19th Century Schoolbooks is  fabulous for some ebook downloads. We have used A First Book in American History by Edward Eggleston. You will find it is more comprehensive than public school history text and much less agenda. It tells history like an adventure story full of wit and charm. There are some facts we quibble about at home, but so far it has served as a good beginning. We also plan on using The Young American, or, Book of Government and Law by Samuel G.Goodrich for our Civics requirement in our state. I chose this book because it really dives into the discussion of liberty and the purpose of government. It was written in a time, it seems where ideals were still close to the ideals of our founders.  

If you need to print a book for one of your children, you might go crazy when you figure out that you can only print one page at a time. This is a bummer, however there are other website to download and print these titles at. If you find a title you like and desire to print it, try searching for the title at one of the following sites: 

https://archive.org/

http://www.gutenberg.org/

http://books.google.com/

http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html

I find the books style and vocabulary refreshing. I prefer the content in the “readers” far more than some contemporary text. They tend to include high moral standards, problem solving, and charm. I have found that some authors write a series including different age groups for the same topic. You can simply go to the preface of a book that you like. Most tell you the age group the book is intended for and what other books are included in the series. This is a great option. I can download the 3rd grade version for my son, the 4/5th grade version for my oldest and they can discuss the topic having understood it fully from a text that was comfortable to them.