I love history! I graduated from college with a degree in history. My favorite time period in United States history is the Civil War period. I was excited when we were given the chance to review the Veritas Press Self-Paced History: 1815 to Present. I had actually never hear of Veritas Press, but the courses looked fun and interesting. We also received the 1815 to present flashcards.
What is Veritas Press?
Veritas Press is an online school which means the courses are all done online. They offer live courses and self-paced courses. The courses from Veritas Press are classical Christian courses. It began when a couple wanted a way to teach history chronologically while combining Biblical events that were not recorded in the Bible.
What is the self-paced history?
Self-paced history means that you are given one year from the date of purchase to complete the course. Each course has 160 lessons and covers many historical events. These self-paced courses are ideal for students in grades 2-6. Each self-paced course is $199 and the flashcards are $19.95
The five self-paced history courses that are available are as follows:
- Old Testament and Ancient History
- New Testament, Greece and Rome
- Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation
- Explorers to 1815
- 1815 to Present
Computer requirements:
Since the course is fully online, there are some system requirements for the courses. Each course is compatible with Apple and PC operating systems. Some other requirements are:
- Flash Player 10 or above
- Up to date browser (we used Chrome)
- DSL/cable connection (Satellite connection is not recommended)
- 1 GB of RAM
We live in the country and are literally the last house that can receive internet as the pole is right in our front yard. We did not have any technical problems at all. Everything loaded just fine and played back just fine for us.
How we used self-paced history:
It was very easy to set my daughter up with the course after receiving the information. I helped her log in the first time, but it remembered her log in info after that initial log in. I bookmarked the course page and she was able to get onto the website and do her lessons by herself.
There are 32 events that are covered during the 1815 to present course, starting at the Monroe Doctrine and ending with Modern America.
I had my daughter use the course 3-4 times a week (except for the week my hard drive crashed). I sat in with her on most days, just because it was really interesting. Marcus and Eva lead each lesson and sometimes a 1950’s era robot, Gorton-3, makes an appearance. They are lively in their delivery of the lesson and keep the lesson interesting.
Each lesson includes many review questions, games at the end for review, and a memory song.
Each lesson gives a table of contents and attachments. The table of contents lists all of the topics covered during the lesson. The attachments lists the memory song (which opens in a new window as a pdf) and any crafts. You can also access the craft supply list form the dashboard page (see below):
The flashcards are a great tool to have even though they do introduce and show them during the first lesson of each topic. My daughter read through the cards each day before starting the lesson so she could remember the major points that were being taught. It took a couple of weeks to receive the cards and it showed on her first worksheet (she received a 66%). I didn’t realize that the 1st two cards were listed on the dashboard page under documents (see picture above) and she could have read through it on the computer. After receiving the cards, she passed all the worksheets and tests with 100%.
Each flashcard has a picture and the topic on the front and gives all the information for the topic on the back.
At the end of the lesson, there are sometimes optional reading listed. We opted not to do the additional reading at this time.
What we thought:
My daughter loves doing things that are exciting and lively rather than reading through a book and writing on paper. She enjoyed going through this course. She liked being able to see the places that Marcus, Eva, and Gorton-3 were discussing in the background behind them. She also liked playing the review games and “was happy that they had lots of review questions so she could get a good grade on the test.” She also said that she did not like listening to the memory song in every single lesson, she would have liked it to only be in 2 or 3 of the lessons each week.
I enjoyed this course when I sat down and watched it with her. The “teachers” were lively and made the lesson exciting. I liked hearing the memory song each lesson and found myself singing it throughout the day. It does help with learning the events in order.
Some other things I liked about this course:
- I didn’t have to do any prep work
- Independent
- Keeps the grades for you
- Continuous review (reviews stuff from the 1st lesson during the 14th lesson, etc.)
- Also teaches geography/ map skills
Overall, this is a great course and my daughter has learned so much. She said she would like to keep going on with the lessons.
Check out sample lessons for all of the self-paced history courses.
Keep in contact with Veritas Press through social media:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/veritaspress
Twitter -- https://twitter.com/veritaspress
Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/source/veritaspress.com/
Google+ -- https://plus.google.com/100404634762414542020/about
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