Please .... - any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!! We have finished our state hsitory and geography, and took one month off for any social studies. I was planning to start American history at the beginning of this month, but...the book I was suggested and actually purchased, " Don't Know Much About History" simple doesn't work for us. It is written way for an adult - my opinion. Can someone please, give me a suggestion on a simple yet structured text book on American History for a 4th grader? Thanks!!:love: P.S. another question - I would greatly Appreciate any input on what is your best way to teach American History. As a product of overseas public school, I know one and only *affective* way - a textbook divided on parts; each part divided on chapters and each chapter divided on paragraphs; with a questionnaire after each chapter to check what was learned and what was not. This really seems to be the best structure for me. Does anyone aware of something like this? Reading books does not work too much here, it comes to one ear, and gets out from another. I really want him to remember what he was reading.....
Christian Liberty has a 4th grade American History, but although I have it, I haven't used it yet. They also have a somewhat unique American History for 5th grade (but I don't think the reading level is very much more difficult) which is based on brief biographies with questions after each one and a test every third or fourth one. Abeka covers American history in fourth grade, so you might look at theirs. Rod & Staff has North American history for fifth grade, but again, I don't think the reading level is so very much tougher than fourth. Christian Light also has North American history for fifth grade, but some of my students have had some difficulty with this one. Both of these cover not just the United States but Canada as well. These are just a few off the top of my head.
The History of US by Joy Hakim (I think I spelled her last name right) Easy to use for multiple years. Easy to follow and lots of opportunity to add in as much or as little extras as you want. It starts back before Jamestown and goes all the way through the 20th century, so you get the complete picture of American history and not just the highlights. Marty
Hey Marty, thanks for the review on Joy Hakim's history. I have been considering it myself. I think I will just go with it. I have read awesome things about this history. God bless!
The History of US that Marty mentioned is good, but I won't be using it until my kids are way older... there is some content that in the elementry level they just don't need. It is in my 9th(ish) grade plans for my kids. My favorite for the elem level is The Complete Book of United States History, you can get it through Carson Dellosa now. We took 2 years to go through it, and wish I would have slowed down and taken 3-4. It was an amazing spine, we added in lots of living books and hands on crafts, and there was so much more I could have done with it... so my youngers will get a 3 year minimum course from that book.. it's awesome! Meaty enough to stand alone when it needs to and plenty of ideas to build on.
Check out Sonlight's book list for Core 3 and 4. There are lots of great books for American History on there that are geared for around 4th grade.
If you are looking for something to finish out this year, I would recommend _A First Book In American History_ by Edward Eggleston. We are using it this year, I think it is wonderful. It is a reprint of a book that was originally published in 1889. You can read more about it online if you are interested in the background. It starts with the early life of Columbus, includes 35 chapters ,and goes past the Civil War to about the Panama Canal. Each chapter is about 5-6 pages with some interesting black and white picutures. There are about 5-10 questions at the end of each chapter for the student to tell in his own words. They are questions like, " Tell about Captain Smith's dealings with the Indians," or "Tell how William Penn got Pennsylvania," or "Tell about how George Washington was defeated at Fort Necessity." I love this book, and I am learning a lot of history right along with my son. The questions at the end of the chapters lead us into discussions about the information in the text and really help my son retain what he is learning. The other book by Eggleston we have read is a fantastic book called _Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans_. You could read this one along with or after the history book. My son ended up reading it twice this past year because he loved the funny stories and anecdotes about the famous early Americans and also the adventure stories of the pioneers. Just an idea. I am so glad I found these books. I think they give a great background in basic American history for elementary school.
I LOVE Biblioplan. We used the History of U.S. as one of the spines when we studied that period of history. You can check it out here: http://biblioplan.net/ This approach to studying history is more Charlotte Mason/Classical, rather than the textbook approach. I found myself loving history, a subject that I hated back in my own textbook school days.
Wow...!!! Thank you very much for all the suggestions, great choice to choose from! I will checkout any and each of these, and will definitely choose one. Thanks a bunch again, Moms!
We used Abeka 4th Grade as a base last year to teach American History - I didn't use all the tests, and maps and everything. We read the textbook, answered the questions AND I used read-alouds that went along with the period in history. My kids and I loved it. (they were 3rd & 5th grade at the time).
I also use The Complete Book of United States History and it is very good, and inexpensive. I bought mine used on ebay for under $5. I supplement the above book with the Time Travelers Series on http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/ Another source I use (my dd really needs all these to have it sink in) is the America the Story of Us dvd series that came on the History Channel. Alot of people, myself included, got it for free last year. I don't know if they are still running the promotion, but if not it is for sale on the website. You could also probley rent it from blockbuster or netflix. http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us
I was also going to recommend the Time Travelers set - awesome information, lots of hands-on activities, just a great curriculum. You could add some living books to go along with it and you'd have an outstanding history lesson.
We used Exploring American History, its a little brown book has some chapter readings and questions , there are test booklets you can get, we did I still have them lol. NOt sure where the text type reading book went but it worked well for us for US history stuff,
