America's Story 1 (Teacher Guide - Download)

I originally bought the print version and ended up tossing it and buying the digital. We live in a state that requires portfolios, and often only do one side of a page (such as filling out the map, but do the questions on the reverse side orally). Tearing out pages and photocopying the one side was getting messy. The paper in the print version is rather thin (thinner than the pages in the textbook) and not conducive to tearing out the pages and putting them in a binder. I tore several pages attempting it. Had I kept the print version, I would have been better off taking it to a print shop and having the spine cut off. I also have another child who will be using this in the future, so that's another benefit to using the digital.

If you're planning on doing a lot of the questions orally, if you have to keep portfolios, or if you have multiple children, it's worth considering the digital version, especially if you don't mind using a tablet/laptop. The paper and pencil moms might be happier with the print, through.

We have all of the America's Story books. I love what they teach but I don't like having to toggle between the student book and the teacher's guide. I wish all worksheets were in one book and all teacher materials in the teacher manual. I love what my kiddos are learning!

I ordered the PDF since I have multiple children using the same course at the same time. It's easy to print just what we need for the week and not have to waste any paper on pages we don't need. I do wish that there was a simpler way to print just the worksheets without having to separate out the teachers part, but it only took a few minutes to pull out what the kids didn't need.

Let me preface my review by saying this is specifically reviewing the Teacher’s Guide, not the curriculum as a whole. I ordered the digital file because I have multiple children and I find it easier to print off multiple worksheets rather than photo copy out of the book. I am happy with this decision. Overall, I like the layout of this Teacher’s Guide and the content but there’s two things I wish were included. I wish there was a simple 1 page scope & sequence to print out, so I can take a quick glance and see what we’re doing in what order. I was also disappointed that there aren’t additional literature/reading suggestions to go with the chapters. I was actually very surprised by this. Luckily I enjoy researching and piecing curriculum and additional reading/resources together so this wasn’t a big deal for me. Overall, this Teacher’s Guide will work well for us and we are very excited to dive into America’s Story as a family this Fall.

I love that the teacher's guide is black and white for easy printing. I also really liked that extra pages for older students were separate so I just printed the ones we needed for my younger children.

My children adore America's Story & I too, am smitten with the Teachers Guide!

I remember the dry boring textbooks for history as a kid. Where was this? Beautiful, engaging history and lessons.

We have tried several history curriculums. We enjoy doing History together, family style and it has been a bit of a challenge to find something that can engage my younger daughter but has enough meat to keep my older daughter interested as well. The narrative, Charlotte Mason inspired text and accompanying activities keeps both of my daughters interest. There are great pictures and illustrations throughout. Engaging discussion questions. It is not at all dry like many history programs. We are enjoying America's Story 1, and my children are retaining what they have been learning very well. Looking forward to the rest of the series!

The Teacher’s Guide is a beneficial part of this curriculum. It provides a suggested structure, questions, activities, and suggestions for additional study.

With most curricula, we skip worksheets as much as possible, but we did complete most of these ones (alternating between orally and written), because the corresponding questions were beneficial-- allowing the students to both narrate back from our reading, and consider details more thoroughly. I particularly love the questions that ask students to image themselves within the story, and answer what they would have done, felt, and so forth in the situation. My kids especially loved the historical drawings, and other puzzle-type activities in the Teacher’s Guide. It took me a couple weeks to figure out what was going on with the Timeline, since some of the references were not directly in the chapters. Once we figured out how the Timeline would work best with our family, this also became a favorite activity.

Families with more than one writing student may want additional copies of the Teacher's Guide, which is where the activities are located.

Our family doesn't usually grab the teacher books to go with our history since our children are still young. We tend to talk about the chapters and incorporate crafts. For America's Story 1 I chose to go ahead and get the digital version of the teacher's book and I am so thankful that I did! Being able to browse and print the worksheets we want to use for each chapter has been great and I often find that we are doing almost all of the activities compared to other curriculums we have tried. We're loving it!