Curriculum Review: A River of Voices - US history by Blossom and Root

I was a paid consultant on A River of Voices – Volume 1 (I do not directly benefit from sales, I was paid one time for my consultation. I was not paid to write this review, these are my own thoughts and feelings.) I was happy to develop a working relationship with Blossom and Root. They are working very hard to create curriculum that is inclusive, diverse, and listen to the people they are writing about.

A River of Voices is a US history curriculum that can be adapted up or down for levels K through 12. It includes three pathways: gentle (for younger or sensitive learners), standard, and advanced (for junior high and high school levels). This is not a textbook or an “open and go” curriculum. Each lesson includes a short introduction, reading selections from the “spines” (the books that make up the main reading for this curriculum), and additional books, activities, web links, and videos. You can choose how much or how little of the additional links that you use. At the end of each lesson there is a reflection/journal activity for students to tie together everything they learned in that lesson. Volume 1 of this curriculum goes through 1791. Additional volumes are being created and will be published at later dates.

This is the first US history curriculum that I am happy to recommend. The author put a tremendous amount of research into getting this right. When they sent me the original draft it was already a good curriculum. It needed some book changes, some things removed or added, and additional links when it came to the Native American aspect of it, but overall it did not need much. The author took all of my recommendations to heart and made some fantastic changes. It uses books and resources written by Native, Black and Latino authors throughout. The desire to tell US history from multiple perspectives is very apparent and done well, in my opinion.

When it comes to Native Americans, we are included throughout the curriculum (and will be in future volumes as well). Many textbooks and curriculum exclude Natives after 1890, or sometimes before. The lessons that are included in most texts are minimal at best and often full of stereotypes. This curriculum is a response to that problem. The books and resources used are Native authored or highly respected resources. It uses many Own Voices books to give a complete picture. There are several lessons about Native Americans specifically, but even in the lessons where we are just one aspect, we are not diminished to the footnotes or sidelines. We are an integral part of them. The lesson on the US Constitution also includes an extension lesson about treaties with Native nations and why that is vital to understanding US history. This is not something I have ever seen in a k-12 curriculum.

I think this curriculum belongs in every homeschool, public school and private school. Used as a full curriculum, homeschool families will get a lot out of it. If you don’t want or need a textbook format, this is the curriculum for you! It could be a fantastic resource for public or private school teachers to use in the classroom to supplement their required materials. Obviously in that setting it wouldn’t be used as a full curriculum (unless the school allows it), but for additional books and resources as well as classroom videos it would be an excellent addition.