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History
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We plan on studying modern American history this year. I have the SCM guide, but the books that we need are going to end up costing me around $200 😣.  Before I start buying books, I was wondering if there’s any other history curriculums out there that are a favorite for 6-12 year olds?  We are using Truthquest this year, and while the kids enjoy the book selections, the commentary goes way over their heads.
We haven’t purchased many of the books needed for history as we are on a very tight budget. Â Most of what we need we have found throught our local library system.
However, we have a multi-branch county library system plus two good-sized suburban libraries that are within 20 minutes driving distance or less. Â We also obtain items through interlibrary loan systems called Search Ohio and Ohio Link. Through those, we’ve had books sent to our local county branch from as far away as The Ohio State University, which is over 2 hours away from us! Â We obtained a teacher card from the county library system, so we can renew books a lot of times unless someone puts a hold on one or them, which rarely happens.
This may seem like a bit of a hassle to manage, but if a large library system & interlibrary loan are available to you, it’s worth it because you’ll save a ton of money. Â Barring that, you can often find less expensive used copies of what you need on homeschoolclassifieds.com, Amazon, or other sites.
HTH,
Sue
We buy used from Amazon and Thrift Books when possible. Â Modern does have a lot of books though. Can you cut down on the booklist? Â Combine the age groups a bit, borrow from the library, substitute with books you already own? Â Buy them one term at a time? Â Also, you can resell when finished.
About Truthquest–I knew a HS mom who skipped the commentary and just used it as a reading list. Â Maybe that’s another possibility.
Hi and welcome! 🙂
You have so many choices! You could use Truthquest and just skip the commentary, leaving it for when your children are older.
You could buy as many SCM books as you can used and use others free online. Alternatively, you could use the SCM guide, buying the most often used books and using your library to supply the rest or for appropriate substitutions. You could also just buy a few at a time, as you need them in the guide, thereby spreading the costs out over the year.
You could buy a good spine and add in library books on specific topics.
You could try Ambleside Online as it tries to keep the booklists inexpensive or free.
I have never spent very much money on a history curriculum. I mostly used the library when my kids were little and I’ve often used free kindle books as they’ve grown older. I’ve picked up lots of great books when I can get a good deal on them via ebay, used curriculum sales, thrift stores, or Better World Books. After 14 years of homeschooling, I now have a good home library for my 15 year old to choose from.
I just bumped a thread to the top that you might be interested in. A forum regular is selling some of the modern times books for very good prices. I have bought from her several times and she’s always very kind and prompt. 🙂
I have checked over our library’s catalog, and the price I came up with is for books that they don’t have. I have already purchased some that I could find used. I might be able to combine some of the kids together, I didn’t think of that. Â Thanks for all of the help!
I didn’t buy all the books at the same time. I tried to order term by term. Amazon, for instance, didn’t charge shipping as long as I ordered at least $25 worth of books.
We buy many used books on betterworldbooks.com where many are included with a SALE tag, meaning they are 6 for $15, free shipping. Â This makes them $2.60 each with tax. Â A few are still priced $3.98, but most often I find the SALE books there. Â Otherwise, you might check ebay or homescoolclassifieds for a “lot” of what you are looking for all together.
We are currently using Modern times and our local library has a lot of the books. Can you inner library loan? You could by the ones you cant find.
We like to use the Baldwin project which is a free online collection of old books covering many genres but is most ample in the history department.
Also guesthollow has a free history curriculum although you still need to source books, but the way she has it set up your can submit for any suitable book of your choice plus she has links to videos etc.
Easypeasy all in one website has all there stuff online and covers all grades.
An Old Fashioned Education has links too.
And of course Ambleside Online has many links to books in the public domain.
Story of the world volumes 1-4 by Susan Wise Bauer then supplement with living books and biographies.
Or how about putting together your own? We use a mixture of all of the above…Story of the World as a spine then SCM,AO, Baldwin and Guesthollow to flesh it  out.
I combine my kids as much as possible. I only buy used books (that I’ve read good reviews on, since we’ve found we really don’t care for some listed although often used/recommended). Also those that are more than about 200 pages or used longer than a month I may try to purchase. (Or switch out books: This time I couldn’t find a certain bio at library but found another comparable, etc). I have also have pared down the SCM reading lists as I find I can never fit it all in. Ex. My 5th grader will read 2 assigned books per term, my 7th grader will read 3 or 4. Any overlapping or family that looked really good, I chose 1 to 3 per term to read aloud.
This next year will be our 2nd time thru Early Modern, so I have some family books already that are worth reading again and others that are similar  Or I found online for free that I can read aloud.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Www.bookfinder.com will find prices from many retailers for you to choose from. Â I use amazon marketplace and Abe books the most. Â I always buy our books. Â I prefer to have them on my shelf when I need them and I always rack up too much in library fines to make it worth it. Â Three weeks is max checkout here. Â If need be, I’d buy them 2-3 times over the year.</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Weve also used and liked the Beautiful Feet books.  But we buy them.</p>Is it ok to tag another question on here? I, also, will be doing early modern next year and am wondering if I can combine ages somehow to save myself from needing all the books.  My children  Will be in 12th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3rd and K with a 2 year old running around😃. I think I’ll get the oldest 3 the books at their age level but the 5th and 3rd graders aren’t strong readers yet and I’m not sure how long it would take to read the family section, 1-3rd and 4-6th books. Should I pick one age group and read it aloud? Do some of each? Have my 5th grader read the 1-3rd books to his brother? I’m conflicted both because of their reading level and the cost of buying every level of books. Of course they could both make great leaps in their reading until we start school next year… Any advice?
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