Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt (Schoolhouse Review)

For the past several weeks we have been reviewing Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt Flashcards from Veritas Press. As we were entering into our more easy-going summer schedule, and had just concluded a two-year Old Testament Bible course, I was happy to try out this product as it appeared to be something that Eli and Brynne could do together, alone, and would act as a review of the Old Testament presented in a different way. And I was right. Each Veritas Press Self-Paced History program includes 160 lessons teaching about 32 events in history. They are designed for children in grades 2-6, and it is recommended that the student be a minimum of 7 years of age at the time of the first lesson.

What We Received

We received a full one-year subscription, for one child, to the online Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt program and the accompanying Old Testament and Ancient Egypt Flashcards in physical form. There was a couple week time lag between our receipt of the online subscription and the flashcards, but we went ahead and got started with the program. The kids were chomping at the bit to get the cards, but they were able to use the program just fine without the cards. Other than our Bibles, there wasn't anything else we needed for the program. Basically they were able to just log on each morning and go.


There are optional literature kits that can be purchased for grades 2-3 and grades 4-6. These are at an additional cost of about $80 each. These kits include all of the books needed for the additional literature lessons included in the self-paced history program. We just skipped these literature lessons because our library did not have the recommended books available.

How We Used the Product

Once I received access to the program, I completed the registration and we were ready to go. The program is intended for one child. As Eli (age 10) and Brynne (age 8) always do their Bible lessons together, I wanted them to experience the program together. They sat side-by-side at the dining table each morning, clicked on the bookmarked "VP" tab on the computer (created by me for their easy access), and hit "Launch Lesson". The program automatically took them to the proper lesson.

Each lesson started with the same catchy song intended to help the kids learn the chronological order of the events of the Old Testament. On a couple of different occasions Brynne would say, "Ughhh ... that song from Veritas Press is stuck in my head!" I asked her if she was learning the song and she responded, "Yes". I said, "That is the point of the song. It might annoy you that it is stuck in your head, but it is catchy enough that you are singing it all day long and, at the same time, are learning the events of the Old Testament!" She was pretty impressed with that little bit of trickiness.

The Veritas Press Self-Paced History materials are presented in a Classical way encouraging memorization of names, dates and places. We are not a Classical homeschooling family. However, Veritas Press was successful in presenting the material in a Classical fashion but with a fun flair.

The program uses videos, songs, games, and quizzes to teach the material. The historical actors and fictional characters (i.e. the talking Sphinx) both entertained and taught the kids well. The puzzles and games were a lot of fun, and I was very impressed by how well they had done on each of the quizzes.

One of the main ways we used the flashcards was when listening to the song at the beginning of each lesson. Brynne flipped through the cards as they listened to the song so that she could connect what she was hearing in a visual way. The kids also read the cards each day and used them as traditional flashcards to help them memorize the facts on each of the cards.

Product Details

The one-year online subscription to Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt is $199.00 per year for one student. The Old Testament and Ancient Egypt Flashcards are $19.99. Both products can be purchased at the Veritas Press website.

Our Opinion

I mentioned the ease of this program and, to me, that was the best part of it. I knew that the kids were getting a thorough education in the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt, even if I wasn't sitting with them while they did their lessons. I would be in the next room and hear the kids discussing the answers to the questions in the quizzes and laughing at the videos. They would also argue about who got to do which puzzles and play the games. They enjoyed doing their lessons each morning. It was a great way to start the day, and there was never an argument that it was time to get started with schoolwork. The meatiness of the assignments got their brains working and then they were ready to move on to more difficult topics, like math.

My only complaint about the program is the cost. Unfortunately, we cannot afford a $200 curriculum cost for one subject. I would have really liked to have been able to utilize the literature kits because we tend to teach in a literature-based way. In every other aspect, except for the cost, I would rate this as an excellent program.

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You can go to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to read more reviews on Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt, as well as reviews of the following programs:

• Veritas Press Self-Paced History: New Testament, Greece and Rome
• Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation
• Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Explorers to 1815
• Veritas Press Self-Paced History: 1815 to Present
• Veritas Press Self-Paced Omnibus I