US History Unit 5: The Civil War

We started this unit with a family trip to Charleston, SC. I know it sound cliché to say history comes alive there, but it’s the best description. All tour guides are required to pass a history exam through the city. No matter where we went, the guides were a wealth of information. Some of our favorite stops included Boone Plantation, Patriots Point, Fort Sumter and the Provost Dungeon. We also took a carriage ride through the neighborhood around Charleston College, an area that was completely new to us. After four days of tours, we were exhausted, but more than ready to jump into history lessons.

US History Unit 4: 1800-1860

This period in US history too often gets rushed through, even though it offers an interesting look compared to our current times. We spent four weeks on this, which is a big chunk of our total school year, but still not enough time to fully explore the political and social tides of the era.

Here are the lessons for that unit (listed by type, but completed by date):

US History Unit 3: The Late 1700’s

This unit included the Constitution as well as the first two presidents. We started with Crash Course US History videos #8 “The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism” and #9 “Where US Politics Came From.” For the Constitution, we used a detailed worksheet (similar to those on thiswebsite) with questions about what powers and duties were assigned in the articles, the Bill of Rights and the evolution of the amendments. We also studied the differences between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederacy, and finished with a graphic organizer showing the separation of powers. This unit also included the first two President's Day studies for Washington and Adams.

US History Unit 2: The American Revolution

We spent a week on this topic just a few months ago in 7th grade, so this unit was focused on filling in a few remaining ideas about the government during the revolution.

My son started with two Crash Course US History videos: #6 “Taxes and Smuggling” and #7 “Who won the American Revolution?” The map activity was a simple map of the colonies. We studied the Declaration of Independence with short answer questions and the Articles of Confederation with a chart detailing limits of power compared to the current Constitution. Both of these assignments came from the textbook we’re using. The last day of the unit was spent watching the second chapter of America: The Story of US (Revolution). These were this unit’s test questions:

US History Unit 1: Pre-Colonial

We are studying the history of the United States of America this year. We began with a way too brief look at North America in the pre-colonial times. We watched the first five Crash Course US Histories, and read the textbook sections on reasons people came to North America. We finished with the first installment of America: The Story of US (Rebels). At the end of this unit, my son had to answer the following questions:

Social Studies: Timeline

WORLD’S LONGEST TIMELINE!!! OK, so it’s probably not, but it is 100 feet long, which is still pretty big.

My son started this last year when we studied world history. It starts in the 1400’s with the invention of the printing press. Every day he added two to five important events. It helped him visualize how events in different parts of the world influence each other. This year, he is adding American History events to it. We’re also highlighting scientific and engineering advances. My son wants to be an engineer, so my personal goal is for him to realize how big of an impact engineers have had on our society through time.

(We built the holder from an IKEA hack: upside down desk top, curtain rod holders and PVC pipe.)

Social Studies: History Through Lenses

What influences today are shaping our history? How will the future generations look back at our times and what swayed our decisions? The economy, religion, world politics, political parties, natural disasters, technological advances and culture have had visible impacts throughout the history of America. You can see those forces act even in recent times, such as President George W. Bush’s terms in office. How would his presidency have been different if he wasn’t faced with the aftermaths of 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina? And, how did those events shape who we are today as a country?

We’ll use the lenses of economy, political power and technological advances to see how and why history has unfolded the way it has. American history is as much about the causes as the effects, and only by understanding that can we help prepare the next generation to lead.

Social Studies: State by State

America is a wonderful patchwork quilt of states, each with unique features. We’re working our way through all the states in the order they were granted statehood, learning about their geography, industry and current political make-up. Between the books in our library and the internet, my son will create a page of information on each state and draw a map of the prominent features. Here are the books we’re using, with a sample page for each:

Social Studies: The Presidents

My son loves using Crash Course to learn about history, but I was still searching for a more chronological source to fill in all the details. Then it dawned on me – the presidents served sequentially, so let’s look at history through each presidency. These are the main sources we’re using, along with healthy doses of Biography.com: Encyclopedia of the Presidents and Their Times and The Presidents (DVD with short and interesting biographies).

8th Grade Social Studies: Crash Course US History

My goal was to find one main curriculum source to use for US History this year that presented a well rounded view of event. Just one source. We’d follow it faithfully and chronologically, utilizing all the questions at the end of the chapters. Social studies would be a breeze to plan and we’d all live happily ever after.

The reality, though, is that most curriculum written for homeschool students is very heavily biased towards an ultra-conservative view. Public school textbooks tend to be too dry and often have subtle biases towards a too patriotic-and-sanitized version of events. We needed something in the middle that was engaging while presenting a balanced view – pro-America but not at the expense of the entire truth.

 

Starting Social Studies

Social studies was the subject I dreaded tackling the most. And, of course, it ended up being the easiest to plan and the most enjoyable for both of us on a daily basis.

The objectives for social studies were really hard for me to understand in the beginning. But, I think I finally figured them out. There are time periods we need to study that are called eras (World History Era Standards). The objectives need to be applied to each era separately whenever possible.

Step 2 Content, con’t.

At this point, I had read through the entire published objectives for 7th graders in North Carolina. I had them sorted into charts with the notes from the unpacked PDFs, which gave me a general picture of what we should be teaching in order to stay on pace with public school. I had also looked over the objectives for the next few grades to see where we needed to be at the end.