The Nomadic Professor: US History 1 & 2

I have another homeschool product to share with you today from Timberdoodle, The Nomadic Professor: US History 1 & 2.  This digital course is geared for high schoolers (grades 9th and above) or students aged 14+.  This course qualifies for high school credit and /or can also be used to prepare for the AP and CLEP tests.

US1 or American History 1 is broken into 10 units starting before Columbus looking at the pre-Columbian Americas through The Constitution and its ratification.  US2 or American History 2 is similarly broken into 10 units beginning with Washington's presidency through the end of the Reconstruction era.

I really like the "nomadic approach" outlined above - guided, flexible, transparent and content-rich.  I also really like the organization of this course as well.  Each unit has materials needed or specific to that portion available for each session.  I appreciate that the course material is easily accessible and available in print-friendly versions for the students to use!  These courses use a combination of engaging videos and text to help history come alive.

Every unit includes a unit preview, pre-quiz, the unit material, summary and structure terms, post quiz and a document lesson.

Above you can see what will be covered in Unit 8: European Rivalries

I have really enjoyed that there are both pre-quizzes and post-quizzes to test the students knowledge of the material so they can see what they are learning and check that they are understanding the information.  The document lessons are great as well.  This is where students will look at historical literature and focus on different skills for historical literacy.  They are taught to look at the source, contextualize about that source, read and infer about the claims/evidence/implications, and corroborate if other sources agree or disagree.

I really love the building your structures concept.  It’s where you take the historical concepts and piece or connect them together, you need to be able to explain the definition of each of the terms and how they connect.

So for this first unit, students will need to be able to define or explain Mesoamericans, the Neollithic Revolution, Olmecs, Teotihuacan, Maya, glyphs, and Tenochtitlan.  This can be done a number of different ways but it’s such a great way to solidify what you have learned and understanding how it fits together, so neat!

If you are looking for a US History curriculum for your high schooler or a course to help prepare your student for the AP and CLEP tests The Nomadic Professor would be an excellent choice!

 

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I received The Nomadic Professor in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Activity-Pak: Make-A-State from Home School in the Woods Review

 Disclosure:  I received this complimentary product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

If you know me, you know that I absolutely love resources from Home School in the Woods.  They are always on point and so great to have in our homeschool.

We have been so blessed to receive their Activity-Pak: Make-A-State for review, which is part of their Hands-on History Activity Paks.  As the name implies, this set provides us with the materials to study every state in the U.S. as well as Washington, D.C.!  There are so many projects that incorporate research, creating writing, coloring, mapping, and so much more.  This is a great resource to pair with U.S. history and is geared for grades 3-8.

 

Our Make-A-State Texas Activity Pak

It seemed appropriate to dive into the state we live in, Texas!  The kids and I have been working through the projects and piecing together our lapbook and I just love the way it is coming along.  I love that the kids are learning and exploring about our state.

 

E enjoyed adding cities and landmarks to our Texas Map.

It was placed on the inside center of our lapbook along with a few other projects.

Our change purse contains a Texas quarter and a bit of information that we researched on it.  We added Velcro to open and close it easily.

I love that there are clear and concise directions for every state activity.  It tells you what to print, what to research and how you will assemble it for your lap book.  Of course you can customize it a bit - if you want to color it, print it on colored paper, include other research, etc.

Likewise, there are fabulous directions for assembling your complete lap book.  It clearly tells you where to place each project or activity and has nice illustrations for how it will come together.  I personally really appreciate all of these instructions as it takes any confusion or guesswork out of this resource!

 

Inside panel of our lapbook, you can see the change purse I mentioned above.

 

Another page of our lapbook!  These activity projects are so fun.

We are still working on our Texas State book but we are almost done.  I am super excited to have the kids work through all the states - it's going to take awhile but it will be so awesome when they complete them all!

If you can't tell, I am a huge fan of this resource and I would definitely recommend it.  You could pair it with your history curriculum as it would make a great hands-on addition, especially when studying the U.S.!

There is also a Printable "Essential Timeline Library" for grades K-12 that is worth checking out.

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Timberdoodle's Graphic U.S. History Set of 13 Review

I have a super fun book set to share with you today from Timberdoodle, their Graphic U.S. History Set of 13 books.  This set is recommended for ages 10 and up and would be around a 4th grade reading level.  I think interest is definitely broader, more like 2nd through 12th.  In our home, E (2nd grade) - A (10th grade) were all interested in them!

Our Graphic U.S. History Set of 13

A closer look at all of the titles.

This set includes The New World, The Fight For Freedom, The US Emerges, Problems of a New Nation, Americans Move Westward, Before the Civil War, The Civil War, The Industrial Era, America Becomes a World Power, The Roaring Twenties and The Great Depression, World War II and The Cold War, The Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam, and Globalization.  Each book is 54 pages and includes engaging, full-color graphics throughout.

D was the first to get her hands on our books and she devoured them.

She read through all 13 books in just a few days.

This series is perfect for children to get a broad U.S. History overview beginning with the New World in the 1500s through Barack Obama's inauguration.  Most children love graphic novels and my kids are no exception.  There is something about them that ignites a passion for reading.  I love that this set gets kids excited to learn about history, specifically U.S. History!  Each book contains relevant historical content and fun, engaging illustrations that help keep the reader's attention.  I love that this fast-paced nonfiction series can be read over and over again as these books are not overwhelming and easy to read.

  Excerpts from our series

Another feature of this series is that the nonfiction text is shown in blue colored background; whereas, the fictitious speech bubbles are shown in yellow.  I like this clear separation.

 A peek into The New World.  

{You can see what I mean about the different colors.}

I do want to note something else.  This is not a faith-based series so there are a few spots of potentially offensive language.  Timberdoodle does a great job of pointing all of these instances out on their website:

Fire, follow orders.  For God's sake, fire! 
By whose authority?  In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!
Oh, God!  It is all over.
Give 'em hell, boys!
Lord!  Lord!
I tell you war is hell!
Look at that - another damned carpetbagger arriving!
You farmers need to raise less corn and more hell!
We will divide our forces, drive the red devils into the open, and wipe them out!
Diable!  Those Americans!  Bring our troops home from Mexico.
My God, sir!
Remember the Maine, and to hell with Spain.
My God! I'm wiped out.
Oh my God, no!
                
Despite the above, my view is that this is a really good U.S. History summary set and your kids will most likely be enthralled with them like mine.   This set helps readers form a timeline of American history as they read and reread this series over and over again.  This would be a great addition to any homeschool or home library.

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  Timberdoodle sent my family their Graphic U.S. History Set of 13 for a discounted price in exchange for our honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Pathway to Liberty US History Level 1-3 Review

We recently started using Pathway to Liberty's US History, part of Pathway to Liberty's History Curriculum, from Pathway to Liberty Homeschool Curriculum.  This curriculum is available in both physical and digital format.  While the physical format is to be used by only one student, the digital version can be printed and used by your entire family.  We were provided with the digital curriculum for Levels 1, 2 and 3 of US History.  This included a Teacher's guide for all levels and a Student Guide for levels 1-3.

E with Level 1

D and C with Level 2

B with Level 3
There are four levels in this curriculum.  Level 1 is geared for the early elementary years K-3rd grade.  Level 2 is geared for upper elementary who can read and write fluently, 4th-6th grade.  Level 3 is geared for middle school and early high school students, 7th-9th grade.  While Level 4 is designed for 10th-12th.  This curriculum is specifically designed so that you can learn history with your entire family using the same material at their individual levels.  That's huge!

Pathway to Liberty has four years of study:  Universal History (Year 1), The Middle Ages (Year 2), US History (Year 3) and World History (Year 4).  Each year of study has materials for Levels 1-4.  As I mentioned earlier the level of study is based on age and grade level.  Guess what?  They even have a suggested way to use this curriculum with a CoOp, love that!

  
In Year 3, US History is studied in order to understand the foundation of our American Republic.  This program begins with foundational principles, transitions into the early colonies and finishes up with the Civil War.

Scope and Sequence
I really appreciate the Scope and Sequence.  It shows an overview for every level for each week in the curriculum.  The program has 26 weeks of material and has 4 days of lessons each week.  The last few weeks are built in as catch up weeks to complete any unfinished assignments and to reflect on the year.  I love these at a glance views of what we are studying as it is helpful to see where we are going.

Overview For Week 1
I also appreciate the weekly overviews for the same reason.  Each week has a scripture, principle idea and leading idea.  I really like the way that it lays out the materials for the 4 different levels.  This makes it a lot easier to grasp what the different levels are doing and how they overlap and differ.  This was convenient as I was using it for 3 different levels.

Watching the video on The Pilgrim's Journey Documentary
I would say that the first two weeks of this program is a bit of a transition as they are foundation weeks.  They are specifically designed to build a solid foundation of history to then build onto.  After the first few weeks, you get into more of a rhythm I would say so give yourself that time to adjust and adapt.  I enjoy the flexibility within this curriculum as well.  You do not have to do everything!  You can adjust and adapt as needed.  You may notice in the overview for week 1 that the students will watch YouTube videos.  Pathway to Liberty has their own YouTube channel which makes everything easy to locate!

Teacher Guide
The Student Guides includes step-by-step instructions on how to use the curriculum, weekly lesson plans and student assignments, study guide questions, vocabulary words and writing options.  The Teacher guide is chock-full of great resources including additional writing sources, vocabulary, devotional models as well as information about Pathway to Liberty's vision to name a few.
This program has a strong Biblical Worldview and I personally love that but those that are looking for secular options should not use this curriculum.  We are enjoying the weekly scripture verses and I love seeing my kids digging deeper into the Bible.  I really appreciate the word studies as well.  I think my kids are really getting a lot out of them.
Pathway to Liberty is a holistic curriculum in that it includes a lot of subjects within the program like Bible, history, writing, vocabulary, geography and character to name a few.  In other words, it's not just a history program.  So, if you already have an intense writing program, then you will probably not do all of the writing assignments.  You will adjust as you need to.
I really appreciate the way that this program is designed and set up so that I can teach my kids the same lessons using the different levels.  I will say that I think Level 1 has been a bit advanced for E, who is age 7.  She is hanging in there so far but I have been adjusting it more for her; whereas, Levels 2 and 3 have been pretty spot on for my kids in a great and challenging way.
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Check out Pathway to Liberty's video below on how their curriculum works.  I hope you find it helpful.