Monday, May 14, 2012

Timeline of Classics: Product Review

There is an awesome new resource available to homeschoolers that pretty much every home educating family should get their hands on:  Timeline of Classics.  Gail Ledbetter put together this simple and ingenious resource, and you are going to love it!

This simple book packs a powerful punch for the homeschool families that utilize great literature (as well as audios and film) in their educational approach.  If you use Sonlight, Classical Conversations, Ambleside Online, KONOS, a Thomas Jefferson Education, Charlotte Mason, Tapestry of Grace, Winter's Promise, etc. YOU WILL LOVE THIS.

What it is:  This spiral-bound book uses a simple chart format to take you chronologically from the beginning of time up until modern times, recommending the best of the best resource books, literature, audios, and films for the time period (including specific events), gives you the author information and web site references if applicable, plus lets you know if the book is suitable for elementary, middle, or high school levels.

So, let's say, for instance, that you are studying Renaissance Europe.  You can easily find that in chronological order (it's in the Middle Ages section), and then see the recommended audio book Galileo and the Stargazers: Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, & Galileo.  You see that you can obtain this resource from Jim Weiss' site greathall.com, and that it is recommended for all three age levels.

Does this book include every possible book about each time period and major historical event?  Thankfully, NO.  Gail has used her many years as a home educator to weed out the junk, and only recommends the really great stuff.  You won't have to sift through twaddle here!

I can see that Timeline of Classics will be an excellent resource when you want to find books at your library that will fit with what you are currently studying.  A quick flip through the pages of the book will give you many fine options, and you can easily figure out which of these items you can borrow from the library.  Really, I don't think this book could have been designed to be simpler or better than it is right now.

Absolutely, positively, this is a fresh book that is destined to become a beloved classic by homeschool families everywhere.  You will want to have this resource on your shelves and your desk from the time your little ones start homeschooling, all the way through college courses.  It's *that* complete and *that* good.

Timeline of Classics is available both in a sturdy print version, a CD version, and an ebook version, depending on your needs.  All versions are priced extremely reasonably, particular for such a powerful resource that you will get so much mileage out of!



(I was not financially compensated for this product review, this is not an affiliate promotion, and these opinions are my own.  I did receive a review copy of Timeline of Classics so that I could check it out and share my impressions with you.)