Dmmetler Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 My DD wants to do American history next year, mostly, I suspect, because of her American Girl dolls/books. She's a strong reader (has had no trouble with the reading level of the Adv 2 readers), but does struggle with something too emotionally intense, and I KNOW some of the Sonlight selections are ones that normally are read at the higher end of the grade range for that reason. Does anyone have a suggestion for a different curriculum or suggestions as to how to modify Sonlight? I haven't really used the IG other than as a list of "what book comes next", so something which has more a schedule to match a spine as opposed to the more detailed guide would be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 WinterPromise American Story 1 has a nice selection of books. In fact, I already picked many of those before I actually saw the WP books. Next year we're using Mara Pratt's American History Stories and The American Story: 100 True Tales of American History by Jennifer Armstrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieH Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 The Artner Reader's Guide to American History is a pretty good resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 For a young one, I'd do Beautiful Feet Primary American History. BF Books I like this one too. I like all the BF history guides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 I wasn't terribly impressed by BF Primary American History when I previewed it. YMMV :) Have you looked at Guest Hollow's free curriculum? I decided to go with an actual textbook as spine for my oldest (From Sea to Shining Sea: The Story of America) supplemented with lots of library books. Next semester I'm going to be incorporating the American Girl unit study called Portraits of American Girlhood as we go along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted December 16, 2010 Author Share Posted December 16, 2010 I know my DD would LOVE the American Girl unit study. I'm just not sure I can stomach making AG books part of "school". I may have to accept it, though, especially since this is WHY she's interested in American history right now. I wish Sea to Shining Sea wasn't explicitly Catholic. As a Lutheran, I don't think I can go there for a spine. Any other good American History textbooks for the elementary grade levels? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2jjka Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 I know my DD would LOVE the American Girl unit study. I'm just not sure I can stomach making AG books part of "school". I may have to accept it, though, especially since this is WHY she's interested in American history right now. I wish Sea to Shining Sea wasn't explicitly Catholic. As a Lutheran, I don't think I can go there for a spine. Any other good American History textbooks for the elementary grade levels? Are you talking about the "Sea to Shining Sea" that is a part of "The Light and the Glory" set? If so that is not Catholic - but it is taught from the providential viewpoint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Elizabeth Foss has something, although she doesn't seem to have gone past the Civil War: http://ebeth.typepad.com/serendipity/us-history-geography.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoxcell Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 How about Heart of Dakota Beyond or Bigger depending on her placement. Another option could be My father's world Adventures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love3es Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 TruthQuest's American History for Young Students is a chronological guide to literature covering American History. Each new section opens with an introductory commentary by the author. The author also suggests several different spines based on the student's age. There are three different volumes of AHYS that cover American History for grades 1-5. You can see a sample of the 1st volume here. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Are you talking about the "Sea to Shining Sea" that is a part of "The Light and the Glory" set? If so that is not Catholic - but it is taught from the providential viewpoint. Our family is using the Catholic Schools Textbook Project book of the same name but if we were Protestant, I would've considered using the Peter Marshall series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Bee Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 For a young one, I'd do Beautiful Feet Primary American History. BF Books We did this last year and loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 My DD wants to do American history next year, mostly, I suspect, because of her American Girl dolls/books. She's a strong reader (has had no trouble with the reading level of the Adv 2 readers), but does struggle with something too emotionally intense, and I KNOW some of the Sonlight selections are ones that normally are read at the higher end of the grade range for that reason. Does anyone have a suggestion for a different curriculum or suggestions as to how to modify Sonlight? I haven't really used the IG other than as a list of "what book comes next", so something which has more a schedule to match a spine as opposed to the more detailed guide would be fine. Are you looking for strictly a 1-year course or would 2 years be OK? I like things to be as chronologically ordered and for topics to line up, so I am doing the free 2-year Amerian history from www.guesthollow.com . In this curric. there are many types of reading listed (all optional except the main history one, of course). American History 1 has suggestions for grades 2 - 6 and AH2 has them for gr. 2 - 8. Some of the American Girl books are scheduled as extra or optional readers. It's a delectable buffet of wonderful books to go along with the history lessons found in real books, not one single spine. My tiny library has almost all the books listed, even some activity books. It's worth a look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Girl Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 We are doing Sonlight's Core 3 right now, and what I would say is that the emotionally "heavier" books are the read-alouds. The history books and the readers are really much lighter in tone. Many of the read-alouds are books that I read in middle school (Johnny Tremain, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Sign of the Beaver.) So if you still wanted to use Sonlight, you could set aside the read-alouds for later, and use the readers and history books now. Both sets are accessible to children who can read and enjoy the American girl books. That might be a more-expensive way to go. You could just buy Sonlight's spine, The Landmark History of the American People, coupled with The Story of the USA, (both secular) and check other books out of the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 We're doing a year and a half or so American history study and I plan to use Mara Pratt's American History Stories books (you can read them for free on the Baldwin Project/Main Lesson dot com) as a spine, supplemented with Time Travelers cds and books from A Book in Time, plus the various craft books we have lying around the house. Another good source for read alouds is Paula's Archives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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