My husband and I currently have one vehicle between us, which makes it hard to get to the library for homeschool. So I was excited to do a product review for Heritage Humanities since they offer an online library of Western Heritage books.
I have eight children, but for this review, I chose Miranda to help me out. She is 13 and was reading a paper version of Pilgrim's Progress when we started the review. She was happy to see that Heritage Humanities offered the same title and she could finish it on our family laptop or iPad.
For the photos in this review, we are using our laptop as it has a very large monitor to be able to better show the photos. You can use any device that you can go online with, like your phone, an iPad/tablet, or laptop or desktop computer.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I was given a free product(s) and compensated for my time writing this article. All opinions are my own.
An Online Library of Western Heritage Books
This is currently a free website, so I encourage you to grab a coffee, and go check it out in another tab to go through with me while you are reading this review.
When you first get into Heritage Humanities, if you scroll to the bottom of the main page, you can see that their purpose is to help “…future generations learn and understand this material (classic literature) with the belief that it will enrich their lives and enable them to better contribute to society as thoughtful individuals and citizens.”
Categories of Western Heritage Education Offered
Heritage Humanities currently offers five categories…
- Greece, which includes Aristotle (from the Greek cannon) on politics, ethics, and logic
- Rome, including Cicero (from the Roman cannon) on the Roman Republic
- Judeo-Christian Theology, which has Thomas Aquinas on Aristotelian thought in Christianity and Maimonides on Aristotelian thought in Judaism
- British Inheritance, including Blackstone on the Common Law, along with Burke on political philosophy, and Adam Smith on economics (from the British cannon).
- Additional Electives, which includes Fables, Mythology, Poetics, and more.
Several Titles To Choose From
From the main page, you can either scroll to the middle and click one of the five categories I just mentioned or you can click a button that says, “Go To Application.” This is where you will see well over 100 titles of books to choose from.
You Can Read or Listen To The Books
Once you have selected a title, you can see under the book cover image that there are two buttons. One allows you to start reading it on your own and the other will allow you to start listening to an audiobook version of the book.
When you choose the Listening option, the words are highlighted in yellow as they are being read to you. This is helpful to the learner so that they can follow along and know what word is being read.
Whether you read or listen to the books, there are a few features to help your reading experience.
Text Size
You can make your text small, medium or large size. How wonderful to have a large size for my older (age 50+ eyes!) I really like that large feature!
Glossary – Dictionary Meaning of Words
Another nice feature is that you can highlight a word and push a little dictionary button and it will tell you what the word means. This is very helpful with comprehension.
Page Color Options
One thing you will notice is that there are three different page color options, which is really nice. You can choose the standard white page with black lettering.
Or a beige page with black lettering.
Another option is a black page with white lettering.
I think this is a nice benefit because sometimes black is too dark and white is too bright and the beige can be a happy middle choice.
Chapter Tabs
In this last photo, you will notice there is a white box to the left that says the chapter and title of the chapter. That is a nice feature in case you need to go to a different chapter to read or hear something again. This can also be beneficial when answering assignment questions about the book.
Miranda's Opinion
I like that I can listen to the books. The reader has a nice voice with an accent that goes well with the stories.
My Opinion
I really enjoy the large text size, and the beige page option, and that I can have the option of listening to it while washing the dishes or folding laundry. As a homeschool teacher, I like that it can read for me to my children on days when I have a head cold or sore throat.
Conclusion
This is a website that every homeschool teacher needs to have written down or bookmarked. It will save you shelf space in your house so you can have photo albums of your beautiful family on it instead of so many books. Go check it out today!
Where To Find Heritage Humanities
Website: https://heritagehumanities.com/
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