Connecting With History: A Guide to Salvation History, Volume One: Old Testament and Ancient Cultures

by Sonya Romens and Andrea Chen

RC History

After reviewing this program, I can only hope that additional volumes will be produced as rapidly as possible. Connecting With History is definitely one of my favorite options for Catholic families. It is a unit study designed for teaching children of all ages the same subjects but at their own levels. It uses a classical education approach, focusing on the humanities and using real books with lots of reading and writing. I also appreciate that it follows an historical chronology. Even better, the core and supplemental materials recommended—at least those with which I am familiar—are excellent.

Connecting With History is contained in a loose-leaf binder. It functions as an outline and teacher manual rather than a text. The content is to be presented as one introductory unit and ten thematic units following a six-step model for teaching. For each unit, there are about eight to ten pages that provide the following:

• Background reading suggestions for parents – About a half dozen such resources are listed at the beginning of the binder, and parents are free to choose which one(s) they wish to use with the exception of one core item that is foundational: The Great Adventure: A Journey through the Bible by Jeff Cavins. This is a video or audiotape (your choice) presentation with study guide and timeline that does a marvelous job presenting the story of salvation history and familiarizing the audience with the layout of the Bible. Other background resources such as History’s Golden Thread and Making Sense Out of History: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did, provide parents with foundational knowledge they will need to teach their children. (Specific page numbers are given for each suggested background resource.) This is the most challenging part of the program—it requires parents to become knowledgeable enough to teach their own children—a treat for parents who have the time, but a burden for parents who are extremely busy.
• Discussion prompts – a lengthy list of questions that should be used to spark discussion, to stimulate interest
• An overview – the brief background information contained in the binder. You will probably want to preread this, then paraphrase ideas at a level your children can understand.
• Notebook activity – Children create their own notebooks including vocabulary words, timelines, maps, charts, and written assignments. Some copywork material is included in the binder, primarily Scripture passages and poetry. This material should also be used for memory work.
• Exploration charts – charts break down specific assignments for beginning, grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric levels. Reading assignments are divided into three categories: Core texts, Basic Reading, and Additional Literature. Most essential are reading from core books. Core books are from one to three books required for students at each of the four levels. For example, the grammar level requires Bible for Young Catholics and Ancient World (Usborne book) while the rhetoric level requires a Bible, Genesis: The Book of Origins, and Exodus: Road to Freedom. Basic Reading assignments are from other books that expand the study as well as from Scott Hahn’s Salvation History tape series (for rhetoric students). These are books you might borrow from the library or purchase. Examples of titles used are Old Testament Days: An Activity Guide, Tut’s Mummy Lost and Found, Science in Ancient Greece, Famous Men of Greece, Alexander the Great, Greek Lives (by Plutarch), and Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Additional literature options appropriate for each level are provided for each topical unit. Page or chapter assignments from these books are listed for each unit unless the entire book is to be read.

At the back of the binder are eight forms that are used either for teacher planning or student “reporting.”

The course can be covered in a semester or a full school year, depending upon how many of the suggestions you choose to use. It requires a significant amount of teacher preparation and presentation time. However, the methodology is excellent if you have the time to implement it. The narrower you keep the study, the fewer resources you will need, and the less preparation time it will require.

The publisher's website, www.rchistory.com, features articles, reading lists, descriptions of the recommended books, and a bookstore for purchasing books. Purchasers of the program also gain free access to another website that has updates and additional resources that will enhance the program.