Studies in World History: A Moms of Master Books Review

One of the great blessings I receive from homeschooling my sweet girls is the opportunity to study history through a biblical worldview. Although I was incredibly blessed to have many vocal Christian teachers throughout my public school education, the text books we used were definitely not in support of Christianity. My father passed along his love of history to me and I'm thoroughly enjoying learning alongside my children.

I was really excited to have a chance to review Studies in World History Volume 1 from Master Books (an imprint of New Leaf Publishing) with the Moms of Masterbooks. While my girls are not yet in the target age (Junior High) this is a great resource personally for me as my girls are studying early exploration and ancient civilizations during the first part of the year. I also have plans to use this alongside Heart of Dakota's Creation to Christ with my oldest when we get there later next year.

This volume focuses on Creation through the Age of Discovery. It does have a young-earth perspective which aligns with our family's view about Scripture. I know we are in the minority and counter-culture, but we choose to believe the Bible is literal and historical, looking at all other information through this lens.

I really liked how the book is laid out and that the daily lessons are concise. The first page of each chapter gives and overview and learning objectives which I find helpful when teaching. I like knowing what purpose my kids should have in studying so I can make sure they actually meet those goals. The discussion questions and activities are very age-appropriate for middle school. Some of the activities include discussion questions, writing prompts, map activities, and more.

Dr. James Stobaugh writes in a fluid manner which will keep your students reading. As I mentioned before the lessons are short, no 4-5 page readings as with other history books I've seen! I appreciate that the author recognizes the need to keep daily readings manageable so as not to turn students off before they begin. This is something my girls always want to know, no matter the subject..."How many pages is it?"

Also available with this text book is a teacher's guide filled with more activities, a schedule for the year, and weekly exams. Each exam offers a fill-in-the-blank test and/or an essay prompt. There is also an excellent answer key provided for the discussion questions as well as the test. While I do study with my girls I am so grateful for answer keys. Grading three different grade-levels can be rather time consuming when I have to figure out the answers myself.

 

The best news is...there are two more volumes in this excellent series! Volume 2 studies the New World to the Modern Age and Volume 3 focuses on the New Word to the Present. These are suggested to be used for 7th-9th grades, but I think they could easily be adapted for a younger student as well as older. I also see it as a great general resource to have in your library for research or further study on topics which interested your student.

You can see more about it in the video below!

Disclaimer: I received Studies in World History Volume 1 and the Teacher's Guide  as part of the Moms of Master Books Team. I was not required to give a positive review. I was not compensated in any other way.