SW WA]

Hi Beth,

 

I searched the forums and noticed that your children either are currently or have done the Brimwood Press seminar. I am just about to begin going through the entire 'Tools for Young Historians' with mine. It looks like it is going to be FANTASTIC. How did you like it?

 

Thanks!!

 

Penny

 

Hi Penny,

Thanks for the shout-out.

 

My kids already had a fair amount of worldview ed before the class and didn't feel they learned much "new" information. Marcia seemed great and engaged the kids in the conversation. It was worth $20 per student, for sure.

 

For worldviews, we have enjoyed Know What You Believe by Paul Little. My son does a book study w/ our youth pastor on Friday afternoons w/ this book. We also like The Case For Christ by Lee Stroebel.

 

We are starting Thinking Like A Christian by Summit Ministries soon. I'm hoping to lead this for a youth group class at our church.