The Student Workbook is intended to be used with the Teacher's Guide. Both provide chapter summaries which teachers may use in teaching students to read for the main idea. The Student Workbook contains reading questions for each chapter of the LAND OF HOPE text; the Teacher's Guide has the same questions with answers. Primary documents accompany each chapter, broken into shorter segments to help with reading comprehension. These documents also have reading questions; the Teacher's Guide provides the answers. Documents are often the text of speeches, but may include diary entries and song lyrics. There are about two dozen map exercises; the Teacher's Guide has the keys. There are synthetical essay questions for each chapter and for final exams. Learning strategies and study "tricks" are also given.

The purpose of the Student Workbook is to assist students in working through the LAND OF HOPE text with a close reading, and also to add some depth through the supplementary documents. The map exercises are "hands-on" and should help students master the crucially important geographic knowledge that the subject requires.