Customer Reviews

From Sea to Shining Sea: The Story of America

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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Finally a textbook that doesn't read like a textbook! My son is breezing through this book when we have struggled with nearly every other history text. Not your typical dry textbook, it is engaging and well written, with beautiful pictures and artwork throughout.

It weaves in the Catholic Faith effortlessly, rather than some other books which so obviously are trying to be "Catholic".

A close to a "living book" as you can get in a text!

We are homeschoolers who have gone through all four books of Story of the World (SOTW). We are on our second go-round in the four year history cycle. After using Mystery of History for ancients (Protestant) and History Odyssey (secular) with additions for Middle Ages, I am happy to settle on From Sea to Shining Sea for next year. Unlike (SOTW), the focus is on American history. The chapters end with a summary, review questions, activities and a section called "American Larder" which talks about what people were eating at the time covered in each chapter.

This is a great Catholic text- well-balanced, nice pictures, well written. I will be using it next year with my 7th and 4th graders.

Amazon had the best price I've seen anywhere on the web-- $44.

I love this book and so does my nine-year-old daughter. We have used The Story of the World series, but I was looking for something with more emphasis on positive Catholic contributions to our world. Let's face it, most history books do not present Catholicism in the best light. They usually choose the hot topics like the Crusades and the Inquisition (or the conquistadors here in America) to promote the idea that Catholics are narrow and cruel. This book is balanced and staunchly Catholic, written so beautifully, almost like a storybook. There is beautiful art, and maps are included frequently so the child can follow the paths of explorers and events.
Since she is in fourth grade, we do plan to use this book over the course of two years.
There are three other books currently available in the series: All Ye Lands for sixth grade, and Light to the Nations, parts 1 and 2, for seventh and eighth grade. I had a hard time finding the books for a reasonable price from Amazon, but you can go to Adoremus [...] or the publisher Catholic Schools Textbook project [...]. There are also cd-roms that contain PDF formatted workbooks for each book and they are very reasonably priced and easy to use. I highly recommend this series!