U.S. History textbook recommendations?

[stupidusername]

We will soon finish up Human Odyssey, Volumes 1-3 (which we loved). Looking to tackle U.S. history next and need a textbook. Prefer something at the 8th-9th grade reading level. Suggestions?

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Notgrass. We have their high school level world history book and they are so beautiful and well written!! The high school histories includes a whole separate book of primary documents so the student gets to read for THEMSELVES what the original authors wrote. Very well done.

[fourisenough]

We will soon finish up Human Odyssey, Volumes 1-3 (which we loved). Looking to tackle U.S. history next and need a textbook. Prefer something at the 8th-9th grade reading level. Suggestions?

How about moving on to K-12's American Odyssey? It is done in the same spirit as HO, although at a higher reading level. I bought it, but didn't use it as we opted to send our older girls to PS where they studied US history during 9th grade.

[mom31257]

I'm going to use Christian Light's Changing Frontiers. I read wonderful reviews of it.

 

https://www.clp.org/store/by_course/80

[Momling]

We like American odyssey. It's aimed at high school but we used it in 7th and 8th grade. My daughter either wrote outlines or answered the 3-5 "key questions" in paragraph form. We supplemented with Stanford Reading like a historian, crash course US History, DBQs, pbs American experience and other stuff.

[stupidusername]

We like American odyssey. It's aimed at high school but we used it in 7th and 8th grade. My daughter either wrote outlines or answered the 3-5 "key questions" in paragraph form. We supplemented with Stanford Reading like a historian, crash course US History, DBQs, pbs American experience and other stuff.

 

Thanks. What is/are "DBQs"?

[Momling]

DBQ stands for document based question (though I've also heard data based question). They are essay questions used on tests like the AP history tests and regents exams in NY. A student is given background info and a selection of primary source documents about a topic and an essay question to answer. I like DBQs because the essay topics are limited and I want my daughter to be able to interpret primary sources and include them as evidence in her arguments, but her ability to do primary source research and the time it takes to do it is not realistic at 8th grade. So it's nice to have the essays and documents right there and ready to be assigned. Stanford reading like a historian is useful for this too, but isn't as oriented towards essays.

 

We usually set aside three days to do an essay. My daughter usually spends one history lesson on interpreting the documents and creating a thesis statement and outline for her essay. The next day she'll crank out the essay (usually about 1.5-2 typed pages. Maybe 3-7 paragraphs.). The third day I have her revise it.

 

We use this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0825159040/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1A1S6SX5RP8V1QPXCH5Q

[stupidusername]

DBQ stands for document based question (though I've also heard data based question). They are essay questions used on tests like the AP history tests and regents exams in NY. A student is given background info and a selection of primary source documents about a topic and an essay question to answer. I like DBQs because the essay topics are limited and I want my daughter to be able to interpret primary sources and include them as evidence in her arguments, but her ability to do primary source research and the time it takes to do it is not realistic at 8th grade. So it's nice to have the essays and documents right there and ready to be assigned. Stanford reading like a historian is useful for this too, but isn't as oriented towards essays.

 

We usually set aside three days to do an essay. My daughter usually spends one history lesson on interpreting the documents and creating a thesis statement and outline for her essay. The next day she'll crank out the essay (usually about 1.5-2 typed pages. Maybe 3-7 paragraphs.). The third day I have her revise it.

 

We use this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0825159040/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1A1S6SX5RP8V1QPXCH5Q

 

This is great. Thank you!