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I feel like I've been had!


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A couple of months ago I bought "A First Course in American History" by Simple Schooling on Currclick. While browsing Google Books today looking for free history resources I can across "A First Course in American History" by Jeannette Rector Hodgdon. The one they are selling on Currclick is stolen, word for word from this original. I mean, even the pictures are copy and pasted. Goodness, the whole book looks like it was copy and pasted then changed to a different font. The copyright has run out on the original, but this is clear plagiarism! Simple Schooling is selling theirs for $25 reduced to $4 at the moment. But I paid $25 dollars because it sounded so great! Turns out it was REALLY great when it was originally written a 100 years ago! Simple Schooling makes themselves out to be the author of this work and they blatantly are NOT! I'm so upset that I spent all that money on something I now have free and better. I will NEVER again bother with Simple Schooling again!

 

I just wanted to warn others. I wouldn't doubt if all their materials are stolen works from others.

 

 

:rant:

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Hmmm...It seems to credit the original as a "source" but doesn't make it clear that it's a word for word reprint. When I think of a source I DON"T think a word for word reprint. :glare: Indeed, it says "by" J. Anne Huss.

 

If it's not completely unethical it's so murky that CurrClick should be wary of carrying the author's materials.

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If they are claiming to have authored it themselves, instead of giving credit to the original author, I would contact both CurrClick and them with what you have figured out. I would also state that you want every penny back since they did not disclose that they were reprinting a work for which the original copyright had expired.

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I think maybe the reason they were able to do it because they made lesson plans for the book and turned it into a unit study. Could that be why they cost so much? If not, then i'd probably do what the op suggested and contact curriclick and see if they could help.

 

I've looked through the original and all of the questions are in the original book that they used for that one. The only thing different is that she formatted it for a workbook page. I could've done that myself!

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If you look at the sample on currclick, it does credit the original author as the source. I would have seen it better if it was on the cover, so I can see how it would be overlooked. It looks like they added some worksheets to the original though. Not worth $25 imho, but definitely a good deal at $3.

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First of all, they definitely shouldn't say it's "by" a person it's not by.

 

OTOH, many people have come along and made good money adapting classic and public-domain books into modern language, with better images, page layout, etc. There's no harm in that - it's how Yesterday's Classics makes ALL their money... and I have bought a few books from them that I could have gotten free, but I wanted a good version that wasn't full of typos, etc.

 

Also, though I'm not sure I'm looking at the right thing, I'm comparing the TOCs of both the Simple Schooling "First Course" and the public-domain one, and I'm not seeing a TON of overlap. First, the public-domain version, which apparently contains bios of:

 

I. Patrick Henry

II. Samuel Adams

III. George Washington

IV. Philip Schuyler

V. Nathanael Greene .

VI. John Paul Jones

VII. Gilbert Mortier de Lafayette

Thomas Jefferson

Alexander Hamilton

Daniel Boone .

Eli Whitney

Robert Fulton

XIII. Oliver Hazard Perry

XIV. Thomas Macdonough

XV. Andrew Jackson

XVI. DeWitt Clinton

XVII. George Stephenson

XVIII. Henry Clay

XIX. Daniel Webster

XX. Samuel F. B. Morse and his Successors

XXI. Abraham Lincoln

XXII. Ulysses Simpson Grant .

XXIII. Robert Edward Lee

XXIV. David Glasgow Farragut

XXV. Cyrus Hall McCormick

XXVI. George Dewey

XXVII. Thomas Alva Edison

XXVIII. Great Men of To-day

 

vs the Simple Schooling version:

 

Leif Ericson

Christopher Columbus

John Smith

Pocahontas & the Indians

Standish

Winthrop

Williams

Champlain

De La Salle

Baltimore

Penn

Gelthorpe (can't read it)

Bacon

Franklin

Montcalm

Wolfe

Henry

Adams

Washington

Schuyler

 

There's SOME overlap, but not all of them. The Simple Schooling version also seems to include "value added" in the form of notebooking, vocabulary, summaries, etc. It's very annoying that you paid $25 for just that stuff when you could have gotten the basic book free, especially given that it's now $4.

 

Perhaps if you emailed Simple Schooling directly, they'd credit you or something; that would be, imo, the right thing for them to do. However, spending $25 for a well-done modern adaptation of a classic isn't in itself a shameful thing to have done, nor, again imo, a shameful thing for them to market... if only they'd make it clearer that that is precisely what they are selling.

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The one they are selling on Currclick is stolen, word for word from this original. I mean, even the pictures are copy and pasted.
The original work is public domain, so this is not technically stolen. There are a number of publishers who specialize in reproducing public domain works, some of which do a better job than others (stay away from Dodo Press), and some homeschooling programs like Lively Latin incorporate extensive amounts public domain material, often unattributed. It's unfortunate Simple Schooling didn't clearly indicate the original text being used, and I'd expect CurrClick to revise the product description accordingly; I suspect the author on the cover of the Simple Schooling book is the author of the included worksheets.
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I've looked through the original and all of the questions are in the original book that they used for that one. The only thing different is that she formatted it for a workbook page. I could've done that myself!

 

See, I don't mind that. I paid for a reformatted version of Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons BUT the person who did the reformatting clearly credited Emma Serl. She was not a "source". She was credited as the author and the person who republished it was very up front about it.

 

This one is...well, stinkier.

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See, I don't mind that. I paid for a reformatted version of Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons BUT the person who did the reformatting clearly credited Emma Serl. She was not a "source". She was credited as the author and the person who republished it was very up front about it.

 

This one is...well, stinkier.

 

 

:iagree:

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See, I don't mind that. I paid for a reformatted version of Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons BUT the person who did the reformatting clearly credited Emma Serl. She was not a "source". She was credited as the author and the person who republished it was very up front about it.

 

This one is...well, stinkier.

 

 

Yes, I did too. By Christina Albright or something right? I'm buying the intermediate one this Thursday. That's different to me too. I don't want to reformat a whole book, but makeup a few workpages to the history spine I could have. I just thought I was buying an original work by someone.

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A couple of months ago I bought "A First Course in American History" by Simple Schooling on Currclick. While browsing Google Books today looking for free history resources I can across "A First Course in American History" by Jeannette Rector Hodgdon. The one they are selling on Currclick is stolen, word for word from this original. I mean, even the pictures are copy and pasted. Goodness, the whole book looks like it was copy and pasted then changed to a different font. The copyright has run out on the original, but this is clear plagiarism! Simple Schooling is selling theirs for $25 reduced to $4 at the moment. But I paid $25 dollars because it sounded so great! Turns out it was REALLY great when it was originally written a 100 years ago! Simple Schooling makes themselves out to be the author of this work and they blatantly are NOT! I'm so upset that I spent all that money on something I now have free and better. I will NEVER again bother with Simple Schooling again!

 

I just wanted to warn others. I wouldn't doubt if all their materials are stolen works from others.

I've previously posted about my experiences with Simple Schooling; yes a lot of the material in her "unit studies" is taken from Google books and various websites without attribution — and the bits she writes herself contain bad grammar, misspelled words, and factual errors. You won't get your money back, though — when I emailed her about the errors and confronted her about the plagiarism, not only did she refuse to refund my money, she immediately cancelled my one-year subscription to the online resources (for which I had paid $97). And she was extremely rude and snotty to boot.

 

I would definitely complain to Currclick, and leave a negative review of the materials. Unfortunately I subscribed directly through the Simple Schooling website, so was not able to leave negative feedback on Currclick.

 

Jackie

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Also, though I'm not sure I'm looking at the right thing, I'm comparing the TOCs of both the Simple Schooling "First Course" and the public-domain one, and I'm not seeing a TON of overlap. First, the public-domain version, which apparently contains bios of:

 

I. Patrick Henry

II. Samuel Adams

III. George Washington

IV. Philip Schuyler

V. Nathanael Greene .

VI. John Paul Jones

VII. Gilbert Mortier de Lafayette ....

That's a different book — if you click the link in the OP, you'll see that the TOC on Googlebooks matches the TOC of Simple Schooling.

 

Jackie

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I've previously posted about my experiences with Simple Schooling; yes a lot of the material in her "unit studies" is taken from Google books and various websites without attribution — and the bits she writes herself contain bad grammar, misspelled words, and factual errors. You won't get your money back, though — when I emailed her about the errors and confronted her about the plagiarism, not only did she refuse to refund my money, she immediately cancelled my one-year subscription to the online resources (for which I had paid $97). And she was extremely rude and snotty to boot.

 

I would definitely complain to Currclick, and leave a negative review of the materials. Unfortunately I subscribed directly through the Simple Schooling website, so was not able to leave negative feedback on Currclick.

 

Jackie

Wow, that's inexcusable conduct. I wonder how many repeat customers she manages. :001_huh:

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This is really unfortunate. We have been using her Mega Pumpkin Fun book this month just for a fun extra. I would not want to continue to support someone who plagiarizes and conducts themselves so. Does anyone have an alternative suggestion for fun little holiday crafts, mazes, pumpkin math, etc.?

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This is really unfortunate. We have been using her Mega Pumpkin Fun book this month just for a fun extra. I would not want to continue to support someone who plagiarizes and conducts themselves so. Does anyone have an alternative suggestion for fun little holiday crafts, mazes, pumpkin math, etc.?

 

If you've already bought it, you might as well use it, since she already has your money. I wouldn't buy anything from her in the future, though.

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This is really unfortunate. We have been using her Mega Pumpkin Fun book this month just for a fun extra. I would not want to continue to support someone who plagiarizes and conducts themselves so. Does anyone have an alternative suggestion for fun little holiday crafts, mazes, pumpkin math, etc.?

 

Yeah, just use it up. But I'll look into Intelligo Unit studies from now on. I'll have to find some others as well.

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That is just crazy, even if it is free domain, they should give proper credit. Free domain only means you can reprint it and make money from those reprints, not claim the work as your own. Nobody would be complaining now if she gave credit to begin with.

 

I have been eying their unit studies at CurrClick for a while now -- I guess it is one less thing for me to think about. Especially after reading that other thread! Thanks for the heads up and goodluck with contacting CurrClick. They should consider removing products with these types of complaints until they give the proper credit to the original authors.

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Thanks for the reminder. I added a review since I have purchased the curriculum. You should contact Currclick and also consider leaving a review.

 

I see you have had a reply to your review. Nice :tongue_smilie: (ick at her reply, not your honest review). I will DEFINITELY not be buying any of the units saved in my wishlist. :glare:

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This is really unfortunate. We have been using her Mega Pumpkin Fun book this month just for a fun extra. I would not want to continue to support someone who plagiarizes and conducts themselves so. Does anyone have an alternative suggestion for fun little holiday crafts, mazes, pumpkin math, etc.?

 

We use Enchanted Learning. There are resources and worksheets for each holiday. Off to print some for Halloween tomorrow.

 

Thanks for this thread. I'm going to avoid Simple Schooling.

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Does anyone have an alternative suggestion for fun little holiday crafts, mazes, pumpkin math, etc.?

 

 

Busy Teacher's Cafe has some great themes (pumpkins included)

 

A really nice site is Pratt's Educational Resources There are themes for everything (scroll down a bit to view all the topics).

 

Couple more:

 

A to Z Teacher Stuff

 

Lesson Pathways

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I see you have had a reply to your review. Nice :tongue_smilie: (ick at her reply, not your honest review). I will DEFINITELY not be buying any of the units saved in my wishlist. :glare:

 

Yeah, interesting that she claims the worksheets are her original work — in fact, the Things to Remember, Map Work, and Memory Selection activities are taken word for word from the original text, and the Summary of Facts, Timeline, and Vocabulary Builder "worksheets" are just blank pages with lines on them, for the student to fill in (the pages are the same for every chapter). She did throw in some "vocabulary match" worksheets. I wonder how many people realize they're paying $25 for a handful of vocabulary match worksheets?

 

It's also interesting to me that she now cites the Hodgdon book as a "source" in the front matter of her curriculum, because it wasn't in the unit that I downloaded last spring. When I emailed her that I found the language dated, racist, & offensive, she just said that it "came from an old book" — she never mentioned a specific book or that the entire thing was another author's work. I wonder if she added the blurb about the Hodgdon book after I discovered the source and confronted her? She still lists herself as author (by J. Ann Huss) on the cover, and she put her own copyright on every single page — not just the "worksheets."

 

She also offers the exact same material from the Hodgdon book on her other website (available "free" — for a $25 "donation"), with no mention whatsoever of the source. When I was looking for more information about this other website, I found this lovely recommendation. :ack2:

 

Jackie

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This is certainly discouraging to hear. I had her site bookmarked for the longest time, when she was fairly new on the scene. I occassionally would print some of her monthly freebies....but I try to avoid printing pages if I can at all help it. So, after awhile the site just fizzled from my use. When I did frequent her site (really just for the freebies) I know she was always posting on how she was working on more, writing more, etc. Well....now I see she was busy copying. :glare: What a disappointment. Thank you for telling us! I hope you can reimbursed somehow.

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Yeah, interesting that she claims the worksheets are her original work — in fact, the Things to Remember, Map Work, and Memory Selection activities are taken word for word from the original text, and the Summary of Facts, Timeline, and Vocabulary Builder "worksheets" are just blank pages with lines on them, for the student to fill in (the pages are the same for every chapter). She did throw in some "vocabulary match" worksheets. I wonder how many people realize they're paying $25 for a handful of vocabulary match worksheets?

 

It's also interesting to me that she now cites the Hodgdon book as a "source" in the front matter of her curriculum, because it wasn't in the unit that I downloaded last spring. When I emailed her that I found the language dated, racist, & offensive, she just said that it "came from an old book" — she never mentioned a specific book or that the entire thing was another author's work. I wonder if she added the blurb about the Hodgdon book after I discovered the source and confronted her? She still lists herself as author (by J. Ann Huss) on the cover, and she put her own copyright on every single page — not just the "worksheets."

 

She also offers the exact same material from the Hodgdon book on her other website (available "free" — for a $25 "donation"), with no mention whatsoever of the source. When I was looking for more information about this other website, I found this lovely recommendation.

 

Jackie

 

 

:tongue_smilie: :001_huh: :confused: :001_rolleyes: :blink: :rolleyes: :thumbdown:

 

And that is ALL I'm gonna say about SS :D

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Yeah, interesting that she claims the worksheets are her original work — in fact, the Things to Remember, Map Work, and Memory Selection activities are taken word for word from the original text, and the Summary of Facts, Timeline, and Vocabulary Builder "worksheets" are just blank pages with lines on them, for the student to fill in (the pages are the same for every chapter). She did throw in some "vocabulary match" worksheets. I wonder how many people realize they're paying $25 for a handful of vocabulary match worksheets?

 

It's also interesting to me that she now cites the Hodgdon book as a "source" in the front matter of her curriculum, because it wasn't in the unit that I downloaded last spring. When I emailed her that I found the language dated, racist, & offensive, she just said that it "came from an old book" — she never mentioned a specific book or that the entire thing was another author's work. I wonder if she added the blurb about the Hodgdon book after I discovered the source and confronted her? She still lists herself as author (by J. Ann Huss) on the cover, and she put her own copyright on every single page — not just the "worksheets."

 

She also offers the exact same material from the Hodgdon book on her other website (available "free" — for a $25 "donation"), with no mention whatsoever of the source. When I was looking for more information about this other website, I found this lovely recommendation. :ack2:

 

Jackie

 

 

So, she's loved by the White Pride Racists? :001_huh:

 

That really seals the deal for me. Even if she made restitution I wouldn't buy her stuff again. I don't deal with racism.

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This is pants! I've bought unit studies from this lady before, all in good faith. Now I worry that I purchased material taken from Google books, and while taking the effort to look for things should be rewarded I think something between $1-$5 would have been adequate and the original source should ALWAYS be cited.

 

And. Don't even get me started on the "recommendation"!

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I'm disappointed to hear that, I think I have a couple by this company too. Why not state that the unit is by.. worksheets created by.. I'd contact Currclick at the drop of a hat.

 

Places like Teacher's Pay Teacher actually have a button to alert the staff to things you feel are complete rip-offs. It's insane that companies even have to do that though.

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She also offers the exact same material from the Hodgdon book on her other website (available "free" — for a $25 "donation"), with no mention whatsoever of the source. When I was looking for more information about this other website, I found this lovely recommendation. :ack2:

 

Jackie

 

"Shovel ready history for the masses"? :eek: :ack2:

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http://www.publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/2010/08/02/plagiarism-ethics-and-the-public-domain/

 

While I do think it was shady to charge so much for something that's mostly a public domain book with a few worksheets tossed in, the issue is more of an ethical one than a legal one. It would seem she can do this and the situation unfortunately becomes one of caveat emptor.

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http://www.publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/2010/08/02/plagiarism-ethics-and-the-public-domain/

 

While I do think it was shady to charge so much for something that's mostly a public domain book with a few worksheets tossed in, the issue is more of an ethical one than a legal one. It would seem she can do this and the situation unfortunately becomes one of caveat emptor.

 

Yes, "she can do this" in the sense that it's not a criminal offense — unfortunately plagiarism is not in itself against the law. It's still highly unethical; a student caught plagiarizing in college could be failed or even expelled even though they haven't technically committed a crime. I'm sure if any of us caught our kids plagiarizing text, whether from recent books or public domain sources like wikipedia or googlebooks, we would read them the riot act and impose severe consequences! So the fact that this woman is plagiarizing another author's work and selling it to unsuspecting teachers — homeschooling parents — seems extra-slimy to me.

 

It's not just history either — the science units I looked at also contained whole pages of text she had copied word-for-word from various websites, including other people's photos, illustrations and artwork, and she had put her own name and copyright on every single page. Basically, homeschooling parents are paying for work that would earn their own kids an F!

 

Jackie

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It seems that the owner of Simple Schooling is a member here, if I am interpreting this post correctly. Maybe she'll see this thread and clarify.

 

Also, J. Anne Huss has stated elsewhere that she is infuriated by plagiarism. The exact quote:

 

"Bravo! It is infuriating to see people taking the hard work of others and using it for their own benefit. I am probably the last person on earth who doesn’t steal music and movies – but it really bothers me. I respect copyright 100% of the time and if there is a time when I violate it – it is a total mistake and would be corrected immediately. (I’ve never had to do that thankfully!)"

 

Maybe there is a miscommunication somewhere, if this is J. Anne Huss's policy?

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Yes, "she can do this" in the sense that it's not a criminal offense — unfortunately plagiarism is not in itself against the law. It's still highly unethical; a student caught plagiarizing in college could be failed or even expelled even though they haven't technically committed a crime. I'm sure if any of us caught our kids plagiarizing text, whether from recent books or public domain sources like wikipedia or googlebooks, we would read them the riot act and impose severe consequences! So the fact that this woman is plagiarizing another author's work and selling it to unsuspecting teachers — homeschooling parents — seems extra-slimy to me.

 

It's not just history either — the science units I looked at also contained whole pages of text she had copied word-for-word from various websites, including other people's photos, illustrations and artwork, and she had put her own name and copyright on every single page. Basically, homeschooling parents are paying for work that would earn their own kids an F!

 

Jackie

 

Ayi... and the list of unethical offenses continues! I had not posted so far because I did not even know about this woman or the units she offers until this thread. This stinks any way you look at it :iagree:. Regardless of whether it is a crime or not. So not only is she using the work of others from the past, she is now stealing people's work from their websites. I hope those affected contact Currclick. If I had been the one affected I would have posted a review and linked the threads here. I would also have contacted Currclick, if I had bought through their site.

 

I am also really glad that people are at least posting about it and alerting the rest of us. This is not the kind of person I would ever support with my (Canadian ;)) dollar!

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It seems that the owner of Simple Schooling is a member here, if I am interpreting this post correctly. Maybe she'll see this thread and clarify.

 

Also, J. Anne Huss has stated elsewhere that she is infuriated by plagiarism. The exact quote:

 

"Bravo! It is infuriating to see people taking the hard work of others and using it for their own benefit. I am probably the last person on earth who doesn’t steal music and movies – but it really bothers me. I respect copyright 100% of the time and if there is a time when I violate it – it is a total mistake and would be corrected immediately. (I’ve never had to do that thankfully!)"

 

Maybe there is a miscommunication somewhere, if this is J. Anne Huss's policy?

 

If she is the owner, she has not posted since April and has not visited the forums since June. At least not while signed in anyway.

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