Jennifer Lambert

A Sacred Balance

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Ancient Times Book List

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January 18, 2021 By Jennifer Lambert 7 Comments

As my kids get older and are growing out of picture books and sometimes get bored with assigned readings, I look for more appropriate books for the entire family to enjoy.

We still gather in the mornings and most evenings for story time. I still read aloud and show any pictures like the library story lady.

We use Tapestry of Grace for our main curriculum and book lists, and I also peruse Ambleside Online and other lists for a well-rounded history curriculum. I want all sides and perspectives. See How We Do History.

We use this text as a guide, especially for younger kids: The Story of the World: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor

For older kids: The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome and The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations and Warfare in the Classical World.

I go to the library about every week and get what I can. Sometimes, I even rent or buy eBooks to save money.

We expand our home library every year and extensively update every new history cycle.

For ancient history this year, my kids are 14, 13, and 10.

My girls are doing the rhetoric level and we still read aloud together many of their selections because I love to learn too. This is their last cycle with ancient history.

My son is in dialectic level and the girls even though they’re working the rhetoric level often love to hear those readings again.

And we still pull out of some of our well-loved picture books with gorgeous images and lovely stories.

I love, love, love historical fiction or living books. I love how it uses an author’s imagination to bring real life to historical events that are often boring in textbooks.

I often read adult historical fiction alongside my kids’ reading and our read alouds. The Red Tent is still a favorite. Some biblical fiction is hard for me to swallow and others are delightful or informative.

I still love T.L. Higley books. I enjoyed The Restoration Chronicles by Lynn Austin.

The book Pontius Pilate: A Novel by Paul L. Maier was recommended to me by a pastor and I might read it aloud to my family this Easter. Flames of Rome and his Skeleton Series look good too.

It’s often difficult to find engaging historical fiction for ancient times since we only have fragments of history and many ancient peoples had no written records or were wiped out by war or natural disaster. I don’t want to rely solely on religious texts as our reading material.

We’re learning more about parallel histories to the people of the Bible, different voices to fill in the real story. We’re learning about ancient Americas and Asia and Africa. I love seeing the full tapestry.

Favorite Ancient Times Historical Fiction

The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

A Cry From Egypt and A Stand at Sinai by Hope Auer

Tirzah by Travis Lucille

Adara by Beatrice Gormley

Twice Freed by Patricia St. John

Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher

God King by Joanne Williamson

Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson

Victory on the Walls by Frieda Clark Hyman

Beyond the Desert Gate by Mary Ray

Within the Palace Gates by Anna P. Siviter

The Pearl-Maiden by Henry Rider Haggard

Pharaoh’s Daughter by Julius Lester

The Eyes of Pharaoh by Chris Eboch

Cleopatra Confesses by Carolyn Meyer

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Journey for Tobiyah by Barbara E. Morgan

Vinegar Boy by Alberta Hawse

The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoads

Run With Me, Nike! by Cassandra Case

The Ides of April by Mary Ray

Beyond the Desert Gate by Mary Ray

The Roman Britain Trilogy by Rosemary Sutcliff

I’m sure I will add to this list over the next few months as we finish our ancient times history cycle year.

What’s your favorite ancient studies book?

See my Pinterest board for Year 1 History:

Linking up: Anita Ojeda, April Harris, Marilyn’s Treats, Little Cottage, Mostly Blogging, InstaEncouragements, LouLou Girls, Suburbia, Our Three Peas, Grandma’s Ideas, Anchored Abode, Soaring with Him, Ducks in aRow, Girlish Whims, Fluster Buster, Ginger Snap, Eclectic Red Barn, Penny’s Passion, Mommynificent, Debbie Kitterman, Ridge Haven, Slices of Life, Simply Sweet Home, Try it Like it, Answer is Choco, Wordsmith, Momfessionals, Embracing Unexpected, Lyli Dunbar, CWJ, Everyday Farmhouse, OMHG, Create with Joy,

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Filed Under: Homeschool Tagged With: book list, history, homeschool

Apple Mummies

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

October 12, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We did a fun science and history demonstration with apples.

We experimented with how best to mummify an apple with different solutions of salts.

We peeled three small apples.

I have a control apple with nothing on it.

I mixed kosher salt and baking soda in one cup for the second apple.

In another cup, I added just Epsom salts for the third apple.

We placed the apples in our cellar for about a week.

One apple is the control with nothing on it. After a week sitting on a shelf in our cellar, it didn’t look too bad. It was still firm and not much browning.

The apple in Epsom salt was very wet. The color was great. The apple was squishy. I thought it was pretty well preserved.

Perhaps I didn’t mix the kosher salt with baking soda well enough, but this apple was soft and squishy and very brown. We didn’t think it well preserved.

One apple mummy experiment I saw used apple wedges comparing the following:

  • control apple
  • apple & gauze
  • salt
  • salt & gauze
  • sugar
  • sugar & gauze
  • vinegar
  • vinegar & gauze
  • baking soda
  • baking soda & gauze

A fun, crafty way would be to carve faces into the apples and then experiment with salts and solutions to preserve the apples. Then they’re fun Halloween decorations for a little while.

The possibilities are almost endless and don’t cost much. Learning by doing is one of our favorite ways and makes great memories!

The salts act as desiccants, pulling moisture out of the apple, preserving it. They also have antimicrobial properties, so they keep bacteria and fungi from growing. 

In ancient Egypt, natron was used in preserving mummies. Natron is a natural salt mixture containing the chemicals sodium carbonate, decahydrate (soda ash), sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium chloride (table salt), and another salt, an electrolyte called sodium sulfate.  

The ancient Egyptians kept mummies preserved in natron inside airy tents in dry desert air for about forty days before wrapping them in linen for their final burial in sarcophagi and tombs.

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Constitution Unit Study

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

September 7, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert 10 Comments

I want to teach my kids US history, government, citizenship.

I don’t want the US government curriculum to be nationalist, fundamentalist, or evangelical.

I’m not sure when many Americans began equating white Republican Jesus with the white male president, right wing government officials, and media, with removing or reducing social programs, but that’s not my religion.

I want unbiased materials and we’re leaning more and more towards secular curriculum to get the true picture of history.

On September 17, 1787, the Founding Fathers signed the most influential document in American history, the United States Constitution.

As we approach Constitution Week, September 17-23, here are some fun educational materials available at no cost to homeschoolers.

A More or Less Perfect Union is a three-part PBS series hosted by Senior Federal Appeals DC Circuit Court Judge Douglas Ginsburg. The series features 17 Constitutional experts weighing in on hot button topics around the document that governs those who govern us.  It aired earlier this year and is schedule to re-air on public television on Sept. 13 at 9 p.m. ET. It is also available on Amazon Prime and PBS.org, if you are a member. It can be watched for free now. It is best suited for high school level students.

Imagine having a discussion with George Washington and Ben Franklin today. Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg sat down with each historic figure to discuss the Constitution, what succeeded and what failed, slavery, education, and even air conditioning and deodorant! Meet the Framers are fascinating, educational and entertaining conversations that shouldn’t be missed.

Judge Ginsburg worked with izzit.org, an online teacher resource, to develop civics educational materials to teach about the Constitution.   The materials include a week-long course on The U.S. Constitution & Black History, a 16-minute teaching unit, Becoming Equal Under the Law, and a number of Teachable Moments (short video clips designed to encourage discussions).

For younger students, the Pups of Liberty series (The Boston T-Bone Party  and The Dog-claration of Independence) are delightful.

A new teaching unit on the First Amendment is recently released.

This is all available to educators at no cost!

Constitution and Government Resources

  • Bookshark Constitution unit study (must input an email address to receive)
  • Sonlight Election Day Unit Study (must input an email address to receive)
  • Election Unit Study from My Little Poppies
  • US Constitution Unit Study from The Homeschool Mom
  • Constitution Unit Study from HEAV
  • Constitution Lesson Plan from Homeschool Lessons
  • Constitution Day Unit from DIY Homeschooler
  • Constitution Week Study Resources from Homeschool.com
  • Constitution Copywork and Printable Activities from Homeschool Creations
  • Preamble to the Constitution Copywork from Cynce’s Place
  • Preamble to the Constitution File Folder Game from The Wise Nest
  • US Constitution Lapbook from Homeschool Helper
  • Constitution Writing Activities from In All You Do
  • US Constitution Lesson Plans from The Clever Teacher
  • Celebrating the Constitution from Hip Homeschool Moms
  • ConstitutionFacts.com
  • iCivics
  • US Government Unit Study from Our Journey Westward
  • Unit Study: American Government & Elections from Home Schoolroom
  • United States resources from The Homeschool Den
  • My 4th of July unit
  • My Revolutionary War unit
  • Liberty’s Kids
  • Schoolhouse Rock!
  • Schoolhouse Rock!: Election Collection
  • This is America, Charlie Brown
  • Animaniacs: Season 3, Episode 75 (The Presidents Song)
  • Elmo the Musical: First Monster President

Favorite US History Books

  • A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
  • A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki  
  • An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz 
  • A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross 
  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz  
  • A Disability History of the United States by Kim E. Nielsen  
  • A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski  
  • Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
  • A History of US: Eleven-Volume Set by Joy Hakim
  • Life: Our Century In Pictures by Richard B. Stolley
  • The Century for Young People by Peter Jennings

Linking up: Random Musings, April Harris, Create with Joy, Welcome Heart, Anita Ojeda, Marilyn’s Treats, Little Cottage, Kippi at Home, Home Stories, Mary Geisen, Purposeful Faith, LouLou Girls, Grandma’s Ideas, Anchored Abode, Soaring with Him, Ridge Haven Homestead, InstaEncouragements, My Girlish Whims, Fluster Buster, Ginger Snap Crafts, Ducks in a Row, Our Three Peas, Katherine’s Corner, Penny’s Passion, Mommynificent, Slices of Life, Creative K Kids, Imparting Grace, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Answer is Choco, Simply Sweet Home, Momfessionals, Embracing Unexpected, Pieced Pastimes, Fireman’s Wife, CWJ, Being a Wordsmith, Mostly Blogging,

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Japan Unit Study

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

June 8, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We love learning about other cultures.

We review history and geography each cycle/year and assimilate our learning with current events.

I want to learn real history along with my kids, not just an American perspective.

Japan Unit Study

Topics

  • Feudalism
  • Samurai
  • Imperialism
  • WWII
  • Anime
  • Technology

Book List

  • Born in the Year of Courage by Emily Crofford
  • A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
  • The Samurai’s Tale by Erik C. Haugaard
  • A Samurai Castle by Fiona MacDonald 
  • Black Belt
  • The Drums of Noto Hanto
  • The Inch-High Samurai
  • The Samurai’s Daughter
  • Sword of the Samurai
  • Three Samurai Cats
  • The Origami Master by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
  • Yuki and the One Thousand Carriers by Gloria Whelan
  • The Invisible Seam by Andy William Frew
  • Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
  • A Carp for Kimiko by Virginia Kroll
  • The Old Man Mad about Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai by Francois Place
  • Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun and Shipwrecked!: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy by Rhoda Blumberg
  • Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan 1858 by Kathryn Lasky
  • The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
  • So Far from the Sea by Eve Bunting
  • Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi
  • So Far from the Bamboo Grove and My Brother, My Sister, and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
  • Hiroshima by Laurence Yep
  • Passage to Freedom and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
  • How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman
  • ALL THE BOOKS by Allen Say
  • Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories by Florence Sakade

Movies

Use discretion. Some of these films are just ridiculous.

  • Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa
  • The Last Samurai
  • 47 Ronin
  • Godzilla
  • Pokémon
  • Dragon Ball Z
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!
  • Death Note
  • Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli
  • The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
  • Grave of the Fireflies
  • In This Corner of the World
  • Lost in Translation
  • Black Rain
  • The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
  • The Wolverine
  • Unbroken
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • Letters from Iwo Jima
  • Flags of Our Fathers
  • Windtalkers
  • Emperor
  • Midway

Resources: Printables, Units, Lessons

  • Confessions of a Homeschooler
  • The Homeschool Mom
  • Happy Homeschool
  • Unlikely Homeschool
  • Living Montessori Now
  • Homeschool Share
  • The Momma Knows
  • Homeschool Den
  • Snowden
  • Happy Brown House

We would love to visit Japan someday!

ProSchool Membership - Productive Homeschooling
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Filed Under: Homeschool Tagged With: Asia, history, homeschool, Japan, military, unit study

Asian Pacific American Resources

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

May 1, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month. 

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America’s history and are instrumental in its future success. Check out this teacher resource page.

It’s a great month to focus our studies, our reading and watching materials on Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Often in our curriculum, the white narrative dominates and I must be diligent to seek out sources and materials to honor all cultures and peoples.

I try really hard to teach my white children about other cultures, about immigrants, and the experiences of people not like us. Sometimes, it’s uncomfortable and that’s where the learning happens.

I update our studies every history cycle, adding more inclusive material to our lists each time. Lots of book lists and more here:

  • China Unit Study
  • Japan Unit Study
  • Korea Unit Study
  • Vietnam Unit Study
  • India Unit Study

We lived in Hawaii for three years. We loved it.

But we realized we were temporary, other, haoles in Paradise, and it wasn’t our land. Looking back, I realize there was so much more I could have learned, done, thought. My girls were very young and I can make amends now as we learn about the history and culture of Hawaii. The kids don’t even remember it.

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

Maya Angelou

Our Hawaii Travels

  • Big Island Hawaii with Kids
  • Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
  • Maui with Kids
  • Oahu with Kids
  • Honolulu with Kids
  • North Shore with Kids
  • Kaneohe with Kids
  • Our Kaua’i Weekend
  • Our Ni’ihau Day Trip
  • Makahiki – Thanksgiving in Hawaii
  • Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Reading List

  • I love Amy Tan. Joy Luck Club and all her others! I think I’ve read them all.
  • Jhumpa Lahiri is another jewel. I love her books! The Lowland and The Namesake are great!
  • Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong
  • Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng  
  • Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
  • Home Remedies: Stories by Xuan Juliana Wang  
  • This Is Paradise: Stories by Kristiana Kahakauwila
  • Frankly in Love by David Yoon
  • Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy by Kevin Kwan 
  • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford 
  • Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
  • White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
  • Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong  
  • On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel by Ocean Vuong
  • The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston
  • A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara  
  • Ask Me No Questions by Marina Tamar Budhos
  • Bamboo People and Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
  • Born Confused series by Tanuja Desai Hidier
  • Tashi and the Tibetan Flower Cure by Naomi C. Rose
  • Candy Shop by Jan Wahl
  • Hannah Is My Name by Belle Yang
  • Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Sherri L. Smith
  • Two Mrs. Gibsons by Toyomi Igus
  • American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
  • Grandfather Counts by Andrea Cheng
  • The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
  • Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo
  • Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story by Paula Yoo 
  • A Step From Heaven by An Na
  • Apple Pie 4th of July by Janet S. Wong
  • Project Mulberry and A Single Shard by Linda Soo Park
  • Under the Blood-red Sun and Island Boyz: Short Stories by Graham Salisbury
  • Little Cricket by Jackie Brown
  • Fresh Off the Boat by Melissa De la Cruz
  • Beacon Hill Boys by Ken Mochizuki

I believe in exposing young children to other cultures and getting them familiar with differences so they don’t feel uncomfortable. The first time I had Asian food, I was twelve! I don’t think my parents did a good job on some aspects of my education.

Activities:

Dine out at an Asian restaurant and try new foods. Research before you go so it’s not an expensive waste since the flavors and presentation are very different than typical American food. Some foods are very spicy to a white palate used to bland food!

Learn to cook Asian food! Sushi, stir fries, and soups are easy first steps.

  • Lettuce Wraps
  • Slow Cooker Asian Pork Ribs
  • Cashew Chicken
  • Easy Stir Fry
  • Easy Lo Mein
  • Easy Fried Rice

Visit an Asian festival to learn more about the culture and support immigrants.

Go to museum exhibits on Asian art.

How do you celebrate Asian Americans?

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Black American History

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

February 28, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

It’s hard to teach my white kids about Black history and Civil Rights in America.

I can’t just begin in the 1960s with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Act. I can’t just teach about this in February: Black History Month.

The fight for civil rights began long ago and continues today.

No one really wants to discuss the creation of the idea of race surrounding the colonization of Europeans to the New World.

Pioneer days are lauded as an exciting time when white Europeans claimed Manifest Destiny and took land from the Natives who had lived in America for hundreds of years. Theses times are glorified in skewed history books with white saviors “evangelizing and rescuing people of color from themselves and their savagery.”

The Civil War didn’t end slavery. It made slavery illegal, and other later court decisions made Jim Crow Laws and segregation illegal, but discrimination and stereotypes in the media, schools, and our own homes uphold racism.

The Ku Klux Klan was and is hateful toward anyone who is not a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

This is hard and necessary history to teach my white children who have been mostly oblivious in their sheltered lives. It’s hard history for me to revisit and enlighten myself so I understand true American history.

Civil rights are human rights.

It is my duty to learn and teach anti-racism. All year round and not just one month each year.

Studying Black American History

Our favorite history texts:

  • A History of US: Eleven-Volume Set by Joy Hakim
  • Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
  • A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
  • Story of the World, Vol. 1: History for the Classical Child: Ancient Times by Susan Wise Bauer
  • Story of the World, Vol. 2: History for the Classical Child: The Middle Ages by Susan Wise Bauer
  • Story of the World, Vol. 3: History for the Classical Child: Early Modern Times by Susan Wise Bauer
  • Story of the World, Vol. 4: History for the Classical Child: The Modern Age by Susan Wise Bauer
  • Life: Our Century In Pictures by Richard B. Stolley
  • The Century for Young People by Peter Jennings

Topics for Discussion

I know this is an incomplete timeline. We discuss issues as I learn about them and we read about them in our studies.

  • Colonialism
  • Enslavement
  • Underground Railroad
  • Harriet Tubman
  • Fugitive Slave Act
  • Nat Turner
  • Abolitionism 
  • John Brown
  • Dred Scott
  • The US Civil War. See my unit study.
  • Emancipation Proclamation
  • Juneteenth
  • Reconstruction
  • Freedmen’s Bureau
  • Black Codes
  • Jim Crow
  • Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
  • 14th and 15th Amendments
  • Ku Klux Klan
  • Tuskegee Institute
  • Ida B. Wells sued the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
  • Plessy v. Ferguson
  • Woodrow Wilson orders physical re-segregation of federal workplaces and employment
  • Marcus Garvey and UNIA
  • Great Migration
  • Harlem Renaissance
  • East St. Louis massacres
  • Red Summer
  • Tulsa Race Massacre
  • Tuskegee Airmen
  • Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
  • Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin
  • Negro League Baseball
  • Jackie Robinson
  • Brown v. Board Of Education
  • Recy Taylor
  • Emmett Till
  • Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
  • Little Rock Nine
  • Sit–in Movement 
  • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
  • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
  • Freedom Rides
  • James Meredith integrates Ole Miss
  • 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, bombed
  • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964
  • Freedom Summer and the “Mississippi Burning” Murders
  • Selma to Montgomery March
  • Malcolm X
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965
  • Black Power
  • Fair Housing Act of 1968
  • MLK Assassination
  • Shirley Chisholm Runs for President in 1972
  • President Jimmy Carter appoints Andrew Young to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations
  • The Bakke Decision and Affirmative Action
  • Jesse Jackson and People United to Save/Serve Humanity (PUSH)
  • Oprah Winfrey Talk Show
  • Los Angeles Riots
  • Million Man and Woman Marches
  • Colin Powell becomes Secretary of State
  • Barack Obama becomes 44th U.S. President
  • Civil Rights Extensions
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Colin Kaepernick

February 1976: Black History Month is founded by Professor Carter Woodson’s Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History.

November 2, 1983: President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday to honor MLK.

January 20, 1986: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is first celebrated as a national holiday.

Resources and Reading List

I prefer to read works written by Black people about Black people. Some other books we’ve read and discussed, but they had problems.

  • 1619 Project online
  • 1619 Project Teaching/Reading Guide
  • The Native Americans Who Assisted the Underground Railroad
  • Racial Equality Tools
  • Frederick Douglass
  • Langston Hughes
  • W.E.B. Du Bois
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • James Baldwin
  • Maya Angelou
  • Alice Walker
  • Toni Morrison
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Ibram X. Kendi
  • A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
  • An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
  • The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty
  • And Still I Rise: Black America Since MLK by Henry L. Gates and Kevin M. Burke
  • Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the New York Times Photo Archives
  • Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream by Blair Imani
  • Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson
  • A Child’s Introduction to African American History: The Experiences, People, and Events That Shaped Our Country by Jabari Asim
  • Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves by Glory Edim
  • Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson
  • Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
  • One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
  • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
  • The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
  • Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
  • Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
  • Logans Series by Mildred Taylor
  • Books by Angie Thomas
  • Biographies about former enslaved people
  • Biographies about Civil Rights leaders
  • Raising Antiracist Kids by Local Passport Family

Anti-Racism Books

Some of these are on my list to read. Some I’ve read and liked or disliked. It’s frustrating when white people write about anti-racism from a place of socio-economic power and white savior stance.

  • I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
  • The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
  • Black Theology and Black Power by James H. Cone
  • I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation by Chanequa Walker-Barnes
  • The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
  • Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US by Lenny Duncan
  • White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
  • Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
  • Waking Up White: and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving
  • White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White by Daniel Hill

Movies

Obviously, some of these are not for young children. Use discretion.

I love movies and I love using movies to teach history and culture. Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, and Jordan Peele have great films.

  • The Princess and the Frog
  • Amistad
  • 12 Years a Slave
  • The Color Purple
  • Sounder
  • Ruby Bridges
  • 4 Little Girls
  • Remember The Titans
  • Ali
  • Marshall
  • Selma
  • Malcolm X
  • 42
  • Hidden Figures
  • The Help
  • Fruitvale Station
  • When They See Us
  • 13th
  • Mississippi Burning
  • Red Tails
  • Tuskegee Airmen
  • Loving
  • Straight Outta Compton
  • Get Out
  • Us

Music

I love music and I love the rich history that African Americans have brought to our musical repertoire. See how we learn about music.

  • Spirituals and Folk Songs
  • Jubilee Singers
  • Barbershop quartets
  • Blues
  • Jazz
  • Soul
  • R&B
  • Rap
  • Hip Hop

The removal of racist songs from children’s music programs is long overdue.

Celebrate Black composers, singers, and musicians throughout history.

Musicians We’re Listening To:

  • W.C. Handy
  • Louis Armstrong
  • Teddy Wilson
  • Robert Johnson
  • Sister Rosetta Tharpe
  • Marian Anderson
  • Chuck Berry
  • Nat King Cole
  • Miles Davis
  • Duke Ellington
  • Count Basie
  • Charlie Parker
  • Cab Calloway
  • Nina Simone
  • Billie Holiday
  • Sarah Vaughan
  • Bessie Smith
  • Florence Price
  • Dizzy Gillespie
  • John Coltrane
  • Scott Joplin
  • Ella Fitzgerald
  • Mahalia Jackson
  • Etta James
  • BB King
  • Otis Redding
  • Aretha Franklin
  • Diana Ross
  • James Brown
  • Jimi Hendrix
  • Charley Pride
  • Ray Charles
  • Isaac Hayes
  • DJ Kool Herc
  • Marvin Gaye
  • Stevie Wonder
  • Sam Cooke
  • Fats Domino
  • Little Richard
  • Bob Marley
  • Whitney Houston
  • Michael Jackson
  • Prince
  • Lauryn Hill
  • Chuck D
  • Blackstreet
  • Snoop Dogg
  • Nicki Minaj
  • Beyoncé
  • Childish Gambino

Field Trips

We live in Ohio and we’re learning local history along with world and US history.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati

Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati:

Underground Railroad Walk in Springboro, Ohio:

Quilts often were maps for the Underground Railroad.

It’s important to revisit history lessons again and again. I learn so much while researching to teach my children Truth.

I’m constantly revisiting my upbringing and the stereotypes I was washed in during my Georgia public school education. I want to do better. I want to do better teaching my children.

How do you teach Black History?

You might also like:

  • Celebrating Diversity
  • Our Souls are the Same Color
  • Love Your Neighbor
  • Nonviolence Unit Study
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Teaching Cinema History

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

January 20, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert 13 Comments

We live in an era of wonderful technology with streaming videos that I never imagined as a kid.

I look back on the history of movies and I am in awe of the imaginations and wonder and inventions that made it all possible.

I would spend my time after school and during summers watching classic films on AMC and TMC. I roamed Blockbuster and indie rental shops. I collected favorite films. I love having access to various films with streaming.

I love sharing my love of movies with my children.

There is a plethora of topics in film. It would take years to learn all the details, but I can outline a few that I discuss with my kids.

I like to watch movies like I read books. We discuss archetypes, themes, symbolism, method, theory.

Film is a great way to learn history, science, review literature, and enjoy science fiction and speculative fiction topics.

We often check out DVDs from the library. We stream movies and shows on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Disney+. We also have a vast collection.

Cinema Topics Discussion:

McCarthyism and blacklisting during the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s.

How is the use of propaganda and advertising in film and video media used?

The Bechdel Test, or Bechdel–Wallace Test, is a measure of the representation of women in fiction. It asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The requirement that the two women must be named is sometimes added.

The #MeToo Movement and Weinstein (and others) sexual assault cases.

Minority representation – race, gender, sexual orientation and stereotypes portrayed in film. We need to talk about how people are portrayed in film. Compare films from decades ago (and there’s sure to be another dang remake or reboot soon) and recent films. Did they improve their stereotypes or dialogue?

How is mental illness portrayed? Is it accurate, stereotyped, toned down, or acceptable?

How are villains idolized? Has the good vs. evil theme changed over the decades? Is it more gray or blurred now?

Censorship has evolved over the decades. Should films with questionable or offensive or outdated content be censored or unavailable?

Awards events are popular to watch, even if it’s just to see the red carpet costumes. Which movies are most represented and nominated for awards? Who are the sponsors, judges, announcers?

Cinema History

Early Cinema

In 1891, the Edison Company in the USA successfully demonstrated a prototype of the Kinetoscope, which enabled one person at a time to view moving pictures.

The first to present projected moving pictures to a paying audience were the Lumière brothers in December 1895 in Paris.

Silent Film Era

The work of Muybridge, Marey, and Le Prince laid the foundation for future development of motion picture cameras, projectors and transparent celluloid film, which lead to the development of cinema as we know it today. American inventor George Eastman, who had first manufactured photographic dry plates in 1878, made headway on a stable type of celluloid film in 1888 of sensitized paper roll photographic film (instead of metal or glass plates) and a convenient “Kodak” small box camera (a still camera) that used the roll film. He later further improved the paper roll film with his 1889 invention: perforated celluloid.

From the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films.

Sound

The first feature-length movie incorporating synchronised dialogue, The Jazz Singer in 1927, used the Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone system, which employed a separate record disc with each reel of film for the sound.

Technicolor

The Technicolor process, perfected in 1932, originally used a beam-splitting optical cube, in combination with the camera lens, to expose three black-and-white films. Each image was captured simultaneously on a separate band of black-and-white film.

Hollywood

During the 1930s and 1940s, cinema was the principal form of popular entertainment in the USA and is considered The Golden Age.

The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Hollywood in the early 1950s. This decade marked a “golden age” for non-English world cinema, especially in Asia. Television caused many film theatres to close.

The 1960s saw a rise in British and French film.

The production code was replaced in 1968 by the MPAA film rating system.

The 1970s saw an increasing popularity of the auteur theory, which assumes a film director’s films express their personal vision and creative insights. Also, a rise of West German cinema. Called the “post-classical” era, films from this decade are characterized by shady protagonists, endings with a twist and flashbacks. Adult cinemas also were popular, but died out in the 1980s when the VCR allowed home viewing.

Bollywood was coined for the growing Hindi film industry in Mumbai that dominates South Asian cinema. Hindi filmmakers combined the Hollywood musical formula with the conventions of ancient Indian theatre to create a new film genre called “Masala.” These films portray action, comedy, drama, romance, and melodrama all at once, with “filmi” song and dance routines thrown in.

The 1980s saw the rise of Hong Kong action cinema and huge blockbuster Hollywood hits.

First British multiplex at Milton Keynes in 1985. The rise of the multiplex cinema did not allow fewer mainstream films to be shown, but allowed major blockbusters to get an even greater number of screenings. Films that were overlooked in cinemas were increasingly being given a second chance on home video.

The 1990s saw popularity in indie film to finance and produce non-mainstream fare. Special effects films were spectacular. DVDs replaced VCRs for home viewing media.

The 2000s saw increasing globalization of cinema.

After 2010, the largest film industries by number of feature films produced were those of India, the United States, China, Nigeria and Japan.

3D and IMAX

3D films have existed in some form since 1915. The earliest confirmed 3D film shown to an out-of-house audience was The Power of Love, which premiered at the Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles on September 27, 1922.

The standard for shooting live-action films in 3D involves using two cameras mounted so that their lenses are about as far apart from each other as the average pair of human eyes, recording two separate images for both the left eye and the right eye.

The first IMAX cinema projection standards were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Canada. The IMAX film standard uses 70 mm film run through the projector horizontally.

3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney-themed venues.

Animation

Wow, this is a whole other unit study. My youngest daughter is fascinated by animation and we love learning about it.

Timeline:

  1. Shadow play
  2. Magic Lantern
  3. Mechanics
  4. Stop Motion
  5. Traditional
  6. Silent
  7. Sound
  8. Cartoons
  9. Feature films
  10. TV

I want my kids to have a wide range of knowledge of cartoons in all their joy. They’ve watched all the stuff I watched as a kid. We really love Anime like Studio Ghibli and how gorgeous the drawings are.

Television/Cable/Satellite

Television networks are in control of the most valuable prime time slots available for programming, so syndicators of independent television films have to settle for fewer television markets and less desirable time periods. This means much smaller advertising revenues and license fees compared with network-supplied programming.

Cable television originated in the United States almost simultaneously in Arkansas, Oregon and Pennsylvania in 1948 to enhance poor reception of over-the-air television signals in mountainous or geographically remote areas.

By 1952, 70 “cable” systems served 14,000 subscribers nationwide.

By 1962, almost 800 cable systems serving 850,000 subscribers were in business.

In 1972, Charles Dolan and Gerald Levin of Sterling Manhattan Cable launched the nation’s first pay-TV network, Home Box Office (HBO). This venture led to the creation of a national satellite distribution system that used a newly approved domestic satellite transmission. Satellites changed the business dramatically, paving the way for the explosive growth of program networks.

Deregulation provided by the 1984 Act had a strong positive effect on the rapid growth of cable services. From 1984 through 1992, the industry spent more than $15 billion on the wiring of America, and billions more on program development. This was the largest private construction project since World War II.

In 1998, America On-Line moved on an historic merger with Time Warner and its cable properties to form AOL Time Warner.

In 2001, AT&T agreed to fold its cable systems with those of Comcast Corp., creating the largest ever cable operator with more than 22 million customers.

The digital TV transition leapt forward in 2003, as substantial gains were made in the deployment of High-Definition Television (HDTV), Video-on-Demand (VOD), digital cable, and other advanced services.

Cable Operators have reinvented television, creating TV that goes where customers go. Wherever you are, on whatever device you choose.

VCR/DVD/Streaming

The first VCR player was developed by the Ampex Corporation – VRX-1000 in 1956.

The first DVD player was the Toshiba SD-3000. It was first released over in Japan November, 1996, and was crazy expensive.

“Streaming” was applied in the early 1990s as a better description for video on demand and later live video on IP networks. It was first done by Starlight Networks for video streaming and Real Networks for audio streaming.

Copyright infringement of films has run rampant.

It’s amazing how technology has changed and how much movies mean to us throughout history.

Fave directors:

  • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Stanley Kubrick
  • Ridley Scott
  • John Carpenter
  • Sam Raimi
  • Tim Burton
  • George Lucas
  • Steven Spielberg
  • Robert Zemeckis
  • Jane Campion
  • Yimou Zhang
  • Jordan Peele

Resources:

  • Film History by Decade
  • AFI Readers
  • Top 100 Movies of All Time by AFI
  • The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark by Robert K. K. Elder
  • Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares by John Landis
  • 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
  • Teach with Movies
  • Teaching History with Film
  • Teaching with Film
  • Teaching Film History to Production Students
  • 7 Ways to Watch a Film Critically
  • Lapbook Any Movie
  • Movie Theme Notebooking
  • Note Taking Strategies (not just for films)

What’s your favorite movie of all time?

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Filed Under: Homeschool Tagged With: history, homeschool, unit study

Golden Spike

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

August 5, 2019 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

When we first arrived in Utah, we traveled to the Golden Spike national park for a re-enactment.

It was hot and dry and out in the middle of nowhere.

The kids were young, but we’ve shown them the pictures each history cycle since to refresh their memories as we learn about American history.

And then there’s an interesting story.

Golden Spike National Historic Site is open year round and receives nearly 60,000 visitors a year. Visitors come to explore the site and connect with one of the most transformational moments in our nation’s history. The most popular attractions include stepping out to the site where history was made, viewing the site’s replica steam locomotives, participating in historic re-enactments of the famous “Last Spike” ceremony and exploring the nearly 150 year-old railroad grade on the auto tours and hiking trail.

Learn more.

Hours and Re-enactments.

150th anniversary events on May 10, 2019.

The girls got their Junior Ranger badges. It’s a great way to get kids interested in history and learning.

We like hands-on history.

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Johnston Farm and Indian Agency

The blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Also see my suggested resources.

July 30, 2019 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

One of our favorite field trips this year was Johnston Farm. We enjoyed the museum and canal boat ride.

Johnston Farm Museum

Exhibits trace the story of the Eastern Woodland Indians of Ohio and the Pickawillany village site.

We loved learning about the Native Americans of the area.

The exhibits were very respectful of and educational about how Europeans exploited the Natives.

There were several sections about Indian stereotypes throughout history and how we still exploit them today in sports and advertising. It’s so infuriating.

We learned all about Ohio canals. Then we got to ride in one!

General Harrison Canal Boat

A replica 70-foot-long canal boat used for transportation of passengers and cargo in the 19th century.

Adena Indian Mound and Earthwork

Other Sites

  • Farmhouse – 1815
  • Double Pen Barn – 1808
  • Springhouse – 1815
  • Cider House – 1828

Visit Johnston Farm and Indian Agency.

Hours of Operation

April, May and September, October:  9 AM to 2 PM — Monday – Friday
June, July, and August:  10 AM to 5 PM — Thursday and Friday
and Noon to 5 PM — Saturday and Sunday
Closed Holidays and November through March

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Year 2 History Resources

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June 17, 2019 By Jennifer Lambert 7 Comments

Year 2 History: Middle Ages and Renaissance Times

It becomes really fascinating when you study world history chronologically and see how interconnected everything is, all the causes and effects.

We use Tapestry of Grace for book lists, but I also peruse Ambleside Online and other lists for a well-rounded history curriculum. I want all sides and perspectives.

We use this spine history text as a guide, especially for my younger three kids: The Story of the World: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance.

I go to the library about every week and get what I can.

I shop thrift stores, yard sales, half-price and used bookstores to get books we love to read again and again.

Other books we use throughout our history studies – over several years, when it applies to our time period:

  • This Country of Ours by HE Marshall
  • Our Island Story by HE Marshall
  • The Struggle for Sea Power by MB Synge
  • The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon
  • Magic Treehouse
  • If You Grew Up…
  • American Girl Collection and Real Stories From My Time
  • The Royal Diaries
  • Dear America

We love Netflix and Amazon Prime for streaming. We sometimes view YouTube.

Famous Men of the Middle Ages is a good read this year.

Monks and Mystics is good church history.

See how we do history.

Year 1

Year 3

Year 4

I am trying to teach real history, from every perspective. I want my children to understand that the winners wrote most of the history I learned. I love learning along with my kids and opening my mind to new ideas.

I want to learn and teach my kids about accurate events and stories involving colonization, racism, religion, and war.

I’ve read these books to help me educate myself:

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

It’s my job to teach my kids Truth and sometimes it’s really hard to face it and learn alongside my kids the issues my parents, public school teachers, and curriculum conveniently left out.

The Middle Ages and Renaissance time periods are fascinating and so many ideas during this time set the stage for our modern governments, literature, arts, and way of life.

We focus on exploration, colonizing, slavery, church missions and how European white supremacy created the world we are trying to salvage.

Unit 1: The Fall of Rome and Medieval Asia

History

Topics:

The Fall of Rome

Celts

St. Augustine

Byzantine Empire

Medieval Indian Empire

Hindu

Buddhism

Islam

Medieval China

Genghis Khan

Medieval Japan

Samurai

Medieval Oceania

Books:

Across a Dark and Wild Sea

Augustine, the Farmer’s Boy of Tagaste

Calligraphy by Fiona Campbell

The Story of Writing and Printing by Anna Baneri

I am Eastern Orthodox

Let’s Take a Walk through the Orthodox Church

Piece by Piece: Mosaics of the Ancient World

Step-by-Step Mosaics

The World My Church

Places of Worship in the Middle Ages

In the Heart of the Village: The World of the Indian Banyan Tree

Snake Charmer

The Usborne Book of World Religions

Muslim Mosque: Places of Worship

Mosque by David Macaulay (like City and Cathedral)

Empress of China

The Grand Canal of China

Heroes: Great Men Through the Ages

Heroines: Great Women Through the Ages

A Samurai Castle

The Great Wall of China by Leonard Everett Fischer

Literature

Beowulf (I love Seamus Heaney’s translation)

Augustine Came to Kent

The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica

The Man Who Loved Books

Marguerite Makes a Book

Moonlight Kite

Otto of the Silver Hand

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Last Snake in Ireland

The Abbot and I: As Told By Josie the Cat

How the Monastery Came to Be on the Top of the Mountain

The King’s Chessboard

Once a Mouse…

The Prince who Became a Beggar

The River Goddess: A Hindu Tale

The Very Hungry Lion

The Wizard Punchkin

The Enchanted Storks

Forty Fortunes

The Hundredth Name

Yunus and the Whale

Ali, Child of the Desert

Hosni the Dreamer

The Tale of Aladdin

Cat and Rat: The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac

The Legend of the Kite

The Lord of the Cranes

Maples in the Mist

The Warlord’s Puzzle (There’s a whole series!)

Cool Melons-Turn to Frogs!

A Carp for Kimiko

The Bee and the Dream

The Boy who Drew Cats

The Crane Wife

In the Moonlight Mist

Kongi and Potgi

Little Oh

Mr. Pak Buys a Story

The Rabbit’s Judgement

The Seven Gods of Luck

Sir Whong and the Golden Pig

The Sun Girl and the Moon Boy

Yoshi’s Feast

Animal Dreaming

Dingoes at Dinnertime

Going for Oysters

Home of the Winds

Maui and the Sun

The Pumpkin Runner

Black Belt

The Drums of Noto Hanto

The Inch-High Samurai

The Samurai’s Daughter

Sword of the Samurai

Three Samurai Cats

Fa Mulan by San Souci

The Hunter by Mary Casanova

The Legend of Mulan by Wei Jiang

Liang and the Magic Paintbrush

The Master Swordsman and the Magic Doorway

The Paper Dragon

Beautiful Warrior

Bitter Dumplings

The Donkey and the Rock

The Dragon Prince

The Emperor and the Kite

Kat and the Emperor’s’ Gift

The Weaving of a Dream

Activities

Music from this period

Art from this period

Visit museums

Make your own book

Calligraphy

Quill and ink

Illumination – see our project

See our St. Patrick Unit and Ireland Unit Study

See My St. Nicholas unit

Sand art – see our project

Weave cloth

Eat with chopsticks

Make or go out for Indian, Chinese, Japanese food

String block printing

Origami

Make a kite

Compose haiku

Make poppycock or Bombay mix as a snack

Learn to use a boomerang

Make a paper lantern

Church History

The Church: Life in the Middle Ages

How the Bible Came to Us

Movies

Seven Samurai

47 Ronin

The Great Wall

13th Warrior

Mulan

Unit 2: Middle Ages in Europe

History

Topics:

Clovis

Charles the Hammer

Charlemagne

Merovingian Dynasty

Franks

Moors

Vikings

Alfred the Great

Battle of Hastings

Bayeux Tapestry

Crusades

King Arthur

Saladin

Magna Carta

King Richard

Diaspora

Marco Polo

Ivan

Sulieman

The Plague

Joan of Arc

War of the Roses

Books:

Medieval Paris by Anna Cazzini Tartaglino

Paris by Renzo Rossi

Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled

The World in the Time of Charlemagne

Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky

Leif the Lucky

The Grandchildren of the Vikings

Cathedral by David McCauley

Great Building

The Tower of London

William the Conqueror by Robert Green

A Farm Through Time

A Street Through Time

A City Through Time

A Child Through Time

A Three-Dimensional Medieval Castle

Castles by Gillian Osband

Castle at War

Clothes and Crafts in the Middle Ages

The Medieval World

Knights by Philip Steele

Knights by Catherine Daly-Weir

The Middle Ages by Jane Shuter

Till Year’s Good End

Harold the Herald

Knights Treasure Chest

El Cid

Saladin: Noble Prince of Islam

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Marcia Williams

Magna Carta by C. Walter Hodges

Ten Queens by Milton Meltzer

The Golden City: Jerusalem

The Silk Road by John Major

Suleyman the Magnificent and the Ottoman Empire

The Black Death by Tracee de Hahn

Life During the Black Death by John M. Dunn

Medieval Times by Giovanni di Pasquale

Plague by Katie Roden

Women in Medieval Times

Joan of Arc – my unit study

The Little Princes in the Tower

Literature

The Duke and the Peasant

Favorite Medieval Tales

The Beautiful Butterfly

Celeste Sails to Spain

The Three Golden Oranges

The Marvelous Blue Mouse

Son of Charlemagne

Toads and Diamonds

Valentine and Orson

Norse Mythology

Beorn the Proud

East o the Sun and West o the Moon

Hiccup: The Seasick Viking

Odin’s Family

The Mystery History of a Viking Longboat

Sword Song

Norman and Saxon poem by Rudyard Kipling

A Medieval Feast by Aliki

Castle Diary

Knight’s Castle

The Reluctant Dragon

Saint George and the Dragon

Knights of the Round Table 

The Making of a Knight

Sir Cumference (There’s a whole series!)

Canterbury Tales

Chanticleer and the Fox

Bestiary

Saint Francis (see my unit study)

The Saracen Maid

Queen Esther (see my Purim unit)

The Rabbi Who Flew

Raisel’s Riddle

Snow in Jerusalem

The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch

A Perfect Pork Stew

Baboushka the Three Kings

Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave

Clay Boy

The Littlest Matryoshka

The Old Man and his Birds

The Girl Who Lost Her Smile

The King the Prince and the Naughty Sheep

The Legend of the Persian Carpet

The Seven Wise Princesses

Adventures of Tom Thumb by David Cutts

Three Sacks of Truth

Up the Chimney

Richard III

Activities

Music from this period

Art from this period

Visit museums

Fleur-de-Lis art

We visited Paris and saw Saint Denis

We saw the Tapestry of Bayeux

Thor’s Hammer clay pendant

See or make a tapestry

Make or go out for Spanish food

Make oat cakes

Play chess or checkers

Design a coat of arms

We visited London

Learn archery

Celebrate Passover

Jewish responsa

Make Charoset

Tzedakah

Make a Mezuzah

Make borscht

Make Faberge eggs

Make Gingerbread

We went to Cologne

We visited Prague

Church History

Early Saints of God by Bob Hartman

Movies

Merlin

King Arthur

First Knight

Excalibur

Dragonheart

Arn: The Knight Templar

Kingdom of Heaven

Henry V

Richard III

Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse

The Crusaders

Unit 3: Renaissance and Reformation

History

Topics:

Mansa Musa

see my Shakespeare unit study

The Tudors

The Borgias

The Medicis

Martin Luther

The Reformation

Books:

Lives of Extraordinary Women

Outrageous Women of the Renaissance

Famous Men of the Renaissance and Reformation

Kings and Queens of West Africa

Sundiata

Anni’s India Diary

The Taj Mahal by Christina Moorcroft

A Medieval Cathedral by Fiona MacDonald

King Henry VIII by Robert Green

Reeking Royals

Tudor Odours

Copernicus by Catherine Andronik

Galileo by Leonard Everett Fisher

Galileo for Kids

Galileo’s Leaning Tower Experiment

Galileo by Jacqueline Mitton

The Planets by Gail Gibbons

Science in the Renaissance

Elizabeth I by Greenblatt, Carrie Hollihan, Carol Greene, Diane Stanley, Kate Havelin,

To Be a Princess by Hugh Brewster

Art History

See how We Do Art

Art and Civilization: The Renaissance

The Art of the Renaissance

Breaking into Print

Fine Print: about Gutenberg

The Printing Press by Richard Tames

How a Book is Made by Aliki

In the Time of Michelangelo

see my Michelangelo unit study

see my Bernini unit study

Italian Portraits: Images across the Ages

Lives of the Artists

Leonardo da Vinci: authors – Mike Venezia, John Malam, Sean Connolly, Norman Marshall, Diane Stanley

Leonardo da Vinci for Kids

Leonardo and the Flying Boy

Leonardo’s Horse

What? series Richard Muhlberger

The Fantastic Journey of Pieter Bruegel

Katie books by James Mayhew

Pish Posh Said Hieronymus Bosch

Literature

Bernal and Florinda

Three Swords for Granada

Africa Calling, Nighttime Falling

Ashley Bryan’s African Tales

Mansa Musa by Khephra Burns

Nanta’s Lion

Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta

The Foolish Men of Agra

Premlata and the Festival of Lights

The Rumor: Jataka Tale

Sacred River by Ted Lewin

Savitri by Aaron Shepard

Stories from India by Vayu Naidu

So Say the Little Monkeys

The First Story Ever Told

Jackal’s Flying Lesson

Koi and the Kola Nuts

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters

The Spirit of the Maasai Man

This for That

A Medieval Monk

The Inquisitor’s Tale

The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane

Brother William’s Year

Cathedral Mouse

Children of the Sun

Galileo’s Treasure Box

The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci

Starry Messenger by Peter Sis

Uh Oh Leonardo by Robert Sabuda

I, Juan de Pareja

She Was Nice to Mice by A E Sheedy

The Queen’s Progress

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser

Shakespeare

Activities

Music from this period

Art from this period

Visit museums

Learn Latin

Learn Greek alphabet

Scientific Method

Potato Painting

Stained glass with tissue paper or craft kit

Solar system model

Pisa drop experiment

Look at constellations

We like castles

We went to Versailles

We went to Porto, Portugal

We went to Bruges, Belgium

We visited Amsterdam

We went to Venice, Rome, Florence

Church History

Saint Francis (see my unit study)

Book of Common Prayer

Manuscript Illumination

Come Worship with Me

I am Lutheran

I am Protestant

I am Roman Catholic

I am Muslim

I am Jewish

I am Quaker

I am Buddhist

I am Hindu

I am Shinto

I am Baha’i

Places of Worship: Christian Church

Child’s Guide to the Mass

The Reformation by Fiona MacDonald

Reformation Sketches

see my Reformation unit study

Movies

Pillars of the Earth

World Without End

A Man for All Seasons

Becket

Elizabeth

Shakespeare in Love

Hamlet

Merchant of Venice

Romeo and Juliet

10 Things I Hate About You

Restoration

Lady Jane

Ever After

Luther

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Unit 4: The New World

History

Topics:

Counter Reformation

Age of Exploration

Magellan

Vasco da Gama

Aztecs

Mayans

Incas

The Middle Passage

Walter Raleigh

Books:

A Long and Uncertain Journey

Henry the Navigator

Pathfinders

Around the World in 100 Years

The World of Columbus and Sons

Magellan’s World

The Discovery of the Americas

Forgotten Voyager: Vespucci

Machu Picchu

Tikal

Atlas of Exploration

The Middle Passage

Maps and Mapping by Barbara Taylor

Roanoke: The Lost Colony by Bob Italia

Sir Walter Raleigh by Susan Korman

Sir Walter Raleigh and the Search for El Dorado by Neil Chippendale

Sir Walter Raleigh by Tanya Larkin

The Whole World in your Hands

Westward Ho!

Jacques Cartier by Donaldson-Forbes, Blashfield, Humble

John Cabot by Larkin, Shields

Newfoundland by Jackson, Beckett

A 16th Century Galleon

Defeat of the Spanish Armada

Pirates by Gail Gibbons

Ship by David Macaulay

See Inside a Galleon

Sir Francis Drake by Larkin, Champion, Duncan, Gerrard, Rice

Literature

The Boy Who Held Back the Sea

Huguenot Garden

Katje the Windmill Cat

Things Fall Apart

Barracoon

From Slave Ship to Freedom Road

Never Forgotten

To Be a Slave

Ama

The Kidnapped Prince

Many Thousand Gone

Brendan the Navigator

Follow the Dream by Peter Sis

Encounter by Jane Yolen

Morning Girl

Pedro’s Journal

Secrets in the House of Delgado

To the Edge of the World

Cuckoo by Lois Ehlert

Fiesta Feminina

Mario’s Mayan Journey

Moon Rope by Lois Ehlert

Musicians of the Sun

Arrow to the Sun

My Song is a Piece of Jade

Rain Player

The Lion’s Roar by Stainer

Duncan’s Way

How Snowshoe Hare Rescued the Sun

The Huron Carol

Kayktuk

Rough-Face Girl

The Princess and the Painter

Shipwreck by Claire Aston

Activities

Music from this period

Art from this period

Visit museums

Make a compass

Make a boat

Eat sweet potatoes and cassava

Mayan math

Aztec hot chocolate

Church History

Mr. Pipes and the Hymns of the Reformation

Church History in Plain Language

The Age of Religious Wars

Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean

The Mission

Roots

Ill Gotten Gains

The Middle Passage

The Journey of August King

Sankofa

Lions Among Men

Tula, The Revolt

I’m still adding to my list. I love researching and learning with my kids.

See my Pinterest board for Year 2 History:

Linking up: Anita Ojeda, Welcome Heart, Kingdom Bloggers, Let it Shine, Purposeful Faith, Mary Geisen, Abounding Grace, Home Stories, April Harris, Mostly Blogging, Worth Beyond Rubies, Soaring with Him, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Life Abundant, Sarah Frazer, Gingersnap Crafts, Our Three Peas, Apron Strings, Debbie Kitterman, Creative K Kids, Mommynificent, Marilyn’s Treats, Rachel Lee, Try it Like it, Quiet Homemaker, Chic on Shoestring, Anna Nuttall, Answer is Choco, Della Devoted, Momfessionals, Fireman’s Wife, CWJ, TFT, Susan Mead, Lyli Dunbar, Counting My Blessings, Life with Lorelai, Uncommon Suburbia, LouLou Girls, Create with Joy,

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