Story of the USA workbooks

[Love_to_Read]

I'm noticing that quite a few curricula use these workbooks.

 

What's your opinion of them?

 

 

 

And specifically for our situation--

 

• How much writing do they require?
  

 

 

• When do they begin? (Vikings? Native Americans? Columbus?)
  

 

 

• Would it be enough to use these as our big picture text, supplemented by period-specific literature and hands-on activities? Or do we have to buy a "real" history textbook?
  

(I hate history textbooks. And dd hates writing. We'll be doing history-based writing for lang.arts; I just don't want to add busywork making her write long comprehension answers.)

Edited June 3, 2011 by Love_to_Read

[Tess in the Burbs]

What's your opinion of them?

 

 

 

And specifically for our situation--

 

• How much writing do they require?

 

 

• When do they begin? (Vikings? Native Americans? Columbus?)

 

 

• Would it be enough to use these as our big picture text, supplemented by period-specific literature and hands-on activities? Or do we have to buy a "real" history textbook?

 

 

we are using this with a curriculum and personally I don't think it's enough for a spine for history. There isn't much writing. Usually the first few questions require a sentence to answer them. Then it's multiple choice, T/F, word in a sentence and finally discussion which could lead to writing but we just discuss it and not write more down.

 

I don't remember exactly with 1 the topics but explorers and Native Americans were in there.

 

My kid don't mind workbooks so it's been another viewpoint in our history studies. Today was Texas history. 2 pages about Texas history. In one day/setting. It's not a core program. It's a great supplement if your kids like workbooks. The reading is simple enough and we have learned from these.

 

hope that helps you.

[WeeBeaks]

We used them in Sonlight core 3 this year for an 8yo. My opinion is they are good for practice reading something and answering questions about it, limited use actually teaching something cold.

How much writing do they require?

You could probably do them orally if needed. But if you do them, there are paragraph type answers as well as fill in the blank, matching, choose the correct answer, etc. You need to write well enough to explain your answer in several sentences.

 

When do they begin? (Vikings? Native Americans? Columbus?)

I'm stretching my memory here of the first book. Hope someone steps in. They do some explorers in the beginning, but not Vikings.

 

Would it be enough to use these as our big picture text, supplemented by period-specific literature and hands-on activities? Or do we have to buy a "real" history textbook? I personally would no rely on these as our spine. IMHO, they are quite a bit dry and textbookish to begin with, and not enough information given about any topic to inspire interest. You go from Columbus or wherever it starts (puritans maybe even?) to the Civil war in two workbooks that are less than 100 pages each, and more than half of each book is the question part, so 100 pages generously to cover a couple hundred years of history?

 

That said, you don't need a "textbook" -- you could probably use these as a topic idea and get all kinds of interesting supplements on the same time period? Me though, I would take the easy route and use some type of logical history spine to go along with them.

[Love_to_Read]

Hmm...our main purpose for using them would be to provide *something* schoolish for her portfolio...proof that we did read/discuss/answer questions about history. We live in a highly regulated state.

 

That's good to know there are a mix of question types. I can have her do the short answer independently, and try to transcribe the longer ones. I just don't want to buy it if that means an overwhelming amount of writing b/c it literally makes her hand hurt, and I don't time to transcribe everything. A few of those questions will be good for keeping her used to composing that type of answer. As her typing gets underway, she could always do them on the computer.

 

Are there any other alternatives? Textbooks with assessments? I really do want the bulk of her history to be literature and projects...she used a textbook this year, and retained so little of that format, it feels like a waste of time. But at the same time, there's a burden of proof here. :( I feel like I need something routine to look good and to hold it all together.