TOS Review: Easy Classical

What's the hardest part of homeschooling four kids?  Most days it's not that hard to get everything in, or work individually with each child.  For me, the hardest part is finding the time to prepare everything.  Last fall, when our school start day was looming just around the corner, I actually had a bit of a breakdown and begged my husband to please take the kids away for an afternoon so I could have 10 minutes to think without interruption in order to get the school schedules put together.  Thankfully, he took that request seriously, and instead of an afternoon, he took the kids for a whole weekend and went to the Creation Museum and Newport Aquarium, giving me a full 72 hours of uninterrupted planning time.

During that time, I contemplated - but ultimately decided against - putting together a classical study schedule for history.  I had picked up Susan Wise Bauer's and Jessie Wise's The Well-Trained Mind several years ago and I was excited by what I learned.  The classical education model that she was presenting sounded wonderful, but the idea of implementing it sounded...well, impossible.  Even with 72 hours to work on it.  Classical education? GREAT!  Time, energy, resources needed to plan classical education?  More than I can handle!

Enter Easy Classical - all the concepts of a classical education without the hours of prep work.  Easy Classical provides all the schedules, writing guides, copybooks, and geography curriculum and integrates them for ease of use and increased retention.  Easy Classical is the perfect solution for families that want to follow the Well-Trained Mind's classical education model, but don't have the time/energy/comfort level to figure out how to implement it for themselves.

I received the Early Modern History schedule to review.  EVERYTHING has been done for you.  All that's left is to follow the instructions.  Here are a just a few of the many questions that Easy Classical answers for you:

• What curriculum do I use?
• Not only does Easy Classical outline the entire list of books and other supplementary materials needed, but they tell you where to find each and every item
• What do I do each day?
• Easy Classical provides a detailed daily schedule to follow
• How do I keep track of what we're doing?
• The daily schedule has space to check items off as they're completed
• How do I know which parts of the curriculum are most important?
• The schedule reminders indicate the important parts of each week's curriculum
• How do I make sure I'm prepared for each week's lesson?
• The schedule shows everything you need, including the next week's shopping list, giving you plenty of time to prepare

And that's just a sample.  Speaking of sample, Easy Classical offers lots of samples on their website to give you a good idea of what each product offers.  Here are just a few of the samples offered for the Early Modern History schedule:

Sample Introduction Pages
Sample History Schedule Pages
Sample Lesson Pages
Early Modern History Curriculum and Books

The Early Modern History Schedule is offered in two formats:  The Notebook Version, for $35.95 and the Digital Version for $29.95.

Additionally, Easy Classical offers complete grade-level schedules, Writing with History, Geography with History, and Science schedules.

I think Easy Classical is the perfect answer for families that want to follow the classical education model, but are unable to put together their own curriculum (for whatever reason).  The schedules are the perfect answer for busy homeschooling moms!

Want to see what other crew members have to say about Easy Classical?  Check out their reviews here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary digital version of Easy Classical's Early Modern History schedule in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.