The day is finally here! Our U.S. History Curriculum!
There has been a team of moms behind the scenes working on this curriculum and website. I am so incredibly proud of them! It was a huge undertaking this summer to take on creating our own. But I am so glad we did! Now we will always have this available for each time we cycle into our Nation’s history.
Katie Thacker created the high school curriculum this year. In conjunction with Simply Charlotte Mason, where she works, and with Ambulare. The books chosen are phenomenal and have been approved through multiple people for our students. We have set up book lists on Amazon to help make it easy to order. You are of course welcome to buy the materials wherever you would like.
While Katie was working on high school, I was able to focus on grades 2nd to 8th. I used a combination of resources/ideas from Simply Charlotte Mason, Ambleside Online (AO), Beautiful Feet books, and my own library to create what I hope to be a well rounded history of America.
Elementary and Middle School Curriculum
One of the reasons it took so long to finish was there was debate between two texts that I wanted to use for our studies. SCM is rewriting their US history text. However, it is still in the editing process and it’s not quite ready for publication. My second choice was This Country of Ours recommended through many CM sites such as AO. My hesitation with this piece was that it did have some terminology that we would not consider appropriate or respectful in today’s age.
In the end, This Country of Ours was the best choice for what is available. It will feel very familiar as it was written by the same author as Our Island Story. After much thought and prayer, I am excited to move forward with this curriculum. For your consideration, AO has articles explaining the importance of this work and how as a family you can navigate through the text. I encourage you to go to Ambleside Online, search This Country of Ours, and read their commentary. As in many classics, as terminology and situations arise that may be different than what we deem appropriate for our time, it gives an opportunity for great discussion and learning as a family as you work through these issues together.
In amazing news, a homeschool mom did take on the task of beginning to edit This Country of Ours. The editor, Donna-Jean A. Breckenridge, now has Volume I, of her three volume set, complete. It is listed in our Amazon store that is linked on our landing page. You are welcome to order this version if you prefer! The only caveat is that I don't know exactly when Volume 2 and 3 will be completed. She does periodically update everyone on the Facebook Ambleside page.
We have both options listed in our store. The original version is an illustrated version that is also fabulous. We will have page numbers for both versions in our reading syllabus.
For the sake of studying as a family, many of the books required are used across many grade levels. So there is quite a bit of overlap for those that have children in numerous age groups. There are also audio versions of many of these books if you don’t want to read them all outloud. We have linked some of those as well. We really tried our best to keep budgets in mind, also knowing that a CM/classical education does require a lot of books.
US History Book Lists
Elementary History Collection (2nd) (Note where it says "5th-6th Only" & two versions of "This is Our Country" as noted in Megan's message above!) |
Elementary History Collection (3rd-6th) (see note above) |
Feel free to send me any questions you may have. I am just an email or text away.
Megan
ambulareacademydirector@gmail.com
540-831-9493
update: recent podcast episode includes interview with the author of This Country of Ours with her perspective on updates and expansions in the new text and encouraging info about using this as a history spine text listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-mason-jar-with-cindy-rollins/id1579170192