Hi,
I have decided to begin homeschooling this year. I previously went to a public high school, but I have decided that I would like to homeschool instead. I am a A students and I was in pre-IB and honors programs at my high school. I have decided to homeschool so that I am able to have more time to pursue my outside interests (history, community service activities), as well as to be exempt from the social pressures and busywork that public high schools encompass. I do plan on following a rigorous school schedule though since I would like to attend UNC-Chapel Hill or another such school.
I am trying to find a good textbook that would prepare me for the AP U.S. History exam. Does anyone know of one? Also, would using this textbook along with a study guide such as Princeton Review prepare me well for the exam?
Thank you very much for your help,
Anna

I think that reading high quality biographies and books about history (Shelby Foote, David McCullough, etc), as opposed to textbooks, combined with some of the AP materials that you can find almost anywhere is what I would recommend for a homeschooler. Finding reading material that brings history alive for you, will be better than slogging through texts, and then the AP prep books will help you know what to expect, and prepare you for the actual test.

Good luck! My oldest did AP U.S. History in high school, and ended up with the credit. Good luck with UNC as well. DS was accepted there, but they offered very little in merit aid, so he stayed in-state.

When my son took this, he used Liberty Equality Power, by Murrin, Johnson, McPherson, Gerstle, Rosenberg and Rosenberg. I've been a fan of Paul Johnson for years, so I felt this was a good choice. James McPherson, another of the authors, is known for his Civil War expertise. Each author wrote different chapters of the book.

In addition to this as the textbook, my son read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, selected chapters in deToqueville's Democracy in America; Rise to Globalism - American Foreign Policy Since 1938 by Stephen Ambrose; and Breakout - The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950 by Martin Russ.

We have always used the Princeton Review books, but I have also had my kids do the Peterson's prep books as well for additional multiple choice questions. The main thing to remember about AP US History is that, unlike world or Euro history courses, you are covering a shorter span of time, so questions can be more specific and in-depth than those other history courses.

Also, it can be important to set up a schedule and stay on schedule: I have a friend whose honor-student-caliber daughter took US History a couple years ago and the teacher had not gotten to WWII by the time of the exam. Further, the teacher did not have the students do any DBQ's until the week before the exam (this was a highly regarded public high school in our area with a reputation for rigorous academics). The central portion of the AP exam she took dealt with the Cold War and the civil rights movement, which they had not covered! And since they had not practiced DBQ's until the week before the exam, she did not do well. She ended up with a 2 for the exam---no credit after all that work. My son practiced DBQ's all during the year, got through all the materials, and had no problem with the exam (got a 5). I think practicing the DBQ's is huge.

If you can find someone to evaluate your practice DBQ's that can help. The College Board offers "released exams" for sale so you can see previous years' exams; they have a package (for teachers, I think) of sample DBQ responses. This is instructive because they show you what kind of grade is received for different responses---gives you some idea of the standards.