Posted by vmsurbat on 22:59 Mar 9
In Reply to: After deciding against TOG for next year (gr. 5 & 3), I'm thinking about Truthquest. Can someone answer questions for me? (m) posted by 4kids4me
I have both TQ and MOH. This is what I've found....
Truth Quest:
TQ covers Western Civ. history much more deeply. If you look at the samples and TOCs of the TQ guides, you will see how many topics (famous events, famous people, art, writers, science, etc) she covers for all the major eras. TQ is primarily commentary and book lists. There are a *few* Think-Write questions, but these are entirely optional (and are geared toward older learners).
While TQ occasionally lists an activity book or movie selection, it is primarily "history through reading." But all this is done without a "schedule"--you work your way through the topics of your choosing at the pace you want.
Also, while each volume of TQ is (essentially) chronological, it does not cover World History chronologically, but by era. For example, it covers *all* of Greek history and then *all* of Roman history, but in reality, the two histories overlapped. Also, Old Testament history is not really intertwined with the Anc. history guides except for Joseph/Moses in the Anc. Egypt section. Once you get to Roman history, New Testament (and subsequent Church History) is well-covered.
TQ (the newest editions) schedule excellent spines: Guerber's histories, SOTW, Famous Men series, CHOW, and more, *as well as* individual books on the given topics. It schedules them according to the order of topics in the TQ guide and not strictly in order of Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, etc. Also, it does *not* schedule the chapters touching on other ancient cultures (like Anc. India or Japan or Africa).
As far as book lists go, many of the TQ titles are *not* in print, which may or may not be frustrating for you. If you rely heavily on books like Guerber's Histories (which are excellent, btw) or SOTW, your history studies will move along. If you rely on the library or finding used books, you *may* stall out trying to find material to cover the given topics.
Now for MOH:
MOH covers *World* History more thoroughly. By this I mean that it *does* cover non-Western Civ. history: China, India, Africa, Japan, Americas and more as well as OT history in MOH 1. MOH 2 includes NT/Church History as well.
The "meat" of the lessons in MOH 2 are much more indepth than the "meat" of MOH 1. (With MOH 1, I used Guerber's Story of the Greeks/Romans to flesh out these important eras. But even though I have Guerber's Story of the Middle Ages on my shelf, I have rarely felt the need to use it with MOH 2....)
Both MOH volumes have *excellent* timeline suggestions, weekly review questions, mapping assignments. The MOH volumes do include extra suggested readings, movies, activity kits (in the back) but this is not extensive. I found the list in MOH 2 better than MOH 1.
MOH gives activities for every lesson--some research, some list making (ie. keeping a running list of the Chinese Dynasties), some coloring, some cooking, etc.
I used *both* MOH and TQ and was glad I did. I did not try to co-ordinate them, but used MOH as a read-aloud around the table after breakfast (3x weekly), using Friday as our activity day: quiz/activity, timeline update, map work. During the "history" time of our school day, my children read ala TQ from various books (Guerber, historical fiction, etc) by era (ie. first Anc. Egypt, then Anc. Greece, then Anc. Rome, now Middle Ages) appropriate to their level. This meant that MOH sometimes provided an early introduction or a review of what was already learned--I thought this helpful, not redundant.
If you were going with a world history approach (SOTW), TQ will add some commentary from a Christian mindset appropriate for your eldest. It will also schedule in topics like architecture (Anc. Greece), army (Anc. Rome), that SOTW won't touch on.
You won't be jumping all around SOTW, but there will be a bit of rearranging.
HTH,
Vicki in Crna Gora
Mom to 5