Friday, April 25, 2014

Gearing Up for Next Year....well, week :)

So we are coming to an end of our first year this week!  We have ONE school day left of the 180 required days.  Of course as I mentioned earlier we have no intentions of stopping because we've hit our "magic school day number".
And so, as we finish our WinterPromise history curriculum, I am getting ready to dive head first into my own history curriculum.  After using their schedule and chosen books this year (we LOVED it!), I have decided that I can totally handle creating our own book list and writing/activity schedule.  I am beyond excited!
While I was thinking a lot about jumping into Ancient History this year (since according to the classical curriculum model Belle should be starting her 2nd run through of history this year), I have decided it's just not for us.  We have spent a year going through US History from the 1400s to about 1750, and will spend probably another year doing the last 160 or so years.  Even though I want to get started with doing a "run through" of all of history, I feel like we've enjoyed this last year so much...being able to learn about the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Lewis and Clark expedition, etc in great depth, that I want to continue at this pace.  We are spending time getting to really know the events and people who shaped our country.  And let's face it, the events of the last 160 years impact their daily life much more than anything in Ancient History, so I want to really focus on this era right now.  We can hold off a year or so to start back at the beginning!  :)
I have come up with our book list...that at the moment consists of 95 books!  We've read through 150 already this year in 10 months, so I think we'll definitely be able to handle the reading load....along with our 30 or so fun reads that we already have selected!  :)  Gosh I love that I have given our kids a gift of loving literature!
Something else I'm excited about is that I just received our first Homeschool In the Woods Time Travelers set for the Civil War!  I don't know if we will go through the actual lessons that are provided in this set, but the projects look like a lot of fun!  There's some map work, some role play, some creative writing and research....LOTS of great ideas!  So I can't wait to delve in to that!
Here's my planned book list for the 2nd half of US History ordered by date:

If You Were...Slavery – 1600 – 1850
Molly Bannaky – 1700s – Benjamin Banneker's grandmother
Dear Benjamin Banneker – 1790
Brainstorm – 1790 – 1900 (read throughout unit)
Who was Mark Twain? - 1800s
The Giant Rat of Sumatra – 1846
Gold Rush Fever – 1848
Gold Fever – 1848
The Great Horn Spoon – 1848
If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln – 1840s
Uncle Tom's Cabin – 1852
*Henry's Freedom Box – 1850s
Trapped Between Lash and Gun – 1800s
To Be a Slave - 1800s
From Slave Ship to Freedom Road - 1800s
The Listeners – 1850
Prairie Skies – 1850s
A Family Apart - 1860
Who was Abe Lincoln – 1860s
They're Off! The Pony Express - 1860s
The Last Brother - 1863
Two Miserable Presidents - 1860s
I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg – 1863
What was the Battle of Gettysburg - 1863
A Pitch in Time – 1864
If You Lived During the Civil War – 1865
You Wouldn't Want to be a Civil War Soldier - 1865
You Wouldn't Want to be a Civil War Nurse – 1865
Growing Up in Coal Country (PA History) – late 1800s early 1900s
Sugar - 1865
Immigrant Kids – 1900
Who was Alexander Graham Bell - 1900
Who were the Wright Brothers – 1900
Story of George Washington Carver – 1900s
The Wizard of Sound Thomas Edison - 1900
I Survived the San Fran Quake – 1906
Earthquake – 1906
I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic – 1912
Titanic Sinks – 1912
True Stories of World War 1 – 1914
After the Dancing Days – 1914
Knit Your Bit: A World War 1 Story – 1914
The Letter Home – 1914
Silent in an Evil Time: The Brave War of Edith Cavell – 1914
The Donkey of Gallipoli: A True Story of Courage in World War 1 – 1914
Road to War: A First World War Girls Diary – 1916
Private Peaceful (After Words) – 1914
War Game: Village Green to No-Man's-Land – 1914
Christmas In the Trenches - 1914
If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor – 1918
The Night the Bells Rang - 1918
Time for Kids Henry Ford – 1918 – 1930
Click! A Story About George Eastman – early 1900s
The Bread Winner – 1932
Who was Albert Einstein - 1900s
Who was FDR – 1930s/40s
Who Was Anne Frank – 1930s
Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon - 1930s
I Have Lived a Thousand Years – 1930s
When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit – 1930s
Hitler's Daughter – 1930
Who was Amelia Earhart – 1932
The Night Crossing – 1930s
Animal Farm - 1930s-1940s
What was Pearl Harbor – 1941
You Wouldn't want to be a World War 2 Pilot – 1940
Once Upon America – Pearl Harbor – 1941
I Survived Pearl Harbor – 1941
I Survived the Nazi Invasion – 1944
Who was John F Kennedy – 1945
Who was Helen Keller – 1940s
Helen Keller – Courage in the Dark - 1940s
Who was Rosa Parks – 1955
Space Busters - 1955-1972
What was the March on Washington – 1963
If You Lived During the time of Martin Luther King Jr – 1960s
Ruby Bridges Goes to School – 1960
Rosa Parks – Early Reader – 1960
Freedom on the Menu – 1960
A Sweet Smell of Roses – 1960
White Socks Only – 1960
Freedom Summer – 1960
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down – 1960
Through My Eyes – Ruby Bridges – 1960
The Other Side - 1960
You Wouldn't Want to be on Apollo 13 – 1970 (and movie!)
I Survived the Sept 11 attacks – 2001

It's a great mix of picture books and historical fiction novels, and some 2nd grade readers thrown in for my littles.
I simply went through some other homeschool curricula to determine what main events I want/should include by date and then spent a few hours on amazon selecting the best books I could find.  Some ideas came from some of these other curricula and some I just stumbled upon, but they are all very highly reviewed on amazon and look GREAT!
My hope and plan is to be better this year about posting weekly or so about our progress and what we've accomplished.  Wouldn't it be great to have it all online for them to look back on?!


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