There are certain things we need to learn, not because it will effect our daily lives, but because it comes up from time to time in conversations or movies or in expressions people use.
For example, on that back of our Newman’s Own Caesar salad dressing there is a little cartoon and it says “Don’t dilute us, Brutus!”. If you don’t know who Caesar or Brutus are, then that joke won’t make sense!
The next company my family has had a chance to review through the TOS review crew, is Memoria Press. They have many wonderful products. The ones we reviewed the past few weeks is the Famous Men of Rome Set of books.
It is a 3 book set. It includes a text, student guide, and teacher’s guide.
Learning about the men of Ancient Rome is interesting and fun.
While we have been studying them, I have gotten stopped in the middle of reading with this kind of question, “ Okay, is this actually real, or is this just one of their stories.”
We have learned in our studies that the Romans were story tellers. Sometimes it’s hard to tell truth from fiction.
The very first man we learn about is Romulus. Do you know the story about Romulus and his brother, Remus? As the story goes, they were raised by a she-wolf. This is stated as fact in all your history books. Is it fact or is it fiction?
This gave me and kids and opportunity to talk about that! It was a little frustrating for my oldest, though. She wants her history to be fact! ;)
How the books are arranged
The text has a chapter for each man in an ancient history they are covering. They are generally fairly short chapters; containing around 5 pages or so. Although, some are longer. Even being that short, they are separated into sections, so if you don’t want to read it all at one time, you don’t have to.
There are pleasant drawings and pictures throughout the text to give your kids a visual while reading.
At the end of the text, there is a glossary of people and places. So if you have a question about something you have read, you can look it up there. This is also a good place to go if you just need a reminder about something you read in a past chapter. It is separated by chapter, so whatever you read about in the Romulus chapter will be under Romulus in the glossary.
There are also maps of Ancient Italia, Ancient Rome, and the Roman Empire in the back of the text book.
The student guide gives your child pages to work through as you read the text. At the beginning of each section, there is a “Facts to Know”. It lists people and places your child will learn in that chapter. It is a nice quick reference for studying or in case they need a reminder of something while they are reading.
Then there is a vocabulary section. This part has a few of the words from the text that might be new to your child.
There will be an excerpt from the text that included the word and then off to the right of that is a line where your child can write a short definition or synonym for the word.
There are also comprehension questions for each chapter.
And, finally, there are activities suggestions for each chapter. This can be adding dates to a timeline, adding places to a map, and potential writing/composition assignments for older children.
After every 5 chapters, there is a set of review pages. The review pages give your child an opportunity to study the vocabulary words and other information for the previous chapters.
In the Teacher’s guide, has all the answers for you for all the pages in the student guide. In addition, it also has tests for each section. So, after your child completes the review pages, you can give them a test on the material if you would like.
There are also some neat extras in the back of the teacher’s guide. There is a European geography supplement with test, a timeline, a “who said that” worksheet, maps, and more.
What we did
I read the text aloud to all my kids (ages 7, 11, and 13). Even though it is not really geared towards the 7 year old, I had her listen. She didn’t have to do any of the written work though.
My oldest did all the written work and I quizzed my son orally. That being said, I think I’m going to purchase an extra student guide so he can do the written work, as well.
We have enjoyed learning about the famous men of Rome!!
Information at a glance:
For whom? It is geared towards grades 4 through 8
How much is it? $39.95 for the set and if you are teaching multiple children, you can get an extra student guide book for $17.95. And, if you are like me, and want the program laid out for you, you can purchase the lesson plans for only $5.