Modern U.S. and World History

The curriculum includes explicit vocabulary instruction with each lesson beginning with vocabulary words that students define. A six-page glossary is provided as reference material.

Daily lessons often begin with a list of vocabulary words that students will record and define, and the guide includes a six-page glossary of vocabulary words encountered in the required books

The curriculum provides an answer key with suggested responses and key ideas, but requires parents/teachers to read all the books to effectively guide discussions. This places a significant burden on educators without formal training materials.

The answer key helps with key ideas and suggested responses, but 'parents or teachers really should read the books to be able to carry on conversations' and may struggle to 'stay apace with the reading'

The curriculum relies heavily on Socratic discussion rather than direct instruction, which may not provide sufficient explicit teaching of historical content. Students are expected to learn primarily through reading and discussion.

Questions are Socratic in design, most assignments are used for discussion rather than written work, and the approach emphasizes 'thoughtful analysis' through conversation

The curriculum does not appear to include systematic retrieval practice or spaced review of historical knowledge. The focus is on discussion and essay writing rather than retention activities.

While comprehension questions are included, they 'are used to build toward deeper questions and ideas rather than simple recall of information,' with no mention of review or retention strategies

The curriculum spans various world cultures and regions through its book selections but does not appear to systematically build geographic knowledge. Coverage seems incidental to the literary selections rather than explicitly geographic.

The course 'does a great job of spanning various world cultures with books that will truly give students insight into unfamiliar worlds,' including Korean, Vietnamese, and European perspectives

The curriculum incorporates some primary sources through internet links and research assignments. The literature-based approach provides authentic historical perspectives, though these are literary rather than documentary primary sources.

Internet links are included for students to do additional research and reading, sometimes from primary sources, and books like memoirs provide first-person historical accounts

The curriculum follows a clear chronological structure through five units from the antebellum period to the 21st century. However, it may lack the systematic detail of traditional history textbooks, focusing more on broad themes than comprehensive chronological coverage.

Study is divided into five chronological units from 'Antebellum and the Civil War' through 'The Struggle for Freedom in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,' using Gilbert's history book as a spine text