A Unit Study Based on World History - Grades 4-8
A One Year Study (180 days) Using Library Books and the Bible

[Covers all subjects (except math, typing, and cursive writing) in the following units: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, The Middle Ages, The Renaissance and Reformation, and The Age of Exploration]

Wow! I think Dorian Holt did, in close to 800 pages, what I would have assumed was impossible! Think of covering from antiquity through the Pharaohs, Martin Luther, Michelangelo, Marco Polo, and Columbus' discovery of our precious America - all in one, hefty study guide. Well, that's what homeschool mom Dorian Holt of Casey, Illinois, has done for the rest of us, and if you like Prairie Primer (I loved it!) then you and your children will also enjoy A World of Adventure, published by Learning Adventures.

Though this former preschool and kindergarten teacher wrote the guide (notice I'm NOT saying textbook!) with her son, Ryan, now 14, in mind, boys and girls alike will thrill to the blast calling the Olympics to begin, as well as the ones summoning knights to the Crusades. Handel's Messiah will stir them to their feet as it has done kings and peasants for centuries. They'll learn for themselves how prophets foretold the Messiah's birth and how to prove by Scripture that Jesus is the Messiah. From eating porridge to sampling Egyptian fruits (finger bowls nearby!), your students will get a real "taste" of what it was like to live in ancient times. You'll "hear" it, too, when your child writes his own play, and you'll "see" it when she draws her own examples of gothic architecture.

Holt does not leave out parts of speech, spelling words, reading, poetry, ocean currents, or science experiments (like growing your own herbs from seeds!), she just makes it fun and part of the integrated accomplishment of her one-year unit study that teaches Bible and Character Training, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Fine Arts with a very hands-on approach. Can I get more excited about this? No! My children are a bit young for Holt's guide, but already want to delve into it. Now, that's what I call creating a passion for learning, which was Holt's original intent. The Carikers give it eight thumbs up!

Homeschoolers will need a typing, cursive handwriting, and math curriculum to go with the guide, but everything else is included - even fun! Holt suggests Saxon for math; I prefer Horizons myself. She also encourages parents not to bore their children with tedious handwriting just for the sake of doing it. Take fifteen minutes to practice and then get on with a world of adventure, sampling that world with listening, reading, cooking, role-playing, writing, and experimenting. I appreciate Holt's honesty as she treads into why she put the unit study together - because someone had to. She echoes what I've heard other homeschoolers say (personally and in conferences), which is why I'm convinced Learning Adventures won't be able to keep A World of Adventure in stock.

"After years of using traditional textbook curricula, they had become convinced that there had to be a better way to learn - a way to generate some excitement and a LOVE of learning. Although they felt fairly confident in teaching with the textbook curricula, they knew their children weren't developing a passion for learning."

Now, can you relate to that?

"These parents needed more than good resource lists and ideas. They wanted to feel the confidence that the scope and sequence gave them. They needed the daily plans and the structure elements of the traditional textbooks approach, even though they knew textbooks weren't for them. After discovering The Prairie Primer, by Margie Gray (an outstanding book), I found myself wondering why SOMEONE didn't write another good unit study just like it. A unit study that would cover one whole year of complete curriculum (excluding math), but that wouldn't cost a fortune. Why didn't SOMEONE write a good unit study that would be simple and easy to follow, with daily lesson plans - one that would use real books that could be checked out of a local library? But most of all, why didn't SOMEONE write a unit study that was Biblically and Academically sound, and one that was EXCITING and appealing to children?"

Well, Dorian Holt is that SOMEONE, and she has done a fine job of whetting my own appetite to teach this oft times meandering mess of whodunits in far-off places with strange names I can't even pronounce called Ancient History. She takes us from Creation to a place where a study of American History fits in very nicely. All I want to know is, what is she writing now so I can plan our homeschool life around it?!

Warning: if you like textbooks, workbooks, weekly tests, grading weekly tests, and generally letting a book interact with your child, DO NOT get this unit study. But, if you enjoy learning with your child (you'll be amazed at what you were never taught!), being a knight, preparing your own Passover meal, deciphering a hieroglyphic message, and making a paper maché mask then get A World of Adventure quick!