History Quest: Early Times Final Review

What Is History Quest All About?

You can see my Halfway Review of History Quest with some more detailed introduction here:

History Quest: Early Times Halfway Review

Since we concluded the entire curriculum, I will highlight some of my favorite aspects of History Quest: The Early Times:

• The chapter-book format can be used with a variety of age ranges, and different kids will get out of it different things, depending on age and interest. It works well for the whole family.
• The curriculum is secular, diverse, and inclusive. Multiple world religions are introduced beautifully, cultural groups are included across continents (not just focused around the Mediterranean and Europe) and women are included just as much as men in the History Hops.
• The Study Guide with extra learning for visual learners and hands-on learners is excellent, well-organized, adaptable, and fun!

DO I NEED THE STUDY GUIDE?

• It is possible to only read the History Quest chapter book (or do the audiobook) and not do the Study Guide or any additional material! If you are interested in teaching history to your child(ren) but have a hard time imagining incorporating a full schedule of history each week, it’s definitely a great option to simply read through the chapter book! It’s engaging and covers the material well without the need for a lot of additions.

HOW MANY DAYS PER WEEK DOES THIS TAKE?

• The Study Guide lays out a 5-day week schedule but you do not need to follow it. There are many ways to fit History Quest in to your week in less days, or expand lessons/weeks even further. There are lots of ideas in discussion threads on the History Quest Facebook Group on how to schedule it out. I usually spent 2-3 days each week on history.

WHAT ABOUT NOTEBOOKING?

• Some notebook pages are included in the Study Guide (for recording what the child learned through that week), but depending on your child’s age and interest you may want to consider buying or creating a more extensive notebook. I created separate notebooking pages with copywork (which was provided in the History Quest Study Guide) and kept everything in a 3-ring binder. In the end, we had a nice memory book my son had created to review all the material.

DO YOU KEEP A TIMELINE?

• No timeline cards or banner or specific project is included with this curriculum. There are lots of options for incorporating this, though. I purchased The Big History Timeline and the corresponding sticker book which helped my son see how we jumped around in time as we covered different historical groups reading through History Quest.
• I know others have purchased the timelines that correspond to History Odyssey (different from History Quest) and just used the stickers that match History Quest.
• Others have created their own timelines.
• Or, you could work on a Book of Centuries (Charlotte Mason homeschoolers use these; note these use BC/AD and often won’t include prehistory). For secular homeschooler, there is a free printable one here from Lauren at Chickie & Roo that uses BCE/CE or this awesome brand-new Rainbow Notebook: History Timeline Notebook from Megan at schoolnest, which I recently purchased!

FOR THE VISUAL LEARNERS

• My family loves exploring videos to aid in our learning. Having History Quest, through its website, and the internet links curated from the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History was such a huge help and joy each week! I didn’t have to do a bunch of research to find appropriate videos for my children; someone else did all that work. And I’m here for it!

WHAT SUPPLEMENTAL BOOKS DO YOU NEED?

• My one favorite book that I purchased beyond the recommended Usborne Encyclopedia of World History that I feel coordinated well with History Quest is When on Earth? History As You’ve Never Seen It Before. This book goes beyond ancient history but there were so many relevant weeks that paired with with our learning and maps are just the best! It’s a really well done book and great for kids. And, I am sure we will use it for History Quest: Middle Times.

Highlights for Each Unit (Second Half)

I left off the last review with Ancient Greece, which we spent four weeks on as follows: (1) Minoans and Mycenaeans, (2) Hygge History Week: Greek Mythology, (3) Greece Develops, and (4) Classical Greece.

After Greece, we covered Macedonia, India, Rome, Kush & Aksum, China, the Byzantines, and Arabia. I will detail each of those below.

Macedonia

Well, covering Alexander the Great is pretty epic and memorable, to say the least. This unit was especially interesting and my son really latched on the the Alexander the Great by Demi book! It’s beautifully done, contains maps, and details and captures Alexander’s life so well. Highly recommend.

We ended up not really doing a specific craft or hands-on activity for this week because the kids were having so much fun with the pretend play and I felt like that was enough. They get to lead the learning a lot!

Other books pictured:

• When on Earth? History As You’ve Never Seen It Before
• Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
• The Ancient World in 100 Words

Ancient India

Ancient India was covered in two parts: we first covered the very early Indus Valley Civilization and then got in to more of the Mauryan Empire and learning about Ashoka the Great. We really enjoyed a variety of tales from Ancient India, eating Indian food, and created a clay Indus Valley Seal.

But, the real and lasting highlight of this unit was reading the stunning and perfect story of The Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel. We read this so many times! This is one of those books that is worth owning, in my opinion. Many of the other suggested books throughout the curriculum can be found at your library and you probably don’t need to own.

Other books pictured:

• Building History: Indus Valley City
• Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
• The Elephant’s Friend and Other Tales from Ancient India

Ancient Rome

When I told my son we would be learning about ancient history this school year he in advance determined that he was the MOST excited to learn about Ancient Rome. Not surprisingly, these several weeks spent on Rome were a hit. That said, I do think that his level of interest and engagement was just as high when we did other units. There were some weeks that I think surprised even him as to how “cool” he thought it was. As I just mentioned, he really latched on to Ancient India. But even learning about some “smaller” ancient cultures like the Nazca or Aksumites was a memorable and engaging experience.

Yes, Ancient Rome is indeed epic and awesome in a young child’s mind. My husband and I even joked about showing our son Gladiator (don’t worry, we didn’t!)

I put our Ancient Rome Playmobil figures in the photo just so it’s clear that in our homeschool we use play as learning on a regular basis. I don’t want it to seem that history lessons with my 7 year old were stodgy and boring! One of the crafts from the History Quest Study Guide was to create a catapult with popsicle sticks and rubber bands, and we had a blast with that!

Because my son was extra excited about this unit AND because there is a wealth of books and knowledge out there about Ancient Rome, I added some books in beyond what was recommended in the History Quest Study Guide:

• See Inside Ancient Rome
• DK Findout! Ancient Rome

Other books pictured:

• Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
• When on Earth? History As You’ve Never Seen It Before
• The Ancient World in 100 Words

Kush & Aksum

The one week we spent learning about Ancient African peoples (other than those pesky Egyptians) was so fun! The African Beginnings books (recommended to pair with this week) is stunning and wonderful. Lots to explore. And my favorite part was introducing my kids to the game Mancala!

Other books pictured:

• Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
• When on Earth? History As You’ve Never Seen It Before

Ancient China

Remember when I said my son was super excited about Ancient Rome? Well, I think when we hit Ancient China his level of enthusiasm was superseded! We had so much fun with these few weeks. History Quest included two weeks of Ancient China: Part 1 and Part 2 chapters, and then a built-in History Hygge week with Chinese folklore. We enjoyed reading through Chinese Children’s Favorite Stories and Fa Mulan. There were wonderful historical videos to watch about the Terracotta Army and the Great Wall, and we even enjoyed the nature study lesson of the silk moth and silk making!

Other books pictured:

• When on Earth? History As You’ve Never Seen It Before
• Hidden Army: Clay Soldiers of Ancient China
• China Through Time

Books used but not pictured:

• Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
• We’re Riding on a Caravan

The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was an interesting unit, and I felt like we delved more in to art & architecture with this one than some other weeks. I liked structurally how History Quest chose not to cover this chapter immediately after Ancient Rome. The separation helped my kids understand a bit more of the cultural shift.

It was harder to find good children’s books for this unit, so we stuck with Usborne Encyclopedia of World History and the linked websites/videos. We definitely enjoyed creating a mosaic art project in Byzantine style, and learning about the Haggia Sofia (the open book depicting this is Atlas of Adventures: Wonders of the World.

Arabia

We ended our Early Times year with a journey to ancient Arabia to learn about the rise of Islam. My children had both been taking some beginning Arabic lessons at the time we reached this unit, so we were all very excited. I added in a couple of books beyond what was recommended for this unit, and we enjoyed some cultural food as well this week.

Books used:

• Muhammad by Demi
• Islam (DK Eyewitness)
• 1001 Inventions & Awesome Facts From Muslim Civilization
• Going to Mecca
• Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns
• Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets

In Summary

Remember that the bulk experience of History Quest: The Early Times is sitting down with a great book and reading it with your child(ren). I’ve included in my post a number of flatlay photos, many with crafts and notebook pages and additional books, and all of that certainly added to our enjoyment and learning. But, I want to make it clear that I believe this history curriculum is decidedly fuss-free and really adaptable for families. I think the content is fantastic and I can’t wait to do History Quest: Middle Times next (the Fall of Rome to the 17th century)!

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