Ancient Civilization and the Bible is a 36-week curriculum written by Diana Waring for Kindergarten through 12^th grade. For this review, I received the Ancient Civilizations and the Bible Teacher Guide, Student Manual, Test Kit, What in the World Volume 1 CD set, Elementary Activity Book, and the Lesson Planner.

This curriculum is divided into nine units. Each unit cycles through four phases, and each phase takes a week to complete. The course of study is:

• Unit One: Creation and the Flood
• Unit Two: The Rise of Civilizations
• Unit Three: Egypt and the Exodus
• Unit Four: The Children of Israel
• Unit Five: Assyria and Babylon
• Unit Six: The Persians and Medes
• Unit Seven: Greece and the Hellenists
• Unit Eight: The Rise of Rome
• Unit Nine: Jesus Christ, Immanuel

The four phases in each unit are structured like this:

• Phase One: Introduction
• Phase Two: Exploration and Discovery
• Phase Three: Hands-On
• Phase Four: Expression

In the Introduction, which is week one of the unit, you will discuss key concepts, read the unit lesson, listen to the corresponding audio recordings, read online articles, discuss opinions, and read supplemental books. Week Two is the second phase - Exploration and Discovery. You will research a topic of your choice, construct a timeline, and report the findings of your research. During the third phase, Hands-On learning, you will label maps, view art and architecture, design art projects, conduct science experiments, listen to music and cook recipes. The last phase is Expression, where you will choose to creatively express what you’ve learned through linguistics, art, music, drama, movement or conceptual design.

In the Introduction, the parent will learn about the three foundational building blocks for this curriculum: the four learning styles, the three learning modalities, and the eight intelligences. This helps to understand why the curriculum is set up the way that it is, with the phases cycling through each unit. All learning styles are addressed in the lesson planning part of the curriculum.

The Student Manual includes the text you will read for each unit, as well as guidelines for each weekly phase. It will tell you which audio recordings to listen to, online articles to read, discussion points, book lists for further reading, mapping activities, descriptions of the activities and research topics, self-evaluation forms and more.

The Teacher’s Guide includes everything in the Student Manual along with extra information and discussion topics.

The Elementary Activity Book includes mazes, coloring pages, skits, games, science experiments, word scramblers, and a book list for younger children. This Elementary Activity Book is for Kindergarten through 4^th grade, allowing them follow along more closely with the older students.

The In-Depth Lesson Planner has 3-day and 5-day plans for each unit, broken down into Kindergarten through 4^th grade and 5^th through 12^th grade. Each weekly plan is broken down into days, showing you exactly what to read, do and prepare for. There is a record keeping section for high school credits, where you can write down the project, topics, and hours.

I love how this curriculum is for multiple ages! My children range in age from Kindergarten to 9^th grade. This curriculum makes it easy to teach to the wide gap in ages. The younger children can listen to less of the textbook, but read more age-appropriate books, while the older ones listen to every recording, every article, and do additional research. The projects choices are also really great! There is such a wide variety of topics and activities that the children get to pick to do. Some of the projects are very simple, like making a poster of the days of creation or making a family tree, while others are much more complicated, like researching the science of metallurgy or carving wooden animals. This makes it easy for young children to participate in presentation night right along with the older children. It is also easy for a high-schooler to obtain credits. A history credit, of course, would be simple to give – simply add some age-appropriate literature (and there are quite a few recommendations) and keep track of the projects, research, and presentations your child completes. There are plenty of writing, research, reading, and hands-on activities for all your children!

The Lesson Planner is a great tool. It really helps you to see at-a-glance what you and your children will be doing each week. You could easily move activities or projects around to fit your schedule, but it is nice having it all laid out for you. The book lists are also great. The author, title, a brief description and an age range are all included for each book, which saves you time when trying to find books.

My children and I are having a wonderful time using this curriculum. I am learning right along with them. We have done ancient history before, but Diana Waring does a great job of bringing in some new information and depth to the topics that we haven’t explored before. I like how student-directed the curriculum is, giving options for activities that will fit your child’s learning style and interests. This history curriculum is very different from any we’ve tried before! It truly encompasses the entire family and makes sure that no one is left out. It takes us about 30 minutes to an hour to complete a daily lesson, depending on what we have planned. The audio CDs do take a little time to listen to, and if we have any research that will add extra time, but overall, it’s been a very easy to implement curriculum!

Diana Waring has done a great job of fitting history and the Bible together so perfectly. The audio CDs are very interesting to listen to, the articles are well-written, and the discussion points are well thought out. This curriculum makes ancient history enjoyable and exciting to complete together as a family!

-Product review by Megan Russell, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November, 2017