Before The Mystery of History it was hard for homeschoolers to piece together history resources that would help them to deeply integrate ‘secular’ history with ‘biblical’ history. Author Linda Lacour Hobar (a homeschooling mother herself) set out to show her own children how all of history was His Story – that the events of the human past all point to His glory and His plans, ultimately to His Son – the centerpiece of His Story.

Honestly, I don’t think it gets any easier to do this than The Mystery of History. In Volume One Creation to Resurrection Hobar takes readers from a literal, seven-day creation, and a literal Adam and Eve through highly developed humans from the start, dinosaurs, the ice age, and on through to the coming of Christ. However, not only the events that you find in your Bible are included though in this volume of ancient history, biblical history does receive the lion’s share of the text (just as it should!) The ancient cultures of China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome are also introduced along with the smaller, but fascinating Phoenicia, India, and even North America (not small geographically, but smaller in terms of mention – only one lesson). This is all done in a sweeping 108 lessons, designed to be completed over 36 weeks (at 3 lessons per week).

These lessons are written in a conversational tone – not exactly narrative, but similar to Jeannie Fullbright’s Young Explorers science series, as though she is speaking directly to your children. The text is written somewhat simply, an average fourth grader should definitely be able to read and understand it. My oldest daughter (currently 8) really enjoys the chatty style.

Hobar provides much more than lessons, making this a rich, versatile curriculum. Each week begins with a pre-test which is designed to pique children’s interest and get theme excited about the upcoming content and gauge what they already know. Each of the three lessons for the week consist of the one to two page lesson itself which is accompanied by suggested activities for three age groups: younger, middle, and older students. The activities for younger students are often hands-on projects while the activities for middle and older students often involve research, discussion, and could be used for reports as well. Each week closes with a review that includes timeline and geography work, and a quiz. Quiz’s, pretests, and activities are all easy to opt-in or opt-out of depending on your family’s needs.

A full answer key is included at the back of the book as well as reproducible historical maps. I own the first edition and there are some issues with the mapping being difficult, but the answer keys are available at the author’s website so you can just print and work from those. This has apparently been improved for the second edition, and the publisher Bright Ideas Press now carries an intriguing looking mapping product – Wonder Maps that includes everything you would need for historical map work. Instructions for constructing a timeline, memory cards, and an extensive supplementary reading list are also included for beefing up the program if you wish.

Our family purchased the audio CDs that accompany The Mystery of History Volume One and have been very pleased! We have loaded them on the iPod and listen to them when we are going on trips in the van. We all really enjoy listening to them as a family, it feels as though we are having a conversational chat with a friend about history in a God-honoring way. Does it get more fun than that? I love talking history despite my own lack of knowledge, which is why I am so thankful for what Hobar has done with this series! The production quality is also very nice, with soothing background music.

The Mystery of History definitely is better suited for middle-elementary students. We gave it a spin when my oldest was six, but she was too young. Now that she is eight we are revisiting it. I think for families with a wide range of age ranges the little ones can tag along and pop in and out. They’ll still learn a LOT. I’m sure my five-year-old will pick up quite a bit, but I won’t be including her in the actual work or requirements. There are SO many activities included, don’t feel like you need to do them all. There are a lot, and if you aren’t so good at planning for hands-on (like me!) don’t feel like you MUST do three activities a week (eek – that overwhelms me a bit!)

Parents looking to have The Mystery of History Volume One all planned out should take a look at Illuminations Year One, a program that plans the history readings and activities along with literature, book studies, and schedules a wealth of other programs that you can choose to use or not. It plugs and plays geography, vocabulary, grammar, writing, science, Bible readings, DVDs, Diana Waring’s audios, copywork (and more) and is available in plans for K-3, 3-8, and high school. It is well worth your time checking out the samples at the Bright Ideas Press website. Another thing I love is that Mystery of History and Illuminations both have active yahoo groups where the authors and publisher are available to answer questions personally. I really appreciate this screen-to-screen interaction.

The Mystery of History is incredibly versatile. You can keep it simple and fairly open-and-go with just the text or you can buy supplementary coloring pages, audio cds, craft enrichment ideas, lapbooks, notebooking pages, memory work cards or go deluxe and get Illuminations. However you use it though, there’s no doubt that you and your children will gain a solid grasp of the integrated flow of His Story from Creation through Christ and will be continually pointed towards the Author of this story. I’m a history curriculum junkie, but I honestly haven’t found a better spine text that offers such excellent biblical history integration.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com ( )