Notgrass Our Star-Spangled Story Homeschool History Review, Grade 1 2 3 or 4
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- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- This is a complete review and walk-through of Notgrass History's Our Star-Spangled Story for Grades 1-4. I show all the various components and disclose how we use them and how it's working for our family.
This curriculum was given to me in exchange for my honest review, but I am not an affiliate with Notgrass so links are not affiliate links.
To view their samples and see the specials they are offering during the Coronavirus outbreak, please click below - the specials are viewable by clicking on the coronavirus banner at the top of the page:
history.notgrass.com/elementa...
This is a link to our personal book list that we correlated to the program:
purposefulhomeschool.com/misc/...
Thank you for such a thorough flip through! This is exactly what I needed to see!
Thank you for the detailed review! I was wondering about this curriculum, but never actually go to looking at it. Washing dishes while watching this. Will definitely be adding this to our homeschool this year. Again, thanks!
I'm so glad you found this helpful! Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Love this review! Thank you for such a thorough review! Has pushed me to get it for our kids!
Hope you enjoy it!
We used this curriculum this past year and it was such a huge hit. It is so well done. Both my kids loved it. My kids are second and fifth and while I hesitated with my fifth grader, it was still great. The literature that came with it was engaging and they are still talking about some of the books and characters. Going to do their Adam from us next year - it looks amazing. Thanks for your review.
Is it religious?
Amy Price yes it is so if you are not comfortable with that better pass on it.
Nicole Wilson my fifth grader is a lil advanced and he really enjoyed it. The workbook might be too easy but sometimes it’s just fun to do a colorín sheet or an easy paragraph. The content in the “textbook” is really interesting, and if you have a visual learner it’s excellent because of the beautiful color photographs.
I agree - the workbook seems a little young for 5th but the content isn't in my opinion. Thanks for commenting and answering these questions - I have a personal channel for my playlists and if I'm not logged in to this one I miss comments ugh!!
This is an awesome review!! I have been looking at Notgrass for a while, but I wasn't sure. Thanks so much!
I'm sorry I missed this comment so my apologies on the delay. I'm so glad you found this helpful!!
Thanks for this review! I have been struggling with what to do for history and now that I’m not just schooling my daughter but now her twin brothers too this will be perfect.
I'm so glad you found this helpful! Thank you for commenting!
Thanks for the review! I got so excited to go see their coronavirus specials but looks like they’ve taken down the banner and ended whatever specials they had. Bummer! We already have our curriculum for next year but these books are so beautiful I thought to go pick them up as additional resources.
I'm sorry you weren't able to get in on the special but if you get these resources, I'm sure you will love them! They really do make great read-alouds.
amazon has all the whole program. The reading books come to 60somehting, including the katy one. cheaper if you order the pack from the website. but if you need one or 2 at time and your library is closed, like mine. amazon has you covered
Good to know! I thought you had to buy Katy directly from Notgrass!
This was very helpful! I just ordered this last week and will be using it with my son who will be in 1st grade. So excited for it to arrive!
Glad it was helpful! I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
Are you planning to go through the curriculum in one or two years?
I’m late to this post but wow what a spectacular review. You left the pages of the ones you talked about long enough so I could pause and read. I do want to get this for my son but I also am interested in the content which is a huge plus. Thank you so much, this review made me a new subscriber!
Thank you so much for the kind comments. I'm so glad you found this helpful!
Thank you for this GREAT review; it's the best I have found..! This sounds like such a good curriculum, perfect for our son :)
Thank you for your comment! I am so glad you found this helpful. :)
You've made me want this curriculum so much! I got BJU this year which is a great overall social studies program, but I wanted something more in depth for 2nd grade so we will def use this next year.
We did social studies at first too - it was fun! Next year is a perfect time to start a history curriculum! Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
Thank you for such a detailed review! This was helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Do they provide a list of suggested literature so that you can see if you can find them before you buy the pack? Thank you for the review. I have been planning on Notgrass for awhile and this makes me eager to Have it in hand!
Yes! You can view the literature pack on their site to see what's in the pack, plus the bonus downloads are available for free. Those include the alternate list of books.
I'm glad you found this helpful!
Thank you for such a thorough review!!! This looks right up our alley. Our current history curriculum is not working for us. Eyes glazed over is not how one learns history. This looks much more engaging!
Sorry I missed this! Did you end up purchasing it and if so, how is it working for you?
Thank you! This was very helpful. I am going to give this a try.
I know you will love it!
I do have questions and this may get long sorry. I have a child with dyslexia he's 13 his reading and spelling we are working on. Back story he was in public school I thought he was getting extra help and it turns out I was the only one working with him at night. I pulled him in 5th grade and had him tested. He was reading at a first grade level and spelling was 1st/2nd grade level. What floors me is how much public school DONT teach he barely knew his states and capitals and only had a little state history. So that is the shortened version of what's going on I'm working with him and we have tutors for math and grammar also helping. My question is yes he's 13 however in your honest opinion would this be a good place to start with history? I know it's geared at younger ages but I'm wondering with his reading struggles and where he's at with spelling if this would be a good start. I absolutely love Notgrass my older son that was also pulled from school is working on government he's really enjoying it.
I just ordered this today. It is our 1st year homeschooling. I saw this curriculum on their website and fell in love. I also plan on ordering their newest Our 50 States Curriculum later this month. Thanks for this great review and insight.
Thank you for watching and commenting! I know you will love Notgrass!!!
Did anyone ever highlighted through the chapters and shortened the reading portion? Not sure my kiddos will sit through all the read aloud 😐.
Although we haven't done this, I would definitely do this if I needed to. Another alternative is to break up the lessons into segments. Because it's written as a narrative, it might be easier to just split up a lesson but do whatever works! We have taken 2 years to complete this on purpose so whatever works for your family would be fine.
You totally nailed how I feel about curriculum for our family... I love the rich literature aspect but I need a spine to it!
Could you incorporate Evan Moor’s History Pockets with this?
Easily, yes! In fact I have plans to use the Westward Expansion and the Civil War history pockets with this! Great question!
Thank you for sharing.
I have a 6 year old (who loves learning) and then a 4.5 an 2 younger ones. Would you recommend starting these with these ages. We’ve really enjoyed having group learning time. We haven’t done grades yet but I am thinking my oldest will be in 1st grade next fall.
The history is written in narrative form so very much appropriate for group learning. The lessons might be long for them, so you might need to break up a lesson into multiple sessions. The two younger ones might not be into it but having busy bins for them might keep them busy during these lessons. :)
@@PurposefulHomeschool how long does the elementary lessons take a day?
This was an excellent review!!
do you keep on reusing it for grades 1-4 or is this a one and done? my daughter will be going into 1st in the fall and I downloaded the free portion and really like it, so I am considering this.
It is a one and done curriculum, but appropriate for grades 1-4. We are taking 2 years to complete it, however, so we can include more literature and other books without making the lessons too long. If you do 3 lessons a week, you'll complete this in a year. I also think that some of the lessons might be long for a 1st grader to do at once - though I think the content would be easily understood, you 'might' find that some of the lessons need to be broken up over a couple of days. So, you might easily be able to stretch this out over a couple of years. I hope that helps!
@@PurposefulHomeschool It really does thank you!
@@PurposefulHomeschool This was the answer I was lookin for thank you!! I was wondering the exact same thing!
Any reason why it can't be stretched out over four years. I would like to include other books on the history subjects as well.
I will have a 1st and 8th grader next year , do you think this could work for both of them? Just wondering if it will be hard enough for my 8th grader. What do you think?
I don't know how I missed this comment! I think 8th might be young for this, but you could really beef it up with living books and some projects!
Did you do the literature with it?
We had read a few of the books already from their literature pack, so we are reading the others in the pack we haven't read plus some of the books from their alternate book list! I so appreciate the fact they provided an alternate book list!
Hello, wondering how religious this curriculum is?
At the end of each lesson is a scripture but other than that, it's just history. If a person mentioned is Christian, that will be mentioned, but other than that it's not overtly religious.
Are you still using a charter school?
Only for math and science. :)
Is this a bit advanced for a 1st grader?
Because it's written in narrative form, I think it would be fine for 1st if you break up the lessons over 2-3 days. The workbook has pages that are perfectly suited for 1st graders!
If you are working with multiple ages, then you might lose the 1st grader at some point during the lesson but they will get more opportunities later to revisit the information!! And you can use the crafts and projects to revisit the key points - the crafts and projects are appropriate for younger and older students!
What about a kindergarten? Could i just go slow your think?
If they can follow a chapter book story, then I think they could follow along. There are coloring pages in the activity book that they could do while listening, too.
Is this more secular or full of religious content?
It's a Christian curriculum but it's not overtly so. There is one scripture at the end of each lesson and if the historical figures mentioned have a Christian faith, it is usually mentioned in context with the story of their lives. But if you're wanting fully secular history, this isn't.
@@PurposefulHomeschool Thank you..