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Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I loved doing a review of what every child needs to know about Western Civilization.

My obsession with wanting to teach history creatively stems from a quote I read by H.G. Wells.

“Narrow history teaching of our school days was mainly an uninspiring and partially forgotten list of national kings or presidents.“

Avoiding uninspiring lists and meeting the challenge of dodging inside-the-box history curriculum has not always been easy.

So I was happy to review What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press.

I will just tell you now that I won’t hide my obvious preference for this curriculum.

It fills a much needed niche in the homeschooling community, but it is so much more than a history curriculum. More on that in a minute.

What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press

I glanced through all the fascinating and detailed pictures.

The BrimWood press bundle I received included:

  • 1 Guide: What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization.
  • 1 Calendar Quest which is a historical narrative.
  • 1 Color the Western World.

I am especially giddy about this curriculum.

It is the first one that I have used that covers history in broad strokes.

How broad? Well, in just 12 – 14 lessons you cover 5,000 years of history.

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press

I had to read that twice. I might add there are 2 more lessons, but one is an introduction and one is a review.

Details can be fascinating, but they can get in the way too.

Not all details are necessary to understanding and grasping the full picture. Sometimes it just does not matter. I think kids know that too.

Middle School Homeschool History

I have covered history through unit studies, through a four year cycle and through the eyes of individuals that lived in each time period, I couldn’t wait to get started using it.

This teaches a story of how the calendar came to us which is how What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization teaches. Clever.

As the fictional characters, Lindsie and Evan travel through time in a refrigerator box, Tiny eagerly tuned in,

Strangely enough Father Time always seems to be around to explain about how a seven day week came to us or how the constellations were located in the sky.

It didn’t hurt either that Mr. Awesome joined us for this review and read aloud to us. I highly recommend using your highschooler for a read aloud if you have one.

I am happy that my high school teen joined us for this review .

It allowed me to evaluate how extensive it was for him a high school teen.

Homeschool History

With the additional activities listed in the manual that include research, questions concerning worldview, introduction to the traits of each civilization and the contributions made by each civilization, I certainly think that a novice or highschooler could use the manual to discover them.

Too, if you have highschooler who is burned out on history, then using the manual can breathe life back into your day.

The wide scope that it covers keeps it so not intimidating.

As for the reader or Calendar Quest, it is written to an elementary age child. 

However, there were some characters along Lindsie and Evan’s trek that Mr. Awesome and I had obscurely heard of. Discovering those vague history characters was an unexpected benefit of Mr. Awesome reading to Tiny. 

Mr. Awesome claimed the reader was too young for him and it was, but then again, it is right on grade level like the publisher claims for using with a younger child. Tiny enjoyed the humor in the reader and I found a way for my older child to join us.

What I love about What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization.

Like I mentioned before, it is so much more than a history program. Listing both the history features that I loved and the other things, I don’t want to miss giving you any nifty detail.

  • I find the lesson plan layout very useful. You know my obsession with expecting a lot from a teacher’s manual and how some manuals are nothing more than an answer sheet. This is an excellent and well organized manual or guide with practical tips. You see exactly how to cover each lesson.
  • One more significant point about this manual is that it is BOTH teacher and student guide. You use it with ALL of your children. Thank you BrimWood Press for understanding that we are teaching multiple ages of children and that we try to avoid insanity by not using 3 or 4 different teacher’s manuals.
  • Use this one manual for multiple ages of children. By the way when I find a curriculum like this that I can use with multiple ages of children, I try to divide the price by the number of children using it so I can see what I am actually paying for each child per year. Then divide it again into half because it is both teacher manual and student manual to get a true cost. That is how I arrive at the value of a curriculum that I use with multiple children.

Teacher Manual Features

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press
  • I’m not done yet with the manual because it is so comprehensive and I have to tell you about the layout. The first page of the lesson has a box called Teacher Preview and another one called Objectives. Oh YES – I am in organization bliss! Give me a purpose for the lesson and I have a direction for the day.
  • Here is another sweet bite on this program because you know I said it was so much more than a history program.  It has geography and a snip of language arts too. This especially feeds my desire to teach out of the box because I can include any subject I want to and apply those subjects when I teach about a topic. It’s more meaningful to include details when they are wanted.

Teaching Helps

  • The next part of the lesson is called History in a Nutshell. It includes information on the significant contributions of that time period along with instructions on coloring the stickers for the younger kids that are included in this curriculum. Information on filling out the 14 Hats of History which are the 14 periods you are striving to memorize is included in this section. Several lessons include helpful background information of that time period. You do not have to research extra information if you do not want to because it is included. This part appeals to me so that I can determine if those foundational pegs or key events are covered when teaching that time period. This part is the reason I see this manual being practical too for the first time history teacher or student who finds history boring and wants just the general sweeping ideas.
  • Between the stickers and Color the Western World coloring book there is plenty to choose from for both your younger and older children.

History in Broad Strokes

  • Key events that you add on the back of the cards and details that you fill in on the front of each card as you go along help to solidify the timeline of history. We followed along in each lesson plan as you are encouraged by the curriculum to try to put your hats in chronological order. By using both the front and back of the card, your kids come away with a fresh, unique and overall picture of history. Certainly, a doable goal to memorize all 14 time periods. This is a refreshing change from all the details that you may be teaching when using a four year history cycle curriculum.

I won’t be giving up my copy of What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization any time soon as I plan on using this for years to come.

It is a keeper in my home, and I plan on going over it again both as a standalone history curriculum and to use as a review tool.

My boys still need to see the flow of history and a way to tie it all together.

I tend to be organized overboard when it comes to details because we love history, but I restrained myself from delving into them like the curriculum suggested because it defeats the purpose of what I am trying to do.

Don’t pitch your slow moving curriculum, just use What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization when you want to take it up a notch.

Thank you BrimWood Press as I confess my absolute love and bias for a one of kind history program.

Where to Buy What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization and Product Facts at a Glance.

Product Name: What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization, Calendar Quest and Color the Western World.

Ages: 5th – 8th grade, but I see a practical use for highschoolers who struggle with history.

Type of Product:  Physical product.

What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization is an awesome homeschool history program covering history in broad strokes. You’ll love how quickly you can cover 5000 years of history in a few weeks. Check it out at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

You’ll love these other history helps:

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS UNIT + MINIBOOK ON THE BABYLONIANS & HAMMURABI

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have the next minibook ready for the Ancient Civilizations Unit.

The Babylonians & Hammurabi Minibook

Download minibook here.

This 3 tab book is about The Babylonians & Hammurabi. We took a little longer on this book because I wanted the boys to compare men’s laws to the superior laws of God. Like my other mini books, I have a few facts if you want to use them and one copy that is blank if you prefer to add your own facts and content.

Here are some links you might find useful:

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies Page.

Edsitement. Has a large fleshed out section on questions and background information.

Here is a powerpoint with some nice colorful maps and pictures of the places we have been studying in this unit. Be sure to look it over because we are still clicking and reading on this site.

Highlighting a few features about each of these civilizations keeps it from being too overwhelmed with details which was my goal on doing this unit.

Ancient Civilization Lapbook Collage

I always plan on the folder where the minibooks go. It doesn’t mean this is the only way to arrange the books, but I created this to show you where I intended that the minibooks be placed. Today you have up to  book  5.

Hugs and love ya,

 

For my newer readers that missed the previous minibooks, I am linking those below:

Celtic Cakes Recipe – Ancient Mesopotamia Minibook

Ancient Civilization Unit – Free Ancient Egypt Minibook

Ancient Civilizations Unit – Printable Minibook on Sumer + New Brimwood Curriculum

Free Minoan and Mycenaean Minibook

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We have been putting the final touches on our unit study for the ancient Maya. We started off our discussion on Meso-America and narrowed our interest down to the ancient Maya.

Free Ancient Maya Lapbook and homeschool unit study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I want to focus more on the Aztecs but Mr. Awesome and Mr. Senior 2013 are throwing out other topics for our next unit study topic.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

Tiny still likes this topic so we haven’t settled on our next unit study. Too, I think we may focus some on our new curriculum we just got. It’s hard for us to stay away from a good unit study for long so maybe the change to cooler weather will make them decide on a topic.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

In most unit studies we find an abundance of hands-on things to do but for this topic they really were focused on reading. However, we did find some hands-on things in the book Amazing Maya Inventions You Can Build Yourself that we liked.

We spent quite a few days learning about the tzolk’in calendar, also called the Sacred Round. It wasn’t as easy as the Maya made it look to line up the two circles for the calendars side by side.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

{tzolk’in calendar. pic att and link to learn about it.}

But we did manage to make two circles like the book said and followed the directions but I am not so sure we managed to use it like they did. It made us appreciate the advancements they made in math, building and a written language.

I added this calendar circle as a minibook in the lapbook. So here it is, the next lapbook for you. It has 9 minibooks.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

Then of course you know I have to make something for you to  put on the outside of your lapbook for a cover in case you don’t have wild hair and want to create one. So here are two cover choices.

Remember too all of my minibooks or downloads are usually kept separate and not one big HUGE download. I do this because it helps to keep organized when you can pick/choose what you want to download or keep on your computer.

Also, I do it this way because you may prefer to notebook and you can use individual minibooks and decorative pieces from the front cover to create your own notebooking pages. It is rare that I do one huge download. Just letting you know there is a method to my madness.

I made a few organizational changes to our school area this year and am ready to share that with you next. Here is a glimpse of one area I had to redo. I FINALLY got my teacher’s manuals for history and other subjects in a notebooking system I heart. I will have my pictures to share on the small but meaningful changes made to our area.

organization homeschool binders

You know I heart quotes each day. I find this one inspirational today as I think about you and the countless other educators as we daily give to our kids. Also, I was talking in my workshop Monday night how you do give up some things to homeschool but they seem so insignificant now when you see the blessing of your children. {sappy moment thought}. It just made me think of this today.

The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”

~ Kalu Kalu~

How to Get the Free Lapbook Maya and Free Notebooking Pages

Now, how to grab the free maya lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access to my subscribers library and this freebie.

However, not all my freebies are in the library (wink).

I like to keep up to date with what is valuable to you so I can give you more, some freebies you must sign up again on the form below even if you are already a follower.

And it’s the only way I have of freely delivering them to you. Just follow the steps below.

► 1) Sign up on my list.
► 2) Go to your inbox and confirm your email from the automatic reply I sent you. If you’re already a confirmed subscriber, you will not have to do this. You’ll receive the freebie instantly.
 ►3) Last step. look for my reply AFTER you’ve confirmed your email.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have a FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints. Also, you’ll love my free FBI American History Free Unit Study for more ideas.

I can’t wait until the first of the year to start sharing with you what we have been doing on our newest unit study.

I knew when the boys decided to study about the FBI that it was going to be a longer study because of how many sub-topics we had listed.

It has taken us more like 6 weeks instead of the normal 4 weeks pace that I try to stick with. Taking fingerprints was a pretty easy experiment to tie in with this study.

Prior to fingerprinting, the Bertillon system of measuring offenders was used in identifying criminals.

Mr. Senior 2013 likes anything pertaining to learning about civil or criminal law so this topic made for a nice day or two to spend reading about it.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

It wasn’t until July 1, 1924 that the FBI begin to manage fingerprint files for the nation under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover. 

Prior to that time it took as long as 20 to 30 minutes to measure an offender. 

Interesting enough you could see where persons of the same race and similar build were being convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Gradually, the FBI expanded their knowledge to include being able to detect latent fingerprints by laser. Latent fingerprints are prints left at the scene of a crime which can’t be seen to the visible eye.

The Bureau goes from using a very antiquated system like the Bertillon system to using state of the art lasers to detect marks.

Once they utilized technology they didn’t stop using it.

So we started gathering what books and magazines we have at home to continue studying about law enforcement and technology too.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

We pulled out some magazines that we love. How it Works is a British magazine that has so many facts, beautiful illustrations and tons of information in each one.

Do you use any of these?  Pricey, but we love these magazines and they are keepers around our house as we collect them.

The one about robots has facts in it about self destructing memory sticks and an explanation about how handcuffs work.

Chain, keyhole, ratchet and pawl are all parts of a handcuff.

Then we couldn’t wait any longer and had to go ahead and get started on something hands-on. I always grab my basic “go to books” that have been with me for years.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

These books,  How the _____ Works are made by Readers Digest. I know, crazy, but they have been timeless while I have schooled and still have experiments we haven’t done yet.

In How the Body Works is an experiment on making fingerprints that my oldest boys did when they were Tiny’s age, so we knew right where it was.

Tying in a spy or detective element makes it even better.

So the objective to this experiment wasn’t just to study the types of fingerprints but to see who “moved the glass”.

Understanding the three main patterns called whorl {spirals}, arches and loops and the percentage of people in the world who have them makes for a great math assignment for your older kids.

……{Arch}…………………. Loop………………………….Whorl……………..

In the prints encountered approximately 25% – 35% are whorls,  5% -10% are arches and 65% – 70% are loops.

If you had a co-op group or even in your own family, do the percentages.

Obviously the more kids you have the longer it will take to figure out the percentage. It makes for a fun way to apply some math skills

EXPERIMENT 1 FORENSIC SCIENCE FINGERPRINTS

After reviewing all of that, Tiny gathered all the supplies for our fingerprints.

  • sheet of colored paper
  • wide double-sided tape
  • talcum powder
  • magnifying lens
  • soft graphite pencil
  • spoon
  • felt-tip pen
  • glass
  • ruler
  • scissors
  • soft brush {uhmm clear throat here. Yes that is another one of my make up brushes that bit the dust.}
  • craft knife
FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

While I do encourage all of you to have a high school senior set up and lead your experiment, I know it is not always possible to have one on hand.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

I am telling you I have soaked up every minute we have had this year as I sit back and let him run things. Now that we are almost  to 2013, I have such mixed emotions about his pending graduation.

After adding the double sided tape to your grid on the paper, mix the powder and some scraped graphite, Senior style.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

Then get everybody’s finger prints on the top grid after they take a dip in the graphite. (Walk away. Enjoy a cup of coffee, blog, go exercise, go read as your Senior has this one under control.)

After all the fingerprints are taken, label which prints belong to whom. Then have your youngest sleuth leave the room so you can determine who will be the offender and pick up/move the glass.

Have your criminal move the glass so that his fingerprints only are on the glass.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

You usually have to wait some time until the oil returns back to your skin, or you can cheat like we did and add some oil to your fingertips.

Crazy kid. My sleuth leaves the room and comes back with his best sleuthing outfit. A must have to solve this crime. Tell me he is not soaking this up as he walks back into the room.

Of course the more sleuthing paraphernalia you have the better.

Use the mix of powder and graphite for the dusting powder.

Identify the prints and match to your premade grid.

Find your offending party.

With a little cheating “help” {oil on the offending party’s fingertips} so that we could do the experiment all at one time, it made for a morning of learning about forensics fun. My older boys want to do this with iodine fuming too.

FBI Unit Study Experiment 1 Forensic Science Fingerprints

I’ll be sharing our second hands on activity soon. Have you tried an easy or not so easy version of fingerprint matching before?

You know my obsession with quotes too. I love this one about fingerprints, such a terrific science lesson we had about them.

I love old books. They tell you stories about their use. You can see where the fingerprints touched the pages as they held the book open. You can see how long they lingered on each page by the finger stains.

~Jack Bowman~

 

 

How to Make Celtic Cakes -Recipe for Hands-on History

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Your kids will love making this Celtic cakes recipe. 

Celtic Cakes Recipe

How to Make Celtic Cakes -Recipe for Hands-on History

I finally started doing some spring cleaning around the house. I seem to have a longer list this year so I have a hodgepodge of things going on around here.

So we will be taking our time studying the Ancient Civilization Unit because we have been doing spring cleaning and have been spending time outside.

There are so many ancient civilizations to focus on but in going over this with Tiny and Mr. Awesome again, we have been focusing on Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and Greece so far.

Even though we have covered this before, the older the kids get the more they appreciate about each civilization.

Also we didn’t really talk too much about the Celts when they were younger other than to appreciate their illuminated manuscripts because there is a lot of paganism associated with the culture.

To be completely objective though, the more in depth you study any civilization you realize that a lot of them have some pagan roots associated somewhere.

Don’t forget to check out Home School In the Woods for hands-on project.

You have to sort through and pick the things like art or influences on our language that made changes, good or otherwise and discard the other things about their culture that focused on pagan things.

We decided to make something in the kitchen this time to start off our study.

The boys looked up some recipes of what they wanted to make or should I say something they thought would taste good.

I love the way they sneak in baking something good to eat and call it history.

I could tell when Mr. Awesome showed me the recipe on Celtic cakes that it might taste a little flat and uninspiring but he was insistent on making them because he loves oatmeal cookies.

I think he thought he was making something similar. We have much drama in our house when the boys cook. Every step in the process has to be “attacked”.

How to Make Celtic Cakes -Recipe for Hands-on History

Download recipe card here.

The Celtic cakes were much more like a flat bread that is well, flat.

The boys put some sugar and cinnamon in them too. A little sugar never hurts and after they were baked, they ate them with honey. T

he Celts believed in staying fit; if they ate this, they would.

The Celt influenced European art and history even though they are probably less talked about in ancient civilizations.

We like to read/talk about some civilizations that are not so well known. At the height of their civilization they stretched from the  Atlantic to Asia Minor, from northern Europe to the Mediterranean Coast.

The Celts were a collection of tribes instead of just one group. The World Book says: The Celts expressed their artistic genius in such arts and crafts as metal work, sculpture, and ceramic pottery. Celtic artists excelled in decorating objects. They used beautiful combinations of curved lines and spirals that were based on natural forms such as plants, animals and birds. Irish monks used these patterns to illuminate (decorate) manuscripts.

I think what we found fascinating in reading about them was that not only did they have an imposing physique because of what they ate but they would mix chalk and water and add to their hair to make them ferocious looking.  It was like plaster-cast hair.

How to Make Celtic Cakes -Recipe for Hands-on History

Here is a statute of a dying Gaul where the warrior’s hair was replicated to look like that.

Interesting enough Hannibal enlisted their help because their appearance  with long mustache and spiked hair struck fear into their enemies. I think we may have to include a minibook about them in our unit.

Today though I have included our minibook on Ancient Mesopotamia. I want to round out our study a little more about that area.

Download Mesopotamia minibook here.

You know how my brain works. I tend to think in terms of “projects” when we do our unit studies.

So I think instead of throwing the lapbook to you all at one time, I will back up and share a minibook or two as we do them or study about them. That way it gives you a chance to work on it if you are doing this unit too.

I know I feel comfortable doing a jillion things at once but I know that can get crazy overwhelming if you are trying to follow along as I do them.

Plus the fact that I just love sharing with you, slowing down the pace a bit allows time for studying this topic over a longer time. There is so much to cover about ancient civilizations.

How to Make Celtic Cakes -Recipe for Hands-on History

. Be sure to download the Celtic Cakes Recipe and new minibook on Ancient Mesopotamia as we move along through spring in our study of Ancient Civilizations.

Are you working on some fun hands-on history projects?

Also, read some more fun hands-on history below:

Hugs and you know I love ya,