The Mystery of History Volume III–Renaissance, Reformation and Growth of Nations

I am delighted to present you a fabulous history curriculum which I know will not only introduce you to historical events but will also give you some information about the growth of the Christian faith through the years.

The Mystery of History curriculum is for all ages – younger students (K-3rd), middle students (4th-8th), and Older students (9th – 12th).  Depending of the age of your child you will find fun hands-on crafts, games as well as research projects for them. 

This is the third volume of a series of four.   The first book covered from the Creation to the Resurrection.  The second book concentrated to the history of the Early Church and the Middles Ages.  This book covers the Renaissance, Reformation and the Growth of Nations.   Finally the fourth book specifically presents the Wars of Independence to the Modern Times.

The purpose of this blog post is to present what you can expect to discover while using the Mystery of History Volume III curriculum.   At the end of January, I will write another blog post to present how we have used the curriculum during the months of August 2016 to January 2017.   What is particularly interesting for us is that our homeschool coop will also cover the Renaissance period this year as one of our units.   So receiving these items in time for us to discover and learn about Renaissance is definitively a blessing. 

This specific volume will cover the people and the events from 1455 to 1707.  Not only will you learn about the Inquisition, Christopher Columbus, Michelangelo, Martin Luther, and many more but you will also see how Renaissance and the Reformation influenced Europe, which empires became wealthy in West Africa, learn about the Mogul dynasty in India among other things. 

As you can already realize this historical curriculum covers so much that you can’t help to anticipate what will be in the pages you read as you use it.  

Volume III of The Mystery of History has been divided into two books – a student reader which contains 84 lessons with colorful pictures, and the Companion Guide which includes the pretests, hands-on and research activities for younger, middle, and older students, memory card ideas, biweekly quizzes and exercises, timeline helps, maps, and supplemental books list.

The reader is also available as an audio book (which we also received and you could use with the text in hand or simply take notes or color while you listen to it).   The author herself is reading the text and background music adds life, drama and more meaning to the lessons. 

Volume II also offers a Super Supplemental Collection (in CD or PDGF format) which offers you challenge cards, coloring pages,  notebooking pages, and a complete folderbook set. From what I have looked at right now, I particularly like the notebooking pages that contains questions that the student have to answer.   I will be using this particular set of notebooking pages in the months to come.

Other items we also received that will be included in the review  are:

Rand McNally’s Historical Atlas of the World will provide information on all time periods and help the students to complete the mapping exercises in the series.   It contains over 75 colorful, thematic maps which also include literacy, languages, religions and more.

Rand McNally’s The Atlas of World Geography provides 65 physical and political maps of our present world which includes all nations and continents.   You will be able to quickly see information about population, land use, climate, all presented with charts, graphs, and tables. 

The Mystery of History Tote Bag could become an essential item in your homeschool journey.  This canvas bag display The Mystery of History logo and possess strong handles, a pen/glasses holder and a vinyl inner lining which gives it strength, durability, and protection for what you can carry in it.   My first impression of this bag is highly positive.  The bag is sturdy and is beautifully made.   I personally plan to use it to bring my journaling bible things at the RV (on a regular basis until mid-October) as well as carry much needed books at coop in the fall.  

Please note that even if it is recommended that you have gone through volumes I and II before tackling this one, it is not necessary at all to do so.  You can see example of activities with this book at the Mystery of History website.

Needless to say that I am looking forward to explore what all these products have in store in the months to come as we embark on a journey of discovery with Mystery of History Volume 3 – Renaissance, Reformation, and Growth of Nations. 

If you are interested in getting Mystery of History Volume III – Renaissance, Reformation, and Growth of Nations, you can get these at your favorite homeschool suppliers. Prices are as follow:  The Reader 59.95$, The Companion Guide  Paperback 39.95$  CD 29.95$  PDF 29.95$, the MP3  CDs 52.95$   Downloads 12$ for each quarter (there are four quarters) with or without music, the Super Supplemental Collection CD 64.95$ PDF 59.95$, the Rand McNally’s Historical Atlas of the World 14.95$, the Rand McNally’s The Atlas of Word Geography 16.99$, and the Mystery of History Tote Bag 10.00$.  Note that all prices are all in US dollars.

As I mentioned above, I will be using this curriculum for our history this year and plan to write a more detailed post on how Mystery of History Volume III was used in our homeschool. This blog post will be written sometime at the end of January 2017.

Disclaimer: Thanks to the author of Mystery of History for sending me the above mentioned products for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.