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BiblioPlan: Remember the Days, Book Two: Medieval Days (History for Junior Readers) Review by Jennifer Ladewig

Rob & Julia Nalle
BiblioPlan Inc.
434-589-4102
http://www.biblioplan.net

BiblioPlan is a four-year classical-based history curriculum for homeschoolers. Remember the Days, Book Two: Medieval Days (History for Junior Readers) covers world and church history from the Fall of Rome to the Renaissance and also includes world geography. The BiblioPlan Family Guide for Medieval History is a spiral-bound book that includes complete lesson plans and book lists. Remember the Days is a story-based textbook for K-6. I also received downloadable format eBooks for the following: Medieval Cool History for Middles, Medieval Craft Book, Medieval Days, Medieval Family Guide, Medieval Hands-On Maps for Middles, and Medieval TimeLine.

The costs for the Medieval components are as follows:

Medieval Family Guide $34.95 eBook & $42.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Discussion Guide $8.95 eBook & $12.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Remember the Days $32.95 eBook & $49.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Companion $42.95 eBook & $99.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Cool History for Littles (K-2) $11.95 eBook & $18.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Cool History for Middles (2-6) $14.95 eBook & $20.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Cool History for Upper Middles (6-8) $16.95 eBook & $22.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Cool History for Advanced (8-12) $16.95 eBook and $22.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Cool History Classics (K-6) $11.95 eBook and $18.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Timeline $16.95 eBook and $24.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Hands-on Maps for Middles (2-8) $14.95 eBook and $20.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Hands-on Maps for Advanced (8-12) $16.95 eBook and $22.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Craft Book $9.95 eBook and $15.95 Hardcopy.

Medieval Coloring Book $5.95 eBook and $8.95 Hardcopy.

The above books can be purchased separately, or you can purchase the books in bundle sets. There are multiple bundle options available. Purchasing bundles will save you 5% on the purchase price.

BiblioPlan offers Companion—a textbook for each of the four years. All grade levels can use this textbook. For younger grades, this textbook is intended to act as more of an enrichment text. BiblioPlan is excited to offer a new option for younger students in grades K-6 called Remember the Days. They currently have this textbook available for Year Two and Year Three. The material in Remember the Days covers the same material that is found in the Companion but is written for younger readers.

For those not familiar with classical-based curriculum, normally students cycle through a four-year plan of study. BiblioPlan breaks down their four-year cycle with Year One covering Ancient History (creation to the Fall of Rome), Year Two covers Medieval History (Fall of Rome to the Renaissance), Year Three focuses on Early Modern History (US, World, and Church History from 1600-1850), and Year Four covering Modern History (US and World History from 1850-2000).

Each of the four-volume textbooks is divided into 34 weeks of study. There are A LOT of supplemental and enrichment aspects to this curriculum, and it is highly suggested that you do not overdo it! Part of the greatness of curricula such as BiblioPlan is that you can really piece together the elements that work best for you.

This curriculum is intended for use in grades K-12.

Remember the Days

This is a 34-chapter book with colorful pictures, maps, and illustrations.

The units of study for second-year Medieval are: Early Christianity and the Rise Of Islam (weeks 1-7), Europe and the Crusades (weeks 8-15), Asia (weeks 16-20), New Worlds Explored (weeks 21-25), Renaissance and Reformation (weeks 26-30), and The Elizabethan Era (weeks 31-34). Yellow boxes can be found within the text that contains unfamiliar words or things along with their definitions. For example, your child may not be familiar with the wordmercenary. “A mercenary is a soldier who will fight for anyone who can afford to pay him.” While reading, your student will come across unfamiliar topics such as canon of Scripture. “The canon of Scripture is the list of God-inspired books that make up the Holy Bible. Athanasius was a father of the New Testament canon.” Interesting facts or bits of information will be highlighted in colored sections. The book is full of amazing illustrations, pictures, photos, and maps.

Family Guide

The BiblioPlan Family Guide breaks down the material into units and weeks. The guide also provides an entire-year overview of the program. Throughout the guide, you will see specific breakdowns according to recommended age and grade levels. Each unit begins with memory work options. Each week has a weekly topic and is broken down into subsections: History Readings, Literature Readings, Writing Ideas, BiblioPlan Hands-On Activities, and Optional Reading Ideas and Other Resources. There are three lessons per week. This book is amazing in that all the legwork for preparation is done for you. Lists of recommended books, resources, movies, audios, and enrichment activities are listed and broken down into grade levels as well as which weeks each of the complements could be utilized. Wow, this was truly a lifesaver! The list also provides brief synopsis of each suggested resource.

Medieval Cool History for Middles

This supplemental book is for grades 2-6. This book works with both the Remember the Day or Companion textbooks. Activities for each week are divided into three sections: (1) Questions from the Readings (2) Giants of the Faith (3) Optional Bonus Questions & Activities. The first section has history questions. For example: “The world’s earliest civilizations grew up around what four river valleys?” or “Why did the early Vikings choose Christian monasteries as targets for their raids?” The second section focuses on the heroes from church history that were covered in the weeks readings such as St. Martin of Tours, St. Genevieve. Templates are available if your student wants to create a Giants of the Faith project book. The final section is fun activities and enrichment projects. For example, “Emperor Constantine, who reunited the Roman Empire in 324 BC, became the empire’s first Christian emperor. After Constantine had a vision, he ordered his soldiers paint a certain symbol on their shields. What was the symbol?” At the end of the eBook, you will find the answers to all the questions, activities, and bonus material.

Medieval Craft Book

There are 119 crafts and activities in this book. A chart is provided to show how many crafts are available for each unit within the Medieval year of study. It is suggested that you look through the crafts and purchase the materials needed so that you are not scrambling to get materials. One of the crafts for the Roman Empire unit is to play a game called Tabula. Tabula is a lot like backgammon. You will have to research in order to find details about the game and how to play. A colored picture of the game is available in the craft book. One of the fun crafts from the Central and Eastern Europe unit is to create your own Tughra. A tughra is a unique signature of an Ottoman sultan. Picture examples are shown in the book. Using calligraphy pens, your student will write their own signature. Again, you will want to research this a bit.

Medieval Hands-On Maps for Middles

This supplemental book works with both the Companion as well as the Remember the Days textbooks. This book of maps is the perfect complement to teaching geography. For each week, your student will reference one or two maps that will help them correlate the places they are reading about to where they are located. Each map has an assignment that is printed on each map page. Students are encouraged to use globes, maps, and their texts to complete the assignments. Instructions are given for expectations for the various grade levels. Of course, you will not expect your 1st grader to do the same work as your 10th grader. What I really love about this curriculum is that you can utilize it with all grade levels and tailor it to each child’s level.

Medieval Timeline

Timelines are a great way to see how figures and events fit together in an overall sequence of time. This book is divided into two sections: (1) figures found in each lesson and captions and (2) flowchart. Instructions are given to help students build their timelines. Students will cut and paste and can use a notebook or a wall (twelve-feet wall space) to assemble their timeline. Colorful photos, pictures, and illustrations are provided in this book. These pictures will be cut and then pasted on the timeline throughout the course of study. After your child has completed the year, they can use this timeline to review what has been learned. I have found that timelines are great reference tools to use throughout a study to refresh and remember what has been learned.

 

I really enjoyed working through BiblioPlan, Year Two Medieval with my daughter. Not only will my 9th grader continue to work to complete Year Two, but also, I fully intend to begin this with my 4th and 6th graders in the fall.

My daughter said, “BiblioPlan doesn’t mess around. If you want to REALLY learn history than look no further! This curriculum is intense. I could basically spend all day working through BiblioPlan if I was a history nerd. I like that the curriculum uses so many things like maps, timelines, and projects to help learn history. This curriculum is definitely not for the lazy person. I have learned so much.”

I have been so very impressed with BiblioPlan that I intend to continue using BiblioPlan in the future. The curriculum is engaging, student friendly, and definitely takes the hard work of preparation and planning out for the parent/teacher. The textbooks along with the many supplemental books will provide students of all ages with an intense, rich learning experience. As a homeschooler, I am always excited when I find curriculum that can be used for all ages. BiblioPlan has done an incredible job breaking down the curriculum for various grade levels. I would highly recommend this curriculum to others.

It is so very hard to find history curriculum that isn’t just textbook based. For years, I have opted to have my kiddos read in order to learn history. So many textbooks only give highlights of history without providing the student with the full picture. BiblioPlan will truly give your student an in-depth look into history. BiblioPlan recommends other classical-based curricula to complement theirs. One of the recommendations is Susan Wise Bauer’sThe Story of the World, which is a classical, story-based history series.

-Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2017

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