Tag Archives: school

History, Homeschooling

History in March ~The Underground Railroad and Abraham Lincoln

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We started out March with the underground railroad for history.

It was a hard subject to explain to a 5 and 6yr old.

We read about Harriet Tubman in our Value Tales book and my oldest got mad.

Very mad about the way she was treated.

The funny thing was the civil war made more sense to him after reading about slavery.

We read the You Choose history book on the Underground Railroad.

I highly recommend it to anyone doing this study!

Both of my boys (ages 5 and 6) really got into it.

I forgot to take a picture of all the books on the underground railroad together since I really did not think we would be spending much time on it.

After we started studying it we stretched it out for two weeks.

This is the only picture I have of one of the other books we read.

Friend on Freedom River by Gloria Whelan is a beautiful book.

I have really liked all of the books I have read in the Tales of Young Americans series.

The illustrations are beautiful and the stories pull you in.

We listened to the three part series on the Underground Railroad by Adventures in Odyssey.

I cried.

It was amazing.

We usually listen to these in the car on the way to a field trip or something.

When I get to our destination I always feel like I am being hunted, or in the midst of a battle.

We also read Booker T. Washington’s a Slave Among Slaves.

It was in a reader so I had my oldest read some of it and then I finished it since it was a little long for him.

It was a great read.

The second part of the month we learned about Abraham Lincoln.

Again this was supposed to be a short study but it ended up going two weeks.

I love that about homeschooling.

We again listened to the Adventures in Odyssey on Abraham Lincoln.

It ends with his assassination.

I did not tell my boys what was coming.

I felt mean but I thought they would get more out of the story that way.

Thankfully they did not end it with too much drama so it was not as scary as I thought it might be.

We did the reading guide with the magic tree house lesson plan while reading the book Abe Lincoln at Last!

They have lesson plans to go along with the Magic Tree House books!

The reading guide is towards the end of the lesson plan.

We only did the reading guide this time but the boys loved finishing reading our chapters and running over to the computer to see what they remembered.

After reading the Magic Tree House book we read Mr. Lincoln’s Boys.

They mentioned the boys in the Magic Tree House book so the boys loved reading more stories about them.

Just a Few Words Mr. Lincoln is about the Gettysburg Address.

At the end of the book they have the Address and the boys were excited to hear it after reading about it in the book!

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a hard book for my oldest to hear.

I did like how it did not end with him getting shot though and continued the story until they caught Booth.

There are a lot a good books out there on America’s history though!

Do not give your child a book full of dates to learn history!

Give them a good piece of historical fiction first, make history exciting!

Homeschooling

Why I homeschool the way I do.

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I was homeschooled all the way from preschool to graduation.

I never spent one day in a public school.

I feel blessed to be able to say that. My parents spent a lot of time and money on my 4 siblings and I to give us the best education.

I formed really close bonds to my sisters and brother that I just do not think would have happened otherwise.

I was also taught how to self educate myself which has been so helpful when I want to learn something totally new like Photography!

Those years of being homeschooled myself influence the way I teach my boys in a big way.

If I remember something I tend to use that same type of thing on my boys.

The things that stick out in my mind the most are:

Reading a classic at the start of every school day

Games (online and board)

Songs and rhymes

Biography’s and historical novels instead of textbooks

Creative play

and Field Trips

These are just some of the top things I remember.

I do not base everything I do now on my homeschool experience but it is really helpful to have been in the place my boys are now.

One of the things that I remember the most though is my mother’s love of books.

She would get so caught up in a story she was reading school would be delayed.

She would get so into the book we were reading in the morning she would read more then she meant to.

Sometimes one of us had to read because she could not read anymore due to her tears.

She really showed me books are important.

That is what I want to pass on to my boys.

My passion for reading.

My love of books.

If they learn that I know they will succeed.

Let your kids see you read.

They will remember that more then any words you say about how important reading is.

Homeschooling

War of 1812

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Last month we learned about the War of 1812.

Here are some of the books we used.

The Town that Fooled the British and The Battle for Saint Michaels are about the same event.

It is about a town that hung lanterns above their houses so the British ships would fire to high.

They saved the town.

It is an amazing piece of history and both books were really well written so I did not mind reading about it twice!

I had my oldest read The Battle for Saint Michaels for his reading.

I was really excited to introduce the boys to the story behind the Star Spangled Banner!

It is a piece of history that really stuck with me when I was a child and made the song come to life.

The Star Spangled Banner Illustrated by Peter Spier has pictures to go along with the song.

I was really wanting a book that did that so the boys would see what the words were saying.

We also listened to the Audio story about it from Adventures in Odyssey’s American History series.

SO GOOD!!!

I cried…

I do not remember hearing the story of Jean Laffite before.

It is amazing.

The pictures are beautiful and the story well written.

It also introduced the boys to Andrew Jackson so I really liked that.

Do you have any favorite books on the War of 1812?

The only downside of learning about this war and the Revolutionary War is my sons think the British are evil.

It is really hard to explain big pictures and something being a long time ago to a 5 and 6yr old!

I am hoping they do not attack someone when they say they are British…

I forgot!

I found this really good site with a great game for kids to play about the war of 1812!

Check it out!

Our Flag Was Still There