If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, then it will come as no surprise to you that history is my favorite. I look forward to reading, studying, and talking about historical events and the importance of all things history with my family each year as part of our schoolwork and aim to make it relevant to daily life. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review the Pathway to Liberty Homeschool Curriculum and to choose the topic that would most benefit my Senior.
Pathway to Liberty offers intensive study in Universal History Year 1), The Middle Ages (Year 2), US History (Year 3), and World History (Year 4). After perusing the website and discussing together, my daughter and I chose to dive into Pathway to Liberty's History Curriculum with a study of US History. We were in agreement that we had covered the other histories quite sufficiently throughout her high school years and thought that a discourse on American liberty would be the perfect way to end the year. I truly believe that this is an instrumental foundation that must be studied over and over again. I want to make sure that my daughter knows the truth about the history of our country as we are faced with the potential re-writing of historical events in the years to come.
Written by a homeschool momma who has been-there/done-that, the entire curriculum is designed to meet students right where they are and bring them to where they should be. As a home educator for over 20 years, Jayme McCullough found history curriculum to be lacking in truth and substance and decided to make a change that would benefit her sons. Lucky for us, she developed Pathway to Liberty and offers to share her extensive knowledge with others. As a result of teaching her own children, she knows what works and what doesn't work. Early levels are more teacher-intensive than the high school level. My daughter was able to follow along and progress at her own pace with very limited assistance needed from me.
We began with U.S. History Year 3/Level 4. The Year simply designates the particular history to be studied. You do not have to study these in order, but students will receive a great benefit if you can. The Level designates the grade level and is written accordingly. Level 4 is used for 10th - 12th grades. The beauty of this is that if you have multiple students in your homeschool, you can use the same year with different levels to teach collectively. When all four of my children were in school at the same time, this was exactly the type of curriculum that I preferred.
For review purposes, we received the following:
- U.S. History Student Guide -- 297-pages, laminated cardstock cover with a spiral comb binding. The Student Guide contains 26 weeks of lessons. Each week has 4 lessons and these lessons can be completed in 20 minutes to an hour.
- U.S. History Teacher Guide - 231-pages, laminated cardstock cover with a spiral comb binding. The Teacher Guide directly corresponds to the Student Guide but includes the correct answers and teaching helps.
- The Chain of Liberty: Do Men Have a Right to Think for Themselves? book -- 172-pages, softcover. This book contains 13 chapters that lay out the founding principles of the United States through a chronological timeline documenting mankind from slavery to freedom. I have found this book to be just as interesting as my daughter has. It is a marvelous read for us all.
- The Chain of Liberty: Do Men Have a Right to Think for Themselves? Study Guide -- 98-pages, softcover. The Study Guide offers corresponding questions for each of the 13 chapters in the book with correct answers found in the back of the Guide.
In addition to these resources, we used several other books and made extensive use of videos and materials online as directed within the Study Guide. Additional books needed for Level 4 are the Bible, Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary (available online), The Light & Glory, The Bible & the Constitution: A Primer of American Liberty, Teaching & Learning America's Christian History, Christian History of the Constitution, Boys of '76, and From Sea to Shining Sea. Other recommended (but not required) titles are The Church in History, Stories of the Pilgrims, The Story of Liberty, Trial & Triumph: Stories from Church History, Streams of Civilizations Volume 2: Cultures in Conflict Since the Reformation, and Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule. We already owned quite a few of these. Others were available from our library.
My daughter really enjoyed watching YouTube videos as part of most lessons. She was excited to find links to help bring history to life within the pages of her textbook and I liked that she was being directed to research multiple sources of information. This helps prepare her for next year's college classes.
My daughter really enjoyed watching YouTube videos as part of most lessons. She was excited to find links to help bring history to life within the pages of her textbook and I liked that she was being directed to research multiple sources of information. This helps prepare her for next year's college classes.
With an immersive approach to study, Pathway to Liberty offers history written from a Biblical worldview. Each week students are directed to write out the Scripture, Principle, and Leading Idea that they will be studying. I absolutely LOVE that we begin with GOD's Word. Ample opportunities are provided for writing that aid students in reasoning skills and relating what they are learning to others. It is not enough to merely read the pages assigned. Students must also be able to process what they've read and write about it in such a way that others can understand. I like this.
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Each week's series of lessons is divided in the same basic way. My daughter began by reading through the Weekly Overview and Teaching Objectives, going over the Scripture, Principle, and Leading Idea, and copying those into her notebook. She then looked up the daily lesson on the chart provided and followed along as directed. For example, in Week 7, Lesson 1 she is learning about John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, and William Blackstone. She first visited the All About Philosophy website and read the article suggested (Shown below). After that, she read through the pages assigned in Teaching & Learning America's Christian History and began to work on a provided chart in which she compared Locke, de Montesquieu, and Blackstone.
When she had completed her comparison chart, we spent a few minutes discussing each of the men and looking at the similarities from their preaching and philosphies. This assignment was followed by a research assignment in which my daughter was instructed to choose a preacher or philosopher and 3-5 topics to research about her choice. She will spend other days this week learning about the childhood, calling, and preaching of William Blackstone -- and will also have the chance to see exactly how GOD used Blackstone to advance HIS kingdom. Books and websites are included in the Student Guide to give her a starting point for her research and there is a suggested outline with worksheet for her to use to make sure that she gathers enough information to write her paper. Truly everything she needs is right here at her fingertips which makes Pathway to Liberty user-friendly for us both.
I was given the opportunity to review US History from Pathway to Liberty Homeschool Curriculum as a member of the Homeschool Review Crew. You can check out the Crew Review and see what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought of this history curriculm as well (or just click on the banner below.)
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