Our Family

Our Family

Friday, April 29, 2016

Four Reasons I Love The Mystery of History

*this post contains affiliate links
The Mystery of History Series


We have been on an exciting 4 year adventure through history with The Mystery of History.  I can't believe that we have finished all 360 lessons!  It seems like we just started.  Today I am sharing with you 4 Reasons I Love The Mystery of History and I also have an exciting giveaway for you from Bright Ideas Press!

The Mystery of History is made up of 4 Volumes:

Vol I Creation to the Resurrection

Vol II The Early Church and the Middle Ages

Vol III The Renaissance, Reformation, and The Growth of Nations

Vol IV Wars of Independence to Modern Times

Vol I Nick, Al, Lily making cuneiform tablets. They were so little!


Alex adding Vol IV timeline figures 


4 Reasons I Love The Mystery of History:

It is creation based and chronological. I love studying history based on the Bible but very few history courses start here. The Mystery of History starts with the creation of the world and rather than focusing on one area of the world at a time, it focuses on what is going on all of the world during a particular time period.

It is complete.  Everything you "need" to teach the curriculum such as the reading lesson, activities, mapping and timeline assignments, tests and quizzes are included.  There are a lot of supplemental resources such as challenge cards, notebooking pages, and coloring pages that you can add if you want to (I especially like the notebooking pages,) but if your budget is tight or you do not want to add the extras you do not have to.  You can read this post that I wrote on the different types of worksheets.



It can be used with a wide range of age ranges from K-12th grade.  One of the biggest things that drew me to The Mystery of History was that I could use it with all of my children at once.  There are age appropriate  activities listed for the different groups younger, middle, and high school grades. The lessons are written in a very conversational way and are fun and interesting for the teacher and the student. For those with high schoolers, there is more than enough work at the high school level to earn a full credit.  For those with younger children the lessons are short enough to hold their interest.

There are plenty of activities to pick and choose from. The main parts of the course is to read the lesson, complete memory cards, do a mapping assignment, and make a timeline.  There are also hands on activities for each of the age levels that you can pick and choose from. You don't have to do any or all of them but it is a great way to make history come alive.

the children made this "map" of Ancient Egypt



Just a note about the timeline.  We loved making the timeline for all 4 volumes.  We chose to use the timeline figures from Amy Pak. These are beautiful figures and made it so easy for me to do this with the children!

Vol I

Vol II

Vol III and part of Vol IV

The rest of Vol IV

First figures of Vol I

last figures of Vol IV



Not only did my children enjoy our study of history, I learned a lot too!  I love being able to learn alongside my children.  Linda Lacour Hobar has a wonderful gift for teaching history and I am so glad we were able to complete this study!


Giveaway!!!!  Giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to all who entered!


Bright Ideas Press has generously offered to allow me to host a giveaway!  One of my lucky readers will win a copy of The Mystery of History Vol IV.  This giveaway is for U.S. residents only.  To enter please leave me a comment answering this question: What is your favorite part of history to study?Please make sure when commenting that you leave me a way to get in touch with you if you are the winner!

Giveaway will close on May 6th at 11:59 pm.  Winner will be chosen at random. Thanks for entering and good luck!!

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*links in this post are my affiliate links.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!

16 comments:

Megan Russell said...

We love studying the Ancients, but haven't studied much Medieval yet. I would love to win this!!

Cassandra Holdeman said...

I love studying the Civil War.

Unknown said...

I have really enjoyed teaching modern history this year because its the part I feel I understand the best.

A Learning Journey said...

I would usually say that we love studying Ancient History, but we needed a change. My daughter and I are really enjoying the Civil War time period. We just finished a book about Harriet Tubman. Thank you for the opportunity to win! I was just thinking about this volume for next year.

ReneeK said...

Ancient History is my favorite.

Deanna J said...

Hmmm... so hard to pick! I love the Middle Ages and the Age of Exploration, but early American History is probably my favorite.

MommyBugg said...

We love the age of exploration. Also medieval times. All are great though (history buffs here)

zekesmom10 said...

I think British royalty around QEI.

Aflyonmyhomeschoolwall said...

We're partial to medieval history around here. :)

Brandy said...

I really enjoy history, so it's hard to pick! I think Early Colonial American History has been my favorite to teach so far!

Gretta said...

Our kids have really enjoyed American History this year - they are looking forward to learning about the Middle Ages this summer though!

Brenda Prince said...

I actually hated history in school and as I've gotten older, started liking it. So to be honest, I'm learning right along side with the kids. So far, I'm loving ancient history :)

Aflyonmyhomeschoolwall said...

We've been loving the renaissance this year.

247mama said...

I love all history studies. I've always enjoyed hearing about other times and places. Both of my kids really like the Middle Ages. It's too hard for me to pick a favorite. We'd love to win this giveaway!

grtlyblesd said...

History is my favorite! Probably ancient history, but I've found everything we've learned about so far fascinating. We started with Creation, and we're in the late 1700s right now. Eli Whitney and the cotton gin!

Laura O in AK said...

I love learning history alongside my boys as I remember little from when I was in school.

No favorite time period as there's always something interesting to learn.