We have started Winter Promise American Story 2, and it begins with the Civil War. I have to admit that I’ve always found the Civil War (and actually all of American history) boring. But now I realize that all those prejudices were created from boring public school practices such as dry textbooks and teachers who hated their jobs. History is NOT boring, even American history.
Living Book Winners from this Week:
- First Place — The Great Turkey Walk (We loved it so much that we read it ALL this week instead of over several weeks as scheduled.)
- Second Place —Ghosts of the Civil War (Again, we read the entire week’s assignment in one day. Sprite loves the layout of this picture book.)
- Third Place — The Last Safe House: a Story of the Underground Railroad (We love Barbara Greenwood books!)
If you’ve got some great Civil War resources, feel free to share them in a comment.
And Sprite is doing more and more independent work thanks to Winter Promise’s On My Own Schedule. We’re still in the transition phase as this has been only week one, but I am excited to see her slowly taking more ownership of her learning.
I have a great resource, my backyard! I live in Chattanooga, at the bottom of Lookout Mountain where the Battle in the Clouds took place. Down the road, about 15 minutes away, is the Chickamauga Battlefield.
I know you can’t come visit, but if you are ever in the neighborhood, we would love to take you to see it all!
I found your old blog when I was desperately trying to find homeschool families with one child (they are rare) and have been lurking for a while. I have really enjoyed all your resources and information. We are starting Pre-K with our 4 year old on the 17th. I keep pouring over your lapbooks and family math entries.
Thank you for such a great resource!
.-= Alli´s last blog ..Burp cloths aren’t up to this task =-.
My favorite series of books is If You Lived…in this case…at the Time of the Civil War by Kay Moore. This was our first week too and you and I are in the same time period so I’ll be checking out what you are doing often.
.-= Martha´s last blog ..PE time in the Pool =-.
We just spent some time learning about the civil war and had such fun. We have been learning American history this summer and that was one of the events in our history we choose.
Erika
.-= Erika´s last blog ..Another gadget in the house =-.
Sandwich sent this comment via email —
Our very favorite Civil War resource is the audio version of the book Bull Run by Fleischman. You can purchase it at Audible.com. It’s the story of the battle of Bull Run (Manassass if you are on the side of the South) told from the point of view of about 25 people from all stations in life and from both sides of the war.
You could get the actual book and read it aloud, but the audio version provides a different voice for each character (one character per chapter and some reappear throughout the book) and is so wonderful.
One thing we did when we read it to keep everyone straight was to make a chart with the character’s name, position, side they were on and a 1-2 sentence snippet of the their story each time they appear.
Bite the bullet, buy the download. I promise you and Sprite will love it. You’re those kind of people! LOL
But I really enjoyed Across Five Aprils. My dd (10 at the time we did SL Core 4) didn’t like it so I didn’t push it, but I read it myself and thought it gave a super overview of the whole war.
Oh, another thing we did was to make a HUGE (think 4′ x 4′) salt dough map of Bull Run. That was the one and only salt dough map we ever did and my dd loved that project. But it really was enough salt dough to last a lifetime.
Blessings,
sandwich
We listened to The Great Turkey Walk on audio CD and loved it!
I have been very pleased with WP’s choice of books, especially Lewis & Clark and The Last Safe House. I don’t really have any to add just my ditto on the endorsement!
.-= Marsha´s last blog ..Trusting in fear =-.
We’ll be using Homeschool in the Woods Time Traveler too. Have you ever seen those?
Thanks for visiting the Let’s Play Math Carnival and for your submission!
Heather
Oooh, what fun! And yay for Sprite for becoming more independent.
I’ve always enjoyed U.S. history because I was blessed with a fabulous history teacher. Not so thrilled with the boring old text books.
We’re finally starting U.S. history this year, with SL core 3. We’re both excited. Especially since we’re only about 40 minutes for Williamsburg and Jamestown. We’ll be having lots of hands -on experiences this year.
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..Weekly Wrap-up: Kind of Boring Edition =-.
I was looking over the Winter Promise website. Can you tell me what you like most about the program or anything you thing I should know. I’d appreciate it.
.-= Angi´s last blog ..PREPARING FOR MONDAY =-.
We just finished our summer vacation, and in our travels we saw the Gettysburg and Antietam battlefields. They were amazing, each in their own right. I didn’t know much about these 2 battles when we arrived, but walked away a different person. I didn’t think we could pull of all day tours of places like these with our kids, but they stuck it out with the auto tours and getting out a lot taking pictures and contemplating.
.-= Brenda´s last blog ..A, B, C or D? =-.
We will be studying the Civil War this fall, so I’m glad to have these recommendations and great ideas. My daughter loves historical fiction and these are her favorites on the Civil War: Turn Homeward Hannalee by Patricia Beatty (one of her all-time favorite books of all), Be Ever Hopeful Hannalee and Who Comes with Cannons (same author), and One Month of Seven Days by Shirley Climo. The Dear America Diaries have several on the Civil War and Arielle enjoyed all of them too.
.-= Deb´s last blog ..Liana’s Top Picks =-.