Everything You Need to Ace {Math, Science, History, English} in One Big Fat Notebook – Book Review | 1+1+1=1

{disclaimer ~ the books were provided by Educents and I was compensated for this review}

We have added a wonderful set of books to our homeschool resource collection thanks to Educents and Workman Publishing Group.

When Educents contacted me for this review I had never even seen these books before and was very curious. The colorful covers of the books drew me in. However, I knew that what was on the inside was what really mattered. I turned to my husband for the more detailed review of these books. He is a co-teacher with me in our homeschool and is currently in grad school himself. In the end he will have his Master’s degree in Christian Counseling. He teaches our kids history and science, and oversees their math. This is the main reason I turned to him for his thoughts so I could share with you!

One intimidating aspect about being a homeschool teacher is the question, “how will I be able to teach the many different subjects through the years?” As an adult I am fully aware that I have not retained much of what I learned in school, and when I teach my kids I am having to relearn. It does not take much to kick start my brain and find the file I have tucked away for so many years, but a large textbook is a bit much in my busy life.

The Everything You Need to Ace — in One Big Fat Notebook series is an excellent resource for middle school subjects. The books are quite impressive with the amount of information they put in each of their subjects, and I found myself intrigued as I read through them. I wish I had these when my oldest son {currently 9th grade} was going through middle school as they touch on all the major themes and definitions that pertain to specific subjects.

The science book is a great example of this as it is full of the many basic concepts we have all learned. I remember Newton’s laws, but there are things about them that I just cannot easily recall. They simply cover velocity, acceleration and speed in simple language. It all came flooding back to me as I flipped the pages, and I could not help to think how good of a resource this would be for my kids as well.

The editors claim, “this Big Fat Notebook makes all the stuff you learn in school sink in,” and I would completely agree. The simple language, it’s organization, and illustrations allow the subjects to be a bit more palatable and make what they learned fun. There are also many places where they use acronyms that are helpful in memorizing information. They use creative study techniques.

This is not a Christian resource, therefore, subjects are not approached from a Christian worldview. The subjects are covering all the basic materials that are accepted in public schools. I was not a fan at first of some of the world history language, especially in the pre-history area. However, I did keep in mind that this is what is being taught on a grand scale, and it allows me opportunity to have great discussion with my kids. I got a greater appreciation of the World History book as I read more and noticed that they were touching on all ancient civilizations and beliefs. I believe this is extremely important for my kids to learn, as they are growing up to carry the gospel out, not to already-believers but rather those that are of different or no faith. For example, when I as a Christian talk about the Spirit, it is not the same as the Hindu spiritual power. This allows a great place for me to discuss with my kids the differences, and the need for us to listen and not assume that people are talking about the same thing. I can teach them to learn to ask what they mean when they say “spirit.”

There are only a few places that my discernment really had to kick in, as most of the literature was straight forward teaching basic fact and theory. The books are organized clearly where readers can easily pick and choose what they want. I read through them but rarely would they be used like this. You may just want to have your student read a small portion to just brush up on the information they have already learned. Using this as an extra resource can only help the information seep in and it can help our kids see the information in different, concise, and creative ways.

I fully agree with my husband’s review. I love the details he shared and hope they are helpful to you also. Personally, the books were very engaging for me. I loved the organization and how easy it was for me to quickly brush up on a subject and even “test” myself. Here’s a peek inside of the math book for an example…

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