America's Story by Masterbooks vs Gather Round US History

Join Blue and Hazel’s newsletter: https://bit.ly/blueandhazelnewsletter

This video will be a comparison of America's Story vs Gather Round US History. We have done parts of both. I'll try to explain similarities, differences, and why I'll be switching back to America's Story after 3 units of US History from Gather Round.

Both are from a Christian worldview.
Both are made to be conversational with your kids.
Both utilize a teacher's guide and a student book. (We only use the teacher's guide as a read aloud without student worksheets).

I really wanted to like Gather Round and for a while I did! But it was TOO much information too quickly, filled with lots of details and facts for each event.

I'm not concerned with memorizing a ton of dates (a few yes, but not tons). What I want is for my kids to have a general understanding of when certain historical events happened, and the main points of what happened. I'd like them to hear a name in History and know a few things they were known for.

But with so many facts in Gather Round, it was difficult to keep attention and also difficult to feel like we were retaining as much as I'd like. It got dry and a little bit boring to be honest.

We were splitting lessons in 2 and that helped a lot! But I felt the information was almost too wordy in some ways for the early elementary level.

I like that Gather shows you how both sides might feel (during battles, during westward expansion, etc) and sets you up to have deep conversations with your family.

I like that it comes with book suggestions, online YouTube suggestions, and hands on activity ideas for each lesson. It's full of rabbit trails! But the style of the reading is what I didn't end up loving.

Links:
America's Story 1 Flip Through: Flip through of America’s Story 1 by ...

Gather Round US History 1 Review: US History 1 Review from Gather Round...

Gather Round US History 2 Review: Gather Round US History 2 Review: Usi...

Gather Round US History 3 Flip Through: Gather Round US History 3 Flip Through

Homeschool resource page:
https://blueandhazel.com/homeschool-r...

Etsy shop homeschool printables:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlueandHaze...

Homeschool curriculum review playlists: Curriculum Reviews

Instagram:
Instagram: blue.and.hazel

Facebook:
Facebook: blueandhazel