I’m excited to share with you another review from  Pathway to Liberty's History Curriculum . My daughter has enjoyed doing World History Year 4 Level 1 from Pathway to Liberty Homeschool Curriculum has been a success with her this last year.

It’s not too often that I get to write a review for a curriculum that we have completed and used for a complete year from the 1st lesson to the last lesson in the curriculum. I’m using this with my 17 year old daughter with special needs and she has some significant learning challenges. It is extremely important to me having a comprehensive and flexible curriculum that works for a child with special needs. You can read my last review when I used it with my son here. My son doesn't have any learning challenges. We used it successfully with him for the rest of his 7th grade.

I received a physical set that includes your Teacher Guide, and Student Guide. You can also purchase this in a digital format. The only other resources you will need are a good internet to access the videos. A 1 ½” 3-ring notebook binder which allows your child to have a place to keep all their assignments like vocabulary, and other things they have been learning. I used a 2” ring notebook binder that I already had on hand.

There are a few core books required to complete the program.  One item is the Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary can be found free online or you can order a physical book.

 

You can also add in literature books. Something else you can add to enhance your literature books are the Literature Guides. I could be wrong but I think these are newer as I didn’t use them nor did I see them until very recently.

A timeline can be downloaded from the website for a notebook version or a wall timeline. My daughter used a timeline that she has used since 1^st grade that we added too when we came across timeline activities.

The front of the book for both the Student and Teacher guides has information on getting started . For Level 1 I set up my daughter’s notebook with dividers. My son used his notebook regularly but with my daughter I found the Student Guide was sufficient for her.

You are covered for a complete cycle of history and for grades K-12^th grade is covered with all the different levels 1-4.

Pathway to Liberty’s Universal History

Pathway to Liberty’s The Middle Ages

Pathway to Liberty’s US History

Pathway to Liberty’s World History

Each history course has 4 different levels. You choose the level according to your child's grade or abilities. With your history course you have all your levels in the Teacher’s Guide. The only thing you will need to obtain as your kids advance yearly is the Student Guide which the physical book is consumable and intended for only one student. Or buy the digital book which can be used with more than one student.

Level 1: K5-3^rd grade

Level 2: 4^th -6^th grade

Level 3: 7^th – 9^th grade

Level 4: 10^th -12^th grade

Not only are you teaching history but this is a Biblical Worldview Curriculum that covers Bible, literature, geography, writing assignments, and vocabulary. All of this makes Pathway to Liberty Homeschool Curriculum a complete comprehensive history curriculum.

There is a suggested 4 days a week schedule. The curriculum is flexible enough to adjust if needed. Our time varied with my daughter from 30-60 minutes. With her learning challenges we would sometimes split up a lesson depending on the content and what kind of day she was having with focusing. This included the literature books that I read out loud to my daughter.

Teacher Guide and Student Guide

 Both guides have the same layout other than the Teacher Guide having your answers to the questions and a some helpful information.

Both books are also high quality spiral bound books! Not plastic combs that tend to crack after awhile and tend to come lose. The spiral bound makes it easy for the books to lay flat without having to hold down one side to keep the book open.

There are 26 weeks with lessons 4 days a week. I like the 4 day option as it helps me to play catch up if we get behind or some lessons require a bit more time for her to finish. With this not being a 36 week curriculum it helps me personally not to stress out to much with sickness, vacations, holidays, and appointments-I don’t feel like I’m behind! I hope I’m not the only one who feels like that. When my kids were in elementary we schooled year around but now that my kids are older they want more of a summer schedule school. Whether you school year around or more of a traditional schedule this is flexible to adjust to your unique homeschool!

This is more than history with other subjects weaved into every lesson. My daughter is learning geography, Bible scripture copywork and memorization, writing assignments, vocabulary, reading assignments, and more all wrapped up nicely in this step by step curriculum. The Bible verses used are from the NIV.

Some lessons include videos for most of the weekly lessons. The videos vary in length and can be anywhere from a few minutes to 45 minutes. The videos are offered on the Pathway to Liberty video channel and we haven’t had any that I was concerned about or her clicking off on to other videos. I just make sure the videos are full screened for her. I appreciate that the author gives you a heads up with videos and offers options. Even though we didn’t do level 2 or 3 one of the videos for them have war and death images that you may not want to show your kids. Another video mentions some profanity and gives you the time stamp so you can skip that section. That isn’t the normal for the videos as just a few of them are highlighted.

What history is covered: Foundations, Welcome 20^th Century, Around the World, and several Presidents are covered. Within each of those main topics you cover a plethora of topics from first colonies, slavery, Constitutions, expansion in America, Henry Ford from his childhood to inventions, World War I, World War II, Nazi Germany, Helen Keller, Civil Rights, Neil Armstrong, Presidents, and much more.

At the beginning of each week you have an overview. Each week you have a scripture verse, principal, and a leading idea at the top of the weekly overview. The rest of the week is a laid out schedule broken down by all 4 levels and into a 4 day lesson schedule. You will see what you are reading with the page number or chapter, writing assignments, vocabulary, video information, and History expanded.

Some assignments are labeled optionally too. Most of the optional assignments were writing assignments. For my situation with my daughter’s dysgraphia and arthritis we did a lot of oral assignments for writing.

Each week your lessons are broken into 4 lessons. Your first lesson always covers your Scripture, Principle, and Leading Idea. That is weaved into the other lessons throughout the week.

All of this is broken down by level. For kids that are independent or even semi-independent this makes it easy for them to complete the lessons. Your week is laid out in step by step instructions for both student and parents to follow. This is what I call an open and go curriculum. I know I can just open the book and it is all planned out for me.

In Level 1 my daughter had several activities that varied in her Student Guide. She filled in the blank to complete sentences, comprehensive questions that she had to write out a complete sentence to the questions, coloring pages, videos, and plot elements that you write down main events and draw them out. There are map activities, state activities, and vocabulary, cut out activity, character qualities, timelines, and more. Your questions are a mixture of facts, your own personal thoughts on the lesson, and some discussion questions.  I liked the variety for this age group. It keeps it different and interesting for the intended grades. With a child with special needs it was a good balance of activities. The lessons didn’t overwhelm her with long lessons and it was fun for her. Another thing I want to point out is the amount of writing space on the assignments. It was very sufficient for young writers with a lot of space to accommodate those who write larger like my daughter. For me that is a huge plus!

Below are several worksheets throughout the curriculum.

The lesson flow nicely once you get a few weeks into it. If you’re like me it always takes me a few weeks getting a feel of a curriculum and seeing what works and what I need to adjust for my daughter’s learning style.

My daughter enjoyed Pathway to Liberty World History Year 4 Level 1 for her 11^th grade. She has retained a lot of the information with history. Her favorite sections where on Neil Armstrong, Helen Keller, and Ronald Reagan. She loved the areas of study on inventions. That surprised me how much she really got into them. It led to a few rabbit trails. That is the joy and advantage of homeschooling your kids. The book selections went well with the curriculum and she didn’t complain about them.

I would like to touch on using this with a child with significant learning challenges. My daughter has Autism, dysgraphia, arthritis, genetic disorder, vision issues, and other issues. I pretty much have to adapt all curriculum in some aspect for her. Sometimes a curriculum isn't adaptable and I feel that I just washed down the curriculum or it required more work than I wanted to put into it.  Pathway to Liberty World History Year 4 Level 1 I needed to adapt the optional parts. We did it orally. Some videos were longer and I split them up in smaller sections. Sometimes I had to break up a lesson because it was just a bad day or week. The core assignments and the writing space in the workbook was perfect for her. Granted we are way below her grade level but it's perfect for her academic level. She didn't fill overwhelmed with the amount of work and writing. The books were for the most part at her level. I was able to do them as a read out loud. This made it very easy for me with her history this year. My daughter would tell you, "History was fun this year mommy!" That says a lot and it tells me it was successful! 

I like it when I can teach my kids history that isn’t washed down and that emphasizes a Christian worldview.  I appreciate that I only need one Teacher’s Guide for all 4 Levels. Check it out yourself. Ask questions in the comments below or ask the author Jayme McCullough about the curriculum if you don't find it on the website.

Social Media:

Website: https://pathwaytoliberty.com/
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I received a free copy of this product 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 information accordance with the FTC Regulations. 

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL 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.

Have you ever considered renting your homeschool books? I never even knew this was a possibility until recently. What a wonderful cost-efficient way to get your curriculum for your homeschool. I remember being able to rent my college textbooks many years ago. It saved me hundreds of dollars renting my textbooks. Now you can rent books for your homeschool from Yellow House Book Rental. You can see my review over at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

7 Reasons to Rent your Homeschool Curriculum.

Yellow House Book Rental is the mastermind of a homeschool mom who created this rental option to help families reduce their curriculum cost. You can find out more about the company here. They have several options available: renting, rent to own, purchase new, purchase used, or sell back curriculum that you previously purchased from them.

The teacher’s manuals and student textbooks are usually the books that cost the most in any curriculum. You can rent your teacher’s manual, student textbooks, reading books, and buy the consumable workbooks for your rental set through Yellow House Book Rental. All subjects are available: language arts, math, science, social studies, Bible, Christian living, electives, finance, and budgeting, reading books, downloads, and a few other items. They have grades from pre-school, high school, and even some college prep to rent available.

Yellow House Book Rental offers top-rated curriculum from Apologia, Life of Fred, Notgrass History, Write Shop, and more to rent. The editions are current, and the books are in excellent condition. You will not get tattered books that are falling about. All the books I rented where in great shape. They did not have any writing in the pages or tears. The binding was in great shape. I was really pleased with the condition of the curriculum.

Ordering was simple. I first set up an account with my email. (You do not need to set up an account to order.) You can search by subject or vendor. Once you click on an area you can look up the curriculum by grades. I did not have any issues navigating the website to find what I needed. The website is laid out nicely and user-friendly.

I rented Exploring Government from Notgrass which included the Exploring Government Textbook and We Hold These Truths Textbooks at a cost of $36.00. If you bought the set new it would be $60.00 without the consumable workbooks.

 The Life of Fred Intermediate Series Set rental is $25.00. Buying it new would be $46.00. The cost difference in most cases will help cover or offset your cost with your consumable workbooks.

Another incentive is that there is a “Reward Program” that you receive points when you first sign up, order, and several other options to earn more points. The “Reward Program” allows you to earn points, coupons, and free products.

You have the choice of renting for ten months from August through May or September through June. There are some books that are semester rentals for five months. The description of the product will tell you what is available for the rental time. If you need your ten-month rental for different months you can email them.

After you order you will receive your curriculum at the beginning month of your rental date. In your shipping box with the books, you get a “credit refund form” that will give you information for the due date and information on how to receive credit when you return your books. You can receive a 100% credit refund with a discount code, or an 80% refund through PayPal, or a 50% refund via check.

You receive an email a month before your due date with shipping and packaging information. I sent my package back by media mail. After you mail your package you send them the tracking number via email.

You will receive a confirmation email stating that the books have been received. The email will confirm your refund credit method for shipping. It will have all the necessary information such as if you earned any “rewards” and how you can earn more rewards. It was easy renting my curriculum from ordering it to returning it.

Renting Curriculum for your homeschool is very cost efficient way to stay in a budget and still have great curriculum to use in your homeschool!

Not only can you save money by renting. You can try a curriculum without the cost of buying it. I have bought too many curriculums that did not work for my family. This is also a great option if you have several kids in different grade ranges that are too far apart to school together. You do not have to worry if your teacher manual and the student workbook is the same edition either. I have pieced together older teacher manuals that did not match the current edition with a student workbook. I found out quickly that I regretted not just getting the newest edition in the teacher’s manual.

Another benefit of renting your curriculum is storage if you do not have a designated classroom or enough storage for unused curriculum.

What I really appreciate with this option is that my kids are different. I always thought that what I bought for my daughter, who is three grades above my son, would be used for my son too. I thought that homeschooling my son would be cheaper due to me already having the curriculum available. My kids are completely different in their needs and learning style. It just did not work out that way for my family. 

Notgrass is just one of the many great curriculum you can rent for all ages for your homeschool.

I have a daughter with special needs and some significant learning challenges. I have bought a lot of curriculum over the years and have been disappointed spending money on many curriculums that did not work for her. How many times have you shelved a curriculum or maybe you forced your way through a curriculum regardless of it not being a good fit? Once I buy my curriculum for the year, I have usually used up my homeschool budget and I cannot afford to get another curriculum to replace it. This is where rental versus buying can help me out. Another choice is “Try before you buy” or “Rent-to-Own.” You cannot go wrong with those options.

Yellow House Book Rental is a great resource for homeschooling on a budget. If you are looking for a way to make your homeschool budget more affordable this is an excellent choice to consider with your curriculum. I plan to usethe Yellow House Book Rental for my homeschool curriculum more in the future.

Find out more:

Yellow House Book Rental
Contact@YellowHouseBookRental.com
https://www.yellowhousebookrental.com/

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I like being frugal when it comes to buying our homeschool curriculum every year. I try to buy them used if I can. It does take more planning, organization, effort, and not to mention patience. Keep in mind that it will take more time searching for your curriculum used.

I usually start planning my curriculum in February and March. I like to start early so I can start scanning the online curriculum before our local homeschool book sale comes around. I seem to have a better selection online rather than our local sale.

When I buy at our local book sale I can look through the books and see with my own eyes if it what I am looking for. There are a few things to consider with buying your curriculum used online.

1. Has it been written in or erased.

2. Are all the pages there. Or has a few pages been used. 

3. Is the binding in good shape and attached. 

4. Edition! Do you know what edition your looking for and what edition the seller has.

5. Water stains, rips, and marks.

6. Do you have allergies to smoke and pets?

Do some leg work first and know what the retail price is. Sometimes the used books aren't much cheaper after you add on the shipping cost.

Some sellers are willing to bargain with their prices. See if that seller has any other books you might need. A lot of sellers are willing to reduce shipping or pay shipping if its profitable for them. Remember they are selling to make money to buy books for their homeschool. 

Be reasonable when asking a seller to reduce their prices. I buy and sell online and sometimes the buyers are not very reasonable. If I were to sell the books for what they are asking it wouldn't even cover my shipping. Some books I know that I will only get a couple of dollars for them. When they buy more than one item it offsets my cost for shipping. Sometimes I am willing to pay half the price of shipping on a cheaper item. If its a high dollar item I don't mind including the shipping cost. 

The reality is that some items aren't worth buying used. Do your homework before you buy.

Some of the places I like to buy my curriculum are:

Homeschool Classifieds - This is one of my favorite places.

Well Trained Mind Classifieds- Another Favorite

HSLD Used Curriculum Market

Amazon- Great place to buy just make sure you know the shipping cost.

Ebay

Free Homeschool Classifieds

Homeschool Review in the forum swap meet 

Exodus Books 

Used Homeschool books   

Leighs List 

VegSource

I haven't bought from all these sources. Keep in mind that some of this sites require you to have an account. If it's a social network they may have requirements before you can buy.

Ask lots of questions about the material you are buying. Have good communication and reply to the seller in a timely manner. If you decide not to buy it for some reason or find a better deal then get back to the seller and let them know that you are not buying it after all.

Payment:

Lots of seller's will only deal with PayPal. Others are more flexible and will except money orders or a check. Keep in mind that it will slow down the shipping because they are waiting for you payment to clear the bank.

Just use common sense when buying. I have only had one item that didn't meet my expectations. The curriculum was complete but they had around 15% of it photocopied by a cheap printer. It was all there and the pages were lose and put in the workbook. It was a good deal and maybe that is why they had it at a bargain price. This bargain was not worth it. If I would of known that I wouldn't have bought it and I did ask questions. The seller didn't see her copying pages was a bad idea.

Have fun planning and buying your curriculum. It is really worth the time and effort to buy used. Most homeschoolers I have found are honest and only trying to get money for their homeschool.

 This is what we are planning on doing for the 2012/2013 year.

 

 Subjects that the kids will do together:

Bible-
  I like to change up the format in Bible. Depending on what is going on in our lives to adjust it to what is needed for spiritual growth.

Grapevine Bible Studies.

Sonlight Bible Core 3
 
The Narrow Way-Character Curriculum & Family Bible Devotional by the Pearables.

Proverbs People by Rick and Marilyn Boyer.

Art- 
ARTistic Pursuits we will do K-3 Book 3.

We will finish this up from last year-Sonlight has a series in the electives which we will use-How Artist See Feelings, How Artist See the Elements.

Music- 
I have no idea at this point.

PE-
We do PE weekly with the Wichita Angels which is a homeschool based PE group. They offer weekly PE classes and sports camps.

Little Man is doing Karate and loving it.

Health-
Our science covers some health issues and I add different things that I put together.

Read-out-louds-
 Sonlight American History Part 1.

Science-
Sonlight  Science 3

Memoria Press -Insects

Simple Schooling-Bugs

History-
Sonlight American History Part 1.

Foreign Language-

Hebrew-
Aleph Champ and the kids have a weekly class at the Synagogue.

Latin/Greek-

Word Roots Software Level A.

Bug:4th grade

Language Arts and Grammar-

Bob Jones English 4 Writing and Grammar. Since writing is so hard for her we have to do some adaptations for her. Lots of iPad apps.

Spelling-
All About Spelling We absolutely LOVE this program, and if you haven’t tried it, go see for yourself. It’s a multi-sensory phonics and spelling curriculum that is super easy to use!

Phonics/Reading-
Phonics and reading are something I have to be so creative with. I feel like a smorgis board in this area but, it works for Bug somehow. I make all these programs fit together so I am not doing each curriculum by itself as a whole. She just needs a lot of continuous work in this area.

Go Phonics-  I don't use the handwriting part of the program.(It has a neat handwriting curriculum included) They have games, worksheets, and reading books that go along with each lesson. I add the Orton Gillingham approach with the sounds. I like the worksheets because they are not so busy as other programs. They don't get carried away with to many questions. The print is large with lots of writing space!

Tatras now and then for review.

Math-
Math U See Gamma

Spectrum Math

Geography-
Sonlight geography.

Life Pace History and Geography 4.


Lots of mapping and our homemade passports.

Handwriting-
Kumon- Handwriting Cursive

Modern Style Handwriting B

Typing-

Typing Instructor Platinum for Kids

Little Man:1st Grade

Little Man loves textbooks.

Language Arts/Phonics/Reading-
Horizon Phonics and Reading 1.

First Language Lessons

Math-
RightStart Math Level B

Handwriting-
Bob Jones Handwriting 1st grade

Geography-
Sonlight geography.

Life Pace History and Geography 1.


Lots of mapping and our homemade passports.

Spelling-
 All About Spelling.

Little Man is just learning how to read words. He is absolutely excited when he sees the Teaching Tiles by Educational Insights. 

Look at that mouth. He is really sounding out those letters.

I have had this for several years and we have used it a lot. It has components that target alphabet and phonemic awareness, phonograms, digraphs, blends, vowel pairs, variant vowels and more.

My only dislike is all those tiles being at the bottom of the box. Nothing worse than the kids searching each tile for the right letter. It became more of a distraction. I bought a  bead divider at the hobby store and separated them. Easy fix and inexpensive solution.

I like that the cards are simple and breaks it down in bite size pieces. This card give them a choice of B or N. Each card has a picture to help them out.

My set has 50 activity cards. I also make some and put them on index cards for Bug. I give Bug her spelling test using the tiles when writing is extra hard for her that day. I  also like to do All About Spelling with these tiles once in awhile to change things up a bit. I have the kids practice putting the alphabet in the correct order. With the trays, they can also practice constructing words and sentences. 

We have really got a lot of learning out of it. The tiles are a hard durable plastic. The cards are thick with that shiny wipe off surface. In my case with my Bug being a drooler the cards don't get damaged and saves me from having to laminate them.

He is working so hard sounding out the words!

That U sound is still a struggle!

Look Mom! I did them all! I love it when learning is fun for the kids.

A special promotion for All About Reading Level Pre-1! If you have preschoolers or kindergarteners, you don't want to miss this! And if you order before midnight on Monday, you'll receive $20 in free product. Zigzag Zebra and Lizard Lou audio book on cd.


Our new All About Reading program is unique because it begins with Level Pre-1 for preschoolers and kindergarteners, and it focuses on what we call the Big Five Skills. These five fundamental pre-reading skills include letter knowledge, phonological awareness, print awareness, listening comprehension, and motivation to read. It is this specific set of skills that helps pre-readers understand the basics of language and how it works, preparing them to learn to read.

With All About Reading Level Pre-1, your child will play special games, enjoy little crafts, and engage in charming storytime activities--all the while absorbing these all-important Big Five Skills.

Today the All About Reading program Pre-1 Level will be released! Level Pre-1 is for preschoolers and kindergarteners and is very specific set of skills that we call the Big Five Skills. These five skills help young children understand the basics of language and how it works, preparing them to learn to read.

With All About Reading Level Pre-1, your child will play special games, enjoy little crafts, and engage in charming storytime activities--all the while absorbing these all-important Big Five Skills.


To celebrate, All About Reading is giving two free e-books for preschool and kindergarten children: In the Kitchen with the Zigzag Zebra and Safari Stories with the Zigzag Zebra.
 
              
 

 I cannot wait to see the rest ~ but don’t forget to sign up for the two free e-books now! This is just in time for Little Man. I can't wait to order it today!

Actually All About Spelling is having a sale! This has far been my favorite curriculum. It's one of the few curriculum's that I Don't have to tweak to adjust to Bug's learning style with this multi-sensory program. I actually hate calling it just a spelling program. Truly it is a spelling, reading and phonics program.

This week they have a New! Spelling Review Box. They heard all the request and listened!  This is by popular demand, a box large enough to hold all 7 levels of the All About Spelling program flashcards! You're cards will fit perfectly. No more having to have separate index card boxes for each level. Less storage! If your like me and like things all in one place and orderly then this is right up your alley! Regular $9.95, Sale is $7.95.

NEW! Divider Cards. There are 12 sturdy laminated divider cards, ready to insert in your index card box or our Spelling Review Box. Did you catch the laminated part! Reg $4.95 Sale Price $2.95


New! Spelling Tote Bag! Store your All About Spelling books and supplies in this sturdy tote bag. It helps keep you organized! When you are ready to teach, just grab your tote bag and go.This tote bag is made of stain-resistant polycanvas. The main compartment is open, and there is a large front pocket with grommets on four corners. Bag size is 14.5"W x 13"H x 4"D with 24" handles. Regular $14.95. Sale $11.95


The above three items are now part of the Basic Interactive Kit and the Deluxe Interactive Kit. Formely known as the starter kit.

New! Level 1 reader to complete the set is Run, Bug, Run! This will be a hit around here if you know anything about my Bug. This is Volume 1, and it correlates 100% with Steps 6-13 of All About Spelling Level 1. Reg $19.95 Sale $15.95


The Runt Pig. This is Volume 2, and it correlates 100% with Steps 14-18 of All About Spelling Level 1. Regular $19.95 Sale $15.95. Don't forget about, "Cobweb the Cat" Volume 3 for Level 1


Don't forgot to sign up for All About Spellings Newsletter. I am off to go by the card storage holder and Run, Bug, Run! Many blessings.