AMERICAN HISTORY 
Feedback from families and educators tell us Social Studies moves up the ranks as the favorite, or one of the               favorite, courses! The set of two beautiful full color worktexts are comprehensive and present world affairs                   realistically. 

This American History is offered as our standard 8th grade social studies course but is also suitable for high school. Curriculum Services provides an array of enrichment and teacher's support materials, much of which was created for you by Curriculum Services to save you valuable work and time.

Included below are:
  1) an overview
  2) Courses by Grade
  3) Criteria for Selecting Curriculum 
  4) Course Materials Listed 
  5) sample pages from the worktexts
  6) sample pages from the support materials

OVERVIEW
Words cannot do justice in comparing this secondary US history to any other! Rather than provide one text with an answer key our programs are enriched and carefully balanced. The latest full color worktexts serve as the core of the program. These are accompanied by enrichment worksheets, a test book, a special maps binder, full page bulletin board schedules and teacher's manual. Curriculum Services designed teacher's manual for the parent educator or tutor to provide just the kind of help you need.
     After carefully reviewing other US history courses we found a great deal of extremes. One extreme concerns view points. Here the publishers use the text as a forum to expound the way they want others to view history. We see this in some non secular texts. Another extreme concerns the sheer volume of work offered. Most course materials used in the public or classroom schools cannot be used the way they were designed because there is far too much material to cover in the 36 week school year. The way many educators handle   the problem is to skip much of the text. Feedback from parents, students, teachers and school administrators suggest that on the average only 1/5 to 1/2, at best, of the average textbook gets covered. This creates gaps, and many believe that gaps are the number cause of student underachievement. 
     Another recourse when too much material is provided is to "cram". Cramming is not a very practical solution because of the lack of retention as students often remember long enough to pass the test. There is no simple solution for well meaning teachers who have no recourse but to use what the school board provides. 
     We have also seen  the other extreme; homeschoolers gathering up supplies that do not provide enough material to make a comprehensive course. Balance is essential. We are very proud to offer this recently embellished American History program to *secondary students. While we found it a challenge to provide truly comprehensive, consumable, and enjoyable social studies courses we are happy to report that the feedback from parents and students tell us we did.

*secondary students: students in middle school and above

Why makes this social studies program superior?

• This is the most complete consumable secondary US history courses we could put together!
• as a secular curriculum this program provides an unbiased presentation of events; not sugar coated or one sided
• has the most balanced amount of work; not too much and not too little
• provides vocabulary development
• covers comprehension of social studies graphs, map skills such as reading and understanding various maps, and the globe
• easy to use teacher's guides created for the one-on-one teacher such as a first time or experienced parent educator, or tutor 
• teacher's guides provides answers to all course materials and offer enrichment ideas 
• includes a full page bulletin board schedule providing a wealth of information at a glance; fosters student independence  
• a full color format that is visually attractive yet not too busy
• interesting and informative reading makes this a favorite course among many
• feedback from parents and student tell us this keep in line with the rest of the program, a program where students finish a days worth of school work in about two hours a day on average (for a basic program)

Our Criteria For Selecting Course Materials
The courses' components meets all our criteria. First and foremost on our list is the curriculum must be visually appealing but not too "busy". See the sample pages below. It must also have student appeal while being as self-instructing as possible. In addition it must be comprehensive and adaptable to different learning styles. Because we specialize in providing write-in texts for our text supported courses we focus first on consumable text books and then, in all fairness, compare them to their hard-bound counterparts. We were delighted to discover, once again, that the consumable texts came in first place in all categories.
     Course materials must offer a balanced amount of work. If, for example, there is not enough course material it cannot be comprehensive enough while too much creates another host of problems. These include not allowing enough time to cover all the concepts or to go over concepts not readily understood. There is also the problem of student and teacher burn-out in addition to not having enough time for recreation and other family activities. See articles SACC, One Subject a Day, and Testing.

COURSES BY GRADE
Because below are the courses, or "themes" most student are studying per level around the country, these are the ones we offer. If you must have a different course, such as World Geography in 6th and World History not until 7th, we can accommodate you. If you cannot get what you need from this site call Curriculum Services at 1-702-1419. Most people adopt the courses that are most commonly taken at that level even if it is not what is taken in their area. Your choice should be balanced between what you must have and what is available. We will accommodate you if possible, however we cannot promise you a particular course in all cases.
  4th grade theme: US Geography 
  5th grade theme: American History
  6th grade theme: World History 
  7th grade theme: World Geography 
  6th grade theme: American History 

From the Student Test Book:


MAPS BINDER
Pictured below is a page out of our maps binder. This work in progress was reduced and is not to scale. The outline maps are on standard 8 ½" x 11" paper.
     Because students will learn and retain more by coloring an illustration than by just looking at a color plate a  complementary grade appropriate maps binder, with one map for each week in the school year, is provided for every student. The principle behind the inclusion of coloring books for courses where much information is conveyed visually came from the college level. Among the first to show up were coloring books on anatomy and biology courses such as general biology, botany, marine biology, and geography. 
     The more time spent coloring provides greater learning and retention. The success of these binders, used as instructed, can be demonstrated. If one were to quiz two students, a second grader who diligently colors his maps and a high school student who does not the younger student, typically, will demonstrate surprisingly greater knowledge. The success of these binders stems from several factors. They include:

1) Brain Activity - this interactive activity involves more parts of the brain than looking. 
2) Time Factor - your student will spend a great deal more time coloring a map than he/she would looking at one. In fact, a 
    student can devote several hours to map work.
3) Creative Aspects - Students usually strive to make their maps as attractive as possible. Map work can be very enjoyable as 
    various mediums such as crayons, colored pencils, fine tipped markers, pen, and pencil can be utilized. If the student is 
    motivated he or she can embellish their maps by adding special features, such as hills, mountains, mountain ranges, forests, 
    rivers, bays, canals, lakes, trails, and deserts or adding additional political features such as cities, labeling bodies of water, 
    even major highways and waterways used for travel. A map can even be made to show climate, industry, or agriculture. A 
    corresponding legend can be added if desired.