Primary History – Ancient Greece Pupil Book Paperback – September 2, 2019

I'm surprised I'm the first to review this nifty little book. Honestly, I scrolled right by this book a few times. I fell into the classic mistake of judging a book by its cover. Not that the cover is bad, but it's not super glam either. But my smarter half took the time to look inside all the various books, and she told me to go back and check out this one. And I'm glad she did!For a rather short book, it covers a great breadth of topics over many various aspects of ancient Greek life, including some that tend to get skipped over/ignored in history classes. The language is straightforward and easy to comprehend for the target audience. If I had to be critical, I'd say that the book lacks some historical nuance and depth, but we have to keep in mind what the goal of the book is. It is not meant to be a thorough history of the ancient Greeks, but rather to act as a supplement to in-class instruction or other history textbooks. A very minor quibble would also be that some of the ideas and beliefs of the book are slightly outdated academically as scholarship has progressed over the last decade or two. But this isn't a major issue and can easily be corrected by the instructor - it also gives a chance to discuss historiography a bit and the how/why our view of history shifts and changes over time.For me, the major selling point of this book is the integrated historical thinking skills. In each unit there is one main historical thinking skill that is focused upon, such as chronology, source criticism, significance, cause and effect, etc. These are exactly the kinds of skills we need to start promoting in our children from a young age. The ability to remember names, dates, and places isn't the most important takeaway from history any longer. With computers and smartphones, this kind of information is literally the tap of a finger away. What history offers to children is a fertile field for analytical and critical thinking, lifelong skills that are transferrable to any mental activity one might be tasked with. As a history teacher, this was the exact book I was looking for for my pupils to aid and supplement our in-class discussions. I definitely recommend it to other history teachers and parents who homeschool their children.