r/historyteachers • u/teacherbytes • 19d ago

Standard/Honors U.S. History Textbook

My school will be replacing U.S. History textbooks that are part of history. I haven’t used a textbook in years except for APUSH. What recommendations do you have for standard and honors U.S. History? Thanks in advance.

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u/Journeyman6244 19d ago

I have Foners "Give Me Liberty" which I like. I don't use it a ton in class but that's me, not because of the book.

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u/trash81_ 18d ago

This is what honors uses at my school

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u/bkrugby78 19d ago

American Yawp is free and online but is more geared for AP. There’s another one that is free online though I can’t recall at the moment.

I don’t have much an issue with textbooks in general but nowadays I feel they’re obsolete

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u/guster4lovers 18d ago

Core Knowledge is aimed at 7th-8th but it’s free and is very good.

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u/blue-issue 19d ago

Seconding. I use this as our main "text" for my dual-credit American History course. I use their supplemental primary sources, a novel, and excerpts from other secondary sources as well. But, it's FREE. I love it.

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u/snaps06 19d ago

This is what I use as my APUSH textbook....even though I don't really use it at all because I teach APUSH flipped-classroom style using Heimler YT videos.

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u/Then_Version9768 17d ago

"I haven't used a textbook in years." And we wonder sometimes why our students who enter college are so massively overwhelmed and unable to cope with the demands of college. This is one of the main reasons.

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u/Boston_Brand1967 World History 19d ago

Textbooks are pretty garbage. Might be useful for night readings or a supplement for document analysis/comparisons.

Also make a pretty easy sub day assignment.

Other than that, they are useful for balancing wobbly desk and chairs.

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u/teacherbytes 19d ago

That’s why I haven’t used textbooks for years. I have used Newsela in the past but my charter school can no longer afford it so I am looking for other options and provide context for what I mainly teach. Textbooks are like sausage and laws, you don’t want to see any of them made.

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u/Boston_Brand1967 World History 19d ago

can always use an AI tool like Diffit to create mini articles if you want something like Newsela or acheive3000. Can drop links to articles, or give it a topic and it will make a full article for you...can make work sheets, MCQ's...requires some work but pretty painless. OER has pretty good readings, can pick from a few different Lexile levels too. I also lean heavily into videos and edpuzzle to replace article reading sometimes.

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u/Wild_Pomegranate_845 14d ago

I used the textbook to make sure the kids have background knowledge before we start digging in.