Favorite resources for the SECOND half of American history?

[kokotg]

I'm using Winterpromise's American Story 1 this year with my 7 and 5 year olds. It's going pretty well, but, as usual, I've done so much tweaking already that it seems like it makes a lot more sense to put something together myself for next year that's exactly what I want. Easier said than done, though, of course, so I want to start pulling some ideas for resources together now and work on it a little at a time over the year.

 

It seems like most of the good stuff is for early American history. I think WP goes up to 1850, so I'm looking for Civil War and after, basically. There's a lot for the Civil War, and then pickings get relatively slim. So--what have you used and liked? I'm looking for fiction and non-fiction books, plus activity and project ideas. My kids tend to like games and more open-ended/creative activity ideas (not stuff with a lot of coloring; that's one thing in WP that's not working for us). And I don't like crafts that require a lot of prep time and/or that can't really be done by younger kids so that I wind up doing all the work :tongue_smilie:

 

Thanks!

[Lovedtodeath]

:lurk5: I am planning the same thing. WP for AS1 and my own for AS2.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I think WP goes up to 1850

 

AS1 does, but they also publish an AS2 that goes right up to the 70's.

[kokotg]

AS1 does, but they also publish an AS2 that goes right up to the 70's.

 

right. Sorry--I wasn't very clear--I'm looking for stuff after 1850 because that's when the WP stuff I already have leaves off, and I'm not planning to use AS 2 next year (although I will be looking at the books they use for AS 2 and probably getting some of those).

[Lori D.]

U.S. HISTORY -- "Stepped Readers"

 

1860s

1861 - Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express (Coerr)

1861 - Bronco Charlie and the Pony Express (Brill)

 

 

Civil War:

1865 - Willie McLean and the Civil War Surrender (Ransom)

- Robert Smalls Sails to Freedom (Brown) Civil War, escaping slave

- Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: Story of Gettysburg (Fritz)

- Civil War Sub: Mystery of the Hunley (Jerome)

- USS Monitor: Iron Warship That Changed the World (Thompson)

 

 

1870s

- The Long Way to a New Land (Sandin) -- immigrants

- The Long Way Westward (Sandin) -- immigrants go west)

- Wagon Train (Kramer)

- Wagon Wheels (Brenner) true story; pioneer family

- The Josefina Story Quilt (Coerr) -- true story; wagon train

- Clouds of Terror (Welch) -- US prairie grasshopper plagues

- The Golly Sisters Go West (Byars) -- silly pioneer story

- The Golly Sisters Ride Again (Byars) -- silly pioneer story

 

 

1880s

1885 - The Copper Lady (Ross) -- building of the Statue of Liberty

1888 - I Pledge Allegiance (Swanson) -- creation of the Pledge of Allegiance

1888 - Schoolchildren's Blizzard (Figley) -- blizzard / pioneer children

1888 - Snow Walker (Wetterer) -- record blizzard that shut down the Bronx

- Dinosaur Hunter (Alphin)

- Prairie School (Avi)

 

 

1890s

1896 - Rescue on the Outer Banks (Ransom) African-American rescue crew

 

 

1900s

1903 - Will and Orv (Schulz) -- first airplane flight

1903 - First Flight: The Wright Brothers (Jenner)

1903 - First Flight: Story of Tom Tate and the Wright Brothers (Shea)

1905 - Clara and the Bookwagon (Levinson)

- Eat My Dust! Henry Ford's First Race (Kulling)

 

 

1910s

1919 - Babe Ruth Saves Baseball (Murphy)

- Zeppelin: Age of the Airship (Donkin)

 

 

1920s

1920 - Man O'War (Mckerly) -- famous race horse

1925 - The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (Standiford)

1927 - Night Flight: Charles Lindbergh's Incredible Flight (Kramer)

1929 - Buddy: The First Seeing Eye Dog (Moore)

 

 

1930s

1931 - The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth (Patrick)

1937 - Vanished! Mysterious Disappearance of Amelia Earhart (Kulling)

- Dust for Dinner (Turner) -- Dust Bowl/Depresssion

- Horse Named Seabiscuit (Duvowski) -- famous race horse

 

 

1940s

1945 - D-Day Landings: Story of the Allied Invasion (Platt)

 

 

1960s

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington (Ruffin)

Race Into Space (Arnold)

Moonwalk (Donnelly)

 

 

Stepped Reader Biographies of Interesting Americans:

 

- Snowshoe Thompson (Levinson)

- Sitting Bull (Penner)

- Jumbo (Worth) -- famous PT Barnum circus elephant

- Little Sure Shot: Annie Oakley (Spinner)

- Helen Keller: Courage in the Dark (Hurwitz)

- The Great Houdini: World Famous Magician (Kulling)

- Thomas Edison; The Great Inventor (Jenner)

- Wizard of Menlo Park: Thomas Alva Edison (Davidson)

- Helen Keller (Davidson)

- The Wright Brothers (Reynolds)

- Flying Ace: Story of Amelia Earhart (Bull)

[TwinMominTX]

I am in the exact same situation! I will be following this thread with great interest. I just started working on some plans, but I'd love to hear what others are doing. I'll also post here with what I come up with.

[kokotg]

wow--thanks for the list, Lori!

[dragons in the flower bed]

right. Sorry--I wasn't very clear--

 

 

Oh! No, I went back and read it again, and you were very clear. Sorry. I wish I had something useful to contribute to balance out wasting your time with that message.

[Lori D.]

You're welcome! And with such young ones, may I suggest focusing on the inventors, scientists, explorers and interesting events such as the Alaskan goldrush (1899), the transcontinental railroad (1870s), the Panama Canal (1910s), and the interesting scientists, inventors, athletes, leaders, etc. which allows you to avoid the dark and violent world wars, the great depression, racial inequality problems, terrorism, etc., that fill US history of the 20th and 21st centuries! Warmest regards, Lori

[kokotg]

Oh! No, I went back and read it again, and you were very clear. Sorry. I wish I had something useful to contribute to balance out wasting your time with that message.

 

yeah, that's 3 seconds I'll never get back ;). J/K! really, I could have said AS 1 in place of WP one place and been much more precise.

[Lovedtodeath]

And you already have a spine on which to base your studies! The DK encyclopedia and the 100 True Tales books continue in AS2.

[Lovedtodeath]

As someone who has not yet done AS1, may I ask why you have decided not to use WP for AS2?

 

You're welcome! And with such young ones, may I suggest focusing on the inventors, scientists, explorers and interesting events such as the Alaskan goldrush (1899), the transcontinental railroad (1870s), the Panama Canal (1910s), and the interesting scientists, inventors, athletes, leaders, etc. which allows you to avoid the dark and violent world wars, the great depression, racial inequality problems, terrorism, etc., that fill US history of the 20th and 21st centuries! Warmest regards, Lori

 

To this end, I found this http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa111100b.htm

 

Hope it helps!

[kokotg]

As someone who has not yet done AS1, may I ask why you have decided not to use WP for AS2?

 

 

thanks for the link!

 

Re: WP--it's not them, it's me ;). I think AS 1 has come about as close as a prepackaged curriculum can to being a good fit for us, really. The amount of reading is just about perfect for my kids' ages and attention spans. My kids have liked most of the books. I guess my issues are mostly with the activities--there's a lot of coloring and cutting and pasting kind of stuff, and my kids are just not into it. And I'm a little disappointed with the "Make your Own American History" book. On the sample pages on the website, they show a page where the kids design a sign for their colonial business. And I thought that was great (and it was--the kids loved doing that page). But most of the pages aren't like that--a lot of them are just read and color pages. I've started making a set of my own pages that are more like the "colonial business" one in fact.

 

This year I kind of wanted a break from planning and something that was already scheduled to keep me on track. But now that I'm all rested up from my break :), I'd rather spend this year getting things together and have something that's more exactly designed for my kids' particular interests and learning styles. And it doesn't hurt that I can save some money that way, either.

[Lovedtodeath]

thanks for the link!

 

Re: WP--it's not them, it's me ;). I think AS 1 has come about as close as a prepackaged curriculum can to being a good fit for us, really. The amount of reading is just about perfect for my kids' ages and attention spans. My kids have liked most of the books. I guess my issues are mostly with the activities--there's a lot of coloring and cutting and pasting kind of stuff, and my kids are just not into it. And I'm a little disappointed with the "Make your Own American History" book. On the sample pages on the website, they show a page where the kids design a sign for their colonial business. And I thought that was great (and it was--the kids loved doing that page). But most of the pages aren't like that--a lot of them are just read and color pages. I've started making a set of my own pages that are more like the "colonial business" one in fact.

 

This year I kind of wanted a break from planning and something that was already scheduled to keep me on track. But now that I'm all rested up from my break :), I'd rather spend this year getting things together and have something that's more exactly designed for my kids' particular interests and learning styles. And it doesn't hurt that I can save some money that way, either.

 

I am glad to see your review, as my DD seems to fight read alouds I am worried about doing AS 1 with her. It seems that it worked for you with younger kids. I had already decided not to get the MYOH pages. I would be very interested in the pages you are making, as well as the schedule you are making for the rest of American History. The main reason I do not want to do AS2 is that I feel we will not have time. I plan to cut it down considerably.

 

Sorry to jack your thread for my selfish purposes. Do you mind answering some questions?

 

I will probably buy the AS1 guidebook regardless, but I have thought about going with the 100 Stories book and the free site for US Geography and leave it at that for read alouds, and just do the activities and readers. I am worried that an hour per day is too much time for American History and hope to cut it down to 30-45 minutes, and I know that I want to include geography. Do you feel I would be missing out on a lot this way? Or are all the pertinent stories in the spine? Are the spine, readalouds and readers redundant as I am thinking? Are there activities that I should skip and others I should keep? You have me getting all of my questions in order. I think I will post them in the WP forum. ;)

 

Thanks for sharing your viewpoints.

[paula j]

We really enjoyed the project books that start out Great ------ projects you can build yourself.

 

Great Pioneer Projects You Can Build Yourself

 

Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself

 

Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself

 

I think you can find them all at rainbow resource or if you sign up for a wowio.com membership you can download them for free. We made some fun projects out of these, even a soddie house made out of brownies and pretzel rods, yum.:)

 

I would also like to recommend some of the books we read in sonlight core 4, these were some of our favorites.

 

By the Great Horn Spoon

 

Caddie Woodlawn

 

Little Britches

 

Old Yeller

 

The Lincoln Photobiography - This was an excellent book!

 

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

 

The Great Wheel

 

I also purchased a Civil War Lap-book from Live and Learn Press that was really awesome. Ds didn't really want to do it because he felt he was getting a little old but he did it to please mom and when it was finished it turned out so nice, he was looking through it and said, "Thank you for talking me into this. It turned out great and will help me remember everything I learned about the civil war." I thought that was a pretty good complement coming from a 12 yo boy.;)

[kokotg]

 

Sorry to jack your thread for my selfish purposes. Do you mind answering some questions?

 

not at all :)

 

I will probably buy the AS1 guidebook regardless, but I have thought about going with the 100 Stories book and the free site for US Geography and leave it at that for read alouds, and just do the activities and readers. I am worried that an hour per day is too much time for American History and hope to cut it down to 30-45 minutes, and I know that I want to include geography. Do you feel I would be missing out on a lot this way? Or are all the pertinent stories in the spine? Are the spine, readalouds and readers redundant as I am thinking? Are there activities that I should skip and others I should keep?

 

The 100 Stories book covers a broad range of history, but it's not really comprehensive--it's more a "snapshots from history" sort of thing. I don't think it would really work as a stand alone if it's important to you to give your kids a full understanding of the timeline of American history (if, on the other hand, you just want to introduce the subject to them and make it fun and interesting, it'd be fine). We've really enjoyed Scholastic's "If you lived...." series (several of the titles come with AS 1, and I've added in a few more I've found), and a selection of titles from it would give you a pretty good overview of things. There is some redundancy if you do all the reading, but not a whole lot (especially if you're not getting the "Make your own" packs). We can do all the reading in under 30 minutes on an average day. We don't go over 45 minutes or so unless we're doing a particularly involved project. It's really not very heavy reading, and I say that as someone whose kids don't always have the best attention span (at least when they didn't pick out the book ;)).

 

As far as the activities, it really just depends on your kids. So far (we're on week 10, I think), it's largely paper craft stuff. There's a book of 3D maps, which my kids thought was pretty cool at first, but then they have you do 1 or 2 a week, and it just got old fast for us. Of course, you don't have to do all the activities they have scheduled.

[kokotg]

thanks, paula! brownie house? I'm all over that :tongue_smilie:

[Lovedtodeath]

We really enjoyed the project books that start out Great ------ projects you can build yourself.

 

Great Pioneer Projects You Can Build Yourself

 

Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself

 

Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself

 

I think you can find them all at rainbow resource or if you sign up for a wowio.com membership you can download them for free. We made some fun projects out of these, even a soddie house made out of brownies and pretzel rods, yum.:)

 

I would also like to recommend some of the books we read in sonlight core 4, these were some of our favorites.

 

By the Great Horn Spoon

 

Caddie Woodlawn

 

Little Britches

 

Old Yeller

 

The Lincoln Photobiography - This was an excellent book!

 

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

 

The Great Wheel

 

I also purchased a Civil War Lap-book from Live and Learn Press that was really awesome. Ds didn't really want to do it because he felt he was getting a little old but he did it to please mom and when it was finished it turned out so nice, he was looking through it and said, "Thank you for talking me into this. It turned out great and will help me remember everything I learned about the civil war." I thought that was a pretty good complement coming from a 12 yo boy.;)

 

Paula, I noticed your son is older than our children will be for American History. Do you feel the projects or books you are recommending will be too advanced? (They sound great, and I already have one from wowio, but my DD will be 7 and a half to 9 and a half for American History.) Thanks!