Learning through Literature: Early American History
Learning through literature is a powerful way to bring history to life for your children. They become immersed in not just the dates and events of history, but the people behind them. This makes history both memorable and meaningful to them.
In this post, you’ll discover how we learn history through literature and how you can do it, too.
Homeschool History Curriculum
When I first sat down to choose a homeschool history curriculum, I had specific parameters in mind, including:
- no dull, rehashed text books
- must be literature-rich with living books
- ideally a Charlotte Mason-influenced approach, including narration and notebooking
- not merely memorizing facts and dates
Early American History for grades 7-9 from Beautiful Feet Books fits these criteria for me.
Beautiful Feet Books simplifies the process of learning through literature for homeschool families. They do this by compiling the best books on a subject and/or time period and providing a Teacher Guide outlining the course of study for homeschool parents, ensuring a rich narrative experience in a Charlotte Mason-influenced style.
Learning through Literature: Early American History
Early American History for Junior and High School Students is ideally suited for grades 7-9. I know that grade levels tend to be very subjective for homeschoolers. At least that’s true in our family. My daughters, ages 12 and 14, often work together on projects like this.
As I mentioned, learning through literature is very important in our homeschool. It’s our favorite approach to learning across all the subjects, but history in particular. When I looked over the books included in the Early American History package, I knew it was something that would work well for my daughters to study together.
I decided to use our morning basket time to work on this together. We did some read-alouds and some of the activities from each lesson. The girls also chose books to read independently, then they would talk about what they were reading during morning time, and then eventually trade books together.
It’s always interesting to me to hear what each girl takes from the reading assignments. The conclusions they draw, the ideas that stand out to them, to really see their thought processes developing. I love that we can learn together, yet each has her own individual takeaway from what we’re studying.
The Early American History package is about more than just great books, though. There are also activities included in the Teacher Guide. Each lesson includes things like:
- Creative writing prompts
- Narration and discussion prompts
- Recommended documentaries to watch
- Websites for further research
- Character connections, including related Bible verses to read
- Hands-on activities and handicrafts, such as pottery or basket weaving
- Rabbit trails, listing additional (optional) reading selections
- Research topics for each section for research paper ideas
- Maps
- World history add-ons that relate to the time period in North American history (included)
Both of my daughters have their own notebooks and three-ring binders to keep their paperwork and notes individually. This also helps us when it’s homeschool portfolio time for our school district.
There are 82 lessons total. If you complete 2-3 lessons per week, it makes a one-year study. Of course the pace is up to you and completely flexible, so do what works best for your family.
Teacher Guide
The Teacher Guide is an indispensable tool for homeschool parents. It’s great to read quality literature together — living books — but it’s also important to engage in discussions about it and see that your children truly understand what they’re reading. Narration is a wonderful way to verify that your children are retaining what they’re reading and that they’re thinking about it on a deeper level. We love books and conversations about them like this!
The Teacher Guide helps me as the teacher to make sure that we’re discussing the topics thoroughly and putting them into the proper perspective for the time period and the consequences of the events. I can guide my daughters into deeper understanding, empathy, and knowledge with the help of the suggestions in the Teacher Guide.
Remember that it’s a guide, though, not written in stone. You might not complete all the lessons as written. You might not do all the activities. You might even circle back to some at a later time. All of this is okay! Learning through literature is a process, not a flash of lightning. It all goes toward building critical thinking skills, too. It’s about nurturing a lifelong love of learning.
Learn more about Beautiful Feet Books and Learning through Literature
This is the fifth curriculum package we’ve used from Beautiful Feet Books and I’ve only grown to appreciate them even more over the past few years!
You can see the scope and sequence of Early American History, look at the list of books included, and take a look at all the other options for elementary through high school ages.
You can also subscribe to their email list and receive a free guide to books worth sharing with your children.
I highly encourage you to find out more about Beautiful Feet Books and their history curriculum. Learning through literature is a holistic approach to education that develops not just the mind, but also the character of your children.
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