LVL E: History of Our Country-Soc Studie

I purchased this for two reasons, one our school system is one of the worst in the country (and I can't afford to home school) and my son is going into the 5th grade and knows NOTHING about social studies (or much else for that matter) So I decided that we'd try to educate him as much as possible on our own over the summer. I researched different books on the internet to find out what was grade appropriate and ordered this. First off, it's paperback and written as a text/workbook. The questions are written in the book and there is space there for him to write in his answers. The book is very colorful and covers basic American History fairly well. I wouldn't use it as a "here go read this" type book, you will still need to discuss the material in the book. But the workbook is full of ideas for discussion. It is also one of the few children's social studies books that mentions Eric the Red and his son, Leif Ericson as the first Europeans to discover the "New World" As far as this being an in-class text book; we're almost through it in under a month. So unless the teacher is doing a LOT of discussion on the topic I don't feel that your child will get a full understanding from simply reading the book. On the whole I am very glad I have made the purchase, I just wish it was a thicker book with a bit more detail.