This is the time of the year that many homeschoolers are wrapping up their schoolyear and thinking about next year--so I'd like to share with you all the history curriculum that my 10th grade daughter has been using this year--Universal History by Pathway to Liberty. The Pathway to Liberty history program is a set of curricula that is based on Biblical/Christian principles. Last year we had the opportunity to get their US History Curriculum (see my review here) and this year my 10th grade daughter was up for world history, so we decided to give the Universal History a try!
Over the years we have used a variety of history curricula, often using the same subject area for multiple-aged kids. This year we thought over my daughter's history career thus far and it seemed that she has been very US-history-heavy and perhaps lacking in world and ancient history; this led us to the decision to have her begin at the beginning with ancient history.
The Universal History curriculum basically goes through Bible times history and how it interlocks with the history of the ancient world civilizations. The main spine of the curriculum is the student guide (pictured above) and the teacher's guide, which is basically the same book, but with the answers filled in.
Each week has its plan clearly laid out--by day and by the age/year of your child. There is a broad variety of ways that the student learns the lessons -- reading assigned sections in the resource books, viewing videos on the Pathway to Liberty's YouTube channel, answering questions, writing essays, filling in charts, and more.
I really like this clearly defined assignment-type layout, as it enables the student to do their work independently, without needing direction every single day as to what to read or view or complete.
The videos are compilations of different creators, organized into playlists for the different curricula and are very easy to access.
There are different types of assignments for the student to complete --some require a lot of thinking and formulating of thoughts and others are just replying back the information which was just learned. There are fill in the blank, short answer, charts, vocabulary, and more.
The curriculum is unapologetically Christian and Bible-based, so if that is not your framework, you might want to look into something else. However, if you are based in a Christian worldview, you will appreciate this resource.
The "textbooks" that your student will use with this curriculum are quite varied and support the curriculum well.
My daughter has been using this curriculum for the whole schoolyear and has learned a lot of ancient history and it has been interesting to see how it enhances her understanding of the Bible and things that occur historically within it. Interestingly enough, our pastor has been going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah recently, and she has understood the historical settings of these nicely. Some of the different topics that are covered in the curriculum include ancient Greece, the Assyrian empire, the Babylonians, ancient Egypt, Abrahamic covenant, the Tabernacle, and more.
When asked to give her thoughts on the curriculum, she wrote, "I really liked this history, and I learned a lot from it. I learned so much about the Bible and Bible times. It uses other books that you read sections of, and videos. There are studyguides in the main book as well. I like that there are lots of ways of learning in it."
I did like this curriculum. From the mom/teacher side of things, it was very easy for her to work independently This is a big plus! :) I really also liked the deep digging in to the history seen in the Bible and the way it is integrated with the history of the civilizations of the world at that time. It has given my daughter a good base. In our family this year, she was the only one using this product, but I really like how the layout of the program is such that many ages of children can study the same history time -- I think this is so valuable because it really infiltrates the family that way. We have done that in the past, and I love to see the kids all interacting on their own age level in the same subject matter. If you are not sure which "level" your student would utilize, please check out their curriculum guides on the website.
