Penny Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 It was incredibly well done. Marcia is a genius for figuring out how to make this a hands on learning curriculum. My son, who generally dislikes school, said, "Wow. I never knew school could be so fun!" This has been a great tool for understanding history. I highly recommend it. And to think I was terrified to do this! I kept wondering if I were opening a can of worms, explaining what others believe as opposed to what we believe. But now whenever they read a book I can just say, "Well, you know that was written by a naturalist (or pantheist, or polytheist)." The curriculum also goes through individual religions such as Buddists, Hindu, Muslim, Shinto, and many more and the child sorts these according to world view. The first day of the class uses a picture in a special way to explain WV that really is a stroke of genius. I presented all the world views but we are Christians. As you can imagine, I biased my presentation to Christianity but the curriculum is neutral. I expected to have to explain why we don't believe what pantheists, polytheists, and naturalists believe but at this age (11) they really didn't question our beliefs. I know it will come later and I'm glad I prepared myself for it now. They were shocked that Muslims were also monotheists like we are, and I did have to explain the differences in our beliefs. The books I read in preparation for the hard questions were: Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis does a fabulous, intellectual summary of why pantheism and polytheism aren't logical in the end. (No offense to anyone intended...you just have to read it!) World Religions by Halverson - another great summary of world views from an adult perspective. The Case for Christ - This just reminded me of the historical evidence for Jesus as presented in the Bible. The books recommended by Marcia Brimwood to be read to the kids were: Yellow and Pink - Steig The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal Also, I didn't read the stories included by Brimwood Press to be used on the last day of the class. I thought they were too moving (gut wrenching, sad, gory, OK someone give me the right word). One was about the Japanese at the end of WWII and how their world view would not let them surrender even after the first bomb was dropped. It discussed how their world view (influenced heavily by Shintoism) allowed them to die rather than suffer the humiliation of defeat. One of the other stories discussed the Aztecs world view at the time of Cortez. Another Christianity during the time of Nero. Hope this review helps someone! Penny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibrarianMom Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Hi Penny, Thanks for this great review. I have Brimwood Press marked for future use so this first-hand report was great. I was curious what ages your children are and how long it took to work through this curriculum. Did you use this as your main curriculum during this time or in addition to other studies? Do you have any idea of how it compares to other worldview curricula (i.e. Starting Points)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewday Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I love Brimwood Press's products but haven't figured out how or when to incorporate them into our learning yet. I've heard Marcia speak twice and was so impressed both times. She is such an intelligent and perceptive lady. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I agree she is brilliant, I am anxiously awaiting the study guide for Secret of the Scroll to be published, should be any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi Penny, Thanks for this great review. I have Brimwood Press marked for future use so this first-hand report was great. I was curious what ages your children are and how long it took to work through this curriculum. Did you use this as your main curriculum during this time or in addition to other studies? Do you have any idea of how it compares to other worldview curricula (i.e. Starting Points)? I'm sorry I haven't had time to reply to you until now! I think this program is wonderful for a child just entering the logic stage, possibly around 5th grade. ANY age person could use this to learn about basic world views. It is a great starting point to begin the investigation so I hesitate to put an upper age limit on it. The World View took only 4 days to complete. I think that is wonderful. I am going to begin today 'Toothpick Time' which explains our calendar with a very hands on method. When I purchased this I hesitated as to whether we needed to use it or not. But after reading the teachers guide I agree that the concept of our dating system is very complicated most people do not understand it well. After this I'm sure my kids will be the 1 out of a 1000 who really understand it. Toothpick time will take about 3 or 4 days at most. Next week we begin the HATS of History program and assemble the timeline. The scroll timeline is very nice because I wanted a continuous timeline to really illustrate history, but I have no wall space. This is a beautiful answer and a very well done product. We will do Calendar Quest which is another genius product. The study is based around the Calendar Quest book in which two kids travel through history in a refrigerator box and discover how our calendar came to be. Since my kids have a good overview of history, this will really tie it together for them. As much as they know, I am shocked that they have trouble putting it all together. (Not too surprising through since they began Ancients in 1st grade - very young to remember much.) The program is great because it begins with a hands on sorting challenge to put events in order. The answers are not given, but as one goes through the study, one corrects himself. There are many hands on activities and stickers that go with this to reinforce the concepts. I think Calendar Qest will take us a couple of months, because we tend to be slow, taking time to check out every angle. Also, I'm using Marcia's ideas for a notebook to set up ours. She used to sell a beautiful notebooking system but discontinued it I believe due to cost vs demand. I e-mailed her and she sent me the main components of the system and the idea behind it, and I do believe it is the best out there. That has been another wonderful thing about Brimwood; customer service is unbeatable. Marcia has always made herself available to answer questions and give ideas. Hope this helps. There is much more I could write, but it is early and time to get to work. Sorry for the un-edited post! Penny Further answering your questions, No I did not check out other WV pograms. I am using this as my main history curriculum during this time. But as you can see, the entire 'Toolkit for Young Historians' only takes a couple of months if you pace it a little faster. (I'm not really in a hurry.) However, I'm glad it is not a year long program so that we can get on with our other programs after we get a better idea of how things are put together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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