Teaching Company: Fertile Crescent to the American Revolution

[MerryAtHope]

Do you have this? I'd heard really good things about it & was all set to get it as a supplement when it went on sale, then I read the latest review about the graphic nature & wondered if I'm going to be disappointed? What say you? We've used Sonlight all along so far (up to Core 5), is it worse than stuff we've read or will read?!

Seems like most reviewers enjoyed it, but some thought it was corny--what did you think?

The funniest to me is that while one person said it had more substance and detail than the college level courses, another said it was only gradeschool level content! What do you think, was it high school worthy?

TIA, Merry :-)

[homeschoolally]

We learned a lot from it, but there were a few gruesome parts when I cringed because my younger kids were in the room. For a HS student, I think it will be OK if you don't mind them hearing a few stories about death that were in a little more detail than necessary. I disagree that it is grade school content. Grade schoolers might be able to stay interested in it because of the storytelling style, but the material isn't elementary IMO.

I think it would work for HS, but it has had more appeal with younger students because he takes on 'characters' to tell the stories. I think to make it HS level you'd need to be sure to do all the tests and quizzes and add quite a few research papers with outside sources. The lectures alone won't cover it, but they are a good introduction. We used it with a middle schooler so we just listened to the lectures and discussed some of the questions in the book. If we did it for HS, I'd beef it up quite a bit--using the lectures as a starting point. It won't cover an entire year of HS without quite a bit of supplementation. Some older kids may find it cheesy--depending on their personality.

Interested to hear other thoughts on it. Compared to the other TC videos we have, it was much more engaging because of the professor. It was cheesy, but memorable for the most part.

[Pam in MA]

We bought it to use as a wrap up for each topic and found it corny and pretty simple in terms of content. I certainly don't think it's high school level material, but granted I don't have any kids who have gone through a traditional high school, only my high school! It was somewhat entertaining to see what outfit the lecturer would wear next. . .

[EKS]

I didn't particularly enjoy it. We used it as a supplement in 7th grade. The content was definitely middle school level or lower. The lecturer seems to be relying on the costumes and accents to carry the day. The lectures are very mediocre, though he does seem to get better when talking about battles and weaponry.

[Corraleno]

I agree ~ definitely middle school level. Very little actual information, and the amateur dramatics were unbearably corny. Even DS11 thought it was "lame."

Jackie

[jibaker103]

We are using it in combination with Beautiful Feet Ancient and Medieval History. My son thinks it's a little cheesy but he will sit down and watch it and is learning a great deal from it. We will be counting this for 9th grade world history.

[Myra]

We like his tapes - and are watching one a week just to shake things up a bit (we watched his other series last year for US History) - he's entertaining and the material he presents is a great review and/or introduction. It's a fun activity that we can enjoy/watch together to start off the day then go off and work on our regular textbook(s) for greater depth. Remember - never buy the tapes from teaching company at full price - everything is on sale sometime during the year!

Myra

[Starr]

Ds 13 enjoys these. He watches these in addition to his history books and writing.

[lauranc]

My son likes these. He preferred the American History ones done by the same man, but things these are ok too. Hmm.. we like the 'characters'! (-: I can see how someone might not though.

We think he's pretty engaging.

HTH
Laura