Secular Charlotte Mason

If you are a fan of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States then you will be glad to know that there is now an adaptation of this book for younger readers. Originally it was published as a 2 book hardcover set, but just last week I stumbled across a newer paperback version that includes both books. Score--two books for the price of one. I am still in the process of prereading the chapters on the 1800's but it looks like I will be adding this to KodyGirl's & Tide's US history studies as their spine (plus Tide will begin using the History of US series since she hates historical fiction). This ought to work well since Drakon will be using the original version for his high school US history spine.

I think you could use A Young Person's History of the United States as a read-aloud for grammar stage or as independent reading for logic stage.

I will definitely look into this as my daughter HATES history, which is rather ironic since I am both a professional writer who specializes in history and a genealogist.

Thanks for the suggestion!

~kate

No, I totally understand her dislike for history. I think it's just that our daughters can't allow themselves to like whatever we specialize in. Literature and history are my areas of speciality so, of course, my elder daughter hates both subjects and refuses to read anything besides manga. It's their way of rebelling I think. My younger daughter does have a passion for literature but she has informed me of just how much she "hates" history. Which is rather amusing to me since much of what she choses to read is historical fiction and fantasy based on historical literature. Shhh...just don't tell her...she thinks she is also rebelling by "hating" history lol. Boys don't seem to have these issues with their mothers as my son loves history and literature along with his other interests. But he refuses to do music with his dad so I guess it's a same gender thing.

secularcm at 02:11PM on Aug 21, 2009

If you are a fan of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States then you will be glad to know that there is now an adaptation of this book for younger readers. Originally it was published as a 2 book hardcover set, but just last week I stumbled across a newer paperback version that includes both books. Score--two books for the price of one. I am still in the process of prereading the chapters on the 1800's but it looks like I will be adding this to KodyGirl's & Tide's US history studies as their spine (plus Tide will begin using the History of US series since she hates historical fiction). This ought to work well since Drakon will be using the original version for his high school US history spine.

I think you could use A Young Person's History of the United States as a read-aloud for grammar stage or as independent reading for logic stage.

I should have included that there is also a graphic adaptation of A People's History of the
United States.  It's called A People's History of American Empire: The American Empire Project. My son enjoyed it immensely when he was approximately 12 yo. This may be an interesting read for some of those reluctant history kids since it is in graphic form.

G, Does this book apply to the younger-really younger crowd?

Deepali Jain at 01:58AM on Aug 25, 2009

G, Does this book apply to the younger-really younger crowd?

No this book is definitely not for kindergarteners. KodyGirl is just old enough for it.