Veritas Press History: Curriculum Review

This year we switched from Story of the World to Veritas History for my elementary kids. I switched mainly because I wanted a biblical based history and while we have used and loved Mystery of History in the past, I couldn’t resist all the wonderful supplemental books used in the Veritas history curriculum.

Other than missing the awesome CD recordings from Story of the World, I like Veritas much better. My kids love the flash cards and I have been able to use this program with my five to eleven year old with some minor adjustments.

Flash cards are the key to the Veritas History curriculum, without them you cannot teach the lesson. The flash cards have an illustration on the front and a short lesson summary on the back. On the back of the card is also your “key.” The key tells you which supplemental readings are used in that lesson.

Here’s what our typical weekly lesson looks like using the Veritas history program.

Monday: Read flash card summary, talk about the art on the front of the flash card, read from one resource.

Tuesday: Review summary from flash cards, one activity from the lesson book.

Wednesday: Read from another supplemental resource, finish activity (if necessary).

Thursday: Activity and/or review.

Friday: Finish up any work, oldest child takes the quiz while younger children go over the quiz orally.

I highly recommend buying the CD version of the activity book if you are using this for more than one child. It makes printing off the materials so easy. Instead of having to make copies of each activity I put in the CD and print what we need for the day.

The only problem I had with ordering this curriculum is that it was hard to determine what supplements were needed and which ones you could do without. I searched on the web but was unable to find a comprehensive list of these materials, based on importance.

If you are considering using Veritas History (2nd grade Ancient History) here is a list of supplemental reading materials in order of frequency. I’ve starred the books that Veritas deems “important” to the series. (The Children’s Illustrated Bible and the Greenleaf Guides while referenced frequently are not as important as other supplemental books)

Used in more than 10 lessons

• Ancient Egypt (Cultural Atlas for Young People) *
• The NKJV Study Bible: Second Edition
• The Children’s Illustrated Bible
• The Child’s Story Bible *
• The Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Egypt (Greenleaf Guides)
• The Greenleaf Guide To Old Testament History
• David C. Cook Journey through the Bible *
• Streams of Civilization: Earliest Times to the Discovery of the New World (Vol 1)

Used in 5-10 lessons

• The Ancient Egyptians (Understanding People in the Past) *
• Navigators: Ancient Egypt
• The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia *
• Mummies, Tombs, and Treasure: Secrets of Ancient Egypt (Vol 1)
• Mummies Made in Egypt
• The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt *
• Usborne Time Traveler *

Used in 1-4 lessons

• Abingdon Reproducible Maps
• The Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World*
• The Great Wonder: The Building of the Great Pyramid (Smithsonian Odyssey) *
• Mummies Made in Egypt *
• Pyramid
• Tirzah
• Tut’s Mummy: Lost…And Found *

So far I’m very happy with Veritas Press Ancient History and have found that it can be easily adapted to teach kids on different levels. My kids look forward to their daily history lesson and so far seem to be retaining what we have learned.