My children have had an interest in history this year. They’d already studied a little about Ancient Egypt and Elizabethan England, so they were keen to get on this review of this Once-a-Week Micro-Study Victoria and Her World by Homeschool Legacy.
I’d given my children a choice of a couple of the Once-A-Week Micro-Study titles available…
- Pirates or Privateers: You Decide
- Cooking up History with the Founding Presidents
- Victoria and Her World
- Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims
- Many Nations
…but they wanted to learn a little more about Queen Victoria and how the United Kingdom changed during her time.
The digital download Once-A-Week Micro-Studies come with 4 lessons that can be done once a week, or over the course of one week for a more-intensive experience. Phil was off for a week during October so I thought it might be fun to delve into Victoria that week while we put most other studies to the side.
This study is aimed at children in grades 1 -8. This seems like quite a diverse age range; Kallista is in grade 1, and although she was interested in most of it, she didn’t get as much out of it as Tristan (grade 3). The older/more able the student, the more work they can do with researching the topic.
Each lesson is meant to take about 30 minutes, however this can vary greatly depending upon how much time is spent looking into topics such as the Great Exhibition, making Christmas tree decorations, and baking, and of course reading a story or novel from the time period.
For each lesson there are a couple of pages to read about the history of Victoria; how she met her husband, some geography and history of the UK. (One of my pet peaves is that she includes Northern Ireland as a part of Great Britain. Great Britain is the ‘mainland’ of England, Scotland, and Wales, whereas the UK is composed of Britain plus Northern Ireland).
Sprinkled throughout are links to watch videos, look at Pinterest boards of Victorian dress, architecture and household items, pictures to download and colour, and crafts to make. Unfortunately, some of these links are broken and either the page doesn’t exist or doesn’t correspond with what it should. In most cases I was easily able to find alternate resources, but it was still a bit disappointing and time consuming.
Some of the things that did work well for us were:
- Having a tea party with fruit tea and scones one afternoon.
- Baking Queen Cakes for Phil’s birthday (life in a blogging family!).
- Making some Christmas tree decorations.
- And taking photos of Victorian architecture.
A perfect coincidence for us here is that at the moment BBC2 is airing a series called The Victorian Slum which follows everyday families transported back to London as they go through a decade each week from the 1860 to 1900. It’s very enlightening and makes us realise how lucky we are to live in the current time period. Victorian times weren’t all frilly dresses and tea parties.
We’ve now completed Victoria and Her World but my children haven’t stopped learning about the Victorian times! Oh no; we’re still reading library books, looking out for Victorian architecture, and later this month we’ll be attending the nearby Victorian Street Fair again, which is always a highlight with horse-drawn carriage rides, storytime sessions, a hog roast, and many people dressed up in period costumes.
To read more reviews about Homeschool Legacy by the Homeschool Review Crew, click on the graphic below and follow the instructions. You will find 100 honest reviews by the Crew on 6 Once-A-Week Studies and Micro-Studies. If you’d like to know more or would like to follow Homeschool Legacy, you can connect with them through their website and Facebook.
