Review: This Week in History

Earlier this summer I was given a subscription to This Week in History, from A Thomas Jefferson Education's website.

I had prior exposure to the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJE) method, and have read their book on the Phases of Learning, but I had not known that they also offer resource products!  Because I have enjoyed (and agree with) parts of their philosophy on education, I was excited to try this product out.

I have looked at several different "this day in history" type of resources in the past, and I can honestly say that I have found the subscription from TJE to be the most comprehensive, informative, and entertaining.

What do you get?  For a monthly fee of $9.99 you get a weekly email with a great big long list of potential discussion topics with your kids.  As the name "This Week in History" implies, these topics are offered up to you based on some type of correlation tying them from today's date to a date in history.  There are normally a few different events listed for each date, so if you are not inspired by one you have choices.  This Week in History is designed to work with kids of all ages.

What I like:

• This subscription doesn't simply say, for example, "World War 1 started on July 28th, 1914."  It provides a commentary about the start of World War 1 and accompanying potential discussion questions you could use.
• I like the tone of the emails.  They are very well written and engaging.
• The breadth of topics covered.  They vary from literary analysis of Pinocchio (on the date of the author's birthday!), to study of the states (on the date New York became a state!) to Bugs Bunny!
• Pictures, and lots of them!  There are lots of pictures included in the weekly email, so you can print it out and share them with your kids.
• Sometimes simple activities/experiments that relate to the topic of the day are included.  But not every time - which is good with me, as I find too many hands on activities to become overwhelming!
• The amount of content.  You can tell time was put into creating this resource, it's not at all a simple bullet list.  There are resource links for each topic, LOTS of information on each topic, and so many great topics to select from for discussing with the kids.

What I don't like:

• Despite the engaging content, I'm not sure that I would pay $120 over the course of the year for this material.  If i was more of a unschooler and planned to let the topics and fun educational wandering from them lead a greater portion of my day?  Maybe!  But I prefer a more structured approach to our homeschool days, and although I find this material fun I would have an easier time justifying it as a fun supplement if a discount was offered for a annual subscription.

That being said, I have enjoyed reading the This Week in History emails when they show up in my inbox.  I think they provide a great resource to jump start varied learning explorations with the kids.  Check out a sample week from their series, here.

Want other thoughts and opinions?  To see what the rest of the TOS Crew had to say head here.  

I was provided with this product to review free of charge.  That being said, all opinions expressed are 100% mine.