A History of US: The First Americans: Prehistory-1600A History of US Book One (A ^AHistory of US)

I wanted to switch our American history curriculum part way through our homeschool year. A veteran homeschooler recommended this series, and I’m so glad she did! It’s easy to read aloud (our old curriculum was very clunky to read aloud), with great information, and the full color pictures are so fun. My kids love sitting around me as I read this, as they can look at all the pictures. It’s always a great feeling when you find a curriculum that matches your teaching style, your kids’ learning styles, and at an affordable price to boot!

My daughter and I are currently reading this book as a part of her homeschool program. I appreciate the fact that the author, Joy Hakim, has written the book in a fun way without sacrificing historical content. There are parts of the books that are written in a conversational tone and I think the book is a little more fun to read because of that. This book doesn't go into a ton of specific details, but that's okay because we can do additional research on our own. We both love the quantity and quality of the pictures, maps, and captions. There is a series of maps in the back of the book and I have found that these are useful for explaining the routes that the explorers took.

As a long-time home schooling mom who *loves* history (and understands the importance of having a good grasp of such) the History of US series has proven invaluable to our family . This is a very readable text, broken down into easy to grasp segments and interesting facts. My 8 year old is reading this text, as is our 11th grader-and both enjoying and learning from it. Actually, I must admit to getting lost in the text on more than one occasion myself! While not written from the christian perspective important to many, this can easily be overlooked and *discussed*-supremely important anyway! Full of wonderful pictures, thought provoking questions, fun facts, and delving fairly deep into the issues of the day, I highly recommend the whole series as a foundational part of any home schooler's history program, or just as wonderful reading for the lifetime learner adult!

I’m having a hard time liking this book, although I don’t fully dislike it yet. I do like that it isn’t dry and boring, like many history books can be. It doesn’t just spew out facts. This reads like a novel almost, it feels like it has a storyline.I have two main problems so far - the author can seem so condescending at times. Like from page 54, she writes, “What do the small children wear? Why, nothing at all. (In winter, too? Of course not!)” Could she not have just said that in the summertime, children wear nothing at all, but they keep warm in the winter? It’s petty, I know.And second, I understand many different native people prefer to be called different things (Native American, Indians, indigenous, etc) but in the very beginning, the author argues that no one is native to America, that we are all from somewhere else. So she reasons that’s why she continues to use the incorrect term of Indian. I don’t know, it kind of made my eyes roll, and as someone of indigenous descent, I didn’t appreciate being erased like that.Also, while she tries hard to give a voice to the underdog, she has a tendency to belittle them at the same time. (Calling slaves field workers, pg 81. Callings natives poor and hungry before horses are introduced to them, pg. 43, and then affluent and wasteful with buffalo after horses are introduced, pg. 44. And my favorite, “Buffalo ... and they are stupid animals. That’s a nasty word, but it just happens that buffalo are not smart at all.” Pg. 43. Like, what the heck!!?? Why was that necessary at all??I haven’t given up on this book because she does offer many positives. History is so biased anyways, and it seems impossible to find what I want (a non Eurocentric view for kids of American history) But as soon as I’m finished reading it, if I decide to use it, I’m marking up all these little bits and correcting them myself.

Two years ago I was looking for a history curriculum for my 11-year old homeschooled boys. Hakim's books are not the kind of book I usually would have chosen, because they are very wordy and have very little "curb appeal". Boy was I wrong.We ended up listening to the entire audiobook version of this series (all 10 books). It took the boys two years to finish the series, listening for about 20 minutes a day. I can honestly say that these (audio) books are a game-changer. The first thing my boys wanted to do in the mornings was listen to history. This is a seriously good series.The homeschool curriculum (Build Your Library) suggested it, and I'm so glad! The author uses a story telling, time/space travel approach and it works.

These are great U.S. History books. I am using them as a portion of my homeschool curriculum. They cover all the material in a way that is interesting and fun to learn. It is in story format but still relays all the pertinent information. My son is 10 and in 5th grade and he loves them. He went from struggling to stay focused in history to requesting it as one of the first classes we do!

Although I love Hakim's series of books, and we've been using the print versions for Grade 7 for years, the digital version has much to be desired. Be forewarned--it is text-only, without any of the photographs, maps, or diagrams, and without the margin definitions and detail. It's okay for reading just the text, as it is the same as the print version, but how is any seventh grader going to get into this book when it is just page after page of unbroken text?

She loves reading and finding things she had never learned in public school. It is written by a non-historian author and the stories are very interesting to read. I (mom) am a big fan of this book, too. We'll keep buying the next book until we finish the whole set for sure. It's not a history book, but a history-story-telling book so everyone enjoy it, I bet.

I was not expecting a school textbook! However, I was not disappointed. It is intriguing as it shows how majority American attitudes towards the Native Americans / First Americans has changed. The desire now is to pass on to the next generation a new humility about the past and respect for those who arrived long before 1492. The book gives a good factual framework into which the adult reader can fit information obtained from more detailed studies.