mary.margaret Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 I want to do a light American history overview for my son (Kindergarten) this year to fulfill our state's requirements and would love something in a SOTW format... timeline/overview/story-like, but pretty basic since he is young. Any ideas? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 :bigear: I would love to know too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahv Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 A lot of people have asked for it on the thread titled "What are holes in the homeschool curriculum market?" or similar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mary.margaret Posted September 24, 2009 Author Share Posted September 24, 2009 What are opinions on this book? The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375812563/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_1 It was described as a "progressive text" in one of the reviews. Not sure what that means! Plus it might be a little old for K? How about a book list that listed American history picture books chronologically? Perhaps I asking for too much? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtotkbb Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 I don't know if this will help --but -This site has books listed for the various time periods ---the easier ones are marked (easy). http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/history.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 For that age, you might want to get the easiest of the Jean Fritz stories from American history. They are quite engaging! Also, I think that visiting living history sites and talking about what you see there is extremely valuable at this age. How did people live? What made them happy? What worried them? What is the same and what is different from now? Those are questions that can lead to an abiding interest in history starting from an early age. Even an antique show, where old 'gadgets' are explained, is a good field trip for this kind of learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 What are opinions on this book? The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375812563/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_1 It was described as a "progressive text" in one of the reviews. Not sure what that means! Plus it might be a little old for K? How about a book list that listed American history picture books chronologically? Perhaps I asking for too much? LOL I have heard that it has a lot of stories that are not important, and doesn't cover the "big" stuff. It does not make a good "spine" text for American History. You can always do a search on Amazon. That is where I get most of my ideas. You can return any books you don't like within 30 days. Winterpromise has American History for 1st grade, and Heart of Dakota has American History as well, you could check their lists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 What a great idea, adding my :lurk5: to see what happens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) What are opinions on this book? The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375812563/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_1 This is what we're using this year for American History. We're reading the stories, a few each week, and will take the whole academic year to read it. It's leveled at 8.3 (or 8.4 - can't remember now), so I will be reading this book to ds. Concurrently, we're using Mike Venezia's books on the American Presidents -- 44 books which ds will read (2 per week). Together, The American Story and the 44 Mike Venezia books cover all the American History we need in one year. And as a bonus, the Venezia books are all leveled 5.0 to 5.9, so they're perfect readers for this year. Edited September 24, 2009 by tdeveson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 What are opinions on this book? The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375812563/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_1 It was described as a "progressive text" in one of the reviews. Not sure what that means! Plus it might be a little old for K? How about a book list that listed American history picture books chronologically? Perhaps I asking for too much? LOL Truthquest is the best list of American History picture books I have found. It is definitely not secular like SOTW, but it lists tons of book with an age range. I've been going through each period - Explorers, Native Americans & Pilgrims, Colonials, Early Pioneers, etc. and pulling picture book ideas. TQ also lists hands-on activity books so I've been collecting those as well. It sure would be nice to have a narrative spine though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Truthquest is the best list of American History picture books I have found. It is definitely not secular like SOTW, but it lists tons of book with an age range. I've been going through each period - Explorers, Native Americans & Pilgrims, Colonials, Early Pioneers, etc. and pulling picture book ideas. TQ also lists hands-on activity books so I've been collecting those as well. It sure would be nice to have a narrative spine though! This is the best idea yet. Does it tell you which books are picture books and which aren't? Are some of the books unacceptable from a secular viewpoint, and is it easy to tell which are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 This is what we're using this year for American History. We're reading the stories, a few each week, and will take the whole academic year to read it. It's leveled at 8.3 (or 8.4 - can't remember now), so I will be reading this book to ds. Concurrently, we're using Mike Venezia's books on the American Presidents -- 44 books which ds will read (2 per week). Together, The American Story and the 44 Mike Venezia books cover all the American History we need in one year. And as a bonus, the Venezia books are all leveled 5.0 to 5.9, so they're perfect readers for this year. Thanks. This is really helpful. My son has been loving the Venezia books on inventors and artists (our library doesn't have the Presidents ones yet, and I'm debating buying some), but that's his reading level (at 10). I was debating having him read American Story and it is good to know the reading level is so much higher. On Truthquest, that was really interesting and helpful. I looked at samples on the website and the booklists look great. Is there anything similar that is less conservative/religious? I'm actually OK with some religious content, and am Christian, but from the samples it isn't anything I could read to my kids. (Not being critical; I get that it works great for many.) Not that this is a book :tongue_smilie:, but we have been watching the Schlessinger Media series on American History, and Freedom: A History of US, and both have been helpful overviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 With Truthquest, only the intro passages to each section are distinctly Christian. These vary from just a couple of paragraphs on Jamestown, to a few pages on the Pilgrims. The other 120+ pages are just a giant booklist categorized by age with a couple of ThinkWrite exercises thrown in the margins. I will probably not even read the intros to my kids, and just use it as a sorted booklist. So far, all of the picture books I've bought or requested from the library off of the Truthquest list have been completely secular. I think it is easy to tell which ones might have more Christian content by the titles. Some of the really obvious ones would be those that advocate Providential History like The Light and the Glory series, but the authors specifically note that not everyone appreciates the efforts of this book to see God's hand in history. All of the books listed for K that I have previewed have been picture books, and they include lots of titles I had never heard of that are both well illustrated & educational. It has given me loads of material to use, along with activity guides of crafts & cooking projects, and I think it will be especially helpful since I plan to approach American History spirally alongside World History throughout the grammar stage. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2abcd Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Some options: -The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History by Jennifer Armstrong and Roger Roth New, colorful, random stories -The Rainbow Book of American History by Earl Schenck Miers Older, history flows, very readable http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Book-American-History/dp/B0007E46Q8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253804960&sr=1-1 -A Child’s History of America... You can see samples of CSOA on Rainbow Resource -A First Book in American History by: Edward Eggleston See inside at amazon or here: http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=00ABY5325m;view=toc;c=nietz -Living Principles of America This is an American history course made up of audio stories. I don't use it as a spine. (No geography, no dates, no worksheets, no tests, no reading, no writing, no timeline, no maps. Just really great audio stories). But it's a terrific enrichment to any American history course, any grade. http://www.valerieslivingbooks.com/livingp.htm -This Country of Ours http://www.amblesideonline.org/TCOOContents.shtml It only goes through the Civil War/Panama Canal and is very much a survey book (high points). -Van Loon's The Story of America -Stories of Early American History and Stories of Later American History by Wilbur Gordy. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18618 -Aunt Charlotte’s Story of American History http://paideaclassics.org/index.php?sid=&cart_id=&show=book&ref=1241 -Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History Many books - buy on ebay. -A History for Peter" by Gerald W. Johnson 1st Level: Stories of Great Americans http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Great-Americans-Edward-Eggleston/dp/0965273520/ref=pd_sim_b_2/104-8809611-3519952 2nd level: A First Book in American History http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0965273547/104-8809611-3519952 3rd level: A History of the United States and Its People http://www.amazon.com/History-United-States-Its-People/dp/096527358X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/104-8809611-3519952 -William Bennett books The last best hope vol I and vol II - 7th/8th -Story of the Great Republic by H.A.Guerber . This title is available from Christine Miller at Nothing New Press online. -This Country of Ours - H.E. Marshall http://librivox.org/newcatalog/public_readers.php?ProjectID=1491 -American Patriots & Pioneers Christian Liberty Press -Book of US History (American Education Press/MacGraw Hill -- often available at Sam's Club for $7) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 We are also using Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Eggleston and you can download the text & illustrations for free through Project Gutenberg as it is public domain (in case anyone wanted to use it, but is cheap like me :)): http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10070 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) It sure would be nice to have a narrative spine though! The Rainbow Book of American History Edited September 24, 2009 by Lovedtodeath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 For a K, I would tell dramatic stories...like Roanoke and Virgina Dare. Something to get him realizing history is mysterious and exciting. http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/S2000.Virginia.Dare.pdf You can always do the Mayflower and such, since it's almost T'giving. I know that sounds lame and schooley. But it's something that will seem meaningful right now. I like this site for kids: http://www.plimoth.org/kids/ http://www.plimoth.org/kids/stories.php There book list is wonderful. Reserve now at your library if you're interested, as there will be a run on them soon. http://www.plimoth.com/books-media/books/children-s-books I especially like these for young children: http://www.plimoth.com/books-media/books/children-s-books/mayflower-1620-a-new-look-at-a-pilgrim-voyage.html http://www.plimoth.com/books-media/books/children-s-books/tapenum-s-day-a-wampanoag-indian-boy-in-pilgrim-times.html http://www.plimoth.com/books-media/books/children-s-books/i-giving-thanks-the-1621-harvest-feast.html Some activites: http://www.plimoth.com/books-media/books/children-s-books/i-cut-and-assemble-the-mayflower-i.html http://www.plimoth.com/native/native-american-recipes.html http://www.plimoth.com/books-media/books/children-s-books/mayflower-word-searches.html http://www.plimoth.com/kids-corner/colonial-loom.html http://www.plimoth.com/native/i-a-woodland-feast.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 I would LOVE to find this too (American Hist. in SOTW format), but at about a 3rd grade level. Would the spines recommended thus far be appropriate for 3rd grade as well? We're using Winter Promise American Story 1 and it uses The American Story: 100 True Tales... eh, I'm searching for a spine. If I can't find a good narrative one, I wonder if KingFisher, Usborne, or DK makes a US Hist. encyclopedia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Some options: ... Wow. Thank you! :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 I was debating having him read American Story and it is good to know the reading level is so much higher. This is where I get my reading levels: http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_home.asp You can search by title and by author. They also have very good reading lists and series to browse. They don't actually sell books -- just level them and create quizzes. I've found this website invaluable for helping choose my books for the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 We're supplementing with Liberty's Kids - the Complete CD collection. It's available from NetFlix. You can get the whole thing for under $50 at Amazon. My kid loves this. http://www.amazon.com/Libertys-Kids-Complete-Jill-Anderson/dp/B001B73PO4/ref=pd_sim_b_5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 I would LOVE to find this too (American Hist. in SOTW format), but at about a 3rd grade level. Would the spines recommended thus far be appropriate for 3rd grade as well? We're using Winter Promise American Story 1 and it uses The American Story: 100 True Tales... eh, I'm searching for a spine. If I can't find a good narrative one, I wonder if KingFisher, Usborne, or DK makes a US Hist. encyclopedia? "The Story of the 13 Colonies" and "The Story of the Great Republic" as the spine. The two of them take you from the days of the explorers through the end of the 19th century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 I would LOVE to find this too (American Hist. in SOTW format), but at about a 3rd grade level. Would the spines recommended thus far be appropriate for 3rd grade as well? We're using Winter Promise American Story 1 and it uses The American Story: 100 True Tales... eh, I'm searching for a spine. If I can't find a good narrative one, I wonder if KingFisher, Usborne, or DK makes a US Hist. encyclopedia? http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1153097 This is a good thread with The Rainbow book recommended for grades 2-4 and encyclopedias as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mary.margaret Posted September 25, 2009 Author Share Posted September 25, 2009 WOW! I just came back to the post tonight hoping for another response or two.. you ladies have been busy! Thanks for all the recommendations. I am really excited to check them out. Another friend reminded me of the "What Your K Needs To Know" book which I have, and does so a very simple American History overview that we might start with. I am intrigued by the "Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans" book. I see there is no one answer (as there never is) but I am sure we will be able to figure something out. Thanks again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 This thread has been so helpful with the lists and explanations (Truthquest now sounds good to me!). And we just went on a Liberty's Kids marathon. Love that show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 I glanced at the other responses, and I don't know if this was mentioned. I purchased it from Veritas -- I used it with fourth grade when I was a classroom teacher -- photocopied the units and review questions and we did it as a real aloud, assigned it for homework, whatever fit on a particular day. We finished the entire book over the school year, and it was a positive.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 WOW! you ladies have been busy! Thanks for all the recommendations.QUOTE] :iagree:Thanks for sharing, ladies! The link to the other thread was really helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plimsoll Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 We have used/are using: First Book in American History - Edward Eggleston Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans - Eggleston Stories of American Life and Adventure - Eggleston Rainbow Book of American History - Earl Schenck Miers The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History - Jennifer Armstrong We also have Mara Pratt's American History Stories, but we have not used them yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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