A Peek Inside “How Our Nation Began”


This a really sweet introduction to American History.  It’s not especially graphic about deaths and battles (which disappoints my son), but it’s very kind to all groups involved in the settling of the New World.  It places a great emphasis on how religion really drove many of the great events in our nations early history and though it’s unapologetically Catholic, it is sympathetic to the plight of the Puritans and others fleeing persecution.

If I had to identify a bias, I’d say that the Church of England might find that they’re the bad guys in a lot of stories, but it’s still pretty light-handed. Very important to note is that Catholics were forbidden from practicing their religion in the early colonies!  I had no idea.


The book isn’t as thick as it looks in this picture, but it is thicker than the Abeka books.  It’s only 185 pages, 160 of which are actual chapter text.  See below for a shot of the text (the underlining is mine to help my son find answers to the study section questions.)


My son’s reading isn’t strong enough yet to make this a fast read, so we do it aloud.  I don’t like to mix skills.  One thing to master at a time.  If he had already mastered this level of reading, I would make him do it, but since he’d be struggling BOTH to learn the history and to conquer the reading, I read it to him.  And I really enjoy it!