Connecting History and Other Subjects

My public school education (in a good school, and as an honor student) was seriously lacking in nearly every way.  Sure, I learned how to take and pass a test with flying colors, but I retained so very little!  My 6-year-old son can tell you more about the history of the world than I can, and he's only had one year of instruction.....and he's retaining the information! 

Connecting math, science, and literature, to history is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling.  I came across a wonderful way to do so with chemistry today.  The American Chemical Society has four interactive features, including a timeline, of "National Historic Chemical Landmarks", or important events in chemical history.  They also have a This Week in Chemical History page.  We won't be starting chemistry officially for a couple of years, but I hope at least one of my readers can utilize this resource now.

One resource we will be using next year is Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself.  What a wonderful way to tie science to history, don't you think!?  This book is written for the nine-twelve age bracket and I will be using it with a just-turned seven-year-old.  However, he is a serious history buff and already thinks daVinci is one of the coolest guys ever.  LOL  If things seem to advanced for him to do we'll just set the book aside and use it on our next cycle through history.

I also just purchased Science And Technology In The Middle Ages by Joanne Findon.  I have high hopes for this book, I just hope it lives up to them!

And I imagine most of you have heard of Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians, which is the perfect book for tieing math and history together!  There is also a second volume in what I hope will become an entire series!

Please comment and share what you use to tie history to other subjects!

Genesee Country Village

Last month we went on a field trip with one of the local homeschool groups to Genesee Country Village in Mumford, NY.   What a cool place!  We're going back in July for a Civil War Reenactment.  And in August they are having an event called The Life and Times of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  We won't be going to that one, but I had to mention it in case anyone within a couple of hours' drive of Mumford is a fan.  It is definitely worth the drive!

Statue Outside of the Carriage House Museum

Pioneer Barn

Sheep

Drug Store

Post Office

Civil War Union Soldier (Sargeant)

At the Weaver's House

General Store

Shoemaker's Shop

Catholic Church

Toll Bridge

Gazebo

My Plan for American History

ETA ~ My history-loving son has begged me to do history 5 days a week, so the following plans are changing.  I'm going to go ahead and do American History as a separate course alongside our world history course.  I will still be using the listed resources, just in a different timeframe.  I'll try to link to the updated plans when I get them posted.

I've gone around and around trying to figure out how I want to do American History.  I think I'm going to pick a plan and stick with it so I don't drive myself to drink.  I believe that it's important to know the history of our country in-depth, but I also think that learning our history in context with that of the rest of the world is important.  So I'm going to continue to use The Story of the World series by Susan Wise Bauer for world history but interject extra studies in chapters when American history topics arise. 

I'll be pulling book ideas from the Winter Promise Early American History, Living Books Curriculum, and Sonlight book lists, as well as using CoreKnowledge Lesson Plans.

What follows are my plans for second through fourth grades.  Grade 1 is the study of ancient world history, so American history doesn't really factor in.  We've already read some books and had a few lessons on Vikings and Native Americans, but I'm going to back off for now and wait until next year to really dig in.  Some SOTW chapters are missing from the list.  I don't have all of the books in front of me, so I'm not positive what the topic is for all of the chapters yet.

Grade 2 ~ The Middle Ages (Pre-colonial and Colonial American)

Chapter 14: The Arrival of the Norsemen (SOTW2) 
                 Vikings  (link to a blog post of mine)
Chapter 31: Exploring New Worlds (SOTW2)
Chapter 32: The American Kingdoms (SOTW2)
Chapter 33: Spain, Portugal, and the New World (SOTW2)
                 Explorers (link to a blog post of mine)
                 Travel to Mesoamerica pdf (CK Lesson Plans)
                 Columbus and the Conquistadors pdf (CK Lesson Plans)

Chapter 40: New Ventures to the Americas (SOTW2)
                 Thirteen Colonies (link to a blog post of mine)

                 Land Ho!  Early Exploration and Settlement of the Americas pdf (CK Lesson Plans)

                

Grade 3 ~ Early Modern Times (Birth of a Nation )
Hero Tales From American History by Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt

Chapter 22: Revolution! (SOTW3)

                 The American Revolution and Its Heroes pdf (CK Lesson Plans) 
Chapter 23: The New Country (SOTW3)

Chapter 32: The Opened West (SOTW3)
                   Go West Young Man! pdf (CK Lesson Plans)
Chapter 33: The End of Napoleon (SOTW3)
                   Oh, Say Can You See and Learn About the War of 1812? pdf (CK Lesson Plans)               
Chapter 36: The Slave Trade Ends (SOTW3)
Chapter 38: American Tragedies (SOTW3)   
Chapter 40: Mexico and Her Neighbor (SOTW3)
Chapter 42: The World of Forty-Nine (SOTW3)

Grade 4 ~ The Modern Age 
Hero Tales From American History by Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt
Chapter 5: The American Civil War (SOTW4)
                 A Nation Divided pdf Civil War (CK Lesson Plans)

Chapter 20: Revolution In the Americas … War In the World (WWI)
Chapter 21: A Revolution Begins, and the Great War Ends (WWI)
Chapter 26: The Great Crash, and What Came of It
Chapter 28: The Second World War
Chapter 29: The End of World War II
Chapter 35: The Cold War
Chapter 36: Struggles and Assassinations
Chapter 37: Two Short Wars and One Long One
Chapter 42: The End of the Twentieth Century

American Government

I have found a free online resource, found at the PASS Website and in pdf format, that could be used for a spine for American History, but I'm still exploring it to see if it is age appropriate for the elementary years.  So far it looks like a better choice for middle school, and we already have Joy Hakim's A History of US on the shelf. 

Paper Dolls

My boys adore paper dolls.  I am constantly looking for free paper dolls online.  They love to re-enact scenes from stories we read, and I love seeing that they are absorbing the material.  But I really don't like all of the ink that it takes me to print them, and considering I'm still using an inkjet printer instead of a laser printer this can be an expensive project!  I don't know why it never occurred to me to see what Dover Publications offers in the way of historical paper dolls.  Check these out.....

American Family Paper Dolls
Byzantine Costumes Paper Dolls
Ancient Greek Costumes Paper Dolls
Medieval Costumes Paper Dolls
Russian Imperial Costumes Paper Dolls
Gothic Costumes Paper Dolls
Japanese Warrior Costumes Paper Dolls
Traditional African Costumes Paper Dolls
Victorian Family Paper Dolls
Mumtaz of the Taj Mahal Paper Dolls

Thanksgiving

Scholastic: The First Thanksgiving
Plimoth Plantation's You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving

American History Links

Links that don't fit in just one category or don't warrant an entire post to themselves.

This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall (free online)
Ambleside Online's This Country of Ours breakdown
Jump Back In Time from America's Library
The Pledge of Allegiance: A Short History
Freedom: A History of Us from PBS
Betwixt Fate and Folly (1774 Williamsburg)
George Washington's World for Kids
Harvest of History (1845)
Command the U-505 (WWII)
American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement
Guest Hollow's Memorable Places American History Curriculum
Liberty's Kids episode Midnight Ride
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government (grades K-2)
From Colonies to Revolution from TeacherOz
Slavery in America
From Revolution to Reconstruction

Vikings

TCOO: How the Vikings of Old Sought and Found New Lands

Viking Tales by Jennie Hall

Vikingapyssel This site isn't in English, but there are some neat things to check out.

BBC Primary History: Vikings

Viking ship coloring page from Crayola

Explorers of the World

This blog has some nice resources for a study of the explorers of the world.  I particularly love the Explorers Cards!

Imagine of Leif Erickson for timeline 
Image of Christopher Columbus for timeline  
Image of Hernán Cortés for timeline
Image of Francisco Vaquez de Coronado for timeline
Image of Ponce de Leon for timeline
Image of Hernando de Soto for timeline
Conquistador coloring page

Teacher Oz has a nice list of links for Exploration and Discovery.


The Mariners' Museum also has some nice resources on Exploration Through the Ages.


We hear so much about European explorers, but what about explorers from other parts of the world?  Chinese mariner Zheng He (Cheng Ho)


American Journeys is full of eyewitness accounts of exploration in North America for the older student.


Social Studies for Kids has lots of good info about a dozen or more explorers.

Thirteen Colonies

I came across a nice resource for the thirteen colonies that will be useful to us in the future.  This is a set of downloads for printable wheels that would be great for a lapbook.

Thirteen Colonies Wheels

Native Americans

One of the main resources we are using for our Native American studies is a series of lessons about the People of America from Pronto Lessons.  These are free lessons, and are scripted if you like that thing.  (I don't, but it's not hard to ignore the scripting.)

The Native American tribes discussed and the extra resources we are using are listed below.  One of the best sites for what book NOT to use for Native American studies is the Oyate Books to Avoid list.  

Lore can be found at the Native American Lore Index from ilhawaii.net.

Native American paper house models can be fun to make.

Inuit/Yupik
The Eye of the Needle: based on a Yupik Tale


Iroquois
Pronto Lessons: Iroquois Part 1 Iroquois Part 2
Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Jake Swamp (check it out at Amazon)
If You Lived With the Iroquois Lapbook from Homeschool Share
paper model of a longhouse 

Cherokee 
Pronto Lessons: Cherokee

Only the Names Remain: The Cherokees and the Trail of Tears by Alex Bealer  (check it out at Amazon)

The Turquoise Horse: Prose and Poetry of the American Indian

Cheyenne 
Pronto Lessons: Cheyenne

paper model of a teepee

Buffalo Hunt by Russell Freedman

Apache 
Pronto Lessons: Apache

Geronimo coloring sheet

portions of Geronimo: His Own Story

Ute 
Pronto Lessons: Ute

The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola

Nez Perce
Pronto Lessons: Nez Perce

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola

Makah
Pronto Lessons: Makah

Wiyot
Pronto Lessons: Wiyot


Other Native American studies links:
Native American Lapbook (corresponds to Pronto Lessons!) from Lapbook Lessons
Lesson Plans from Mr. Donn
Native Child
Learn About Native Americans (Arlington Heights School District 25)
Apples for the Teacher Online (and printable) Native American Coloring Pages
Andy's American History Worksheets
One State Many Nations
Chief Joseph
Sequoyah(Cherokee)
Famous Native Americans
Native Americans from Teacher Oz

The completed pages for the history notebook, as well as a very simple lapbook.  I think some of his drawings are very impressive for an almost-6-year-old!

American History

We're going to be doing a six-year cycle for American History.  I was planning on using This Country of Ours: The Story of the United States by H.E. Marshall (see the bottom part of my post for specifics) but it is just not working for us.  Perhaps we can come back to it on our next cycle through history, but it's a little too dry and boring for my first grader.

As of January 2010 we will be using a variety of story books and the book Question & Answer Encyclopedia: The USA by Paragon Publishing (that I picked up a TJMaxx for $5) until I can find another reference encyclopedia for kids that I like.


Look for a future post detailing our new plan.

*******************************************************

We're going to be doing a six-year cycle for American History.  For the early elementary years we will be utilizing the free online book This Country of Ours: The Story of the United States by H.E. Marshall as well as a ton of other resources.

In 1st and 7th grades we will be learning about:
Native Americans
Explorers and Pioneers
Stories of Virginia

In 2nd and 8th grades we will be learning about:
Stories of New England
Stories of the Middle and Southern Colonies

In 3rd and 9th grades we will be learning about:
Stories of the French in America
Stories of the Struggle for Liberty

In 4th and 10th grades we will be learning about:
Stories of the US Under the Constitution
Presidents

In 5th and 11th grades we will be learning about:
Gold Rush
Civil War
WWI to Modern Times

In 6th and 12th grades we will be learning about:
US Government