Notgrass History vs Mystery of history

I am using Notgrass Government and really like it a lot – we use it in combination with other living books, so don’t use the course as is – but as a compliment.  We also had the World and US books, and did the same thing – we loved the books that come with it with the speeches and original sources.  It is a good program to use alone or as a supplement which is what we do.  My daughters like reading extra economic and history books, so to faciliate that we used Notgrass to keep us on track in order and because they are so nicely written.  I looked at Mystery of History, but decided it did not work in the way we wanted to use it, and it was a tad busy for us – I think Notgrass put out a very good and useful product.

It covers writing as well, but as the girls love to write we again don’t use all of the suggestions in the book, we do some, and then pull other writing from other subjects.  For literature we are reading most of the things on the list but also our own choices, so as you can see we don’t use it as a full curriculum.  Maybe another mom has done that and can advise.  Linda

Thanks, one thing I like about Notgrass is that in general he is pretty fair in his coverage of events.  As a history major I am only too well aware of all the bias that comes with history books, and history is fraught with differing opinions, which can make it difficult for kids to discern things.  In our lessons we always had an emphasis on original source material as much as possible and on looking at various sources for information.  I need the girls to understand the bias that is out there, I needed them to not take everything at face value – that they should check for themselves and veryify from various sources.  It is hard to get complete accurate history in books – all we can do is try.  At university, all of my professors were liberal loons, and they taught with that emphasis, I learned what they said, but then I found history experts from conservative backgrounds and between that and original sources, I came out with a pretty good education – not perfect but better than just a one sided view.  Notgrass, obviously will also have his leanings, but so far I have found the coverage fair and his original source books are excellent.  I think you will be pleased with it – in areas where my daughters had special interest they are reading complimentary books, like the Churchill ones I mentioned and some others.  They also read biographies as well, and when possible autobiographies – to find things out.  I love history, but I know many find it dull and boring, Notgrass makes it interesting, especially if you round it out with the source materials and other readings.  Good luck.  Linda

I have to say I liked the MOH Renaissance book a lot and have it on our shelf, but mostly for reference as well.  It is a lovely hardback with gorgeous art work.  One of my daughers is very arty and so that time in history is a favorite of hers, she really liked the book and used it alongside Paul Johnson’s book about The Renaissance.  It is a really nice book to read and look at as Heather says.