![\"soc_01_spotlight\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/398\/2017\/06\/soc_01_spotlight.jpg\")
<\/a>Review by Laura Socks<\/p>\nLast year TAN Homeschool released the first volume of its new history series called The Story of Civilization.\u00a0 <\/em>My family just finished up Volume 1 The Ancient World <\/em>after using it last school year.\u00a0 As a homeschooling mom of 13 years, I\u2019ve always found that the best way to know whether a book is good is to actually use it!\u00a0 Well after using it for this past school year, I have to say that this book is not only good but great!\u00a0 TAN recognized the need for a Catholic history series that uses the one-room schoolhouse model that enables a parent to teach many students of different grades all at the same time.\u00a0 With the wide range of materials that is available in this series, a parent has a collection of many resources to suit each of their children\u2019s ages and needs.\u00a0 To view the many companion components of the series visit TAN Homeschool\u2019s website:\u00a0 www.tanhomeschool.com<\/a><\/p>\n Having personally used the book, I will give a brief overview of how we used The Story of Civilization Volume I The Ancient World.\u00a0 <\/em>I used it with three of my children: 8th<\/sup>, 4th<\/sup>, and 1st<\/sup> grades.\u00a0 My 8th<\/sup> grader read the text herself, watched the lecture online, and then took the test from the Test Book for each chapter.\u00a0 (This was her 2rd<\/sup> time studying ancient history) \u00a0\u00a0With my remaining two students, I read the text to them.\u00a0 They both enjoyed coloring the coloring page from the Activity Book during the chapter reading, and I\u2019d stop during the reading to help explain anything they were struggling with.\u00a0 The maps from the Activity Book were helpful to have during the readings, although a few times I had to pull out a different map from the internet to help clarify something. \u00a0(Many of the maps are the same from one chapter to another.)<\/p>\n The day following the reading we reviewed what we previously reading.\u00a0 The Teacher\u2019s Manual was helpful with this because it contains Questions for Review and Narration Exercises to help bring out the main points of the chapter.\u00a0 My 4th<\/sup> grader with my help would also write two or three sentences on her coloring sheet explaining what the picture is about.\u00a0 By the end of the year, she had a nice collection of coloring pages to assemble into a book and would tell anyone who would listen the story behind each of the pictures!\u00a0\u00a0 Both the 1st<\/sup> and 4th<\/sup> grader would complete the Map Activity from the Activity Book.\u00a0 The Teacher\u2019s Manual contained directions for this activity.\u00a0 The Teacher\u2019s Manual also contained Craft Projects for each chapter, however we did very few of these.\u00a0 In comparison, the Drawing Projects and Mazes were a hit with my kids.\u00a0 We personally never used the audio CD reading of the text, although a friend of mine loved it for her kids as they listened to it while traveling.<\/p>\n We also read TAN\u2019s book The Story of the Bible: Volume I The Old Testament <\/em>along with The Ancient World.\u00a0 <\/em>Many Bible stories were already mentioned in the history text, however with The Story of the Bible<\/em> we were able to delve much deeper into the stories.\u00a0 The younger kids were able to place the Bible stories into the timeline of history we were studying which is something they were never able to do before. \u00a0Just like the The Story of Civilization <\/em>series, The Story of the Bible<\/em> has many resources to reinforce learning.<\/p>\n My kids learned a lot using these books and the many resources that can be purchased with it. \u00a0The text from The Ancient World <\/em>is like reading a continuing story that keeps the kids asking for more.\u00a0 That was TAN\u2019s intent and the author Philip Campbell did a wonderful job writing history in a thrilling and captivating way.\u00a0 My younger kids loved the little narrative stories contained in many of the chapters giving them a chance to see it from the lives of those who lived it.\u00a0 All the different components enabled me to easily find something for each of my kids\u2019 current learning levels.\u00a0 When I use The Story of Civilization: Volume I The Ancient World<\/em> again with them in four years, they will be able to utilize the parts of it we didn\u2019t use this time.\u00a0 TAN has given Catholic homeschoolers a trusted resource that they can use for their students over and over again to give them the much needed foundation in the history of civilization.<\/p>\n
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