Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook set, free of charge,from Masterbooks, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it
The course includes 28 chapters, covering The Age of Exploration,Colonization and Empires, including the rise of the British Empire and it's Asian experience, and looking at the Age of Enlightenment, including how it affected Russia, England and France, leading to the French Revolution and later Napoleon. It also covers the rise and fall of the Spanish and Japanese empires. Both the Victorian Age and the conflicts leading up to WWI are explained. Then the chapters look at its aftermath and how another WW soon loomed and WWII began, A good look at WWII and its aftermath leads into how new empires began, and into the independence of countries from the colonizers and the rise of super powers leading to the Cold War. The battle for the MidEast is also covered, and it does end in modern times,
Volume 3 is laid out just like volumes 1 and 2, making it very easy for kids to pick up the history they left behind on the previous grade, and move on through a natural timeline of events. For Miss Grace this is very much preferred, as she has always hated jumping around the timeline of events. We will be using this course this upcoming school year for her 7th grade history, so she only dipped into the first chapter for her part of the review.
priests who DID care for the natives and did what they could do to help with the explorers. For our area of the US, without these Christian men and women, our area would not have been built as it was, nor have the strong religious roots, that still influence our culture today.
A vital part of the The World’s Story Volume 3 course is the Teacher's Guide that not only includes a schedule for teaching the course, but also all the assignments, materials lists for each chapter for extra credit work, oral and written narration prompts, critical thinking questions, copy work, sketching, map activities, timeline exercises, research prompts, and other fun project ideas.
Also included are 4 review sections that can be used for test grades, extra credit research ideas, like unit study of abandoned places, worldview check-ups, and of course, answer keys for all the quizzes and tests (because you may be smarter than a 5th grader, but time is more valuable, and being able to correct these assignments quickly, means you can move on to more fun family time, or additional learning)! Miss Grace loves the time line assignments the best, as it helps her to add the new events she is learning into a natural sequence. These are also very helpful to have for studying for the four reviews!
Overall thoughts:
While this course is aimed at middle school, grades 6-8, Angela is finishing up a detailed schedule/plan, on using all 3 books in this series for high schoolers, for a world history credit! I think this will be an excellent idea, especially for kids who want to look at other aspects of history, but need to brush up on history as a full course! It is an excellent course, and one that we highly recommend, for being fair and honest, while taking a worldview look at history. I would call it more like the history I learned growing up, compared to modern textbooks!
Today's curriculum review takes up where the ongoing History Curriculum series from Masterbooks, The World's Story 2: the Middle Ages, left off.
The World's Story 3: The Modern Age picks up after the age of enlightenment and shows how it led to the growth of nations, and our world, by revisiting the first explorers, such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, and leads students on to modern wars and revolutions, while tracing the rise and fall of various nations. Made for the Junior High student, this third book in the series features even more gorgeous photographs, artwork, and maps to help students better visualize the people, places, and events, they are covering in the book. It also features more of a conversational narrative that this age group better responds to, and lets them breathe wonder into history, that can sometimes be VERY solemn and tragic. Because it is world view based, there is evidence of how God helped to advance our world, as well. But unlike some modern textbooks, modernization and current affairs are taught through a biblical lens, not one of political correctness.
Review
Volume 3 is laid out just like volumes 1 and 2, making it very easy for kids to pick up the history they left behind on the previous grade, and move on through a natural timeline of events. For Miss Grace this is very much preferred, as she has always hated jumping around the timeline of events. We will be using this course this upcoming school year for her 7th grade history, so she only dipped into the first chapter for her part of the review.
Also like the previous books, the text is broken up with vignettes that allow your student to learn more about different aspects of what time periods they are learning, and allow them to stretch their learning skills, as the info crosses into art history, social studies, geography and culture.
Miss Grace really likes these breaks, as most of the time for her, they really help to give her the 'big picture' of what she is studying, which is what her 'dyslexic' brain needs, For example on this picture history of the Stuart line of rulers, it helped her to be able to visualize them, while reading about their rules and reigns, when we were discussing British history with friends.
As a parent, wanting my child to learn history without the influence of modern political correctness trying to alter it, I'm thrilled that Angela has continued to give this age of history a view thru Christian eyes, with her Church History section, for both the good AND bad, For example, while the Spanish explorers did bring death and destruction, they also brought
priests who DID care for the natives and did what they could do to help with the explorers. For our area of the US, without these Christian men and women, our area would not have been built as it was, nor have the strong religious roots, that still influence our culture today.
She has a new section added in this volume, of New to Known, that helps students understand how different life was in the new colonies for different nations, and how distance could lead to different thoughts and attitudes, and why. This is really helpful for students to understand why colonial rule was not as simple as the nation thought it would be, and how human nature was the key factor for both making and breaking the colonies!
The book is meant to be finished in one school year, and it is easy to add in field trips to bolster the knowledge being learned, for example when we get to WWII, a visit to our nationally reknowned WWII museum will help to allow her to visualize everything being covered. The book also has Dig Deeper notes, to allow kids to think beyond the pages of the book, and add to the big picture they have of the history they are covering, via hands on/research topics.
The book is meant to be finished in one school year, and it is easy to add in field trips to bolster the knowledge being learned, for example when we get to WWII, a visit to our nationally reknowned WWII museum will help to allow her to visualize everything being covered. The book also has Dig Deeper notes, to allow kids to think beyond the pages of the book, and add to the big picture they have of the history they are covering, via hands on/research topics.
Over all this is a pretty thorough middle school history book, that is VERY easy to teach, if you include the items from the available Teacher Guide, for a complete year of quizzes and tests, as well as extra credit. And one that will give your child a very good grasp of modern history. For us, I will be adding in additional reading, like novels and non-fiction, about Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Holocaust, as Miss Grace has interest in those areas, and they will help to expand how she sees the people and cultures in those areas. Plus, being able to tie in reading, makes it more fluid for your student, and less of a 'chore'!
A vital part of the The World’s Story Volume 3 course is the Teacher's Guide that not only includes a schedule for teaching the course, but also all the assignments, materials lists for each chapter for extra credit work, oral and written narration prompts, critical thinking questions, copy work, sketching, map activities, timeline exercises, research prompts, and other fun project ideas. 
Also included are 4 review sections that can be used for test grades, extra credit research ideas, like unit study of abandoned places, worldview check-ups, and of course, answer keys for all the quizzes and tests (because you may be smarter than a 5th grader, but time is more valuable, and being able to correct these assignments quickly, means you can move on to more fun family time, or additional learning)! Miss Grace loves the time line assignments the best, as it helps her to add the new events she is learning into a natural sequence. These are also very helpful to have for studying for the four reviews!
In this volume the assignments include more map work, which makes sense, as the student is really learning about history in a world look versus one country at a time look. I've found that the map assignments really help her to understand how far reaching colonialism was. As a parent I'm also happy to see how there are questions that require students to think, before writing an answer, allowing them to make sure they understand the bigger pictures. And any curriculum that wants kids to use critical thinking skills is ALWAYS a big hit with me! Once again I will be turning some of them into oral answers, as Miss Grace does better with those.
While this course is aimed at middle school, grades 6-8, Angela is finishing up a detailed schedule/plan, on using all 3 books in this series for high schoolers, for a world history credit! I think this will be an excellent idea, especially for kids who want to look at other aspects of history, but need to brush up on history as a full course! It is an excellent course, and one that we highly recommend, for being fair and honest, while taking a worldview look at history. I would call it more like the history I learned growing up, compared to modern textbooks!
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