Veritas Press Self-Paced History TOS Crew Review

What is your favorite time period with history? Any time period is our favorite history in my home. Do you have some history lovers in your home or maybe you need some help teaching history? If so then I'm excited to share Veritas Press which I have been using in our homeschool the last few weeks. My family has been enjoying learning history using Veritas Press Self-Paced History.

 

Veritas Press Self-Paced History is recommended for 2^nd through 6^th grade. We were given a full year access to a history level of our choice. The kids picked out the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt  $199.00 ($100.00 for another student)per student. We also received the Old Testament & Ancient Egypt Flashcards are $19.95.

What is Veritas Press Self-Paced History?

Veritas Press Self-Paced History is an online interactive history course that makes history come alive. Veritas Press is a Classical Christian education approach to teaching history. This approach teaches history time periods in a chronological approach to memorize the order of events. There is a song that helps you memorize the chronological order of that time period you are studying.

There are five different units in history available.

Old Testament and Ancient Egypt

New Testament Greece and Rome

Middle Ages Renaissance and Reformation

Explorers to 1815

1815 to Present

You can visit the Veritas Press website to view sample lessons.

Old Testament & Ancient History starts at Creation up till the fall of Egypt to Rome. You can take it even further by adding the additional literature books to further your study and go more in depth with the subject. These are optional materials to expand the Self-Paced History lessons. You are still going to get a good quality program without the additional material which, I didn't use for this review.

                                   

Old Testament & Ancient Egypt Flashcards has 32 flashcards. The flashcards are fully illustrated and colored and with a glossy finish. The cards are 5”x8” cardstock. The front of the flashcards has a picture of the event along with words for the time period. On the back side of the card it has the date and a brief summary of the event. At the bottom of the card is a “Resource”(this is your additional books I mentioned.) list that gives additional supplements and page # were to find the more information about the topic. Each card is also numbered so it makes it easier to keep them in order. The cards are helpful to help memorize the chronological order of the time period. The flashcards are like an overview of the event or person in history. The card are essential to the program and I would recommend that you invest in them.

Before you purchase the program you can go online and check your computer’s compatibility by using their Computer Compatibility Wizard. You will need high speed internet for this program. I was able to use Veritas Press on both my laptop(touch screen) and desktop(mouse). Your child will need some basic computer skills with operating a mouse or touchscreen.

If you like hands on craft projects you can print out a supply list of crafts to make for your unit in history.

Veritas Press Self-Paced History is very easy to operate. Once you sign in to your account you simple hit launch and the lessons begin and the program is very easy to navigate through.  

How did I use  Veritas Press Self-Paced History in my homeschool?

 

I had the kids do a lesson or two 3 to 4 days a week. My 8 year old was the student who I signed up for this course and he did the testing and other applications online. My 11 year old daughter watched right along with her brother and enjoyed it as much as he did.

Each lesson starts out with sort of a “mascot”. For the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt it is a talking Sphinx. Then an actor who is dressed for the appropriate time period guides you through each lesson will be your tour guide throughout the duration of the program. This particular tour guide is Simeon for the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt.

The lesson varies in time from 10-20 minutes. Each lesson has a variety of activities from games, maps, test, and a song that is used throughout the course to help you master the chronological order of the 32 events. There are 160 lessons in this unit.

Throughout the lessons you learn Biblical concepts, vocabulary, and of course history. The reviews and test are multi-choice questions. These test and reviews are done every few lessons. The exams also review some from the previous learned lessons. You have the option to print them for your records. The test and worksheets are averaged together for a grade. Parents are able to go to the dashboards to view the progress and see the average grade.

We didn’t have the Old Testament &Ancient Egypt Flashcards at the beginning of the program. Once we got them they proved to be very helpful in reviewing for the quizzes and mastering the chronological order of the historical events. 

My son wasn't a big fan of the singing of the review song that you hear with every lesson. It was annoying to him. It did help him memorize the chronological order as I caught him singing it a few times during some of the test. I pointed that out to him and he confessed that the song helps him remember the events. My daughter on the other hand loved the song! 

What I liked about this program?

It's a Biblical based chronological history program. It's a well thought out program that teaches history.
 
It is flexible to accommodate my homeschool. With you having a year to complete the course it is truly flexible. Next year I already was planning on teaching Creation and Ancient History so, I will continue to use this program.

This is so easy to use and to understand. This is a great program for a child to work independently. I feel confident that I could use Veritas Press with my 11 year old daughter with learning challenges. There is some reading but they let you choose the reading level. I would have to help her in this area some.

It's fun and my kids loved it. The educational games are simple and fun.

You have an option to add on additional material and hands on activities if you want. The program stands alone with out the added literature packs and hands on crafts. I could imagine that adding the extra would enhance it even more.

Some cons: 

Cost could be a factor for some. After this review it is something that I would consider working into my budget as I was impressed with the program. I couldn't afford to enroll both of my children in the program. I would love to see adding a second student a bit more economically priced. Yet, I realize that Veritas Press has invested a lot of time and resources going into this program. The reality is that you are getting a lot of history for the buck.

You can't retake the quizzes and test. I would of loved to have my son redo a quiz or test that it didn't do so well on. 

Overall, I loved this program and plan on finishing this program next school year. My kids would give Veritas Press Self-Paced History a big thumbs up! It was a big hit in this history loving family.

Here are the social media links for Veritas Press:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/veritaspress
Twitter -- https://twitter.com/veritaspress
Pinterest –  http://www.pinterest.com/source/veritaspress.com/
Google+ -- https://plus.google.com/100404634762414542020/about

See what other fellow Schoolhouse Crew Reviewers are saying about Veritas Press.