I bought this book last year to help homeschool my 3rd grade son. We use Spectrum workbooks for other subjects, but they don't offer history, so I chose this book. It is a really great book! It begins with the explorers and brings you right up to now. I love how this book is laid out, within units, there are time lines so you can "see" what you are going to learn about. The there are chapters within units, each one narrows down on a specific subject. At the end of each chapter, there is an activity. Some activities are making posters, writing, acting out, math, etc. We are able to read one chapter per class, which makes this exceptionally easy. Each chapter is also told in story form, not boring classroom text form. At the end of each chapter, I personally give my son questions to answer about what he has read. This book lasted us all through 3rd grade, and now into 4th. For the price, it is a good deal.