Adventures in America

I have purchased the PDF version of the new American history program at Elemental History.

The printed copies should be available later in the month. Since getting my Kindle, I would prefer to have my teacher guides in PDF and I can print out the student pages as we go.

Like many who follow the Well Trained Mind as an educational framework, I plan to start ancient history in the first grade with Sean. If we continue on a 4 year cycle, that means we will study American history, in the context of world history, in the 3rd and 4th grades.

At the Elemental site, the description for Adventures in America contains this:

"You may be planning to do a four year chronological history cycle beginning in first or second grade. However, you may not want to wait until your child is in third or fourth grade before they learn the stories of significant people in American history. This program will expose your student to these important people and their stories, and will provide a great foundation for more detailed studies in future years."


Yes please, sign us up.

Today I've had a chance (because I'd rather work on school planning than laundry) to skim through the program.

It is scheduled for three days a week, which will mesh nicely with our 2 day a week science program, published by the same company.

The first two days have readings, which are included in the teacher's guide. One day includes a coloring page and the other has instructions for a weekly craft. All of the materials are simple to get together and there is a supply list broken down by week in the back of the book.

The third day is for state study. There are coloring pages for each state and you need the book Smart about the Fifty States.

I think Sean is really going to enjoy this, especially the hands on activities, since I have been a bit remiss about that type of thing lately. I had already planned to have him memorize the 50 states and I think the book and coloring pages will make it much more interesting for him. Best of all, it is all laid out for me. All I'll have to do in advance is check the supply list before I go shopping for the week.