Professional Reviews
General TRISMS reviews.For reviews of specific volumes, click on the reviews link for that volume.
The Link
Reviewed by: Linda K. Foster...All of the programs offered by TRISMS are designed to stimulate learning through the use of a variety of written, audio and video materials. By emphasizing critical thinking development, and written and verbal communication, the programs provide students with the information and skills necessary to understand the past and survive the present.
(Read the entire LINK review)
Classical Christian Institute
"The success of our high school academic co-op is attributed to TRISMS. Giving us a living breathing alternative to the dry bones of textbooks, TRISMS provides the skeleton to which we apply the muscles, sinews, and flesh. This skeleton allows students K-12 to study the same topic while completing age appropriate assignments. We just completed the four-year cycle using all four of the high school volumes. After home schooling for 16 years, I'm convinced that TRISMS is the best curriculum I've ever used to study HIS story. With my children four years older and at a different stage in the TRIVIUM, I'm actually excited about embarking on this journey once again."
Pam Rosethal, Academic Director of CCI
EHO-Eclectic Homeschool Online
Reading Through the Ages
History's Masterminds
Cathy Duffy Reviews
An Overview of Catholic History
by Katie Torrey
Katie Torrey originally created this guide for use alongside the TRISMS curriculum, but it could be used alongside almost any non-Catholic curriculum--unit study or textbook--to provide a Catholic dimension. ...
The type of research required and the format of the questionnaires would make this most useful for students in junior and senior high. However, it is also useful for Catholic parents with children of any age. Parents might use the guide simply to know what books or resources to use without using the questionnaires. With the limited number of quality Catholic history resources available, this is a great tool for those who choose to use secular or Protestant resources, so their children can also learn some of what's either been omitted or presented with a non-Catholic slant.
Home school Reviews by Cindy Downes - Oklahoma Home school
I LOVE this notebook! The student will research the questions on their own using books, magazines, and the Internet. No short answer, T/F, multiple choice on these worksheets! For instance, each lesson includes an American President research form. Your student not only has to find out when he served, what party he belonged to, and who he ran against, but he must also research the president's foreign and domestic policies, the leading social issue of his day, controversies surrounding this president, and even write his or her own opinion about the president's term in office. Other notebook pages include map studies, nobel prize winners, famous people, wars, art, music and architecture. Also included are Rhetoric worksheets for classical learners and a worksheet that assesses the student's overall knowledge of the subject area. Again, this must be researched. For example, in the 1970-1979 worksheet, the student must research Roe vs. Wade, existentialism, the social statement of music in the '70s, Watergate, how Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle, brought change in government regulations, environmental issues, and much more! Students are also required to create a timeline of events and learn vocabulary relevant to the period.
Your student will read books such as My Antonia, Life on the Mississippi, Out of the Dust, and The Testament. Movie suggestions are also included such as Gods and Generals, Rough Riders, Sgt. York, The Inn of Sixth Happiness, and Apollo 13.
Online research links are included as well. This list of Internet links will help your students with their research and includes links to famous people, art, flags, maps, timelines, as well as audio and video links that relate to the course. And because it is set in our time period, students have an opportunity to interview family members, veterans of various wars, living authors, artists and musicians. As the author says, "One of the primary goals is to teach students to ask questions, find answers, and transfer information from reading to thinking, to writing, and to speaking."
Recommendations: I heartily recommend all TRISM products for college-prep students and students who enjoy reading, writing, and research. Having just completed college American History and American Government, I can assure you that this curriculum will prepare your student for college-level American History!
Read the entire Oklahoma Home school review.
Choosy Home schooler
Trisms is an inclusive program that uses investigation in the form of research questionnaires to delve into historical eras. They include timelines, mapping, science, literature, and vocabulary as well, and use the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) for writing assignments related to the literature read. [Discovering the Ancient World] DAW includes all literature (and suggests supplements for reading aloud or silently); [History's Masterminds] HM recommends books for all units and includes read-aloud suggestions...
...A particular strength of the program is the emphasis on student-led research; my son in 9th grade is becoming more "in charge" of his own learning.
Harvester Teaching Services
"Usually the time preparation for Mom to do unit studies seems beyond reach. Consequently, most families are not willing to try them. TRISMS is the first unit-study based curriculum I have seen that any family with middle-school-aged children can just pick up and use. TRISMS is an exciting, challenging way for my children to study historic milestones."
Mrs. Carol A. Matz, Harvester Teaching Services Librarian, Springfield, VA
Jolan Lies, former Christian School Administrator
Educators seeking an academic challenge for their students while safe-guarding the love for learning will want to experience TRISMS, Age of Revolution. In a rapidly growing, historically illiterate society, this research based curriculum counters this devastating and disastrous trend. Unlike segmented, traditional curriculum materials which are known for rote learning and memorization while providing limited information about historical people and events which have shaped the world we live in today, Age of Revolution gives learners the opportunity to experience “the big picture.” Multiple subjects are interconnected which provide a relevant, thought-provoking learning experience while promoting long term memory and expertise of the subject matter studied. Engulfed in this total learning process, students will also sharpen their intellectual reasoning and problem solving abilities. As an educator, former Christian school administrator, and current home school parent, I highly recommend TRISMS Age of Revolution. Through this integrated, research based curriculum, a new trend of informed, educated young adults will emerge.
Jolan Lies