A New Adventure for my Kid Sized History Buff

We are having a great time discovering a new history book alongside our homeschool curriculum. It’s called Draw and Write Through History by Carylee Gressman. Before I even had a chance to integrate it with the current materials we are using, Austin discovered it. He immediately asked to look through it. He loves all things history. He has been reading a lot about Egypt lately. When he saw the Egyptian illustrations on the cover his curiosity was peaked. He spent a good hour looking through the book. He made it a point to bring the page with the Legend of the Trojan Horse to my attention. You can even try a sample lesson from the book posted on their website.  The illustrations are done by Peggy Dick. Her experience as a graphic design artist is evident in this book. She has done a great job of simplifying what appear to be challenging drawings. This book is put out by CPR Publishing. It is reasonably priced at $12. The quality and content of this book make it well worth the price. You can purchase this book directly through the website here.

What really makes this book great is how it integrates the practice of cursive writing, history, and art. I am a big fan of combining subjects. It really enhances the learning process for children. It also makes a subject like handwriting a bit more fun for a child that may dislike writing. This book would be perfect for supplementing history or Bible curriculum. Art is definitely the strong emphasis in this book. There are colorful illustrations throughout the book. Another nice feature is the step by step instructions on how to complete the drawings. It contains a wide variety of drawings. The style and content are appropriate for the targeted age group of ages 8 and up. I have a younger son who loves to do everything his big brother is doing. This is a book that I can easily adapt to include him. I really like how the author references  Bible verses.

When my son started the first drawing activity in Draw and Write Through History, I was amazed at his enthusiasm. He truly enjoyed the activity. He was very pleased with his drawing results. He usually doesn’t want to color in pictures, but with this book he took the time to carefully color in his pictures. He even went the extra step of blending the colors. After completing some leafy green plants from the creation story he was begging to jump ahead to the section about the Trojan Horse story.

His creative juices were definitely flowing at this point. He began drawing background details for his picture. Even my younger son was following along and making his own pictures. While he isn’t quite four, he could still understand the simple directions with help. It was definitely obvious in his artwork that he was drawing green plants. Any activity that I can use together with my kids makes for a more peaceful and productive school day! The only area that may be challenging for us is the amount of cursive writing practice listed on each page. It seems just a bit lengthy. Handwriting is not a favorite subject for my third grader. We are tackling that subject this school year. Austin completed second grade in public school. The schools in our state are not teaching cursive writing. This was one of many factors that persuaded us to return to homeschool. I am hoping that my little history buff will find the cursive writing process more pleasurable since it is combined with wonderful history and Bible tidbits. We will happily continue to use Draw and Write Through History with our other curriculum. 

**disclosure: This is a Mama Buzz review. This product was graciously provided for free by
Carylee Gressman for our review.