History in Your Homeschool: A Review of Discover! Social Studies 6

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this curriculum from the Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

How do you teach history in your homeschool? There are so many great ways to incorporate the study of the past. No matter what your child's learning style, I have found that Discover! Social Studies 6 offers you lessons, ideas, and more to help meet your child's needs and abilities. 

What is the Discover! Social Studies series? 

It is included in the 2023 non-religious 6th-grade curriculum kit from Timberdoodle. But just because it is in the non-religious kit doesn't mean that there is no talk of religion. Religion is interwoven in all societies you will be studying about. When studying Ancient Egypt, there is a lesson on the religious practices, which introduces the polytheistic nature of their religion and mummification. In the chapter on Ancient Israel, your child will read about the Tabernacle, Moses, Passover, and a few other key details of the Hebrew religion. 

Each chapter has several lessons and a chapter review. When looking at Chapter 5: Ancient India, your child will study: 

• Harappan Civilization (one of the earliest Ancient Indian civilizations; it was highly advanced but disappeared for unknown reasons)
• Ancient Indian Caste System (Aryans and the Vedas are introduced; a chart depicting the castes and their locations, as well as their Hindu names, is included) 
• Buddhism in Ancient India (information about Siddhartha and a comparison of Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism in a Venn Diagram is included)
• Language in Ancient India (a look at the languages and spread of different languages)
• Mauryan Empire (learn about the great leaders like Ashoka and Chandragupta Maurya) 

What topics are included in Discover! Social Studies 6? 

The focus of Discover! Social Studies 6 is the study of ancient civilizations. Your child starts by learning about the themes of World History and how they will apply that to ancient civilizations. Then, it moves forward to learning about the characteristics of civilizations by looking at Sumer and Mesopotamia.

Chapters include the following civilizations: 

• Ancient Egypt 
• Ancient Israel
• Ancient India 
• Ancient China 
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Rome
• Mesoamerica (Olmec, Mayan, Aztec) 
• Ancient Africa (Aksum, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Shona) 

History in Your Homeschool: Bringing it to Life 

 

In addition to readings and questions that promote critical thinking, there are real-world applications and activities that help bring history to life. From simple activities such as burying an object in the backyard so your child can see what it is like to be an archaeologist to exploring the movement of languages through the world, "in the real world" sections provide your child with a unique way to study history. This application allows your child to study things that might interest them outside of the history curriculum such as architecture, art, or military strategy.

Other activities include creating a timeline to show the kingdoms of Ancient Egypt, explaining how Passover is celebrated, and researching different mountains to compare their similarities and differences. Each lesson also has academic vocabulary to study and a review of the material studied. When they are finished with each chapter, there is an assessment available in the teacher's guide that can be a test.

 

Our Thoughts on Discover! Social Studies 6 

As a former world history teacher, I was very happy to see how this curriculum is laid out. The introductory chapter was well thought out and allowed for great conversations about civilizations and how we can study history in general. Except for the chapter assessment and confirming a few answers, I haven't really used the Instructor Guide too much. 

I have enjoyed discussing the ancient civilizations with my fifth grader that I used to teach to ninth graders. It's amazing how homeschooling allows one to teach such a wide variety of topics. So while this curriculum is written for sixth grade, you could use it with a younger or older child depending upon their skills or what area of history you wish to pursue. 

When I asked our son his opinion, he said, "I like it." He does struggle sometimes with answering the questions in detail but when that occurs, we usually talk about the answer instead of just focusing on writing it down. So there are lots of ways you can use this in your homeschool. 

Discover! Social Studies 6 allows families to bring history into their homeschool in a more structured way. So if your homeschool and children thrive on structure, I recommend you check out this curriculum. 

Are you looking for more resources from Timberdoodle? 

• Thinking Critically and Creatively: A Review of Critical & Creative Thinking Activities
• Adding Writing Into Our Curriculum: A Review of Daily 6-Trait Writing Grade 3
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Penguins Huddle Up™ Game
• Including Geography in Your Homeschool: A Review of Skill Sharpeners Geography - Grade 2
• Supplementing Fifth Grade with a Geography Workbook

Top Five Tips for Teaching History To Elementary-Aged Students

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How do you approach teaching history to your young children? From living history to playing games, there are so many wonderful options when we want to incorporate history into our daily homeschool lessons. 

Top five tips for teaching history to elementary-aged students

Books, Books, and More Books 

There are so many wonderful resources for teaching history. We enjoy both fiction and non-fiction history books in our homeschool. Books can help bring history to life for your children and there are many that I could recommend to homeschooling families. You can read books together as read-alouds, ask your children to read them as part of their curriculum, or just shelf good history-related books on your bookshelves. If you and your children enjoy reading, books are a great way to learn more about history. 

Some favorites include: 

• The Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
• If You Were Me and Lived In... Series by Carole P. Roman 
• The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls by M. J. Thomas 
• Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry 
• Toliver's Secret by Esther Wood Brady 
• The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
• YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Series 

Historical Sites 

Getting out and actually seeing history provides so many wonderful opportunities. Some children learn better by seeing and doing and visiting historical sites can allow our elementary-aged children the opportunity to do both! 

Many historic sites give children the opportunity to try their hand at different crafts and skills. Or perhaps they have period clothing for your children to try on while visiting. And there may even be guides dressed in period clothing themselves who will give tours in character. 

Games 

I am amazed by the number of games available for families who wish to include a new way to learn in their homeschool day. We have several that are perfect for reinforcing history facts and practicing geography in our homeschool. From board games to video games, there are options for every age! 

Some of our favorites: 

• Professor Noggin's History of the United States Card game
• Professor Noggin's American Revolution Card game 
• Continent Race by Byron's Games 
• Egyptians 

Movies, Documentaries, and Videos 

If you cannot visit a historic site in person, watching about it in a movie, documentary, or video is another good way to make that time period or location come to life. There are a great number of movies available so you will want to preview them before sharing them with your children. When pre-watching them, consider the following things: 

• Is this movie appropriate for the age of my child? 
• Is this movie historically accurate? How important is accuracy? Do I want my child to learn historical facts or get an idea of what life was like during that time period? 
• Will I share the entire movie? 
• Do we want to watch a fictional adaptation or a documentary? 
• Who produced the movie? What were their motives?

Some favorite resources include: 

• Drive Thru History (there are multiple series ranging from Bible history to American history) 
• Gettysburg (1993) 
• Robin Hood (1973 cartoon)
• Cross Seven History Videos for Kids

Favorite Curriculum and Resources 

Sometimes you might just want a well-written full-year course, unit study, lap-book, or other curriculum resource to teach history to your elementary-aged student. Fortunately, there are a great number of options available to homeschoolers. From individual history classes that are available with a membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com to the textbook-based Our Star-Spangled Story from Notgrass History, you can pick and choose what works for your family. 

If you would prefer to not focus on a specific class but let your children's interest guide you, Home School in the Woods offers many different options. There are smaller lap-books that you can complete to larger unit studies focusing upon different time periods like the American Civil War or the Renaissance in Europe. 

Other favorites include: 

• Drive Thru History 
• YWAM Publishing Unit Studies
• Memoria Press 

Final Thoughts 

As a former high school history teacher, I love all these ideas! We incorporate a variety of them into our homeschool day. While using Adventures in U.S. History from My Father's World, we also add in Drive Thru History America: Columbus to the Constitution during lunchtime on some days. When we want to take a break from formal studies, we have been learning about the Wonders of the World with Home School in the Woods. And the literature books from Our Star-Spangled Story by Notgrass History are very welcome additions to our read-aloud time. How do your elementary-aged students enjoy studying history? 

Critical Thinking and Supporting History: A Review of U.S. History Detective® Book Two

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this book from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

While I am not one to find studying history boring, I realize that many do not share the same love of the past that I do. Bringing the subject alive and making it memorable while helping students build critical thinking skills is an important part of education. When teaching history in our homeschools, we also have to keep in mind that there are so many different areas of history that we can teach. How can we expect our children to remember all the details?

Provide our children with quality and engaging resources to help children learn about the past. 

The Critical Thinking Co.™ publishes U.S. History Detective® Book Two, which is part of the Nonreligious 2021 Ninth-Grade Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle. This 312-page paperback book is a perfect addition to your homeschool US History course. It starts with the Gilded Age and moves all the way through to the Obama Administration. There are both black-and-white and color illustrations, maps, political cartoons, photographs, and more, which add to the beauty of the homeschool history book.

As our oldest son graduated recently, we used this history resource differently than we might have done in the past. I wanted to continue his education – especially as it relates to U.S. History and developing his critical thinking skills – while he decides upon his future path. Having the opportunity to review U.S. History Detective® Book Two fit perfectly into this plan.

U.S. History Detective® Book Two can be a stand-alone textbook, provide supplemental activities, or act as a review book for your child grades 8 to 12 and up. We used it more as a review book as I let our son pick and choose what he wanted to read about and complete.

About U.S. History Detective® Book Two 

There are two books available for print or eBook form from The Critical Thinking Co.™, and you can find both as paperbacks available from Timberdoodle. In Book Two, there are nine sections which include 56 lessons. These lessons focus upon individual passages where students must provide supporting evidence for their answer choices. The questions about each lesson consist of multiple-choice, short-answer, and short essay questions.

Section 1: The Gilded Age: 1870-1900

Section 2: Imperialism and Progressives: 1890s-1910s

Section 3: The Great War: 1914-1919 

Section 4: The Roaring Twenties: 1920-1929

Section 5: The Great Depression: 1929-1939

Section 6: World War II: 1939-1945

Section 7: The 1950s

Section 8: The 1960s

Section 9: 1970s-2016

In the Introduction to Section 6 and Lesson 30, students will read about World War II, review a timeline of key events, read about the rise of dictatorships, appeasement, the start of World War II, and the third term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and examine a political cartoon by Dr. Seuss. This is followed by nine multiple choice and short answer questions and a written response question: "Use complete sentences to explain why President Roosevelt and Congress were reluctant to involve the U.S. in the war against the Axis Powers in the late 1930s."

How Did We Use U.S. History Detective® Book Two in our Homeschool? 

As our son has graduated, I used the book as a review source for him. At the beginning of the review period, I handed it off to him and asked for it back to complete my review. While he did not complete as many lessons as I would have liked if he was still "in school," I also understand he has many responsibilities as a graduate. If we were using this as a part of our homeschool curriculum, I would assign two to three lessons a week along with primary source and secondary source materials to read. The written response questions would provide homeschool students and parents with excellent starting points for discussions. They could also be developed into essays or research papers with a little bit of work.

My Thoughts 

I have had the pleasure of using several products from The Critical Thinking Co.™ over the years, and they have never disappointed me. They do help our children use critical thinking skills and reinforce key ideas such as fractions, vocabulary, and events in history. U.S. History Detective® Book Two is wonderful because it does not require a lot of parent involvement. While you can easily discuss each lesson and examine the supporting evidence for each question, you can also allow your child to work on it by themselves.

I really like how the U.S. History Detective® Book Two encourages readers to use their critical thinking skills to find evidence to support historical conclusions. The book provides both primary (first-hand accounts) and secondary (materials written by historians or others who were not present at the event) sources to help students reach conclusions about what they have read. Each passage has the sentences numbered so that students can mark their answers with the supporting evidence. A key part of upper-level history courses is also drawing inferences and conclusions based upon historical events and evidence. This book helps students practice and hone those skills which will help them in future essays.

Having taught Advanced Placement U.S. History when I was a high school teacher, I could see this being a very useful resource to assist students in their preparation for the AP Exam. As each lesson is short, they could review the material, complete the questions which require them to critically think about the subject material, and write essay outlines for the written response questions. This homeschool resource can help students on their journey to bring together, compare, and contrast historical information and present clear arguments. 

I would recommend U.S. History Detective® Book Two for any family who is studying U.S. History II. I think the grade recommendation by The Critical Thinking Co.™ is accurate (8-12) and the placement in the 9th Grade Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle is also good. It provides a compact look at U.S. History while helping your child develop their critical thinking skills.

 

Looking for more resources from Timberdoodle? 

• Using Classics to Teach About God: A Review of Little Pilgrim's Big Journey
• Focusing on Addition Skills Through a Fun Game
• Building Spelling Confidence: A Review of Spelling You See - Level D

Wordless Wednesday: Figures in Motion

 Please Note: I received complementary copies of these books through the Homeschool Review Crew. 

Teaching History During a School Break

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No matter how you approach schooling or homeschooling, you might decide that you want to continue studying one or more subject areas during a school break. Perhaps you feel the need to continue with your lessons over a homeschool break because your kids really love learning. Maybe the learning needs to continue to catch up on certain subjects or plans. Whatever your reason, teaching history during a school break can be quite easy and fun. 

Over the Summer 

The most obvious break in school routine – whether you homeschool or not – is summer break. Many homeschooling families take breaks during the summer so that their children will have a similar time off as their friends who attend public or private schools. For many, they also want to be able to spend the time outdoors – perhaps working on the farm or homestead – or visiting nearby sites and attractions. Of course, some homeschooling families school during the summer and take breaks at other times of the year because the summer is too hot to be outdoors.

Visit Places of Historic Interest

What is the easiest way to continue with your history studies during a summer break? Field trips! When you plan a vacation, see if there is some way to incorporate a visit to a historical site. In some locations, it might be a lot easier to plan these side-trips (if visiting historical sites is not the focus of your vacation). For example, when visiting Charleston, SC, it was very easy for my husband and me to visit numerous historical sites, including Fort Sumter, Boone Hall, etc. The town is rich in history from the pre-Colonial era to modern-day history. But what about if you are visiting a beach town or a resort? Well, maybe the history might not be so obvious, but most towns have historical markers, and some even have historical societies that will open their doors for research. If it is a rainy day, why not see if there are any museums or historical societies you can visit for an afternoon? 

Holiday & Seasonal Celebrations 

One of the ways to easily incorporate history during the various holiday and seasonal celebrations is to study the history behind each holiday. There are many places you can go to for resources, including one of my favorites – SchoolhouseTeachers.com. You can see all of their offerings for Seasonal Resources and find just what you need to plan in advance – or if you are like me – find things for the holiday the day before.

You can find Adventures with Books where the lesson designers have listed books on themes like Pumpkins and provided activities to do in conjunction with the reading of those books, lessons to teach art with a holiday theme, or even Everyday Games with seasonal themes. We downloaded quite a few of the Fall ones to complete with our children. 

Use Resources Available to Teach about the Holidays

Another great part of having a membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com is their Christmas Corner. I am able to share a great number of Christmas-themed programs with our children. For example, last year we watched The Candy Maker's Christmas, which tells the tale of candy canes. There is a worksheet that accompanies the video we could fill out if wanted to and there are other lessons on SchoolhouseTeachers.com about candy canes, too. We can spend the entire month of December using resources from SchoolhouseTeachers.com that help us study the history of Christmas. 

My Teaching Library also offers great seasonal resources, and while these may not focus upon the history of the seasons or holidays, you can easily find worksheets, lapbooks, and notebooking pages that you can use supplement your homeschool lessons. I like that there are notebooking pages that let the children write down what they are learning and experiencing during the holiday season. 

Within these downloadable packets were several pages
that focused upon the holidays during the month of October. 

Go to the Movies 

Whether you visit a real movie theater or just watch movies at home, you can spend time during your homeschooling break watching documentaries or movies based upon real events. There are so many to choose from that you can probably find a movie for almost every area of history you might be studying in your homeschool. 

One of my favorite things to do with historical movies is to spend time comparing and contrasting the real events with those depicted in the movie. You can very easily watch the movie (or movies) during your break and then incorporate the lessons during your normal homeschooling schedule. For example, watch one or more movies about Queen Elizabeth and then read her speeches, read the works of her contemporaries, and compare them to the events depicted on the silver screen. 

Other Posts You Might Enjoy 

Master of Macabre: Edgar Allan Poe and the Silver Screen

Engaging History: Bringing History to Life Series 

Engaging History: Renaissance 

Engaging History: Colonial and Revolutionary War Era America

Engaging History: Middle Ages

Engaging History: Modern America

Engaging History: American Civil War

How Can You Supplement Your History Curriculum?

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There are so many fun and educational ways you can supplement your homeschool history curriculum. I love history. In fact, I can't remember a time that I did not enjoy visiting historical sites, reading about history, or watching history movies (both fiction and non-fiction). Therefore, it is quite easy for me to recommend many different options to supplement your homeschool history curriculum.

Visit History 

So many of my vacations with my mom, before I was married, involved touring historical locations (like Eckley Miners' Village Museum). This is probably one of the easiest ways to supplement your history curriculum. All you need are time and some money because you will often find tour guides, park rangers, and others at each site who will be able to help teach you and your homeschooled children new facts and information. Many places will even allow you to participate in living history by using tools of the time period, trying on period clothing, or creating a memento to take home.

Watch History 

Another very easy way to supplement your homeschool history curriculum is with documentaries and movies. If you attended public school, you might remember the television being wheeled into the classroom to watch a documentary borrowed from the school library or perhaps from your teacher's own collection. I am old enough to remember a few of my teachers sharing slide presentations with us. While not all documentaries and movies are created equal, there is a great selection available. One of our favorites is Drive Thru History® with Dave Stotts. There are quite a few series in which Dave Stotts takes viewers on a journey through history like those listed:

• Drive Thru History® Ancient History 
• Drive Thru History® American History 
• Drive Thru History® The Holy Land 
• Drive Thru History® The Gospels 
• Drive Thru History® Acts to Revelation 

In addition to documentaries, movies can also be wonderful to incorporate into your homeschool history curriculum. From movies that are not highly accurate to those that are written and try to stick the facts more, there are different learning opportunities. For example, for high school homeschooled children, you may wish to view the movie Gettysburg, read the book, and visit the site to compare and contrast the accuracies and inaccuracies. In addition to this movie, many others focus on the American Civil War, including two television series: North and South and The Blue and Gray. These both follow many fictional characters but provide a sense and a feeling for the time period with costumes, foods, and other details.

Listen & Play Through History 

If your children enjoy music, you might want to research the different genres of music based upon time periods. There are many different ways to approach supplementing your history curriculum with music. Previously I shared how you can study the American Civil War through Stephen Foster's "Better Times are Coming." And don't forget to listen to recorded speeches, watch clips of historical events recorded live, or view home movies to see what was life like in a particular time period.

• Learn to play songs from a particular time period 
• Learn to sing songs from a particular time period 
• Research different musical instruments that may no longer be played today 
• Listen to the music of the era of history you are studying 
• Interpret the lyrics written to learn more about the historical time 

Why not play a game? There are many different games inspired by history and ones that incorporate history into their play. You may wish to purchase games already made and designed like Egyptians, Made for Trade, or even Go to the Head of the Class (which covers multiple subject areas), or perhaps you might want to make your own file folder games like those offered by Home School in the Woods.

How Will You Supplement Your History Curriculum? 

Have you discovered any new ideas to incorporate into your history curriculum? Even if you are using a boxed curriculum, there is always room for additional supplements. Some even have items like literature packages or hands-on projects. We are using the literature package that goes along with Our Star-Spangled Story from Notgrass History. We have also used hands-on kits from Sonlight in previous years.

How Do You Pick a History Curriculum?

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Tips from A Mom's Quest to Teach for picking the best history curriculum for your homeschool and family.

What is your goal when it comes to teaching history in your homeschool? And what is your philosophical approach to teaching in your homeschool? Do you teach all of your children at the same time around the dining room or kitchen table or does each child work independently on curriculum that best suits their learning style?

As someone who has always loved history, there are a wide variety of history curriculum and materials that I love. From Home School in the Woods (which allows you to use hands-on materials to meet the needs and interests of your homeschooling students) to Notgrass History (which takes a more expected approach with textbooks, supplemental literature to read, and a variety of activities and questions provided both in the workbook and textbook), there are so many great options. You can also find a great number of history, social studies, and geography courses at SchoolhouseTeachers.com where you can pick and choose what works for your homeschooling child and family.

Ask Some Questions 

What are you looking for in your history curriculum? Do you want it all printed out and ready to open and go? Are you looking for lesson plans that are easy to follow but still give you more flexibility than a textbook? Do you want unit studies? What about lessons that tie into your other subjects like literature and science?

Download a worksheet to record your answer to these questions.

What Area of History Are You Studying? 

Of course, some of your decisions may be guided by what area or time period of history you wish to study in your homeschool. Are you studying United States History, World History, Ancient History, geography, government, economics, or a combination of some of them?

If you are interested in taking a geographical approach, Let's Go Geography may be a great resource for your elementary-aged students. I also find it is very easy to incorporate other history resources into this curriculum. You can truly tailor it to meet the needs of your homeschool family.

If you are homeschooling a high school student, you might want to incorporate government or economics into their schedule. Last year, our teen used Exploring Government from Notgrass History to study the United States government. I really felt this was an excellent curriculum that opened up the door to good discussions. We also used the Student Review Pack with our teen to help assess his knowledge at the end of the different chapters and units. This year, we have incorporated economics and business courses into his schedule using Money 101 and Business Plan Creation from SchoolhouseTeachers.com. These are all very important areas of study that fall under social studies or history.

This year with our second grader I decided that we would further study American History using Our Star-Spangled Story Curriculum Package (and literature package) from Notgrass History. I made this decision after downloading and looking at the samples they provide on their site. It is truly a beautiful set of textbooks for teaching about the founding and history of America. We are using one student workbook right now with our son, but in the future, I may purchase an additional workbook if our daughter also uses the curriculum.

Final Thoughts 

Every homeschooling family is different. And what works for your family this year may not work for you next year. Perhaps reading books and watching fun, educational videos like Drive Thru History® worked while your children were younger, but now that they are older they wish to work independently and online. Even after you pick a history curriculum, don't be afraid to make changes or modifications—if you need to—for your homeschool and your children. Sometimes, you need to make changes to keep history alive and interesting and that is okay. Providing your children with an environment conducive to learning and helping them to enjoy their schooling should take precedence in your homeschool over any sense of "getting it just right."

Top Five Homeschooling Curriculum Choices

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There are so many awesome curriculum choices available! It is very easy to get overwhelmed with all the options available to homeschooling families. There are some companies where you can purchase an entire curriculum for the whole school year for one price. Others provide you with options to purchase individual products for specific subject areas. As we have been members of the Homeschool Review Crew for the past two years, we have used a variety of materials and have discovered quite a few favorites.

Top Five Homeschooling Curriculum Choices in Our Homeschool 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com – Every Subject. Every Grade. Every Student.

I first came across SchoolhouseTeachers.com several years ago when I saw that they had positions for lesson designers. I was so very excited to write courses for them because I LOVE writing curriculum. That was one of my favorite parts of being a teacher. A short while later, I joined the Homeschool Review Crew and then our high school student decided to join us on the homeschooling journey. We use SchoolhouseTeachers.com almost exclusively for our high schooler. There are 475 courses for PK-12 grade. If you need math for first, second, or third grade, there are options for your homeschool. If you are looking for courses in British Literature or American Literature, there are courses you can use in your homeschool. So many great options!

This year, SchoolhouseTeachers.com introduced School Boxes. No matter if you are a brand new homeschooler or a veteran homeschool mom, you can use the virtual Homeschool Curriculum Boxes to help plan your homeschool year. The new Curriculum Box provides all the content you need to provide an entire school year's worth of curriculum. You can just open and go! And if you already have a great social studies curriculum (for example), you do not need to use that curriculum guide. It is all up to you as a homeschool parent.

History Homeschool Curriculum Resources 

There are many homeschooling history resources that I found over the past several years. Because I love history, I constantly seek out historical material. WriteBonnieRose shares a great number of history-related resources that allow students of various ages to learn about history as well as to practice their copywork. I also love using materials from Notgrass History and Home School in the Woods in our homeschool.

Notgrass History 

Last year, our teen used Exploring Government for his junior year. During his studies using the textbook and accompanying materials, he explored the government of the United States from the beginning to the present day. Everything was laid out in a clear, easy-to-understand manner that made Exploring Government not only a class that was simple to include in his homeschool day but also very valuable. He learned about how government operates at the federal, state, and local levels as well as the various issues that are important to the United States today. (I also really enjoyed reading the textbook and learned a lot myself!)

This year, we will be using Our Star-Spangled Story for our second grader. When I was looking at history options for our younger son, I fell in love with the samples that Notgrass History provides for Our Star-Spangled Story (well, for all their materials to be honest). The textbooks are beautiful with full-color photographs and illustrations. I bought the bundle that combines the curriculum and literature packages so that we have all the books to read along with Our Star-Spangled Story. I love that we will be including songs, dances, and hands-on activities with reading to learn history this year.

Home School in the Woods

Another fantastic company that I love for history resources is Home School in the Woods. We have been fortunate enough to review several of their products over the years with both of our sons – including resources to learn about the election, a Lap-Pak to learn about knights, and unit studies on the Renaissance and Reformation and the American Civil War. I love that their materials are digital. So, with a family license, I can use the material for all three of our children very easily.

Schooling with Games, Foreign Languages, and More! 

Timberdoodle 

Timberdoodle is a great company that offers complete curriculum packages for purchase. They offer different levels such as elite, complete, and basic as well as religious and nonreligious kits. These options make them a good choice for families who are secular homeschoolers and for those who are religious homeschoolers, too. And if you do not need an entire curriculum package, they offer many of the items for individual sale. In the past, we have purchased science materials from them such as Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy, the Curious Chef 3-Piece Nylon Knife Set, and Channie's My First Letters tracing pad.

We have also been fortunate enough to review several games from Timberdoodle including:

• Gobblet Gobblers - A fun twist on Tic-Tac-Toe 
• Tenzi Game and Tenzi Card Deck 
• Bugzzle 

I love that we can incorporate games into our homeschool day to help work on critical thinking skills, problem-solving, cooperation, and teamwork. Games provide a great brain break for the day, too. 

Memoria Press – Studying Latin 

If you are looking for a curriculum that takes a classical approach to education, then I recommend Memoria Press. And just what is classical education? According to Memoria Press, "classical education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue through the study of the liberal arts and the Great Books."

Memoria Press also offers full curriculum packages or allows homeschoolers to purchase just the materials they need for their homeschool. We have used a number of their products, including the First Start Reading Program, their Simply Classical Writing, and Prima Latina.  I love their approach to teaching and the quality of the materials. We started reviewing Prima Latina with our younger son at the start of the summer and we will pick up the curriculum again this school year. I love that Prima Latina can be purchased with a DVD so that I don't have to worry about my own pronunciation of the Latin. Our son can learn along with the instructor in the videos. That makes it so much easier to teach a foreign language!

What are your Top Five Homeschooling Curriculum Choices? Where do you turn for great curriculum for your homeschool?

Yesterday we shared our must have resources...please see what everyone shared on their blogs!


Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares My Must Have Homeschool Resources.
Kristen @ A Mom's Quest to Teach shares Homeschooling Must Have Resources and Supplies in Our Home.
Annette @ A Net in Time shares Nature Study Bring Alongs.
Jessica @ My Homeschool with a View shares My Top 5 Homeschool Supplies.
Dawn @ Schoolin' Swag shares Must Have Supplies ... For Mom.
Vicki B @ Tumbleweed News shares Homeschool Must Have Resources / Supplies.
Yvonne @ The Life We Build shares her Top 5 Favorite Homeschool Supplies and Resources.
Lori @ At Home: Where Life Happens shares Homeschool Supplies... Squirrel.