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American History spine for youngers (K and PreK)?


jewel7123
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Can anyone recommend a good spine for American History for a 5 year old K student and a tag along 3 year old? FYI they are both girls and the 3 year old is pretty advanced for her age. (Already reads just by picking up on what I've taught big sister) I am focusing on the 3 R's with my K'er and not using a history "curriculum", but I would like to find an age appropriate spine I could read aloud as well as add fun picture books, etc. as time allows. I'm "pretty" sure we'll be doing ancients for 1st, so I'd like to do some American history now as it will be awhile before we get back to it. (But I change plans often, lol!) Any suggestions for me for a spine that isn't too advanced? I do prefer a Christan bias if there is any.

 

I should add that we are reading through CLP's History for Little Pilgrims, which is great, but has a lot of Bible, so I'd like to add another spine that focuses solely on American history.

 

Thanks for your help!

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We used this program as a spine for K this year and really enjoyed it:

 

I Love America

 

We added the D'Aulaire's biographies to it (along with a picture book biography of Thomas Jefferson) - Colombus, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. We did skip the Pocahontas biography because of some concerns about racial bias, but there are lots of newer Pocahontas biographies if you wanted to add that in. We also did lots of harvest/pilgrim picture books around Thanksgiving time. It was a great, gentle intro, and even my 3 y.o. can now recognize George Washington everywhere we go and on money!

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We are doing Geography (via Galloping the Globe) but I really wanted to lightly hit on US history this year, as well. I originally bought Truthquest American History for Young Students, but I was missing a spine. Someone had given us Abeka's 1st grade My America and My World and it is going to be perfect. It just gives a page or two on famous people, landmarks, events, etc. It allows us to cover the topic and then I will still utilize Truthquest for any rabbit trails we want to take. It looks like a good fit for us.

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I was looking around the authors' website and it appears they are Mormon. Did you notice any kind of Mormon bias in this curriculum?

 

Nope. It is a conservative program though, and not completely secular in that it does note the Thanksgiving celebration was about thanking God, and that Colombus thanked God when he found the New World. The program emphasizes citizenship, respect for country and flag, with an overall conservative tone, but generally avoids more controversial topics like Washington and the Cherry Tree or Providential History. I thought it was well done, and most of the comments about God are in the teacher's manual only, so they could be omitted if you wished to use it secularly, although it will still be a more "traditional" overview of American history & historical figures.

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Nope. It is a conservative program though, and not completely secular in that it does note the Thanksgiving celebration was about thanking God...

 

I just discovered this myself as I was reading George Washington's Letter of Proclamation on Thanksgiving. I realized that I had fallen into the Pilgram/Indian Image of Thanksgiving and rarely questioned what I was taught in school. American History can't be completely taught on a secular level. Too much of it was based on religious beliefs and freedoms to practice religion.

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/thanksgiving/thankstext.html

 

The Founding Fathers held very strong beliefs in God and in leading the Country.

 

It's humbling and enlightening to be learning our American History through primary sources and with our children.

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As a read-aloud: Mara Pratt's American History Stories, Volumes I-IV.

 

I really like these books, and although they are a bit old, they are very child friendly and not as culturally biased as some others. I was considering This Country of Ours before, but found the description of Native Americans too offensive (savages, and up to no good, etc.).

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Peter Marshall's series of 3 but the only one I can think of off-hand is From Sea to Shining Sea for Children. I have this set and am thinking of going through it too. We will be using BF Early American but the Providential History of America as the spine seems above their heads as ELL and only ages 5-10.

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We used the K12 course History K. It worked very well as a spine and we read lots of picture books on the side. My son absolutely loved it.

 

I went to their website, and this looks to be quite expensive. What exactly would I need? Is it an online curriculum or do they offer physical books as well? I was a bit confused when browsing their site.

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As a read-aloud: Mara Pratt's American History Stories, Volumes I-IV.

 

I really like these books, and although they are a bit old, they are very child friendly and not as culturally biased as some others. I was considering This Country of Ours before, but found the description of Native Americans too offensive (savages, and up to no good, etc.).

 

:iagree: Pratt's books look really good (I'll be using them as a read aloud for a 4th and a 2nd grader this year)

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Another suggestion - Places in Time and Journeys in Time. They are listed as grades 5-8 but I have the latter one (and the former is my amazon cart) and it has beautiful, well-illustrated double-page spreads about each topic. Together, I think they'd be a great jumping-off point. In fact, I plan to use them for just that when my littlest one is in pre-K and my olders will both be doing American History. :)

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