Please help me jump start our American history study!!

[Virginia Heather]

All along I've planned on spending this year and next on American history (in lieu of SOTW 3 & 4), but due to extraneous activities (moving, preparation for a new baby, etc.) and my lack of motivation in general, our study has sputtered and died. I was using homemade plans (to include TQ, Guerber and the VP cards) but they aren't working out too well. Guerber, while beautifully written, just isn't holding our attention at this point, or perhaps I'm just lacking enough discipline at this moment to keep it all together. I know my boys (9 & a new 7) could really dig this if I get my act together... I just need some help... please!

Is there a different spine, or perhaps an entire program, that really worked well for your younger set, that you can recommend? My brain needs refreshing-- what *are* my options and how can I make this study more enjoyable?

Thanks so much!

[angela in ohio]

When my girls were that age, we used A Beka's 4th grade history as a spine and just read through a list of American history fiction books in chronological order, definitely not spending equal time on it all. We only did up to the Civil War in one year. We lingered in the colonial period and over the Revolutionary War. I focus more on the 3R's in the early years, so I needed a low-fuss history idea. We added in some little kits (build a Mayflower, etc.) and field trips. They really enjoyed it and retained a huge amount.

I think CM is so wise on this: The fatal mistake is in the notion that he must learn 'outlines', or a baby edition of the whole history of England, or of Rome, just as he must cover the geography of all the world. Let him, on the contrary, linger pleasantly over the history of a single man, a short period, until he thinks the thoughts of that man, is at home in the ways of that period.

[Tammyla]

Beautiful Feet has some wonderful books. www.bfbooks.com We lived in DC at the time and it seemed like a field trip was always close by and easy to further enjoy our studies. We loved American History. Check out the History Pockets for an easy study. Don't stress it, just enjoy it. Real books and real places always worked well for us.

[Stacey in MD]

Someone posted this site the other day with a free American History curriculum. We weren't planning to do American History yet, but when I saw this curriculum, I decided we might do it next year in addition to SOTW 2.

http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/history/americanonline.html

Hope this helps!

Stacey

[Virginia Heather]

nt

[St. Theophan Academy]

Have you looked at the Time Travelers by Homeschool in the Woods? These are really neat, with lots of fun things that boys will get excited about.

[SnowWhite]

We will be using WinterPromise's American Story 1 and 2 for grades 2 and 3 starting in July. I have TQ AHYS 1 and plan to incorporate some of the commentary. (I'll buy v2&3 if it works out well). I know myself well enough to know if I try to do "pure" TQ it'll never get done. WP looks wonderful and has worked great for grade 1.

[Colleen in SEVA]

The Story of US by Joy Hakim

Or, perhaps just read a lot of biographies and then do online research about the locations mentioned (this is what we are doing to hold us over until we do an actual study of US history in 2 years).

[Peek a Boo]

A couple year-long activities are:

president's Tree: cut out a brown paper trunk w/ several horizontal 'levels' of branches. tape it to the wall. make sure the bottom half of each branch isn't taped down --you'll need to attach the apples to that part ;-)
cut out [how many presidents do we have now??] apples from red paper and a green leaf for each apple. As you move thru history, add to each apple a pic of a president, his name, dates served, and on the leaf, his #. I used a twist tie to attach each apple to the branch, starting w/ the lowest branch next to the trunk, and moving upward "growing" with the tree.

States notebook: i used 50states.com to print out a simple outline map and let the kids color and label it as it was added to the US. very simple, but it added up fast, lol.

a good series of biographies for those ages is by David Adler called "A Picture-book Biography of [What's their Name]" scroll down his books at this site to see a listing of the "picture book biography" ones:

http://www.davidaadler.com/newsletter.htm

Good luck!

[Cadam]

You might see if Adventures in My Father's World (http://mfwbooks.com) would be a good fit. It is for 2nd and 3rd grades.

[Mel]

I wouldn't know what to do w/out United Streaming it's been awesome!

I also LOVE the Cornerstones of Freedom books they are GREAT.

I use those + books I pick up here & there on the topic.