Don’t you just love Knowledge Quest products? Oh, you haven’t heard of them. Well, you need to check them out. They have such wonderful products to help you in your homeschool or afterschool schooling. If you are looking for great geography products, maps to compliment what you are staying, say, for a Classical Conversations family, or living book geography for the Charlotte Mason family, then you HAVE to check out Knowledge Quest.
I recently had the opportunity to try out some Knowledge Quest products and, boy, was I impressed! I am excited to include them in our homeschool and am sure they will be a part of our homeschool in the future.
I found Knowledge Quest online and was able to get some freebies from their site. The sample maps and map freebies were impressive and I knew I would want to try out some of their other products. The first product I received was What Really Happened in Ancient Times. What a great book! Our family is having such a great time reading this together. Written for ages 8-12, according to the author, this book is truly for everyone. I have enjoyed it as much as the kids (shhh, maybe more). My daughter has enjoyed talking about it with her grandparents and I look forward to finishing the book. So far we have covered Eve and Noah and we still have many more like Constantine, Daniel and Cyrus the Great, to name a few.
Each chapter includes a map of the location that the story takes place. For instance, the chapter on Eve includes a map of Mesopotamia region and the possible location of the Garden of Eden. How exciting! The fact that my husband was stationed in this area for a while made it particularly interesting to my daughter. She thought it was pretty neat to see how close to the possible location of the Garden of Eden that her dad was.
Each chapter also includes a beautiful drawing of the main character. It made the story come to life for my daughter. To put a face with the name is important to a visual learner like my daughter. The conversational tone of the chapter kept her interest and made it seem so normal and real. The stories brought these famous, historical characters and their lives to normalcy – made them real. To think of Eve sitting and talking with her children, to think of Noah dining with his wife, these things made these characters seems so real. The stories pace was good and made it easy to incorporate into our school day in short segments.
I look forward to the rest of the books in the series, which include What Really Happened During the Middle Ages and What Really Happened in Colonial Times. I am certain these will be included in our curriculum in the near future.
Next we had the opportunity to review A Child’s Geography: Explore His Earth. WOW! That’s the first thing that comes to mind when asked what I thought of the book. A living book of geography set up in chapters, this geography book makes geography fun! I have no fond memories of geography as a child but, so far, my daughter thinks it’s the best book we are working on.
Each chapter includes a great explanation of the topic of the chapter. The chapters in this edition of A Child’s Geography begins with an overview of Earth and its beginnings, from a Christian worldview, followed by chapters on the atmosphere, , the continents, volcanoes, earthquakes, and many others. I am very much looking forward to these chapters and I know my daughter will love many of the topics.
After the beginning discussion, which has natural breaks in the text to allow you to easily break it up over several days, a section explores the topic deeper follow. Then there is a section that leads the child in narrating what they have learned. We love this as we are working on narration skills this year. The question are helpful if you or the child gets stumped.
The chapters also include additional resources for reading more on the subject, a postcard activity where the child writes about what they have learned and draws a picture (a miniature notebooking exercise on an oversized postcard), and additional activities if you are interested. For instance, in the first chapter on Creation, there is an activity to draw a map of the world starting with you in your house and building from there. We really enjoyed this and hope to finish it and have it hanging on our wall for reference. There is also a paper mache globe craft and some poetry. (The included CD that comes with the book has the postcards for printing as well as additional resources including maps, copywork, and activities.)
Overall, the chapter was easy to follow, very colorful, and lots of ideas to make it fun. The best is that it is a very adaptable course. You could make it a weeklong course occasionally, a one-day or two-day a week course, or whatever works for you. The pictures are great and the pages are very heavy and durable. I have to say, I was very impressed and look forward to working our way through the course.
Next in the series is A Child’s Geography: Explore the Holy Land. I am sure that will be on our curriculum line-up for next year. Knowledge Quest did not disappoint. These quality books are an excellent addition to our homeschool curriculum.
If you haven’t tried Knowledge Quest products, be sure to head over to their website. They are many samples to try. In fact, you can read the entire first chapter of What Really Happened in Ancient Times on Eve free if you are interested.
Don’t forget to enter to win three great products from Knowledge Quest and DenSchool. Be sure to check out more reviews over at DenSchool. Enter for your chance to win some great Knowledge Quest products including What Really Happened in Ancient Times and A Child’s Geography: Explore His Earth.
Have you tried Knowledge Quest products? What is your favorite?
*Disclaimer: I was given a complimentary of What Really Happened in Ancient Times and A Child’s Geography: Explore His Earth from Knowledge Quest for the purpose of facilitating my review. No monetary compensation was given. All opinions expressed herein are unbiased and not influenced by the developing company or its affiliates in any way.*
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