The Fight for Freedom: True Stories of America's War for Independence

Rifles, Tomahawks and Knives

Rifles, Tomahawks, and Knives #homeschoolhistory
Sometimes getting active boys excited about school can be challenging. When we received The Fight for Freedom for review, Speedy was intrigued right away. The Student Textbook has a cannon on the front so it's an attention grabber right from the start. This collection of biographies from the Revolution is for grades 4th-6th and is published by MasterBooks. We received the Student Textbook, the Teacher Guide that includes Student Worksheets, and access to some Uncle Rick audiofiles.



There are 34 chapters in The Fight for Freedom. Each one focuses on a key individual or group of individuals from the Revolutionary War period. It begins with George Washington and ends with George Whitefield and Richard Allen (the Black Robe Regiment). Each chapter is 6-12 pages long and includes much information via text and pictures. The text gives information about the history of the individual along with their role in the battles. There are also relavent Bible verses included along with side stories to enhance the history lessons. The student text is 296 pages long and includes a Table of Contents, Bibliography, and End Notes.

The Teacher's Guide gives a suggested pace for 5 day school weeks and 4 day school weeks. The total number of weeks on the suggested schedule is 36. Speedy (4th grade) has been reading the suggested section of the chapter 3 times per week and doing the corresponding questions for the section (3-4 per day). Then on day 4 he listens to the Uncle Rick audio and chooses one of the projects to complete. The questions are very easy and correspond directly to the text. The projects are fairly simple. Some involve pretending, some are writing letters, and some are making an item like a quill pen. All of the worksheets are included in the Teacher's Guide, and there is one for each chapter. The Teacher's Guide is 114 pages, and it includes the "Introduction: How to Use this Guide". The answers are included in the back. There are also 4 quizzes to use quarterly. There is also a Bibliography and a Recommended Resources section. This Teacher's Guide is one of the easiest to follow that I've seen. Everything is laid out well and organized. Since Speedy is reading his lessons on his own, I really only have to grade his worksheet and project each week. So easy!




The Teacher's Guide does give permission to make up to 10 copies of the worksheets for a class, but I've allowed Speedy to write in my book since he's the only student using it. We have the Uncle Rick audio selections downloaded to our computer, and he listens to the corresponding lesson on Thursdays. These are just additional little lessons to go with each chapter. Since we are an audiobook loving family, the audio files have been readily welcomed into Speedy's lesson time. The questions for each chapter follow right along with the reading. He has been doing a great job with each lesson, the questions, and the projects. Since he's been so interested, he's even opted to do more than 1 project on some occasions!

This curriculum is part of the History for Patriots line by Rick and Marilyn Boyer. They also offer a similar curriculum titled America's Struggle to Become a Nation (Timeline of the Revolution) for the same age range. Speedy has been so interested in The Fight for Freedom, I am putting the other study on his wishlist for next year! He calls his current study his Revolution class, and I haven't had to remind or beg him to do it even once. He tells us about his lessons when he is finished with them. He has been discussing a career in the military, and this study on brave men and women of the Revolution has just stoked that fire. Of course, I appreciate the emphasis on Bible verses and the morals of each person.

Review by Edie Carter