Classical Academic Press~God's Great Covenant (Old Testament)

Classical Academic Press is a familiar company among many homeschool families.  All of the items they offer are "classical, creative, relevant, and easy to use."  I agree with that statement completely.  We have had the honor of using their curriculum before.  Each time we have used their books I walk away amazed at how they challenge my children to think outside the box.  They are learning to think for themselves. 

We have been blessed with the opportunity to review many homeschool products.  Nothing compairs to this company.  So without further ado I bring you our latest review for The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew.

God's Great Covenant, Old Testament 2 written by Claire Larsen.  The suggested grades for these books are third through sixth.

We were sent the Student Book, teacher's edition and the MP3 audio recordings.  The student book is available for purchase on the Classical Academic Press' website for $22.95.  The teacher's edition book is $24.95.  The MP3's are available as a download for $9.95.  We were sent a CD for review purposes only.  A physical copy of the CD is not available.

Each chapter has an introduction page known as the Memory Page.  Here you get an overview of what the chapter will cover including:

Lesson Scope (Scripture passages)
Read to Me (Scripture to be read)
Theme (What the lesson is trying to show)
Memory Verse (verse relating to the theme)
Key Facts (things the student needs to remember)
Message from the King (How to relate to God in their own lives)

The chapters are a perfect length for kids of many different learning styles.  This is where the MP3's are a great resource.  While many children can just read and remember the content, many children cannot do so.  Our daughter Hannah needs to use all of her senses in order to remember.  She enjoyed listening to the lesson on MP3 while reading along with the text.

She was even more excited to see this study covered her favorite book of the Bible, 1 Samuel.  I know she knows that story forwards and backwards so I challenged her to pick another book of the Bible to learn about.  She chose the book of Daniel.

The lesson is broken up into nice bite sized chunks where a child can learn what needs to be learned.  The chunks are not so large that a student becomes bored with it.  Depending on your child the lessons will only take a short time to complete.  Our daughter was completing a section of the lesson a day.  Sometimes we caught her

The lesson starts out with the Memory Verse.  I love the way this is done.  The student is required to fill in the missing words from the verse.  We have found this way to be the way our daughter learns best.  We have her read and re-read the verse.  Then we give her the worksheet and have her fill in the blanks.  It also helps that the verse is a nice sized one and not too long. 

The key facts portion of the worksheet were very instrumental in helping our daughter remember what she learned in the lesson.  She was encouraged through this section to think for herself.  She wasn't given the information to fill in, she had to think about what it was asking. 

The next part of the worksheet is the Story Facts, where the student has to fill in the facts learned from the story.  I allowed Hannah to fill this in while listening to the story.  This is the best way for her to learn and retain the information being taught.

Hannah was often asking to do more than the one section I was asking her to do.  She loves learning about the Bible.  How can a parent say no to that?! 

I would often find her kneeling in the window with her book and Bible open working through the lesson.  Many times I had to make her slow down so she had time to comprehend the materials.  At that point I would have her read the story again in the Bible.

In the back of the student text is the Appendices and maps.  It is here you will find the memory verse summary, Pictures of Christ, How to use the Psalms, How to understand the Proverbs, Kings and Prophets, Reigns of the Kings of Israel and Judah, Intertestamental History, Glossary and Quizzes.  It was here we really started talking in depth about the Bible.  It brought tears to my eyes to see my daughter, who has many learning disabilities, finally Get it!  It's like a lightbulb goes on and the Scriptures come alive for her.  That in my book is a successful curriculum!!

If you want to see what the other crew members are reviewing from Classical Academic Press visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

 

Disclaimer~ I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.  All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.