The Mystery of History with Multiple Ages

Homeschooling multiple ages can be a challenge but The Mystery of History makes teaching history to my four elementary age children simple! If you aren’t familiar with The Mystery of History curriculum it’s a chronological, multi-age history curriculum with a Christian worldview. They have four volumes, each volume covering a different time period. We are doing Volume II: The Early Church and the Middle Ages this year. You can learn more about the curriculum on their website.

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Usually all that is required are the “Essentials” that include the main textbook (which also includes answer keys, maps, a supplemental books list and more) and an atlas. They also have optional “Convenience” items such as an audio of the text and a CD for easy printing of worksheets and maps. And if you want more, they have “Supplemental” items such as coloring pages, notebooking pages and folderbooks.

Here is a list of all the items I purchased (for Volume II) to use with all four of my elementary age children.

• The Mystery of History Volume II (Essential)
• Historical Atlas (Essential)
• Printable Reproducibles CD (Convenience)
• Coloring Pages (Supplemental)
• Notebooking Pages (Supplemental)
• Folderbooks (Supplemental)

 Using The Mystery of History with Multiple Ages

I gather my four elementary age children together for our history lesson during my toddler’s nap time. Our history lesson operates like a bus ride with the younger children “getting of the bus” at an early stopping point while the older children continue along until the “last stop” with more difficult work. This allows all my kids to hear the main points of the history lesson while preventing the younger ones from getting restless and bored.

The Mystery of History is divided into weeks with each week containing three separate lessons (which include optional activities) along with timeline work, map work and an exercise or quiz. I spend Monday thru Wednesday teaching the three lessons and use Thursday and Friday for review work.

Monday

On Mondays we work on the first lesson. I read the lesson aloud to all my children, stopping to ask questions and clarify important points. My PreK child, 1st grader, and 3rd grader color the corresponding coloring page as I read and my 5th grader takes notes using the notebooking page (from the Notebooking supplemental). Then the younger two children head off to play while the older two finish up the rest of their history work.

For your convenience, I will write in parentheses which resource each item/activity came from. Some items are found in the main text (which I will label Volume II) but for ease of use I printed from the Reproducible CD. In these cases I will list both resources.

• 5th Grade: 
  • Take pretest (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • Take notes on the notebooking page while I read the lesson. (Notebooking Pages)
  • Answer questions on the Information Sheet (Notebooking Pages)
• 3rd Grade:
  • Take pretest (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)
  • Summarize the lesson on the notebooking page. (Notebooking Pages)
• 1st Grade:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)
  • Optional: Write one sentence to summarize the lesson. (Notebooking Pages)
• Pre-K:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)

Tuesday

On Tuesdays we work on the second lesson following the same format that we did on Monday.

• 5th Grade: 
  • Take notes on the notebooking page while I read the lesson. (Notebooking Pages)
  • Answer questions on the Information Sheet (Notebooking Pages)
• 3rd Grade:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)
  • Summarize the lesson on the notebooking page. (Notebooking Pages)
• 1st Grade:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)
  • Optional: Write one sentence to summarize the lesson. (Notebooking Pages)
• Pre-K:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)

Wednesday

On Wednesdays we work on the third lesson following the same format that we did on Monday and Tuesday.

• 5th Grade: 
  • Take notes on the notebooking page while I read the lesson. (Notebooking Pages)
  • Answer questions on the Information Sheet (Notebooking Pages)
• 3rd Grade:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)
  • Summarize the lesson on the notebooking page. (Notebooking Pages)
• 1st Grade:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)
  • Optional: Write one sentence to summarize the lesson. (Notebooking Pages)
• Pre-K:
  • Color corresponding coloring page while I read the lesson. (Coloring Pages)

Thursday

Thursday is our first review day. I try to pick one or two activities to do with the kids. (Activities are listed after each lesson.) If the activity is suited for all ages then we do the activity first. More challenging activities are done after the younger children head out to play. Besides the activities, we also create our own timeline figures and do the map work on Thursdays.

• 5th Grade:
  • Activity for all ages (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • Timeline figures (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • Map work: more map work for the 5th grader (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • More difficult activity (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
• 3rd Grade:
  • Activity for all ages (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • Timeline figures (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • Map work: less map work for the 3rd grader (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • More difficult activity (when it fits her skill level)
• 1st Grade:
  • Activity for all ages (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
  • Timeline figures (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
• Pre-K:
  • Activity for all ages (Volume II and Reproducible CD)

Friday

Friday is our second review day. Only my 5th grader and 3rd grader do history on Fridays. Friday is also our day to do science during the toddler’s nap time so I let my 1st grader and Pre-K child play while the older kids work on history and then we all gather together for our science lesson. This allows the older kids to get the extra review that they need while the younger kids don’t get bogged down with school work right before our science lesson. I want those young ones to be excited and eager for science!

• 5th Grade:
  • Excersice or Quiz for the week (Volume II and Reproducible CD)
• 3rd Grade:
  • Folderbook (Folderbooks Supplement)
• 1st Grade:
  • No history today
• Pre-K:
  • No history today

This is our first year using The Mystery of History and the kids and I are loving it. It has become our favorite chronological history curriculum and we have tried a lot of them! My kids say it is fun and interesting and I’m finding that they are retaining a lot more information than they did with our previous history curriculum. I love how  easily I can incorporate all of my elementary age children into one history lesson while still holding the little ones attention and challenging the older kids. I also love how simple it is to use. It is a great history curriculum for our large family!