Review: The American Heritage Education Foundation

While homeschooling can be done inexpensively, most homeschoolers I know are working hard to stay within a homeschooling budget. There are so many great sounding products that compete for those scarce green bills. With a plethora of reviews introducing new products appearing regularly on this blog, I sometimes feel like I'm contributing to the overspending of budgets. However, this review is a bit different from previous reviews. The product is completely FREE!


The American Heritage Education Foundation, provider of America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty, states the following mission statement on the website:

AHEF is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation dedicated to the understanding and teaching of America's factual and philosophical heritage to promote constructive citizenship and Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility among our students and citizens.

AHEF accomplishes this patriotic mission by writing, producing, and distributing FREE K-12 lesson plans to teachers, students, and families in all 50 states and through additional initiatives, programs, and partnerships.

AHEF sent me a copy of their CD version of this no-cost K-12 resource for review. Included on the CD are three levels of materials, elementary (also in Spanish), middle school, and high school, with approximately 185 pages each. Each level includes 15 lessons based on four key themes. These themes, Freedom, Unity, Progress and Responsibility, are described as "A Formula for America" by the founders of AHEF. Each lesson clearly states the purpose, objective, theme, NSCC standards, time, materials and preparation required. For the elementary level, coordinating passages from the Core Knowledge series are noted. Additional articles and reading material are included as well as printouts. Following each level is a teacher resource titled Religious Expression in Public Schools, covering a topic where misinformation is common.

While the lessons are intended for a classroom or group environment, many of them can be modified for use with individual students. Many of the worksheets could easily be used with whatever civics or history curriculum you currently use. For example, text scrambles of the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution in sign language, or president card printouts can be used independently of the lessons. The multiple levels on on CD are perfect to coordinate lessons among all of your students. While the lessons for each level don't completely align, there are several topics, e.g. the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, that appear in each level.

While I likely won't use the lessons fully as presented, many of the accompanying activities will fit in nicely as a supplement when studying American history or civics. As a resource that is FREE to all, this is certainly a supplemental resource that fits in to all budgets. America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty is available as a direct download or can be ordered on CD. You may also request a print copy in a binder for $19.50 per level. Visit the American Heritage Education Foundation website to find out more about this non-product foundation and to find more about the lesson plans.

Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew's blog to read more reviews on this product and others.

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result in my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew, a team of 100+ homeschooling parents. While the product was provided at no expense to me in order to provide this review, I have not received any other compensation. Furthermore, receipt of the product does not guarantee a positive review. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons and how the product worked for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool.