I am a schedule person. I like to know what to do, and when to do it, and the resources it needs to be done with, and, after I know all of that, then I like to tweak it. ;o) So, this review piqued my interest because of my style of homeschooling. Now, Easy Classical bases its products on Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-Trained Mind: a Guide to Classical Education at Home. The creator, Sandra Williams, wanted to help others make classical education and ideals “do-able” and manageable, so she created all kinds of resources to help others. You can read more about her and her philosophy of homeschooling here: http://www.easyclassical.com/About_Us.html We were asked to review one of their history schedules: Early Modern History, which covers the time from Explorers to 1820.
Here is an excerpt from the website itself about these schedules: “All the hard work is done for you. We have researched classical curriculum choices, integrated subjects, and tested the schedules for ease of use. Easy Classical schedules break a full year of education down into specific, daily assignments that are adaptable to fit all styles of learning. You will cover everything simply by following the schedule. Lesson plans for history, science, language arts, physical education, and even art are included at no extra charge.”
The schedule itself is broken down into 36 weeks, so a full school year of plans, with easy to understand icons and format. It is very well organized and here are some of its other features: a weekly “shopping list” so you’ll know what you need for the next week, daily breakdown of reading assignments, and subjects, comprehension questions, and at the end of the week, a comprehension “quiz” for those of us who do tests and grades. The schedule is full of choices, and she reminds you that you don’t have to do all of them; you’re able to pick and choose what works best for your family. There is also an instruction page at the beginning, and a list of resources you can choose from as well. On the website, under this curriculum, you will find the resource list as well, and there are four main resources that are “must haves” in order to follow this schedule: Veritas Press Explorers, Story of the World, Vols. 2 and 3, and Story of the 13 Colonies. You can check out all the resources here: http://www.easyclassical.com/Early_Modern_Curriculum.html
Now, in order to actually use this schedule relatively close to the way it’s intended, you would need access to all or most of those particular resources on the page listed above, and, it would be helpful to have some of their other schedules, which you can view here: http://www.easyclassical.com/Complete_Schedules.html
Other things to note:
So, how did we use this? Well, we weren’t able to actually use this schedule directly in our homeschool this year, for several reasons. We are studying a different time period in history, and our budget didn’t allow for me to buy other materials with which to try this, and of course, it would have been quite confusing to my children to go from Canaan to Columbus. 😮 Also, the classical style is not a great fit with our children, but I do pull bits and pieces of it out in what we actually do. Which leads me back to the beginning of this post, that since I do like schedules, I did enjoy studying this one and learning from its style, and I did also like the easy to understand format, the convenient lists for the next week, and the integration of subjects. I also am glad to find the resource page and the WorldCat that helps you find resources from any local libraries in your area. I will definitely be pulling things from it in 2 years when we do get to this time period.
If you’d like to read what my crewmates are saying, click here: http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783619/
Disclaimer: I received this electronic schedule for free in exchange for my personal opinion and review; no other compensation was received.
4 For His Glory 
Leave a comment