America's Story looks so dense in its content. I can't imagine my 8-year-old sitting through me reading all that.

I LOVED this review and comparison! I have never seen any Masterbook textbooks so this was a great help. I used Abeka and Bob Jones with my own children, and I thought that Abeka made it sound like every American leader was a devout Christian whereas Bob Jones seemed more balanced. I'm now homeschooling my little grandchildren and I love your simplified approach. That's how I am doing it. I LOVED this Masterbooks selection.

I really appreciate the worksheet pdf document. This is what I was looking for and the best of all, free!!. Also, remembering you in prayers these days.

I am also torn on this. On one hand, I absolutely love the way Angela O'Dell writes to the student. We previously used her series The World's Story from MasterBooks and we loved the textbook, the worksheets not so much. They were open ended, hard to grade because "answers may vary" was the answer to most questions, which meant I needed to read the textbook too in order to grade the worksheet. On the other hand, going from start to finish, or early American settlements to modern history in just one year seems a bit rushed. Like maybe things will be glossed over, covering a wide span of time, but nothing deeply. Honestly, that might be best for the grade it's intended for. I think I may have just talked myself into using Abeka, lol.

This was very helpful. Thank you!

Do you buy the teacher guides for Abeka? If so when and what subjects would be good to get them?

Personally I prefer the Abeka. I'm personally torn between Abeka and Notgrass for history.

They both look like solid choices! Thanks for the look inside

I haven't used Abeka, but we really do love America's Story. You could theoretically use both. We don't really do the worksheets with America's story, but we do add read aloud and other fun things. I recently posted a video about it on my channel. Ultimately though, it really comes down to your goals and what your kids would like best.

If you haven't noticed... I just found you 😅 Sorry for all of the comments. We are doing America's Story 1 this year as well! I have really enjoyed it. I can tell my 3rd grader is definitely retaining more. I'm really taking the approach of: my first grader catches what he can, and we'll probably repeat it again in a few years". I have decided to slow it down and make it last possibly 2 years. We did a little from Notgrass 50 States curriculum last year, and my kids really enjoyed that. However the homeschool mom is me was like, "we need to do more, they need a real history curriculum", so we have left that sitting on the shelf. I have decided, after Christmas, we will drag out the Americas Story 1, add in the worksheets, and also add back in the Notgrass States. It will take as long as it takes to get through it all. That may be 2 years! I ultimately want my kids to enjoy it and not feel so rushed and crammed. I am also excited about the free printanles you linked! They go perfect with this curriculum!

I am torn between these two and Notgrass when the time comes. We are going into first grade and have already chosen for this year but I like to look ahead to get ideas. Thank you for this helpful video! I might choose Masterbooks to do a more detailed look of time periods while using Abeka to focus on historical figures and focus on verbal narration rather than writing, short YT videos, and leave it open for rabbit-trails. They both seem so good for what they offer. I don’t think you can go wrong with choosing either one.

Abeka to me offers more age appropriate activities, colorful pictures, kid friendly and more flexibility with what you do for each lesson. I think it would be a wonderful spine and seems super solid. My vote goes to Abeka :)

I chose the Master books. I chose my curriculum early (when I had extra money) and now I wish I would've waited because I've seen so much about Abeka, that I want to try it. Not just for history, but for other subjects too! So maybe next year, I will try Abeka.

Nice flip through! I have used both of these. I liked them both. I think choosing will depend on your style of teaching and how you plan to use them. At the time of using MB, my kids were 8, 7, 4, 2. We used only a handful of pages from the Teacher Guide. I read the chapter one day a week and checked out books from thw library and Google searched lapbooking/notebook pages for each chapter. The kids worked on them as I read aloud. We only completed AS1. The next year we finished Abeka's book you showed. It is a much more traditional approach. We used the lesson plans and all accompanying books. It was A LOT! I think my kids enjoyed a literature approach better. I did enjoy the spiraling geography review. 😃 I def think either book is great! If I could go back, I would use just the text from Abeka and maybe map skills book. Add in books, videos (we did some) and focus on slowing down (not everyday) and hands-on activities. 😃 New sub here!

This is a few months old, but Abeka is great, but overkill sometimes on the history and science test, quizzes and work required. I feel like Masterbooks is made for homeschoolers and its way more doable for homeschoolers.

Thanks for the flip throughs! I’m trying to decide between these 2 for next year. My issue with Abeka is knowing what pages from the Map Skills book go with what lesson. Any tips on figuring that out? I didn’t have the lesson plan book for 2nd grade history and it was kinda confusing trying to figure it out.

We tried notgrass last year and it was not for us. I've been torn between abeka and beautiful feet. The price point has me leaning toward abeka. I've also thought about just simply adding in a lot more history, historical fiction and biographies through read alouds. Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated!

In Abeka's books for the comprehension checks are you supposed to write in the book or are they supposed to write it on paper?

Which did you choose?!

Does it come with tests or quizzes??

Does is actually say that God created the universe, earth, animals and Adam and Eve 4000 B.C.? I'm stunned.