It can be so hard to find good, quality picture books for history sometimes. We search far and wide to find books on certain history topics and sometimes we come up short. When we couldn’t find a book on the 100 Years War, I took it upon myself to write one. With the help of my son and his illustrations, we are able to bring you a beautiful picture book: The Story of the 100 Years War.
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American History is always a great topic to study in our homeschools. Nothing makes you more patriotic than learning about how our nation was founded! We want our children to learn all about the amazing founders of our nation, the documents that keep our society together, the American Revolution, and all of the events in between. I’ve round up the best picture books about American History so that you can easily get great titles all in one place!
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Using a history timeline in your homeschool is a great way to make different historical events or when different people were alive make sense to your children. They’re used a lot because they truly make a difference in your history studies! I have kept them out of our school for a while because it seemed too complicated to add…but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some easy ways to add and create a history timeline in your homeschool.
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I grew up learning about Johnny Appleseed. We lived in the heart of Ohio where he planted many trees. Yes, Johnny Appleseed was a real man that really planted trees! Your children can learn all about him with this free literature based history lesson about Johnny Appleseed, and you get to go along on the journey with them.
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With the general election right around the corner, it is the perfect time to gear up for a day of learning based upon the events of the day. Election Day is full of learning opportunities for the whole family. But, did you know that you can study the election through every subject? Let me walk you down some fun, hands on activities to make this a day to remember for your kiddos with this Election Day Unit Study!
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It’s time for us to study states and capitals so I started digging for easy ways to learn this important geography lesson. When I couldn’t find what I was looking for I made it myself! And I’m sharing it with you- printable states and capitals flashcards!
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I absolutely love homeschooling in Kindergarten! It may be one of my favorite ages. Kids are so eager to start school, there are so many opportunities to instill a love of learning in the simplest of ways, and the possibilities of what you can include to make school fun are endless. The question I hear floating around sometimes in relaxed homeschooling circles is, “Is Kindergarten too young to add an American History curiculum to your homeschool?” My simple answer is, no. You can never be too young to start learning about our nation’s history! However, I do have certain ways that we like to do it, and it all starts with using great books.
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If you know me and the business we’ve created over the last nearly twenty years, you’d think I would’ve had a love affair with history all my life… well, nothing is further from the truth! I flat-out couldn’t stand history in school, and I actually bargained with my high school teacher to just pass me with a “D,” because I was going to become an artist and would never touch the subject again with a ten-foot pole. Fast forward a decade or two, and there I was, a homeschool mom, petrified to have to teach my children history—the topic I had loathed in my earlier years. After gathering my nerve, I made a game plan to use a history text for my spine and timelines and mapping to grasp an understanding of when and where we were learning about. I filled the topics with all kinds of good reading and hands-on projects. Before you knew it, I found myself excited each day to learn the stories of the past right along with the children and hungered to absorb everything I could. (And for the record, I came to find that I definitely DID need to utilize history through my art career!)
What I didn’t realize was exactly how much you can incorporate history with other subjects!
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Using literature to teach geography may not be the first idea that most come up with when they think of a geography curriculum. When I think of geography, I think of maps, facts about different states and countries, and really…just plain old boring studies that I have no interest in (and my kids would have no interest in, either.) But, what if I told you that literature may be the very best tool in learning about geography in your homeschool?
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Thanksgiving is a fun time to learn about our country’s history! Adding in some Thanksgiving lessons into our homeschool is something I strive to do every year. It’s fun, it breaks up what we’ve been doing for something new and fresh, and there are always a lot of resources to choose from so we never do the same thing. I’m going to share some of my very favorite Thanksgiving lessons for homeschoolers so you can do them along with us.
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