Currently we are enjoying HipHughes history series and have watched many of them to introduce a topic. I added one to show it to you in case you haven't heard of this series.
One of the things we have done this year is create posters to hang in our school room to reinforce what we have read and learned to review back to when needed. The kids and I decided what needs to be added, remembered and create posters.
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| Here we created a poster on how each of the original 13 colonies came to be |
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| I saw a similar picture of this on the internet that we copied to show the events leading up to American Independence |
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| We took a look at the Articles of Confederation and wrote the Pros and cons of the document |
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| We just finished watching a series of videos from HipHuges on the constitution and came up with a poster to describe the checks and balanced of the first three articles as well as the responsibilities of each office. |
Next the children and I are working on a poster to help us remember the Bill of Rights. I am finding that the children are referring back to the posters regularly to aid in their learning and it helps them to retain information better then in doing just worksheets. Every evening we discuss our knowledge with Dad.
Some other things we have done to learn more about this period:
Toured Mount Vernon this past August
Watched the series John Adams
Toured a Frontier home (Thornton) from this period
Read books about George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson
Write note booking pages on the first three presidents
Took a Minecraft class on the American revolution here
We have a trip to Philadelphia scheduled in Nov to visit many of the sites where all of this history took place. We are very much looking forward to it.
While it times a lot of work to create my own curriculum, I enjoy it as I am learning or relearning things that I had forgotten.
We're also studying American History with our own curriculum. Thanks for the video series. I will definitely check it out. What books have you been reading? I really love your posters. We've been reading about the same time period, so I love how organizing the information into this visual format will help the kids to retain it. We've been filling in a timeline, but I think we need more work like your posters. I feel the crafts we did in the past were fun, but now as the kids are getting older, we need to change tactics a bit too.
ReplyDeleteWe all watched the Liberty's Kids series on youtube. I even learned a lot from the cartoon series for kids. This Country of Ours is the book I've been reading with my 13 year old to get a good handle of the timeperiod major events. Those two are fairly well recommended in the homeschool world. The one we've found that's unique is "The Freedom Answer Book" by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano. Depending on your political views you may love or hate this book. We love it! It discusses how supreme court cases have shaped America - mostly by slowly taking away our freedoms. Anyway, look it up especially if you are a Libertarian or a Constitutionalist. Then please give me a few book recommendations. I really admire what you've done.
Oh yes - I have a few more video recommendations - Native America Before Colonialization - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FItlStGMY4
Documentary - The Mexican American War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjjaMBoSQE
French Indian War I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLey9WWCgoA
Julie I will be sending you an email. Thanks for the additional resources I will be looking into them soon
DeleteWhat excellent graphic reminders!
ReplyDeleteYou are so fantastic as a home school er. I admire all you do in teaching your children. I love these posters and I know that will help them cement their knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you for all you do with your children. They are greatly blessed.