1-year American History programs for Elementary (primary grades)?

[alisoncooks]

And please share your opinions of them if you have used them. :)

 

I am looking for a 1-year American History for the primary grades. I know of:

1. MFW Adventures

2. Elemental History Adventures in America

3. Beautiful Feet

 

I'm leaning toward Elemental History, but wish there was something like BF that wasn't so Providential..... plus, I think the work with it may be too advanced for my kiddos in the next year or so.

 

Any I'm missing? I know people talk about Time Travelers or TruthQuest, but I'm not sure about the ages or if they can be done in 1 year only...

Thanks!

[Mommy22alyns]

Adventures was great and tons of fun. My girls loved it. I bought the BF package for the D'aulaire books - you can call them and have duplicate books taken out of the package. We used most of them as book basket books. I did not use the guide because I agree with you - too Providential for me.

[alisoncooks]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Anyone else do a 1 year Am. History for early elementary? What do you use?

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

We used Adventures last year (dd was in 1st). It was easy and fun. It was a little on the light side but I just added a science and we did more notebooking pages for History (usually narrate a book she read from the book list). You cover some key people and events and also have a state study. great for an intro to American History.

We are going to do another one year American History course next year(dd will be 3rd) but I am not using a specific curriculum, Time Travelers with American Girl Doll books.

 

Have you looked at HOD? They have a few 1 yr American History curriculums up through 3rd. I know Bigger and Beyond cover American History.

 

There is also the Prairie Primer, using Little House on the Prairie books but that just covers a specific time period I think.

[Kathryn]

Sonlight D+E. They added some providential stuff this year, but my understanding is that it's pretty easily skipped.

[HeatherinTenn]

We started out using MFW Adventures last year and then I added HOD Bigger, because it was easier to bring my younger DS into it. We've loved it. I used the older grade extensions for my dd.

If I hadn't needed to combine them, I would have just stayed with MFW though. They are both excellent programs, and my children enjoyed them.

 

HeatherinTenn

[Farrar]

Many people use The Complete Book of US History. Secular, simple... you can beef it up with fun projects using books like Colonial Kids and so forth.

 

We relied on the Betsy Maestro books for the early stuff and also really enjoyed the Brown Paper School Bag US History Kids series.

 

Also, have you seen Guesthollow's lists and curriculum?

 

But if you're not a piece it together person, those things probably won't appeal to you.

[alisoncooks]

Prairie Primer ~ I actually do like this idea....we are actually doing a "prairie primer" of my own making this year (year-long Little House series study, but very little history...).

 

MFW Adv. ~ I have looked at this (MFW has *greatly* influenced my history cycle layout...we started off last year with MFWK). I think I'm going to keep this on the back burner... I remember reading that some thought the state study was boring? or moved too fast? IDK.... did you like the state study portion?

 

HOD ~ I wonder if something like this would be worth it if I'm *only* interested in the history/geography/literature.

 

Sonlight D+E ~ can these 2 cores be covered in just a year? I think I looked at those, but thought they'd be too advanced for, say, a 1st and 3rd grader... (I'm planning ahead. :p)

 

 

Many people use The Complete Book of US History. Secular, simple... you can beef it up with fun projects using books like Colonial Kids and so forth.

 

We relied on the Betsy Maestro books for the early stuff and also really enjoyed the Brown Paper School Bag US History Kids series.

 

Also, have you seen Guesthollow's lists and curriculum?

 

But if you're not a piece it together person, those things probably won't appeal to you.

I'll have to look at these suggestions. I do like to piece things together....to an extent. :p

[Mommy22alyns]

I have heard that the state study bored some people, but we had no problem with it at all. The girls looked forward to it. I did add a little to Adventures with History Pockets, a pop-up map book, and Colonial Kids/More Than Moccasins. We also took a field trip to Pinson Mounds on a festival weekend.

[kalphs]

We used the book list for BF American History Early and Intermediate.

Have you looked at Christine Miller's book "All Through the Ages?"

Rainbow Resource Center sells it for $27.95.

It was the best money I spent on a history resource!

Warm Regards,

Kathy

:001_smile:

[rebereid]

I purchased Elemental History because I though it was just what I wanted for my son's K4 year: cheap, superficial, all-in-one. It turns out I'm not a fan of all-in-one, it's-right-there curriculum. I was pretty disappointed in the weekly readings and the copywork assignments. The student work book is exactly the same for every single week: a page to color, a page to copy a sentence on, and a state page. (My son is not a sit and color kind of kid.) I do like the weekly activities ideas and will use some of those. I also will use the general outline as in the Table of Contents, but I'm mostly going to rely on picture books for the learning session and I'm making up my own copywork sentence each week that is shorter. Many of those provided are awkwardly worded. I too am finding the Maestro books fantastic for our purposes.

 

If you're curious in my cobbled-together plan, see here. I'm updating it as I plan it. I have the bones but not the meat for all of it at this point.