Classic Historian Review- Mosaic Reviews

Today I have another review for you from Mosaic Reviews. I was able to review The Classical Historian Modern American History 32-Week Guide, The Socratic Discussion in History book and DVD, as well as the Ancient History Go Fish Game.

I had never hear of The Classical Historian before so I was intrigued. We already take a classical approach to our history program and this fit right into that. The Socratic Discussion is exactly what I needed to implement Socratic discussions into our school.

This DVD has an introduction to the company as well as the program and helps orient you if you have never used this type of curriculum before. There is a good description of what is and how it helps you teach history.

"The Classical Historian teaches students how to strive for the truth in history and trains teachers to challenge students to become their best as historians and people. The Classical Historian encourages teachers and students to systematically learn and practice the highest academic ideals, such as honesty, virtue, patience, and logical analysis. This program shows the teacher how to teach the tools of the historian including all the analytical tools, how to lead the Socratic discussion, and how to teach analytical writing as it pertains to history."

The Socratic Discussion in History DVD Curriculum

1. The Grammar of History

2. The Tools of the Historian

3. How to Research and Read History Texts

4. The Socratic Discussion

5. Analytical Writing in History

This is not a history content curriculum but a teaching and learning method that is essential to teach your child how to be a critical and independent thinker, speaker, and writer in History. This DVD course does not cover content but teaches the student how to approach all history.

 

If you want your student to become an independent thinker and an effective communicator, this is the program for you. After this DVD course, the student will know how to distinguish between fact and opinion, make good historical judgment, analyze primary or secondary sources, use quotes effectively in argumentation, how to paraphrase historical text, how to analyze and answer interpretive questions in history, how to conduct research, how to participate in a Socratic Discussion in History, and how to write analytical essays including: Writing an Outline, Writing a Rough Draft, and Revising. The complete DVD course includes over seven complete hours of instructional taping, 13 class lessons, a student course booklet and parent guide.

The Classical Historian does a good job of walking you through the steps you need to know in order to teach your children how to think analytically. It gives the teacher confidence in helping their students without having to have done it in school themselves. The 32-Week Guide walks you through the DVD's and The Socrastic Discussion in History-working in tandem. The Guide tells you the pages you need to have the student complete and what to watch on the DVD.

On the DVD you will find that Joh De Gree walks you through holding a Socratic discussion. You don't have to figure it out based on written words on a page. You actually follow along with your students and learn how to do it. That is super helpful. Each lesson gradually gets harder and more in-depth leading to a student that can have a well thought out response to questions with facts as their basis.

You can't ask for much more than that. A student that can listen to information decipher it and then decide if it is fact, fiction, a mix of both, and have reasons to support their decision. Love it! The DVD's are a little dry and not quite as flashy as others on the market but they are full of wonderful information.

Now, for this review I did not receive all the sources(reading books) they list as needed in the curriculum. But, I found that I could make this program work with our current curriculum and that makes this one golden. You can purchase this set for $79.99. It includes the 3 DVD's and The Socratic Discussion in History guide and is for Grades 9-12.

Now, for the other part of this review I regret to say that I did not receive one of the books necessary. I didn't receive the Take a Stand Student book but I did receive the 32 week Guide for Modern American History. The 32 week Guide lays out each lesson for you and all you have to do is follow it. It is laid out well and seems easy to follow. Unfortunately I didn't realize I was missing a piece. Sometimes companies only send you parts of sets and so I thought it was just me missing something. I can only imagine that the Student book is as well laid out as well.

For the last part of this review we received the Ancient History Go Fish Game. Yup, Go Fish! I love a good game of Go Fish but when you add in an educational aspect it becomes just about perfect. This game actually comes with FOUR different options so you aren't stuck with the same game over and over. The four games you can play are: Collect the Cards, Ancient History Go Fish, Continents Game, and Chronology Game. The cards are on heavy stock in full color. They are well worth the $11.95 you can get them for. If you want to purchase your set and see what other options there are head over Here and check them out. This game is fro Grades 6-8.

If you haven't found a history curriculm yet, I suggest you head over to The Classical Historian and check them out. You won't be sorry. Don't forget to check out their About Us page, Q and A page, and the rest of the products they offer.