Homeschooling mom Delina Pryce McPhaul, of Woke Homeschooling, didn’t initially set out to write a curriculum. But, after making the effort to give her children an accurate picture of US history, she realized that that’s exactly what she’d done. After a long slog of adapting and supplementing whitewashed curriculums, she had enough material to create Oh, Freedom. This is much to the benefit of the US homeschooling population! Many traditional US history resources center a colonizer’s perspective and downplay, or even romanticize, atrocities committed throughout the making of the United States. Oh, Freedom is guided by the African (country unknown) proverb, “until the story of the hunt is told by the lion, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”

Though the author mentions her religion on her page, she offers an explicitly secular version of Oh, Freedom, which is reviewed here. The PDF offers guidelines for teaching racially conscious US history and is designed for learners in 3rd-7th grades. The curriculum could easily be adapted or used as-is for younger and older learners, however. Given the nature of US history taught in many US public schools, educators may find that they are learning alongside their students! Though Oh, Freedom covers some difficult topics, it’s impossible to accurately teach US history without addressing some very tough issues. Woke Homeschooling (and Secular Homeschooler) believe that with gentle support and guidance from parents and educators, children of all ages are ready to address some of these issues. With this context provided, students will gain a more complete understanding of US History and contemporary issues. The author has attempted to provide educators a heads-up when materials contain heavier truths. Thoughtful discussion questions are provided that will help learners to understand the impact and context of historical events.

The curriculum outlines 38 weeks of learning, and McPhaul acknowledges that it could easily take families 2 years to get through everything. The material can be heavy so especially with younger learners, it could take a while to address all of the suggested reading assignments. The author provides suggestions for which books will be revisited frequently and thus are worth purchasing and denotes which books will be used for two weeks or less and so can hopefully be checked out from the library. Additional links are provided, and while online resources can shift and thus can’t be guaranteed, the curriculum was written in 2019, and so should be largely still accurate at the time of the publication of this post.

Educators can buy the 45-page PDF for $39.99. For $10, learners can add a companion journal, where students can record their insights and engage more deeply with their learning.