The Critical Thinking Co.~ U.S. History Detective Book 1 Review

When I was given the opportunity to review U.S. History Detective Book 1 from The Critical Thinking Co. I eagerly accepted.  U.S. History Detective Book 1 covers the history of the United States from 1492 when Columbus made his way to the shores and Europeans began interacting with the native Americans until the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877.  It is geared toward students in grades 8-12.

There are 9 Sections which are broken into 6-10 lessons per section.  There are 65 lessons in all.  Each Lesson begins with a passage to read, these passages are 2-3 pages long.  At the end of each Lesson there are review questions. The review questions are a mix of multiple choice, written response questions and short essay. There are also Reviews at the end of each Section.  These Section Reviews cover important vocabulary, dates through the use of Timelines and important events through venn diagrams.

There are also many illustrations both in color and in black and white which add to the richness of the text.

Throughout Book 1 there are Fun Facts, such as the one pictured below, about Graham crackers.   We found these little tidbits of trivia fun to read!

As I have mentioned before, I really appreciate The Critical Thinking Co.’s copyright policy as I can use, U.S. History Detective Book 1, with all my kids! (In order to make copies easily I had the spine cut off and had it professional 3-hole punched.)

“The intellectual material in this product is the copyrighted property of The Critical Thinking Co.  The individual or entity who initially purchased this product from The Critical Thinking Co. or one of its authorized resellers is licensed to reproduce (print or duplicate on paper) up to 35 copies of each page in this product per year for use within one home or one classroom.  Our copyright and this limited reproduction permission (user) agreement strictly prohibit the sale of any of the copyrighted material in this product.  Any reproduction beyond these expressed limits is strictly prohibited with the written permission of The Critical Thinking Co. Please visit http://www.criticalthinking.com/copyright for more information.”

I have always enjoyed history and thankfully my kids do as well. U.S. History Detective Book 1 is written to be used either as a stand alone history text or as a supplemental text.  I have been using U.S. History Detective with Brock and Adisyn as a supplement to their current history curriculum.  We have enjoyed the lessons of U.S. History Detective Book 1 that we have completed thus far.  The reading passages are interesting and the high quality illustrations supplement it well.  We have found that it is also not dry and boring like many history texts.  The review questions encourage them to think critically which helps them to retain more from what they read.  I would recommend U.S. History Detective Book 1 as a good way to study United States history!

The Critical Thinking Co. was also gracious enough to include a coupon code that you can use toward a purchase, see the details below.

15% Off Any Size Order!

Details: Offer expires 5/31/2015 at Midnight PST. Use Coupon Code BLOGR315. Online prepaid orders only. Valid one per customer. Offer does not apply to iOS or Android apps, or manipulatives such as Attribute Blocks, Interlocking Cubes or Pattern Blocks. Offer may not be combined with other discounts or offers, and is not retroactive. Not valid on wholesale orders.

Blessings,

Jennifer

*For this review I received a copy of U.S. History Detective Book 1 in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way.  All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

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