Ancient Rome Unit Study for your Homeschool
Let me tell you a story! –Who doesn’t become instantly mesmerized at the sound of these words? Boy or girl, young or old; it makes no difference. Good storytelling packs a punch. And a punch is exactly what Memoria Press’ has packed with Famous Men of Rome.
I received the complete Famous Men of Rome set for free from Memoria Press. In return, I committed to write my thorough and complete review. Famous Men of Rome covers the rise and fall of the Roman Empire through vivid, engaging stories about the lives of the men who ruled it. The set includes the following books:
- Famous Men of Rome Textbook
- Famous Men of Rome Student Guide
- Famous Men of Rome Teacher Guide
Intended for children in grades 4-8, the complete Famous Men in Rome set retails for $39.95. Books may also be bought separately at $17.95 for each of the guides, and $16.95 for the textbook.
What to Expect from Famous Men of Rome
First off, the fine quality paper does stand out. The textbook, which I consider a misnomer, for it isn’t a textbook, it’s a story book, boasts vibrant, full-color illustrations. The stories, as I said before, are engaging and captivating; and they’re short. Most are only about 4 pages, give or take a couple for a few of them.
The teacher and student guides, though not in full color, do present the same fine quality paper. Both guides are essentially the same book, but the teacher’s contains all the answers, as expected. The student’s has a series of appendices, vital for the worksheet-type and hands-on activities. These include the timeline, an assortment of maps: the city of Rome, Italy, Europe, the Roman Empire, and a oh-so-handy pronunciation guide. I pasted some sticky labels on each of the appendices, since we kept referring back to them so often.
Each story, or chapter, in the guides consists of the following:
- Facts to Know
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension questions
- Activities
How Do We Use It?
I usually start reading the story aloud, though, lately, Super Hero and I have been taking turns doing so. Then we progress through the student guide accordingly. Neither Super Hero, nor I, are partial to worksheets, so we were prepared to skip around or modify. We haven’t. The worksheets offer quite thoughtful information. The Facts to Know proffer handy reference. It’s easy to glean the most salient points of the story. The vocabulary features mostly Latin-derived words used in context. Since we do study Latin, it’s been fun to reinforce word roots, meanings and derivatives. I do allow Super Hero to dictate to me his answers to the Comprehension Questions. I’m not concerned about nailing every single question. Since Super Hero’s usually excellent recollecting details, we do keep this light and brief. Lastly, the activities offer a medley of hands-on options making this section the undisputed winner.
What’s Our Opinion of Famous Men of Rome?
Super Hero and I have thoroughly enjoyed Famous Men of Rome. This is a truly fun, open-and-go ancient history unit study with simple, pleasurable hands-on activities. Not being an artsy-craftsy mom, I appreciate there aren’t crafts (Super Hero really loves those though.) Instead, the activities focus on creating drawings, labeling or locating places on maps, building family trees, reading or memorizing poems, playing guessing games: Who Said That?, and suchlike.
As a general rule, we always allow ourselves the flexibility of picking and choosing. This time, however, we’ve felt like doing all of them so far. Overall, they’re simple and fun … and effective! What else can we ask for, right?
Famous Men of Rome’s great for kids in the intended audience and beyond. 9 year-old Super Hero has liked it very much. He rated 5 stars on every item, even Fun. (If you’ve been following us at all, you know it’s hard for Fun to earn his 5 stars.) I have liked it quite well myself. I have learned facts about Ancient Rome I never knew before.
I must admit that I was a bit concerned about Memoria Press being a Christian Classical Education company. I did my homework about Famous Men of Rome before committing to review, as I always do. I found it not to be indoctrinating at all. Indeed, that’s been our experience so far.
In a Nutshell
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Open and Go!
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Easy Prep
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Kid Approved
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Fun
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Quality
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Pedagogy
In Super Hero's Own Words
I liked it because it was good and it was fun, and I liked the stories, and the activities were fun too. And that’s it.
–Super Hero
In short, these are my final words: If you’re in the mood for captivating stories, pick up Famous Men of Rome. If you want to supplement your Ancient History learning, pick up Famous Men of Rome. If you haven’t yet done Ancient Rome or Ancient History, begin with Famous Men of Rome. If you just want something fun to do with your kids this summer, or anytime, pick up Famous Men of Rome. Dig in as lightly or as in depth as you wish. We found this unit study to be much, much fun. I’m confident you and your children will find it is much fun, too 🙂
What to Learn More?
If you’re like me and gotta hunt the entire Internet for more reviews before you commit, you got it easy. Read all the reviews you may be craving from my fellow Crew members, or stop by Memoria Press’ social media accounts. One can glean juicy insights from those:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/memoriapress
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MemoriaPress
