Term 1: A Look Back at History and Geography

I think our history studies this term were so much fun.  For Caeley (Grade 3), we do both Ancient and U.S. history, while Meara (grade K/1) is just learning about seasonal events and holidays.

I wrote my own Native American Unit Study based on a compilation of tons of online resources and books.  While it was certainly an "overview" and meant to last only twelve weeks (the length of one "Charlotte Mason" term), it could easily have been fleshed out more and used as a year long study.  Unfortunately, I am feeling like we're never going to finish US History, so I'm trying to move us along!  Here is a copy of my unit plan and the activity sheet that is meant to go with it.  Feel free to use it, as we all know that homeschooling is about begging, borrowing, and stealing!  :-)

Native American Unit Study

Native American Unit Study Activity Sheet

For Ancient History we have been plugging along through Story of the World Volume 1: Ancients.  I love it!  In fact, I love it so much, that last year we spent an entire year on it and only made it through about ten chapters!  I decided we'd continue this year with it, but move at a much quicker pace!  The beauty of it, especially if you have the teacher's guide/workbook, is that you can really dig as deeply into the topics as you want, or just do the bare minimum, which is still a great survey type approach.  There's also this wonderful website where you can find even more information and projects to do (beg, borrow, steal!)  We're finding a much better balance this year of doing some things, reading some of the books, but not doing or reading everything.

In addition to these "curricula" we also use a timeline book to place the historical figures we encounter along the way.  I use the Homeschool In the Woods Historical Timeline Figures or pictures that I snatch from Wikipedia and print them on Avery "Full Sheet Label" paper.  I collect all the figures for the term on one page as we go through the term, and at the end of the term we "review" what we've learned by putting all the stickers into the timeline book.  It would be better to do it as we go along, but because the label paper is so expensive (so we need to fill a page before printing), and I abhor the thought of using glue in a timeline book that's so nice, we do what we have to do.

For Geography, we are constantly doing map work as it comes up in our Ancient History and US History studies.  We also read Holling C. Holling's Tree in the Trail this term, doing the accompanying map work laid out in the guide by Beautiful Feet Books.  Originally I thought this would be too much, but because the book ties in perfectly with our Native American unit, and because Holling C. Holling's books are truly amazing, educational works of art, I wanted to include it.

Last year we started a "Fifty States" scrapbook, which we are are continuing this year.  It's one of the things that I think we will be happy we did after the fact, but it's a lot of work and time.  The idea sprouted from something I saw online, but also from my favorite book.  We read the Sleeping Bear Press book on each state, and Caeley tells me what she found most interesting for each state.  We make stickers of those people, places, events, etc., pulling the images from the Internet, and put them on card stock.  She colors the state page from a Fifty States coloring book, and the two pages lie face-to-face in our book.

Because of how much time we invested in this last year, I knew I couldn't drop it this year, so we will continue and finish it by the end of this.  That said, I don't think it's a project I'll start from scratch with Meara.  Instead, it will be a "family treasure" that we add to as we encounter other people, events, etc. from the fifty states.

It seems like we are doing so much for history and geography, and I admit, we are.  In fact, it's probably too much.  However, I know that History was NOT my strong suit during my own school days.  In fact, I hated it after being scarred my freshmen year of high school.  I feel there's so much I missed along the way, especially in Geography and US History, and so I really want to make sure I do these things well with my children.  For now, Caeley seems to be enjoying the work, though she claims Grammar is her favorite subject.  Does that surprise you at all?

I hope to post more updates by subject later in the week!