Uncle Sam and You Notgrass - like this for anyone else?

[Alabamamama]

I have always used MFW or Sonlight for history and lit. I decided to try a textbook this year, and we went with Uncle Sam and You by Notgrass. I'm not liking it. It seems like too many dates, names, and facts and not enough "stories" like we are used to. My child doesn't seem to remember anything we read, and he is usually great with comprehension. He keeps saying that it doesn't make sense. Does anyone have an opinion on this curriculum? I'm considering changing, but I'm wondering if we just need longer to adjust.

[kbutton]

My son loved American the Beautiful. He started Uncle Sam and you (and was really liking it), but we decided to put it off a bit because of a co-op class. Uncle Sam is really social studies (partly civics for middle school, partly a behind-the-scenes look at government and our country's institutions), not history. That's a very different focus, and he may need to discuss the TOC with you and see the progression of what they are teaching. It's not timeline-based like history is. 

 

If possible, I would try to customize the experience or work the information into project form. Or, I would pare down the topics to what is important or interesting and use it as a launching pad to bring in other books or videos. 

 

 

[Dawn656]

As a history and government teacher and homeschool Christian mother, I have found Uncle Sam and You to be vague fluff.  If it is to teach civics and government should it not address the enlightenment, John Locke, or even Thomas Paine? What about Federalism and where that idea came from and why?  A country “owes” its citizens rights!?  No, our nation is built upon negative liberties and these rights are protected and not something given or owed…that is an entirely different system of government, usually a dictatorship.  This series reads like one in which the authors did a brief study and then summarized to the best of their ability and did not care if what was written was true and accurate.  This is not junior high material.  Sadly, most public school children are learning more than this drivel.  That statement should terrify any homeschooling parent.