Wordless Wednesday: Monticello of the Past

Sharing photographs this week from a trip to Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia. These photographs were taken in the mid- to late-1990s. 

Book Club: Book Review of The Hidden Message of the Great Seal

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

As someone with a degree in history and as a former high school history teacher, I was very interested to read The Hidden Message of the Great Seal: How Foundational Truth from The Dawn of Liberty May Rescue a Republic in Peril by Michael Kanis. This paperback book is published by The Hidden Message, LLC with full-color, glossy pictures to help detail the message and explanation of the Great Seal. There are charts, a timeline, and many direct quotes to help present a message that has been hidden for over 230 years as interpreted by the author.

"There is a mission for this book that goes beyond the message of the seal. The message is part of it, but it is only the beginning. What you will discover when you read The Hidden Message is that there is a mission and calling for each American. This calling is a trust that you have inherited as a keeper of the republic." (quote from The Hidden Message of the Great Seal's mission statement) 

author Michael Kanis

Why did Michael Kanis start this journey? When Kanis started his journey and research, he did not know that he would "uncover things about our national symbol that have not been discovered since their genesis" (8). The author took his third son on an educational trip to Philadelphia and took a visit to Valley Forge. It was there, at the U.S. National Memorial Arch, that the Great Seal was really brought to his notice. Kanis' friend and their tour guide spoke of the symbolism including that "Novus Ordo Seclorum" does not mean "New World Order" like so many believe.


Before Kanis begins to examine the Great Seal of the United States in the book, he explains his motivation and approach. He pursued the clues to discover the meaning of allegory, studied the men who were involved in the creation of the Great Seal, employed heraldry, and applied the meaning of the allegory to the people that it was meant to serve - the people of the United States. Attention is also given to the misconceptions held about the seal such as that is associated with the occult, the Illuminati, or Freemasonry. In each chapter, Kanis attempts to help us follow along with his approach so we can better understand the symbols used (like the eye), the men who were involved (like Francis Hopkinson), and the links between the Great Seal and other coins, seals, and jetons of foreign nations (like the Netherlands).

The Hidden Message of the Great Seal is a large paperback book of 256 pages with endnotes. As it is a coffee table-sized book, I found it a bit difficult to sit down and read. I appreciate the idea of having a larger book so that full-color photos could be larger but I think I would have preferred it to be about half the size to make for easier holding in my hands. And as the pages are of a glossy type, I think it might be more difficult if someone wished to take notes within the book itself. (For the purpose of this review, I took notes on index cards and kept them in the book.)

I really wanted to enjoy reading The Hidden Message of the Great Seal. I was intrigued to see how the symbols used are not connected to things that people often point out. People are so quick to state that the eye is that of Horus and is therefore pagan and that the pyramid links back to the Egyptians (another pagan reference).

I don't know whether I am convinced as to the arguments put forth by Kanis. I think it will take more than one reading of this book to truly be able to discern all the information presented. If one is unfamiliar with English history, early American history, Biblical studies, or early religious history, then they might need to stop and research a bit before moving onto each following chapter. For example, Kanis spends time addressed Charles I, the English Civil War, and Oliver Cromwell to better explain one of the early mottos: "Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God." Now I just so happen to love British history so I was already familiar with these events but if you were not a student of this period of British history, you might be confused.

How Can You Use The Hidden Message of the Great Seal in Your Homeschool?

I can think of a number of ways in which you could use this book in your homeschool. As it is a lengthy book, I have been the only one in my family to read it but I do plan on passing it along to our teen son to read so we can discuss it. I think it will fit in nicely as he is studying the American Government this homeschool year.

The book can be read for a homeschool history course, government course, or social studies course at the high school level. Reading The Hidden Message of the Great Seal can also help children see how to and how not to present an opinion or argument in a written work. Reading this work of historical non-fiction will help them be able to better present their own historical cases. While reading the book, you can also focus upon the Latin as part of Latin courses or studies. To demonstrate an understanding of the work, your children can create their own timeline of events similar to what is presented in the book.

There is a list of things that we can do to defend freedom provided by the author that includes writing to someone in government, attending a town hall meeting, and other great ideas that anyone can incorporate into their lives. This list is part of an entire chapter on freedom that might be interesting to read and discuss with your children. The author discusses how the individuals involved in the American Revolution viewed freedom and how it is tied to virtues.

I think that The Hidden Message of the Great Seal is a book that requires each reader to make their own decision regarding whether or not the author proved his point. I believe individuals might come to the reading of this book with lots of preconceived notions and therefore each person will need a different level of explanation, examination, and presentation of research to determine whether or not they agree with Kanis' point of view.

At the very end of the book, Kanis presents an image of the Great Seal that he believes is an accurate and faithful representation of the congressional report. Throughout The Hidden Message of the Great Seal, we view the Great Seal in various stages and finally we see the culmination in what the author believes it was meant to look like.

Whether or not one agrees with all the points that Kanis makes in his work, I think readers can still walk away feeling a renewed desire to support virtue and justice in the United States. The founders of the United States of America wished to create a nation for future generations and citizens of today can continue to work for a better nation for our children.

Would You Like to Learn More?

Please be sure to see what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew have to say about The Hidden Message of the Great Seal by visiting the reviews. 

Studying History Through Unit Studies: A Review of a Thomas Jefferson Unit Study (K-6)

Disclaimer: I received this unit study for free from the author in return for my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are my own. For more information please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy. Thank you.

One of the approaches to homeschooling that is currently working for our younger children is the use of Unit Studies. Our kindergartner is interested in a lot of different topics—including history—so reviewing the Thomas Jefferson Unit Study (K-6) by Sarah Bean of Love at Home Education was a perfect fit for our homeschool. There are three options for purchasing the Thomas Jefferson Unit Study:

1. Download
2. Unbound
3. Bound

We received a digital copy of the Thomas Jefferson Unit Study (K-6) (49-page PDF) to use in our homeschool. It is written to be used over the course of one week and has parts for K-2 and 3-6 grade students. In each of the President studies there are mathematics pages, landmark pages, fact and timeline pages, and a variety of other activities provided.

How We Used the Jefferson Unit Study 

I read through the unit study to decide what parts would fit in our homeschooling day since our kindergartener would be using the materials. I then printed out the following items to use:

• Facts about Thomas Jefferson (3 pages) 
• Timeline (2 pages) 
• Math worksheets (2 of 3 pages for Kindergarten) 
• Vocabulary (1 page for K-2)
• What's the Declaration of Independence? (1 page) 
• Facts about Jefferson (places named for him; 1 page) 

Over the weekend, we read through the facts provided and discussed the new vocabulary words like: surveyor and dumbwaiter. The first activity our kindergartner completed was the timeline activity. This was great because it allowed him to practice his scissors skills and sequencing of events. We were able to discuss some of the things we had learned about Jefferson from the facts we read as well as the books we checked out of the library. (Our son always wants to see if the library has any books on the topic we are studying.)

On the next day, I requested our son cut out the two vocabulary words so we could hang them up and then he also wrote out some of the words in which he was unfamiliar with the definitions. We then worked on one of the math worksheets ("Circle the group that has more").

On the same day, he completed the second math worksheet ("Circle the group that has less"), we read about the Declaration of Independence and looked through our library books on Jefferson. He referred to the vocabulary words that he cut out the previous day.

Finally, we spent time looking at the landmark photos provided in the unit study and working on some geography. For the list of places named for Jefferson, we sat at the computer and looked up locations near our home. We also looked for places on our United States Map.

Recommendations 

Personally, I like that it is "an open and go" book which allows a homeschooling parent to use the unit study in conjunction with other products by Sarah Bean or with whatever works best for their children's learning styles and needs. One of the great things about homeschooling is the freedom that it provides families. Unit studies like this are perfect for that purpose.

Our kindergartner really enjoyed learning about Thomas Jefferson. I felt that the information and worksheets were just right for him. And we would be able to do more research on our own if he wanted to learn more about Jefferson. This was a fun unit study to use in our homeschool. While the Thomas Jefferson Unit Study is available as a download, I would recommend purchasing the printed Thomas Jefferson Unit Study (bound or unbound) because there are full-color photographs and illustrations. This will really help your time studying the third president of the United States come alive! Print versions are now shipping!

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