Pursing Gold A Novel of the Civil War

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

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Pursing Gold

a TOS Crew Review

Cynthia L Simmons/Heart of the Matter’s Pursuing Gold: History and Critical Thinking Curriculum and Pursing Gold novel fit perfectly into our study on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era this year.

Thank you, TOS Crew for giving us a chance to write a review on this subject.

Chaper One

Chapter one wastes no time pulling you into the storyline.

Civil War, Confederate soldiers, and Union spies have all of Chattanooga, Tennessee on edge, to say the least.

Stolen trains, frightening telegraphs, friends and family trying to leave the city in time all mixed together with a romance and true friendship keep you in suspense.

Peter Chandler has the job of holding down the city’s local financial institution – C&R Bank.

The story starts out with a very large and very angry Confederate supporter demanding that Peter supply the Confederacy with financial backing immediately.

Peter, discussed with the sights of slavery still fresh in his mind, tells this soldier he will not be getting the money he is demanding.

The Confederate soldier makes sure Peter understands that his decision is putting both the bank and himself in a mighty dangerous position.

Pursing Gold is a gripping novel that takes you on an adventure while teaching how the Civil War changed our American money.

American Money During the Civil War Era

From Gold, Silver, and Nickel to Paper Money

Many people don’t even use real money anymore. We live in a virtual world of online banking, credit cards, debit, and direct deposit.

The paper money we do use is affectionately called Green Backs since our American money is green.

Did you know our money wasn’t always green though?

Back when the Civil War started, people used coin money since it has actual value in gold, silver, and nickel.

Due to the stress the war had on the nation’s economy, we switched to paper money.

Both the Union and the Confederacy printed their own money.

When the South lost the war, their money became worthless.

Later, the North passed a law declaring paper money legal tender.

They chose to make their money green because it was hard for counterfeiters to copy it.

The Civil War literally changed our American currency.

Pursing Gold a History & Critical Thinking Curriculum

Workbook

Pursing Gold also has a History & Critical Thinking Curriculum companion study to coincide with the novel.

This workbook is easy to follow.

Each chapter gives a short lesson from the Civil War era, then has the student answer questions from the corresponding novel chapter.

It includes all 36 chapters, plus a complete teacher’s answer key and appendix.

A Few Things We Learned in Pursuing Gold: History and Critical Thinking Curriculum

We had fun learning a few different things in the Pursuing Gold: History and Critical Thinking Curriculum, like:

The difference between Confederate and Union money
Counterfeit money
Early forms of money
Fiat money
Salaries
Keeping a financial budget
Debt
Banks
Medical knowledge and care during the 1860s
Samuel Morse and his invention of the telegraph
Morse Code
Military
Soldiers
Spies
And so much more

This workbook thoroughly covers life during the Civil War era in the southern states.

Its main focus is on the state of Tennessee.

The Appendixes

I thoroughly enjoyed the appendixes, especially how they taught the students how to handle and budget money with hands-on activities.

How We Used This Curriculum

We had fun studying Pursing Gold.

It fit perfectly into both my homeschool’s study of the Civil War era, and my oldest daughter, Jaimie, and her children’s study of the Civil War time period.

We got together and did a fun, little group study on Pursing Gold.

Jaimie read the novel out loud to the children, then did a lot of oral discussions on what was read.

She also used a lot of the workbook questions during this discussion period.

The children completed their written work on separate pieces of paper instead of writing in the workbook itself.

We really enjoyed these lessons.

Although you can purchase the novel separately from the workbook, I highly recommend the workbook.

The workbook is filled with invaluable information.

The author has set the novel and workbook up to use simultaneously.

It is meant for you to complete chapter one in the workbook as soon as you complete chapter one of the novel.