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historyspine

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

July 18, 2018 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I was given this product for free. ALL opinions are my own and I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

Hands-on History Activities Ancient Empires

Over the years I have shared my passion for hands-on history activities which breathes life into lifeless events of the past. So when planning our year end history co-op, I decided to use the Great Empires Activity Study, which is an activity study by Home School in the Woods. I have to say a fair amount of swooning was involved because of the scope of empires that the Great Empires Activity Study covers. Your kids will love these hands-on history activities for 14 Ancient Empires.If you’re wanting to breathe life into homeschool history, your kids will love these hands-on learning history activities for studying 14 Great Empires! CLICK HERE to look at these fun and engaging hands-on ideas!Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods covers fourteen empires:

  • Ancient China
  • Ancient Egypt
  • Ancient Greece
  • Ancient Rome
  • Arab-Muslims,
  • English Empire
  • French Empire
  • German Empire
  • Japanese Empire
  • Mongols
  • Russian Empire
  • Spanish Empire
  • United States and
  • Viking.

Not wanting to make a choice using the eeeny, meeny, miny and moe method between any of these swoon worthy civilizations for our history loving co-op, I decided to cover a little about each of these empires through hands-on projects.

Organizing and assigning hands-on projects for our Great Empires co-op was easy and enjoyable because of how the information is laid out. After reviewing the download of the material I received, I noticed the files are organized by master, texts and projects. The projects page for each empire, I found extremely useful in wading through all of the excellent material.

The project page is like your weekly lesson plan at a glance page and the master is your lesson plan for the day. The master pages include a helpful teacher’s key reference, which is a map marked with key areas, boundaries and other helpful features for each region covered by that empire.

Glancing at the project page, we could select all the hands-on activities that we wanted to do and find them among the 107 master pages.

Too, background information on each empire is vital in covering the topics like we did because we wanted to savor a morsel of each empire. The text pages for each empire are 2-3 pages. However, one gem about the text pages is that they cover the empire at its height.

Non-history loving folks don’t like history because they can get caught up in a quagmire of details that can drain the life out of a history lesson. Unsure of which invention, event or key point to highlight, a budding history buff may come away more confused.

However, the text pages by Home School in the Woods shaves off non-essential details for the elementary age child but builds appreciation by covering key events that are significant for each civilization.If you are a give-me-the-facts-only type of person, you will enjoy reading about each empire in the condensed text because you won’t come away feeling overwhelmed. Beyond covering key events for each empire or covering significant inventions, the text unifies the past to the present. Your child comes away with a better understanding of the impact previous civilizations made in today’s world. Keeping it simple without being boring makes the text a nifty feature.

However, if you already have a basic framework of history knowledge and want to explore beyond that foundation, you will enjoy the additional reading suggestions in each projects page and the extensive links found in the text which directs you to a website page at Home School in the Woods. Easily, you could spend a week on each empire.

Because the Great Empires Activity Study is about exploring, discovering and hands-on learning, you will find plenty of activities for each empire from making scones when learning about the English empire to making an Egyptian cartouche. Activities vary with each empire from learning about history through cooking, painting pottery like the Greeks and printing minibooks about famous people to Japanese kiragami.

Hands-on History Projects

You will not find cheesy analogies of history clip art in this product. All of the clipart, projects and pictures have amazing detail. If you are a non-artsy person you will enjoy assembling the easy to do projects because a lot of them are printable. You decide if you want to color or not.Here is what I find most appealing about this product:

  • The scope of empires covered. If you have been lagging behind in covering history topics or are trying to follow the 4 year cycle used by a lot of homeschoolers and it is going slower than you would like to, using Great Empires Activity Study would be a useful tool if you want a bird’s-eye view.
  • It can be used as a stand-alone history curriculum because you have the option with additional reading material listed in the projects pages and links provided by Home School in the Woods to extend each empire. With the abundance of reading recommendations and because we love history, I personally would take two weeks to cover each empire if I were using this as a stand-alone curriculum. Doing one hands-on activity per week would not be overly time consuming and you could easily end up with a year’s worth of history.  What a bargain for the price and you are using it for all of your children.
  • If you are using a history text and would like the flexibility of adding in an activity to enrich your reading, then Great Empires Activity Studywould be a nice fit.
  • Great Empires Activity Study allowed a lot of room for flexibility in our co-op setting because it allowed each family to focus on the topic that interested them.
  • History clip art matters to me because pictures are important in history. The fine detail and high quality pictures can be used for a timeline, history notebook or to add to a lapbook.
  • Many of the creative activities can be printed and do not involve a lot of teacher supervision or tons of crafty artsy items on hand to do them.
  • The constant in all the empires is the beautiful teacher’s key map. Providing a key map for each empire is like having a mini geography curriculum as a bonus.

I feel that persons can vary tremendously on what each one thinks is a disadvantage in a product. I prefer using the word considerations because it gives you pause for thought to see if your circumstances fit that product.

Considerations for this product would be:

  • There is not a lesson planning guide or checklist for each day’s activities. For some homeschoolers that may feel like freedom to explore and breathe but for others having a to-do checklist each day may feel a bit more secure.
  • Some of these activities are ones that history lovers may have already done if they have been homeschooling for a while or find them easy, but again the product is aimed at the elementary aged child.

Download Free Notebook Cover here.

You know I have to organize most products I get and this one was no different. I have created a printable for you to use as cover page for your binder when covering these empires.If you’re wanting to breathe life into homeschool history, your kids will love these hands-on learning history activities for studying 14 Great Empires! CLICK HERE to look at these fun and engaging hands-on ideas!Home School in the Woods is an excellent example of showing how history does not have to involve a textbook or always acquiring random uninteresting facts.

With background information on each past civilization and several creative activities to choose from on each empire, you will not be disappointed with Great Empires Activity Study.

Whether you are studying about the legends of Crete or are exploring the adventures of Captain John Smith, adding in hands-on history along with a huge dose of field trips and a history co-op or two is a sure way to making learning about the past meaningful.

You’ll also love these other helpful posts with activities:

  • Hands-on History Activities for Learning about Ancient Civilizations
  • 20 Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages
  • 100 Easy & Fun Ancient Civilization Hands-on Projects

Hugs and love ya,

1 CommentFiled Under: Ancient Civilizations, Hands-On Activities, History Resources, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Product Review, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: ancient civilizations, hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, history, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolhistory

How to Teach With an Easy DIY American History Timeline

January 26, 2018 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

 I was given this product for free. I was compensated for my time and for hosting the giveaway. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!


When my older two sons were in middle school we created a clip art heavy timeline with lots of coloring, cutting, and gluing. I’ve been looking for something which is not as craft intensive while still being challenging.

Until now, I couldn’t find an American history timeline curriculum which inspired me to want to do another one with my third son. Too, being an eclectic homeschooler, I want products which make it easy for me to teach in my style and in a way my son understands.

When I got The Giant American History Timeline from Sunflower Education, I was stoked to prepare another timeline in my simple diy fashion.How to Teach With an Easy DIY American History Timeline. If you’re looking for a curriculum resource to easily teach American history by using a timeline, you’ll love this one. Not only do your kids cover major historical topics but learn about famous people and events. Because it’s reproducible you can use it for all of your kids. Click here to grab this great resource!

How to Rock History Using An American History Timeline

One of the things I find perfect about this two-volume bundle, besides not having to do time consuming coloring or crafts, is that each unit or timeline can stand alone.

We didn’t begin with The Giant History Timeline Book 1: Pre-Colonization-Reconstruction. We did spend the majority of time in The Giant History Timeline Book 2: 1870s-Present because Tiny was interested in modern American history. I loved the fact that we didn’t have to start at the beginning and could skip right to the parts that we found fascinating.

For years we’ve covered significant early American history events through our history lapbooks.

So, feeling like he didn’t really have a clear outline of major modern historical events, Tiny wanted to delve deeper into modern history.

Another downside to doing clip art based timelines or date only timelines which I found out after doing my first one is that no real connection is made between dates and key historical events. And timelines can quickly becoming boring if they’re not studied along with the events or the people.

Intriguing events and colorful personalities of significant people of the past and present is what brings history alive. That is another win for The Giant American History Timeline bundle.

Let me backup first and give you an idea of all the goodies in the The Giant American History Timeline  bundle so you can see how it can be used as a stand alone unit study or to enhance your study of geography, famous Americans, or history.

Look at the historical time periods and units in each book.

The Giant American History Timeline Book 1.

Unit 1: Discovery and Exploration Prehistory-1606
Unit 3: The Revolutionary Period 1765-1783
Unit 5: Expanding the Country 1790-1860
Unit 7: Social Issues 1790-1860
Unit 2: Colonial America 1585-1776
Unit 4: Creating the Constitution 1781-1803
Unit 6: An Age of Advancements 1790-1860
Unit 8: The Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877

The Giant American History Timeline Book 2.

Unit 1: Industrial Growth and Technological Advancement 1870-1910
Unit 3: America and the World 1867-1910
Unit 5: The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression 1920-1940
Unit 7: The Cold War 1940-1990
Unit 2: Big Business and Social Reform 1870-1910
Unit 4: World War I 1910-1920
Unit 6: World War II 1930-1950
Unit 8: The Civil Rights Movement Technology and Terrorism 1954-Present

Look at all the teaching perks in each book.

►Teaching notes which contain an overview of key events, suggested focus activities like when we listened to the inspiring I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., instructions on how to create the timeline, points to teach critical thinking skills, and instructions on how to do the activity sheets.
►Six types of activity sheets which contain maps, primary sources, help for comparing and contrasting time periods, biography sheets, a voice from the past sheets and a fun time machine activity page.
► One of the parts I loved the best is the variety. In Book 1 there are 126 activity sheets and in Book 2 there are 125 activity sheets. That easily adds up to a huge amount of resources for kids of any age.

The hardest part for us was keeping to a few topics so that we could study it for any length of time.

We had so many choices of time periods, timelines, and topic ideas and couldn’t wait to start piecing the timeline together.

Since we moved into our new home, we haven’t really decided on a school area. It wouldn’t really matter anyway because Tiny has almost always taken to the floor to study something like this. He does best by using the floor to put his events in order and the The Giant American History Timeline gives excellent examples of how to connect the information and events to each other.It can be done by event, which is the one we loved, main ideas or sequence of events which is what we’re all familiar with.

Also, another facet of creating an easy diy timeline is storage.

You want your child to engage with the facts and the historical period he is learning, but you need a way for him to come back to them and study it.

However, since we don’t have a huge empty wall like a classroom, we are storing our timeline in a lapbook and doing one for each time period or unit we’re studying.

After researching and organizing the material he wanted to study, we reviewed key facts and then organized the material so that we could review in the future.Also, I shared with you how to turn a worksheet into an interactive minibook.

So, we applied that same folding technique to our mini-giant American history timeline.

One of the best things about using a lapbook besides great storage is that anytime he can take out the lapbook and memorize the significant events that match the dates.Then because this is a research intensive project, we added a pocket on the back of the lapbook to add the extra activity sheets that he did. This lapbook fits in well with the other American history lapbooks that we have done.

Did I mention that all pages are reproducible?

For some of the parts, we shrunk the pages when we printed. The other pages are just regular paper size but folded using my special technique that I mentioned earlier.

American History Timeline Activity Sheets

The Giant American History Timeline may be a good fit for you and your kids if:

►You have multiple ages you’re teaching, but want one sanity-saving resource.
►Your kids don’t mind a few hands-on activities like labeling and coloring maps, but prefer straight research on topics.
►You want a reproducible resource instead of a workbook.
►You’re thinking about a lapbook or notebooking style of timeline because of a lack of space.
►Your kids prefer to learn more independently without having day to day lesson plans.
►You prefer an overview and guideline for topics and events to create.
►You want flexibility in how you cover topics by choosing ones that interest your children.
►You want to use timelines as a stand alone unit study topic covering multiple historical topics.
►Your kids prefer more worksheet and notebooking style pages.
►You want something faith-free or more secular so you can add your own worldview.
►You want teacher helps with answer keys.
►You want one comprehensive resource for teaching American history.
►You want your children to learn independently.

Look at these other American history lapbooks you’ll love!

  • American Revolution 1775 – 1783
  • Daniel Boone – North American Explorer
  • Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804-1806

You Know You Want It! – Giveaway & Savings Discount

Follow Sunflower Education  Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
Discount Code: TIMELINE20 Discount taken at checkout for digital version. Click The Giant American History Timeline Bundle for 20% off.
Entry-Form
 Begins: 1/22/2018 1:00 am EST
Ends 2/7/2018 3:00 pm EST
Winners: 10 winners

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: The Giant American History Timeline.
►Website: Sunflower Education.
►Grade Level: Multiple ages resources, Grade 4 and up.
►Price: Digital Download: $24.95 Physical Book: 29.95

How to Teach With an Easy DIY American History Timeline. If you’re looking for a curriculum resource to easily teach American history by using a timeline, you’ll love this one. Not only do your kids cover major historical topics but learn about famous people and events. Because it’s reproducible you can use it for all of your kids. Click here to grab this great resource!Hugs and love ya,

2 CommentsFiled Under: Hands-On Activities, History Resources, Product Review, Sponsored Posts Tagged With: american history, early American history, hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, history, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolhistory, modern history, timelines

8 World War II Historical Fiction Books for Middle School

October 6, 2017 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.


I debate constantly at this age whether I should include World War II historical fiction books to teach middle school or stick only with nonfiction. I end up mixing both types of genre.

On one hand I don’t want to gloss over the ugly side of war at the middle school age, but on the other hand there is still so much time left in a child’s life to get the real facts.

With Mr. Senior 2013, I tended to swing to brutal and real when choosing books and only used nonfiction references. But now, I realize that even at middle and high school level, a young adult is entitled to enjoy reading about history without having to read about all the cruel facts.

Besides, there is so much time as they are older to wrestle with all the issues.

Mixing both types of literature keeps learning about war topics balanced. Fiction can bring the time period alive while nonfiction reminds kids that this part of history is real.

WORLD WAR II HISTORICAL FICTION

Look at these 8 World War II historical fiction books I rounded up for middle school. I think you’ll love them.

Alex, Who Won His War (Walker’s American History Series for Young People)  This paints a vivid picture of the events of World War II as Alex tries to solve a crime. A bit of a stretch in the plot, but the details for the historical time period are there for an enjoyable read.

Night Crossing This book is about a girl living in Austria having to leave her home when the Nazis come and brings to life the feelings of those that had to leave their home with just what they could carry.

The Shadow Children A summer visit to his grandfather’s farm turns into an adventures staged during World War II. The charcoal drawings are beautiful which makes this book good for an art study.

The Spy Who Came From the Sea. A teen tells the kids at school that he stumbles upon a spy, but nobody believes him.

Journey to America. A family fleeing Nazi Germany is reunited after being separated and enduring different trials along the way with some adventure.

Behind the Bedroom Wall. This one we haven’t read it, but sounds so fascinating because it’s from a different perspective. A local teen girl is part of the Nazi party thinking it’s going to be good for her community but her parents are part of the underground movement to protect Jews. Sounds great and we can’t wait to read it.

Stepping on the Cracks. Margaret’s brother is overseas fighting, but learns about a deserter in her midst. It’s a good book to teach about pacifism because teaching complex war issues can be hard.

Under a War-Torn Sky. When a nineteen year old pilot’s plane is shot down,he finds himself behind enemy lines.

I hope you find one or two to use as a history spine or just as a way to bring this time period alive.

I think you’ll also love this free unit study and World War II history unit study.

What is the Manhattan Project minibook, Vocabulary Pocket, and Anne Frank Minibook
5 Causes of World War II minibook and The Great Depression minibook
Life During the War minibook & Pearl Harbor minibook
Hands-on: Make World War II ration cakes
Stages for War and Quick Facts minibooks
Hands-on: Make a secret message deck
World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.
Go here to see how to place the minibooks in the completed lapbook.

8 World War II historical fiction books for middle school. If you're looking to bring history alive, your homeschooled middle school kids will love these books. Click here to see this AWESOME list!

If you’re looking for more book lists, you may like:

  • Books About the Trail of Tears 
  • 13 Living History Books about Ancient Greece
  • 5 BEST Books to Create an Around the World Unit Study (and Hands-on Activities)

Leave a CommentFiled Under: History Based, History Resources, Middle School Homeschool Tagged With: book lists, books, history, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolhistory, world war II

23 DIY: free History Guides – Ancient Civilizations to Modern History

August 21, 2017 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Below, I have 23 free unit studies which cover ancient civilizations to modern history. Depending on your objectives, the unit studies can be used to supplement homeschool history or they can be used as stand alone.

Content subjects are not really grade level. If you need an explanation, click here to read Skill Subjects vs. Content Subjects: What’s the Difference. If you waited to study the American Civil War until 7th grade, then introductory information is just that. It doesn’t really matter if you cover that topic in 4th grade or 7th grade. However, do adjust books and writing for each level, but even that is doable when you have a framework of where to begin.

Also below, I’ve included tips for teaching hands-on history because it’s such a valuable part of bring history from boring to bam. Teaching history doesn’t have to always include some over the top hands-on activity, so a lot of the ones are easy to do.

23 free DIY History Guides from Ancient Civilization to Modern History. Unlike skill subjects which require a certain sequence of objectives to follow, a content subject like history does not. Creating diy history guides become a way of hooking your kids on history because the focus is on topics which interests them.Click here to grab the guides!

23 DIY: History Guides

 

Ancient Civilizations I – Includes prehistory, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, China, Phoenicia, Assyria, Ancient Babylon, Egypt, and Rome.
Ancient Civilizations II. More Mesopotamia, Sumer, Minoan and Mycenaean, more Egypt, The Babylonian & Hammurabi, Phoenician, More Greece and Roman,
Ancient Greece Unit Study and Lapbook
Ancients – Meso-America lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Ancients – Pirates lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages – Free HUGE Renaissance lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages - Glass blowing lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages – Glass blowing lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages - Marco Polo lapbook and homeschool unit study
Medieval to Middle Ages – Marco Polo lapbook and homeschool unit study
Medieval Japan
Medieval to Middle Ages – Medieval Japan lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages – Viking lapbook and homeschool unit study.
▼ Exploring to Revolution - The American Revolution HUGE lapbook and free homeschool unit s
Exploring to Revolution – The American Revolution HUGE lapbook and free homeschool unit study.
Daniel Boone lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Daniel Boone lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution - French and Indian War
Exploring to Revolution – French and Indian War
Exploring to Revolution - French Revolution lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – French Revolution lapbook and homeschool unit study.
▼ Exploring to Revolution - Lewis and Clark HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Lewis and Clark HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
▼ Exploring to Revolution - Plains Indians lapbook and HUGE homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Plains Indians lapbook and HUGE homeschool unit study.
American History | Titanic Lapbook
Exploring to Revolution – Titanic lapbook and homeschool unit study.
The Trail of Tears lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – The Trail of Tears lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Iroquois Confederacy HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Westward Ho HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study
Exploring to Revolution – Westward Ho HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
American History | Civil War Lapbook
Exploring to Revolution – American Civil War HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
World Wars to Today – FBI lapbook and homeschool unit study.
World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.
Go here to see how to place the minibooks in the completed lapbook.
Ancient Greece
Hands-on History Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
Hands-on History Ancient Rome
Hands on American History
4 Shortcuts to Teach Hands-On American History
Make Celtic cakes
How to Make an Easy Peazy Roman Costume

If you are looking for a more formal, but flexible framework in which to cover history, then my favorite curriculum for covering history in broad strokes is Brimwood Press. It’s very unusual because it covers history in 14 lessons. It’s great for a variety of learners :

  • diy homeschoolers who may want to cover history in broad strokes,
  • homeschoolers who want a framework, but want to fill in with details which interests them,
  • and homeschoolers who hate history because the focus was on dates instead of the action-packed lives of history makers.

Look at these other posts to help you.

How to Teach Homeschool History (Easily) in Just 14 Lessons

4 Shortcuts to Teach Hands-on American History in Half the Time,  How to Teach History in 14 Lessons (From Daunting to Doable), and Start the Homeschool Year Off Right: 5 History Ideas for the First Week.

Hugs and love ya,

23 free DIY History Guides from Ancient Civilization to Modern History. Unlike skill subjects which require a certain sequence of objectives to follow, a content subject like history does not. Creating diy history guides become a way of hooking your kids on history because the focus is on topics which interests them. Click here to grab the guides!

This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects.

Ancient Civilizations I – Includes prehistory, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, China, Phoenicia, Assyria, Ancient Babylon, Egypt, and Rome.
Ancient Civilizations II. More Mesopotamia, Sumer, Minoan and Mycenaean, more Egypt, The Babylonian & Hammurabi, Phoenician, More Greece and Roman,
▲ Ancient Greece lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Ancients – Meso-America lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Ancients – Pirates lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages - Glass blowing lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages – Glass blowing lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages - Marco Polo lapbook and homeschool unit study
Medieval to Middle Ages – Marco Polo lapbook and homeschool unit study
Medieval Japan
Medieval to Middle Ages – Medieval Japan lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages – Free HUGE Renaissance lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Medieval to Middle Ages – Viking lapbook and homeschool unit study.
▼ Exploring to Revolution - The American Revolution HUGE lapbook and free homeschool unit s
Exploring to Revolution – The American Revolution HUGE lapbook and free homeschool unit study.
Daniel Boone lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Daniel Boone lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution - French and Indian War
Exploring to Revolution – French and Indian War
Exploring to Revolution - French Revolution lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – French Revolution lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution - Iroquois Confederacy HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Iroquois Confederacy HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
▼ Exploring to Revolution - Lewis and Clark HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Lewis and Clark HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
▼ Exploring to Revolution - Plains Indians lapbook and HUGE homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – Plains Indians lapbook and HUGE homeschool unit study.
American History | Titanic Lapbook
Exploring to Revolution – Titanic lapbook and homeschool unit study.
The Trail of Tears lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Exploring to Revolution – The Trail of Tears lapbook and homeschool unit study.
Westward Ho HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study
Exploring to Revolution – Westward Ho HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
American History | Civil War Lapbook
Exploring to Revolution – American Civil War HUGE lapbook and homeschool unit study.
World Wars to Today – FBI lapbook and homeschool unit study.
World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.
Go here to see how to place the minibooks in the completed lapbook.
Ancient Greece
Hands-on History Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
Hands-on History Ancient Rome
Hands on American History
4 Shortcuts to Teach Hands-On American History
Ancient Greece Unit Study and Lapbook

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Geography, History Resources Tagged With: american history, early American history, hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handsonhomeschooling, history, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolhistory, medieval homeschool history

4 Shortcuts to Teach Hands-on American History in Half the Time

May 8, 2017 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

For review purposes, I was given these products for free and I was paid for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off. All opinions are my own and I will always tell you what is on my mind. Not every product gets a positive review. But because I carefully sort through numerous offers for reviews, it usually means that I’m giddy about the product when I do accept it. Read my full disclosure here.


For years I’ve fought my tendency to just stick a worksheet in front of my sons and call it American history. Knowing that learning by doing is effective, but creating uncomplicated hands-on projects are two different things for me.

I tend to complicate and over-analyze the details of a history activity. Next thing you know, and much to my kids’ disappointment, I’ve completely deleted any kind of fun learning activities from our day. Can you relate?

So when I found out about the chance to use 8 family-friendly hands-on American history activity books from Dover Publications, I was tickled to check them out.

Key Benefits of Uncomplicated Hands-on American History

Having activities that an older and younger sibling can work on together is one sanity-saving tip. When all of my children are engaged in learning together, they are more motivated while we do simple and fuss free hands-on American history activities.

The second tip I’ve learned is that sometimes I need activities that have little to no teacher prep time. This doesn’t mean that I always want activities for my kids that take little time.

I want to maximize learning time while minimizing my time. In addition, when needed, I want my kids to be able to self-teach, self-check or learn independently.

It seems like a lot to ask for, but I’ve had to widen my scope of what is a hands-on activity. Adopting a view that hands-on American history crafts have to always be over the top is extreme. Besides, my kids’ are always delighted when I’m not stressed out when we do simple activities. 

Look at these 4 simple shortcuts for learning American history with no fuss, no stress, and literally no preparation.

ONE/ Learn American history through using museum-quality coloring books.


When I started homeschooling, my house was full of useless coloring books. As I attended more field trips, I found educational quality coloring books in museums. Shortly thereafter, when I taught American history I used Dover Publications coloring books because of their educational value of events, people or objects.

  
Museum quality coloring books are books that make learning about events in American history come alive.

While studying the details of an accurately portrayed person or event, a child is engaged. His imagination is stirred to think about a time period back in history.For example, while coloring the pictures of each president, we researched about time period clothing and objects.

Reading the short captions about the presidents while looking at events on each page from a president’s term easily cements important American history events in my son’s mind.

Museum quality coloring books are a fascinating way to rekindle a child’s love for learning about history. And the best part is that there is no teacher prep.

Too, if you have a kid who prefers to color his way through learning the states rather than drawing them in a notebook or creating a lapbook, he’ll love completing a United States Coloring Book.

A younger kid can grab an atlas and locate each state as he reads information about the state motto, the state tree, and the date each state entered the Union. Facts about the past then become something that is relevant today.

As your child researches about the plants and trees of each state, coloring to match the details of the flora and fauna of each state becomes a valuable teaching tool.

Paying attention to details when coloring and fostering the child’s natural desire for creativity leaves a lasting impression of what is learned.

TWO/ Build a paper model of the White House.


This next project, the whole family got in on because it was just plain fun. Admittedly, my kids have spent way more time on digital devices than I have wanted them to. It’s been a struggle to find projects that are educational much less finding one that focuses on American history.

How to Easily Turn an American History Research Topic into a Hands-on Learning Project

We were delighted to build the paper model of the White House.Looking at pictures of the White House and noticing details he hadn’t paid attention to prior to constructing the paper model of the White House was a relaxed way to learn about the nation’s capital.

Not only did Tiny have to read directions carefully in putting together all the small paper pieces, but it took patience to glue them.

An unexpected benefit of building the paper model was learning the fundamentals of engineering.

THREE/ Use activity books to teach about American history.


For an older child there is no more engaging way to review the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution than to do a fun decoding activity in the U.S.A. Constitution Activity Book.

I wished I had introduced the Preamble in this way to my sons when they were younger instead of having them memorize it or fill out a worksheet.

Fun activities like crossword puzzles, mazes, finding hidden objects in a picture and comparing two pictures to see what is missing are relaxed and informal ways to teach facts about the nation’s capital.

If you have a younger child who needs help in fine motor skills, he’ll love being able to do mazes instead of having to color.

When the boys were real little, we did mazes a lot because I read about the benefits of learning how to problem solve. Looking ahead in a maze and seeing what will work and not work is a fun way to learn problem solving skills.

The beauty of having a variety of activity books is that each child can choose what he loves to do the most. The best part of activity books are that most of the solutions or answers are found in the back of the book. Again, no teacher needed.

FOUR/ Create historical figures – the easy way. Use paper figures.


Unlike the White House paper model, which requires patience and wit to methodically put together, the historical paper models are easily punched out and glued. It’s a great project for a younger kid who wants to be involved while you teach older kids.

One of the reasons teaching American history can be boring is that we wait until high school to teach it and then we do it through a dry textbook.

Raising a budding history lover begins with introducing him to historical figures of the past and present through imaginative play.

In addition, while reading about George Washington, the American Civil War, or any other historical person or significant time period, a younger child will have a way to act out events which your older kids are learning.

Until a child is old enough to understand how American history affects us today, he needs concrete learning tools. Stand Up Presidents gives him a chance to hold and touch history.

You’re already aware of the benefits of using puppets for a young child to discover the joy of a story.

History is just one continuous story. And paper puppets draw in a young child and lets him be part of telling the story of our history.

Too, activity books are great for other reasons:

  • they can revive a child’s love of learning,
  • they can be used to take a break from formal learning,
  • they can be used on sick days,
  • they can be used for family bonding time,
  • they can help you to teach a subject like American history, which your child may not like,
  • they normally require just a few supplies to complete like pens, map coloring pencils, and glue,
  • and the best part is that all of your kids, regardless of age can learn together because of the wide range of activities offered in activity books.
For years I've fought my tendency to stick just a worksheet in front of my sons and call it American history. Knowing that learning by doing works but keeping hands-on ideas uncomplicated are two different things for me. I tend to complicate and over-analyze the details of a history activity. Next thing you know and much to my kids' disappointment, I've completely deleted any kind of fun learning activities from our day. Can you relate? Click here to read 4 shortcuts to teaching hands-on American history activities that are no fuss, no stress, and literally no preparation!

Remember hands-on American history activities shouldn’t stress you out, cost a lot, or make a big mess for your child to retain the information. Grab one or two activity books and relax.

You’ll love the activity books from Dover Publications.

How to purchase them!

►Product descriptions: U.S.A. Constitution Activity Book: Mazes, secret codes, crosswords, and other puzzles offer an entertaining way to learn about the Constitution, the foundation of the supreme law of the United States. Alexander Hamilton Coloring Book: Kids can color as they learn about the legendary Alexander Hamilton, whose fascinating life has spawned numerous books, articles, and a Tony Award®-winning Broadway musical. Discovering Washington, D.C. Activity Book: Take a whirlwind tour of Washington, D.C., with this fun-filled book of puzzles! Discover interesting facts about Capitol Hill, the National Mall, the White House, and other famous landmarks of Washington, D.C., including museums, parks, and monuments as well as neighborhoods around the city. American Presidents Coloring Book: From George Washington to Donald J. Trump, this fact-filled coloring book chronicles the history of all 45 US Presidents. Each Chief Executive is depicted in an image drawn from real life, and most portraits feature backgrounds that reflect significant events from the president’s administration. Presidents Facts and Fun Activity Book: More than 30 mazes, search-and-find puzzles, and spot-the-differences activities feature playful illustrations and intriguing tidbits about our nation’s leaders, from their nicknames and birthdays to their hobbies and pets. United States Coloring Book: An exciting coloring book spotlighting each of the 50 states. Information accompanying each ready-to-color illustration identifies the state’s motto, flower, bird, tree, capital, and principal rivers and mountains. Standups! Presidents: 8 Easy-to-Make Models!: Every day is Presidents’ Day with these charming 5-inch-high figures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and six other Chief Executives. White House Cut & Assemble: Follow these complete, simple instructions and clear diagrams to create an expertly designed, beautifully crafted, authentically detailed model of the White House.
►Suitable for grades: K to Gray.
►Format:
Physical products shipped to you.
►Cost: Prices vary, but most books are under $9.99.

You’ll also love these other resources:

  • Free American History Lapbook – Learning about The Old West Through the Life of Wyatt Earp,
  • Free 27 Week American History Study through Lapbooking In Chronological Order
  • Pioneer Living and Cloth Dyeing (Hands-on History)
  • Texas Native American History Quick Unit Study (Middle School)
  • 10 Early American History Events that Happened in Fall for Homeschool Middle or High School

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2 CommentsFiled Under: Geography, Gift Ideas for Homeschoolers, Giveaways, Hands-On Activities, History Resources, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Middle School Homeschool, Product Review, Sponsored Posts, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: american history, early American history, geography, hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, history, history resources, historyspine

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