IT.IS.FINISHED.

ANCIENTS IS DONE!!

We finally finished writing the Ancient history Companion Textbook for BiblioPlan!!

It is finished.

330 pages long.

It is done.

IN FULL COLOR.

DONE...

I cannot begin to express how it feels to finally say that we have finished ONE YEAR completely.

Book.  Maps.  Timelines. Assignment pages for all ages. Tests and Exams for the oldest students. Answer Keys. Coloring Book. Craft book. 

DONE!

I just can't express the relief we are feeling at this moment. 

It has been a long time coming.

We didn't create BiblioPlan.  It was designed a number of years ago by some teachers at the homeschooling Co-op our boys attend. 

What they originally wrote was a history/literature guide.  It didn't have any bells and whistles.  No maps.  No assignment pages.  No timelines.  No coloring books.  No tests.  No art or family fun ideas.   It was basically an excellent reading guide.

And we loved it.  We did it as a family and we thought it was the best program in the world.  But to get the most out of it, I had to do a lot of intensive work to find maps and timeline figures and other supplemental material to make the history element more than just reading the text. 

Then I was hired to teach at our Co-op.

A Hands-on Medieval history class.

Yikes. 

I had access to the previous teacher's notes for which I was extremely grateful (she was one of the original writers of BiblioPlan) but I also looked everywhere for resources to use.  There just wasn't anything out there that I liked.

Nobody was writing Homeschooling History curriculum for Co-ops!

So I started making my own maps, question pages and timeline figures.  I used BiblioPlan as my guide for teaching the class, but I had to tweak it to fit my Co-op classes.  I spent hours and hours and hours putting together a curriculum that I liked. 

It was challenging, but fun.  I had no dreams of doing anymore more than just teaching history to a few kids each year at a Co-op.

I certainly never thought I would be writing a history book.  Never in my wildest imaginings did I consider writing a history book as part of my life's aspirations.

I did want to write a book though.  My desire was to write a book on the Old Testament law.  Seriously.  I graduated from seminary years ago.  While I was there I gained a profound love for the Old Testament. After I graduated, I wanted to write a book on the beauty of the law that God gave to Moses.  I started that project, but children and life took over, and I set my notes aside.  They are still in a box in our house somewhere gathering dust. 

But writing a history book? Not on my radar.

However, one of my students in that first Medieval hands-on history class was the son of another teacher, Rusty Gorby, who had just bought the BiblioPlan business from the original writers.

And as I taught Rusty's son, she realized that what I was doing with BiblioPlan was exactly what she needed to take that curriculum to the next level.

And that is how we became a partnership.  Our families began to work together to take a wonderful program and make it better.  Rob and I focused on the history, and Rusty focused on the literature and on running the business.

And our families have grown in love and admiration for each other as we seek to honor God in all that we do.

It has been difficult, exhausting and extremely time consuming.

BiblioPlan is a four-year history/literature/geography/art/writing/Bible/church history curriculum. The four years cover Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern and Modern history. Our program is designed to allow all of the children in the family to study the same topics of history, geography and Bible at the same time, while also providing each child with age-appropriate history and literature readings.

I have taught all four years of the program more than once now.  As I have taught, we have been building and creating the curriculum.  We have written, created and changed; then we have written some more and changed some more; then we have listened to customers who have used it and acted on their suggestions; and now finally, finally, ANCIENT HISTORY is done.

It is finished.

Our names are on the book:

Rob and Julia Nalle. 

I'm proud to stand beside my husband on this project.  God graced us both with complementary gifts that have allowed us to work together on this project with little conflict and a great deal of love.  My love for children, teaching, research, and the Bible. His knowledge of history and skill with words and research.

God is good.

And in this particular book, which covers a lot of Biblical history, I was able to give glimpses here and there of my great love for the Old Testament and the Old Testament law.

This is my favorite book of the four, by far.

I'm just sayin'.

And the coolest part of this book, the page that I like the very most, is this one: 

Brings tears to my eyes.

But alas, we are not done.  We have three more books to go, so I can only shout Hurrah! for a few minutes.  We have another huge deadline to meet, because we're still planning to release the final version of the fourth year, MODERN history, by the end of August.

So stay tuned.....

For more BIBLIOPLAN!!

And while you are waiting, if you like, please go order yourself a copy of our new book.  It is currently selling on our website for $50 (discounted from the sticker price of $59.95). Even if you aren't using BiblioPlan, this book is honestly a great Ancient History/Bible resource for everyone in your family, and it  fits beautifully with other history programs!  Is it perfect?  No.  Does it have some mistakes?  Most likely.  We are human. 

If you have a Kindle or other fancy type reader then you can purchase our book as an e-reader. 

P.S.: Because we are now ordering bundles of professionally printed copies of our Ancients materials, they may take a couple of weeks to arrive. Right now we have a limited amount of copies of the new book available to ship out right away, and more are on the way.  We will order even more when we (hopefully) need more.

Direct link to buy the Ancients book alone:  ANCIENTS HARDCOPY COMPANION

Link to buy all Ancient products:  ANCIENT PRODUCTS

BIBLIOPLAN LINK