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
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• Building Spelling Confidence: A Review of Spelling You See - Level D

Wordless Wednesday: Abraham Lincoln

Looking through older photographs, I discovered some from a trip in the mid-1990s to Washington D.C. If you want to read more about Abraham Lincoln or the Navy during the American Civil War, I have written several posts on these topics. 

Learning about Elections with Home School in the Woods

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

History really comes to life when you have access to great materials like those produced by Home School in the Woods. Our family has had the opportunity to use and review a variety of resources from Home School in the Woods including a Project Passport World History Study, a lap-pak for elementary students, and other homeschooling resources. When the opportunity arose to review another product, we chose to review the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak. With this being an election year, and our teen son studying American government, I knew that this would be a great asset for our homeschool. The entire election process may seem like a normal part of our adult life and – as Home School in the Wood shares on their blog – we learn about these electoral processes as we grow up in a republic.

Home School in the Woods is run by the Pak family who give the glory of their business to God. They started with realistic timeline figures in 2002 and continue to add to their collection of homeschooling materials. So whether you prefer to take a Charlotte Mason approach to your homeschool or you are looking to teach children with different learning styles, Home School in the Woods offers many excellent resources from their blog to their many resources that you can use in your homeschool.

What Do You Get?

With the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak you decide upon one of three license types and between a digital download or CD. We received the digital download for our review for use with our homeschooling family. There are 21 lap booking projects in total to teach your children about elections and the election process. Activities include those that promote creative writing, coloring and drawing, research, reading and comprehension, and more skills. (You will need to print everything yourself – see my advice below.)

For each activity, you can use the Project Directions to help you figure out just what pages to print and on what kind of paper (there are instances where they recommend printing the pages on cardstock or different colored paper). Let's take a look at activity number 8: A "Handful" of Political Parties as you complete this in your homeschool. From the Project Directions (as you can see below), you will need to print two pages and gather together scissors and a glue stick or double-sided sticky tape (I prefer to use the double-sided tape for some projects but I have found the glue stick works well for most of the activities). The instructions are quite detailed and explain what to cut out and attach so you can finish your project.

You can also find out where you can listen to the reading from the text for information about the political parties precisely in the audio file. These links are available from the Start Here file that you download. You click on Political Parties-1 (base) and Political Parties-2 (text) to find the necessary downloads and you can even view a photo of a completed project.

Our son's project as we worked on it.

The sample from the instructions. 

How Did We Use the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak in Our Homeschool?

We used the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak primarily with our first-grader (please keep in mind the activities are designed for grades 3-8). I printed out the reading text as a 24-page booklet which we read through as well as used the audio that accompanied our digital download. It was very nice to have the audio play so I did not have read the entire booklet aloud to our son myself. We followed the activities mostly as they were laid out in the instructions prior to my picking and choosing ones to complete this past week. We still have a few projects left as well as the putting together of the entire lap book itself.

During the past few weeks, we learned about the different forms of government (our son really liked the second activity and proudly walked around explaining the governments and definitions), how other nations impacted the type of government the United States has, and how long the president, vice president, and others serve in office. Each of these topics were examined through the booklet we created as well as the different activities that will be included in our Election lapbook.

What Did We Think? 

The U.S. Elections Lap-Pak fit perfectly into our homeschooling day. It was quite easy to sit down and read the booklet or listen to the audio to learn about the elections in the United States. Depending upon how much work each activity required and how long our son decided to take coloring, the various parts took from as short as 15 minutes to as long as 45 minutes to finish. I felt that the time it took to work on the Lap-Pak was just right.

I really appreciate the way in which Home School in the Woods organizes everything. Now that I have a bit more experience with the materials, I can quickly get everything together for our son to complete during his homeschooling lessons. It does take a bit of time to print everything but that is mostly because you want to make sure you print out the correct pieces on the correct paper.

I was very impressed with the presentation and variety of information in the Lap-Pak. The booklet was easy to read and understand. For the ideas that our first-grader had trouble grasping, I was able to explain things in more detail using the hands-on activities and a bit of my own research. I like that this was something that could be a stand-alone unit or it could be incorporated into one's government course.

Some of our first-grader's favorite activities included those projects that you could move – like the Raising Money project and the Who Do We Vote For? project. He preferred those with moving parts. He also enjoyed creating the Terms of Office mini-book because he really enjoys making little books about different subjects. When asked to tell me one of the most important things he learned, he referenced The American Experiment project: The United States government is based upon Greek Democracy, the English Protection of Rights, and the Roman Respect of Law.

I would highly recommend the U.S. Elections Lap-Pak to families looking to learn more about the election process. This is a valuable resource for any year but especially for a presidential election year! 

Advice to First-Time Users

Now that I have used Home School in the Woods for a couple of years, I am no longer as intimidated as I was when I first had to print out all the materials. As these are digital products, you will need to print and prepare the items on your own (or with the help of your children). At first, it may seem daunting but the instructions are clear and if you make a mistake (like I have), you can always print the page or pages again! And – when you are done – your project may look like the sample below.

When we are all done, our project will resemble this finished sample project.

Do You Want to Learn More?

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There are so many excellent products from Home School in the Woods. We reviewed the Renaissance & Reformation Project Passport World History Studies and the Knights K-2 Lap-Pak. Please be sure to see what the rest of the Homeschool Review Crew used in their homeschool.

Reviewing Home School in the Woods' Á La Carte Projects

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

My family had the wonderful opportunity to review two history products from the Á La Carte Projects line from Home School in the Woods – Pirate Panoply game and The War to End All Wars game. When I became a teacher, these types of activities – file folder games, timelines, newspapers, and lap books – were the very things I couldn’t wait to do with my students. Now as a homeschooling mom, I will be able to share my love of history with my own children using products from the Á La Carte Projects line.

Both Á La Carte projects are PDF files that vary in length from seven to over thirty pages and provide an ‘Introduction and Tips’ page that includes information on printing the project and laminating completed pieces.  These “individual projects are designed to enhance your studies” with a variety of hands-on activities and “new projects are added regularly.”

Pirate Panoply: A Game of Pirate Garb!  

Pirate Panoply: A Game of Pirate Garb! is a multiplayer game for grades third to eighth grade where families can learn about pirate clothes and accessories. Each player takes turn rolling a six-sided die to dress their pirate in clothes that range from a wide-brimmed hat to stockings and shoes. The Gameboard, which each player needs to play Pirate Panoply, includes information on the different pieces of clothing and accessories such as the Baldric is “a leather belt, hung diagonally over the whole ensemble.”

The pieces for Pirate Panoply are black and white and can be colored by the family. Our sons and I colored the pieces so each would have their own set and game board when we played. All the children enjoyed playing Pirate Panoply.  Even our two year old, who played with the help of Dad, had fun. We found the most difficult part of Pirate Panoply was trying to get the necessary roll for one person to dress their pirate and thus win the game. (We also played till everyone’s pirates were dressed since we were playing with 2-, 4-, and 15-year-olds.)

The War to End All Wars File Folder Game

The second project we reviewed from the Á La Carte Projects line from the Home School in the Woods was The War to End All Wars: WWI France vs. Germany, a two-player file folder game of strategy and card management for third through twelfth grades. The Rule Book includes an introduction, a description of the components, and directions on setup, phases, units, action cards, the environment, and how to win or end the game. The War to End All Wars also includes a section on this history of the war with some background on trenches, weapons on and off the field, and protection that was used during the war. All this information expands upon the action cards and tokens available for play during the game.

The information for printing the necessary game pieces for The War to End All Wars was very helpful. I admit to having some difficulties when printing things double sided but the instructions were clear as to what page was printed on the back of which one. I chose to print the black and white copy to color in myself. If your older children are so inclined, they could help you color out the pieces for The War to End All Wars game. It provides the perfect opportunity to color, discuss the history of World War I – which the game provides via some background information, and watch documentaries or movies about the Great War. 

It is a very complex game with lots of information to retain during play. While my stepson and I played, my husband helped ‘referee’ the game – providing information as we needed it. For example, when playing your cards, there are multiple (thirteen to be exact) options for what to do with your soldiers. And depending on which side you are playing, you may have a tank card or a French rifle (if you play as France) or you might play a stick grenade card or a flamethrower card (if you play as Germany). All of the information is outlined in the directions, but it is helpful to have someone (who is outside of the game) read it during game play. However, I do not think this is a flaw of the game (it's a feature!). There are many board and card games that I have played where the directions are quite lengthy and complicated. And in reality trench warfare, which the game seeks to imitate, is quite complex and lengthy.

I would recommend both of these products to families – homeschooling and non-homeschooling alike. They provide an excellent extension to lessons about the topics at hand (Pirates and World War I) and are just plain fun. 

I have also looked into other Á La Carte Projects from Home School in the Woods for our family. In the future, we may add several other projects to our home, including the Taxation Frustration! Game which allows two to four players to “learn about the pressures and drama of paying taxes in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War” and the Tomb Dash! File Folder Game in which “players work together against the timer to answer questions from the era in an attempt to gather artifacts and then escape the pyramid complex.”  

Personally, I am also interested in The Art of Quilling, the art of paper rolling, as a possible new hobby. And the final project that catches my eye currently is WWII: On the Home Front LapBook/Notebook Project. My teenage stepson is very interested in World War II history, so this would be a perfect summer project for him. He already knows a lot about the war itself, so this would introduce him to the struggle “in the homes of ordinary Americans” during World War II. 

You can read more about Taxation Frustration!, Tomb Dash!, and The Art of Quilling Á La Carte Projects and others by checking out the Homeschool Review Crew Reviews.

You can learn more about Home School in the Woods by visiting the following places:

Home School in the Woods Website - Facebook - Twitter - Pinterest