All American History vs. A History of Us

[A home for their hearts]

I'm trying to pull together my own American History curriculum for next year. I can't decide which spine to use, All American History or A History of Us. If you've used both which did you like better and why. Also, if you've used one or the other can you please give me your review? Thanks!

[A home for their hearts]

Anyone?

[TarynB]

Which of your kids are you planning for? (Age-wise, it might matter.)

 

All American History is not secular and has a strong providential history bias, which may or may not fit your worldview. The first several chapters about the explorers in volume 1 are *very* dry and bounced around a lot, which was sort of strange. If you skip those chapters or can wade through them, the rest of that book and volume 2 is better. The optional teacher guides and student workbooks are appealing for many. The simple format, black & white textbook is a plus for some, a drawback for others. Probably best for 7th/8th grade if you use the workbooks alongside.

 

History of US has many volumes, is very wordy, narrative, however you want to phrase it. Some like that and say it is beautifully written; others prefer more succinct writing. Lots of sidebars and info on the pages along with the main body of text, which can add either richness or unnecessary extraneous details depending on your formatting preferences. Probably best for 5th/6th grade. I've seen study guides and tests published by other sources to go along with the Hakim books, if you want to add more meat to it. Personally, I prefer the new 4-volume concise version of History of US published by K12, which is secular. Same depth as the original version but with more editing. Designed to be used over 2 years but you could speed it up, especially for a slightly older student. There are teacher guides and student guides for that as well that you can buy used cheaply, to use offline (not part of K12), makes it open and go.

 

Does any of that spark any additional specific questions you may have?

[Samiam]

We used both volumes of AAH,and overall, we did like it. I agree, that it can be "dry" in some parts, and that is why I wouldn't recommend it for under 6th/7th grade. It is very much textbook-ish, but that is what my older DS preferred, to a point. He wasn't ever a fan of crafty things, and never enjoyed such things as lapbooks, etc. Give him the meat and let him read it and let's move on. That's kinda his style. What I did like about AAH is the student workbook. It's meant to do along as you read, so I thought that was good for note-taking skills. And AAH does give a book reading list to go along with each chapter, so we did utilize that to help round out the textbook aspect..ie read a interesting book on the same topic.

 

I've seen the Hakim books, flipped through them, but not used them. I thought they were an interesting read, but the thing that turned me away, 1. was the sheer number of books....seemed like alot to get through, not to mention cost...but 2. WHat else does one do with it? Once you read it, what do you do? I guess one could make up stuff, other activities to go along, but that wasn't something I like to do.

[Koerarmoca]

I tried AAH and it was just to dry/boring for us. I have not used The History of Us so I have no opinion on it.

[Koerarmoca]

I tried AAH and it was just to dry/boring for us. I have not used The History of Us so I have no opinion on it.

[lillybell]

We have used both. We started off with Hakim's books but my daughter was dragging on them and not really retaining. We tried notebooking with them but the reading is not well organized and very scatter brained, so my dd really struggled. We ended up using All American history and so far she is progressing fine, we are on volume 2 and she is keeping a timeline. I was using homeschooling in the woods Time Traveler's units with my younger dd so I ended up including her in the activities. I also ocassionally have her read some sections from Hakim as a supplement. I think just depends on you child. Mine likes structure and topics very organized so Hakim was not a good fit.

[justkeepswimming]

We used AAH a few years ago and really liked it. It isn't "beautiful," but the workbook was exceedingly well-planned and the whole thing was very much open-and-go, which made me very happy. I combined AAH with SOTW 4, iirc, and made up a schedule with both aligned together.

 

When we do US History again, we will be using the Hakim books - only because one child who will be doing US History already went through the AAH books and I hate to re-use the same books with the same child... so...

[Sue G in PA]

We couldn't get through the chapters on Explorers in Vol. 1, lol. I read through the chapters, and then choose books that were more interesting and "readable". Then we gave up. My daughter used the Hakim books in 5th grade but we def. prefer a more providential view of history than Hakim. For what they are, the Hakim books are very good and easy to read. Another option is Notgrass America the Beautiful for middle. We decided to ditch American History this year and focus on Geography (which is what our co-op was doing anyway) and pick back up with American History next year using Notgrass...with our co-op.