Little Homeschool on the Prairie: The Wars of the Jews Set from Memoria Press Review

I am excited to share with you another great curriculum from Memoria Press. My son has been working through The Wars of the Jews set.

I received a physical set and one downloadable component:

The Wars of the Jews Teacher Guide

The Wars of the Jews Student Guide

The Wars of the Jews Text

The Wars of the Jews Quizzes & Test download PDF

The Wars of the Jews set is intended for grades 9-12. My son is actually in 8^th grade but, I knew it would be a good fit for him as he has been reading through the book of Josephus prior to doing this.

The Wars of the Jews Text

This is a softbound book with 141 pages. This isn’t the complete works of Flavius Josephus but an abridged book that focuses on the Jewish and Roman wars with the main focus being from A.D. 66-70 up to the fall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

With that being said if you were to look at the books of Flavius Josephus it would be Book V chapters 6 through 13 and Book VI chapters 1 through 10. When I look at our book of Flavius Joseph it does line up it the chapters. The translation is from William Whiston (which I think most are familiar with this version) the language is suited well for the intended ages.

This isn’t just covering the war but, key people on both the Roman and Jewish side. Some of the key people are Flavius Josephus, Titus, Vespasian, John of Gischala, and, Simon bar Giora in which you will learn a lot about them. There are details about the political situation during this time period, and the events leading up to the siege of Jerusalem.

The text has several black and white illustrations throughout the pages.

The text has some black and white illustrations from maps of the city, Roman weapons, armory, and several other components talked about in the text.

The Wars of the Jews Student Guide

The Student Guide has ten lessons, with two pages per lesson. Each lesson is laid out the same way. The Student Guide is intended to be used by one student only. You will need to purchase additional copy for other students.

Facts to Know: This gives you an overview of the people, places, events, and other information to enhance the learning. For example the term “Castor” is used which it goes on to say that it is Jewish solider who tried to trick Titus by feigning surrender.

Comprehension Questions: the questions will cover the portion that was read in the text. There are six questions for each lesson. The majority of the questions are asking you to explain in detail what you recalled from the text. There is always one question that is asking your opinion about a certain subject. In lesson 7 one of the questions is “What are the apparent advantages and disadvantages of attacking at night?”

There is a review on Lessons 1-10. The first section has the vocabulary that you fill in the appropriate word in the blank.

Next, Important People, Places, and Things in which you will write a one word response. One question is: Who was the high priest who allowed Simon into the city to help with Zealots.

Who said that:? There is a quote from the book that you need to write the name of the person who stated it.

The last portion is a test. There are nine Comprehension Questions for your student. The actual student book doesn’t give you writing space to record your answers in. You will need paper or you can print out the downloadable PDF as there is space provided.

The Wars of the Jews Quizzes & Test download PDF

This is the same review that is in the student book. The only difference is that you have space for recording your answers to the Comprehension Questions.

The Wars of the Jews Teacher Guide

Teacher Guide Lesson 6

This is laid out exactly has the Student Guide and is only an answer key to the questions.

How did we use The Wars of the Jews Set in our Homeschool?

As I mentioned earlier my 13 year old son who is in 8^th grade worked through this. He is pretty advanced with his reading and comprehension skills. He has actually been reading through Flavius Josephus by William Whiston this last year as part of his second semester in school. This was a perfect fit for my son as it gave him a place to write down what he has learned in a more cohesive format.

Lesson 5 completed lesson

Lesson 9-completed lesson by my son

Our original plan was for him to work on one lesson a week. However he ended up going at his own pace and completed more than I scheduled during the review period. Currently as of this week he just finished lesson nine. All he has left is lesson 10 and the final test. My son has been completely independent during all of this. The only thing I needed to do was to check his work.

My son said, "Flavius Josephus details on the Jewish History is amazing." "I enjoyed reading the text book even if it's the second time this year I have read it."

My sons thoughts, “I like Flavius Josephus and the details that he was able to record the Jewish history.” “The workbook was easy to follow and if I forgot anything I could scan the text quickly to help get myself started.” “It was a lot of writing but, it wasn’t too bad because I’m interested in Jewish history.”

The Student Guidebook lets me see how well my son is comprehending what he is reading.

I like that it is an open and go curriculum that doesn’t require any preparation on my end. I like that it shows me that he has really comprehended reading Flavius Josephus. I previously just had him write a report of what he was reading. With the Student Guide the questions aren’t something he would necessary write about and made him expand his learning as he focused on a broader set of questions in each chapter.

Last fall my son went to Israel. The story he could see clearly in his mind of the places mentioned.

I love Memoria Press and am always impressed with all the products I have used so far. Other have been using:

*Simply Classical Writing Book One: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) and Simply Classical Writing Book Two: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) with Teacher Key

*Simply Classical Spelling Book One: Step-by-Step Words and Simply Classical Spelling Book Two: Step-by-Step Words

*The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set and 200 Questions About American History set

Memoria Press is a family run Classical Curriculum since 1994. They have a full spectrum of subjects from Preschool to High School. Whether you are looking for language arts, Latin, science, geography, history, full grade sets, and many more subjects it’s available. This is an amazing Classical Christian homeschool curriculum.