The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Set ~ Review

American history has always been one of my favorite subjects. I hope to pass the love of history onto my children. There is so much we can learn through studying history. After all, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9

Eli has been studying The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set from Memoria Press. We also received the 200 Questions About American History set for him to work through. This set is designed to be used during the junior high/middle school years as a one year study of American history.

We have been slow and steady in working through the course since much of the review period has involved the very busy spring season. Our goal was for him to complete one lesson per week, as this is a one year course with 32 lessons. He has stayed pretty close to that having completed the first 5 lessons and has started on the 6th during the the six week review period.

What is Covered in The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic?

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic was written by H.A. Guerber and edited by Memoria Press. There are a wealth of topics and important figures from history covered in the book. From the Native Americans to the Norse sailors to the sailors that bravely discovered the New Land. The history of the United States is covered all the way to the Spanish-American War and the Treaty of Paris in 1898.

Eli and I have been reading the The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic together. It has been a great review for me; while he’s been learning a lot of new to him and interesting facts. After reading through the book, he then works through the associated questions in both the The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic student guide and the 200 Questions About American History.

The Student Book is set up with four components to each lesson:

Facts to Know
Vocabulary
Comprehension Questions
Enrichment

We found that it is best to read one chapter from the book and then answer the cooresponding questions. This helps him to better remember where the answer was in the reading material and also makes it so there isn’t so much workbook writing all at once. He can divide the written work out between a few days.

200 Questions About American History Set

The 200 Questions About American History set includes the student book, teacher guide and 200 question flashcards. Memoria Press “compiled a list of 200 questions that everyone should know about American history.” I confess though that I had to look up some of the answers to part of the questions. I guess it’s been a while since I heard some of the names such as Amerigo Vespucci and Vasco da Gama.

What Did We Think?

I really like how thorough Memoria Press courses are, while being flexible enough to adapt to various schedules. I also like that we can purchase additional student guides so that the younger kids can also work through the same courses in the upcoming years.

This course is structured much like other courses we have reviewed from Memoria Press, such as The Book of Trees Set and Famous Men of Rome Set. You can also read other reviews we’ve done of Memoria Press products; Traditional Spelling 1, Illiad & Odyssey, and First Start Reading,

Memoria Press Products that the Homeschool Review Crew have been reviewing:

Simply Classical Writing Book One: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) and Simply Classical Writing Book Two: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) with Teacher Key, Skill level about 1st-3rd grade

Simply Classical Spelling Book One: Step-by-Step Words and Simply Classical Spelling Book Two: Step-by-Step Words, Skill level about 1st-3rd grade

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set and 200 Questions About American History set, grades 5-8

The Wars of the Jews set, grades 9+