American History before World History @ grammar stage ??

[BlessedMom]

I have not been to comfortable with anything I am finding for world history at this age (1st grade) and I have been thinking I might just do American history first. What made you decide to do American History first? What resources did you use? Do you have or can you recommend a list of good books to read aloud? I would certainly appreciate any wisdom & resources you have to share with me. Thanks so much.

[Kisa in CA]

First grade is such an important time for providing core skills in reading and math, so I like to keep history light, fun and pertinent to the mind of a first grader. Therefore, I do American History. At that age they like to know about people, events and geography from THEIR country. It has more meaning to them. We will use lots of American History readers (from Winter Promise AS 1), Abeka history (I just read the book to them in a few days), movies, crafts etc. If you want a full on program you can look at Sonlight, My Father's World and Winter Promise. They all have American History for the younger ones which include great read alouds and WP and MFW also add crafts and projects. There's lots of resources! History Pockets are fun too if you want to doa pilgrim or indian unit study.

 

Just my thoughts, and I'm sure many will disagree, but I really like doing American History with the little ones.

 

HTH! Blessings,

Kisa

[MIch elle]

call or email MP for a copy (not on the website yet):

http://www.memoriapress.com/newsletter/index.html

[JaneGrey]

I didn't do American history exclusively. I covered some in K and then included it in our 1st year of world history study last year. The topic just comes up a lot, and there are lots of great readers. Here are some suggestions:

 

• Highly recommend the bios by Jean Fritz. She doesn't make up conversations. She does have a bit of a dry sense of humor -- perhaps a bit irreverent, but it's not like she's talking about things that are holy.
  
• There are easier early history readers -- see the 4th and 5th grade history sections in Veritas Press' online catalog. I think they are Step Into Reading books. Fun.
  
• We watched some of Liberty's Kids (a PBS program). I know some people are opposed to video, though.
  
• There are easy Landmark books (Meet Benjamin Franklin, etc.). Really liked the Columbus one.
  
• Bios in the Childhood of Famous Americans series. More imaginative (making up conversations). Some have reference to some violence (Indians stealing Daniel Boone's daughters).
  
• The d'Aulaire bios.
  
• If you....series by Scholastic. (Some are If you traveled west in a covered wagon, If you sailed on the Mayflower, If you lived at the time of the Civil War).
  
• Venezia (who has also written a Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series and a parallel composers series) has a series on the presidents. Funny little cartoons and simple text. These have been fun to study presidents.
  
• American Kids in History is a nice craft book series. These are by David C. King.
  
• Check out Christian Liberty Press for books. I believe Boys and Girls of the Colonial Period is quite popular. CLP also has cheap prices and lots of other readers like the often recommended Child's Story of America.
  
• Get the geography songs by the Troxels (the one for the world). It has been fun to listen to. These include several songs from the separate states songs.

For a formal study of American history appropriate for that age group, consider Truthquest. These are Christian worldview study guides, but she advises the study of American history in the lower elementary grades. She has American History for Younger Students I and II (maybe also III). Primarily, the books contain lists of books organized by event/topic. She also provides a script interpreting the events you'll be reading about. Very conversational style, if you don't mind that. Samples online. The commentary seems to be quite prized.

 

For a free list of history books to read (organized by time period), check out Paula's Archives. You can also purchase All through the Ages, which is a list of history books for the study of all time periods, organized chronologically and divided by appropriate age level. I have this, but I find that it's easier to just raid the appropriate sections of the library.

[SnowWhite]

We delayed history. For first grade we did Animals and Their Worlds science and literature theme from WinterPromise. For second we are doing American Story 1 history and literature theme (WinterPromise again). I haven't decided whether to do a one year World History overview for third grade or to continue with American Story 2 next.

 

Like the previous poster, I like to stick with what ds can understand. Here's a verbatim quote from him, "It's always the most fun to learn about YOUR home." (I had never talked about this subject, it was all him.)

[Sue G in PA]

Another vote for MFW. They have their Adventures program for 2nd graders but I'm guessing a 1st grader could do it. It's basically an overview of Amer. Hist. w/ projects, readers, read-alouds, etc. It included Bible and Science. We haven't done it b/c I have older children and MFW recommends skipping Adventures and just including the 2nd grader in w/ the older kids.

 

You could also just do some "themes" like say Amer. Rev. or Civil War or Exploration, etc. and use History Pockets or get some lapbooks to do if your dc is crafty like that.

[Aletheia Academy]

I just am more comfortable having the kids learn a little about where they live before branching out. We'll be using the Beautiful Feet American History Unit Study for Primary Grades. It uses several D'Auliere books among other resources.

[BlessedMom]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You ladies have been so very helpful & I really appreciate your time and your wisdom. Thank you for all the wonderful, helpful suggestions. JaneGrey, thank you for taking the time to post such detailed response to my history questions. Michelle, thank you for the link. I am looking forward to reading the article if I can get a copy of it. Bless you all for taking the time to share your experiences.

[Allison TX]

Hi BlessedMom. I agree MFW, Beautiful Feet, and Winter Promise would all be great choices for American History for the early years. You could also take a look at Beyond Little Hearts by Heart of Dakota. We started off with Ancients in 1st and K and I wish I had waited. My kids really enjoyed learning about mummies and pyramids and gladiators, but I felt some of the content could have waited till they were a bit older. When my dc were in

2nd and 1st, we used MFW Adventures and they loved it! (They did get really tired of the state sheets towards the end.) For the 2nd half of 3rd and 2nd grades we used Bigger Hearts for His Glory by Heart of Dakota and it has been wonderful! We are about to start over with Ancients again pretty soon now that they are in 4th and 3rd grades and I think the material will be more age appropriate. Hope this helps!

 

Allison