I love history. I think it’s one of my favorite subjects, but it wasn’t like that when I was in school. In history class…..I fell asleep. It’s actually the only class I remember falling asleep in during school. Now that I love it so much I wanted my girls to have a different experience. I wanted them to see how fun and exciting it could be to learn about people and civilizations from the past.
Today, I’ve rounded up some great history resources for you to check out and see what you might like to add to your history studies this year. For today’s post I’ve focused on early American history. That is what we’ve been focusing on this year, so I’ve been gathering and looking at different unit studies, so I’d thought I’d share them with you!
Early American History Resources
Here is a free early American History Curriculum from Field of Daisies.
The Gold Rush is so fun to learn about, so be sure to check out these California Gold Rush Resources from The Barefoot Homeschooling Mom.
Randi always has great resources and I especially love her Who Was, What Was unit studies! You’ll want to add this Peanut Butter Fish Lessons Gold Rush Unit Study to your lesson plans ASAP!
I truly believe that living books are so much more engaging and effective and getting kids excited about history, so I was super excited to see this We Were There on the Oregon Trail living book study!
50+ Living Books on WWII – more living books! Some of these can be a bit mature just because, well, it’s WWII, so be sure to preview if you are using these history books with younger kiddos.
Audio Books for American History are perfect for car trips or for those times when you just want to listen instead of read aloud!
American History Novel Studies for middle and upper grades are a great way to dive deeper into a historical event or time period after reading the book.
This Presidents File Folder Game is great for learning about or reviewing information about our presidents! The questions are multiple choice, so even if players don’t know the answer, they can guess.
American History Activities for Elementary Students has a huge variety of free and paid resources like book recommendations, activities, and more.
Use items you have around the house for hands-on fun with Recycled History
Picture Books for Early American History
Let’s face it, reading text books (no matter how interesting they might seem) can be boring for young kiddos. The last thing we want to do is start of with our children thinking that history is boring, right? You know what’s not boring?!?! Picture books! Have you always thought of picture books as only being about fairy tales, animal stories, and other fun imaginative stories? Well, guess what? There are so many picture books about early American history! Like, SO MANY! Here are some that we have read and loved and a few that we have on our list to read, but come highly recommended!
Chapter Books for Early American History
Chapter books are great for older readers or as read alouds with a younger crowd. I would say most of these books are find for read alouds in elementary, but some may have sensitive subjects, so you may want to to preview them depending on your crowd. We have read a lot of these books, and loved every single one and some are still on our To Be Read list.
Make History Fun and Engaging
I hope you found lots of books to use in your Early American History study in your homeschool and some activities to make our history fun and exciting for your kiddos! Do you have a favorite book or resource – leave it below and I’ll add it to the list!
Hi Surya!
I used to doodle during high school history class, so you’re in good company 😀 Thankfully, I had a very enthusiastic college professor who was so excited about what he was teaching (even at 8am!!) that it was contagious! I’ve loved learning about history ever since.
Thanks for including my Free American History Curriculum in your round up!