Year 3 History: 1650-1900
It becomes really fascinating when you study world history chronologically and see how interconnected everything is, all the causes and effects.
Every chronological history program seems to divide their volumes at different time periods. Many events are ongoing over many decades. I have tried to included the easiest divisions. Since we school year-round, we don’t worry about cut-offs and just ease into the new volumes as needed.
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 these spine history texts as a guide: The Story of the World: Volume 3: Early Modern Times and Volume 4: The Modern Age.
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:
- 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.
See how we do history.
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:
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.
Unit 1: American Founding Fathers and Napoleon
Literature
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Pocahontas by
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
I, Crocodile by Fred Marcellino
Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane
The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier by Jacob Walter
Seeker of Knowledge by James Rumford
Marshall, the Courthouse Mouse by Peter W. Barnes
A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard
William Wordsworth poems
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Johnny Appleseed by David Harrison
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann D. Wyss
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
Ben and Me by Robert Lawson
History
Topics:
The French Revolution
Napoleon
American Colonialism
French and Indian Wars
Revolutionary War
War of 1812
South American Independence
Lewis and Clark
Books:
Once on This Island by Gloria Whelan
Of Courage Undaunted by James Daugherty
In the Land of the Jaguar by Gena K. Gorrell
Activities
Any colonial or Revolutionary War museum, site, or exhibit
Paper Dolls
Music from this period
Art from this period
Church History
Trial and Triumph by Richard M. Hannula
Movies
Unit 2: Victorian England and American Manifest Destiny
I have a Native Peoples book list.
Literature
The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies
Alfred Tennyson poems
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
History
Topics:
Queen Victoria
Native Americans
The Trail of Tears
Davy Crockett
Early Industrial Revolution
Australia and New Zealand
China and Opium Wars
Oregon Trail
California Gold Rush
Read Alouds:
In the Days of Queen Victoria by Eva March Tappan
North American Indian by David Murdoch
Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Samuel Morse and the Telegraph by David Seldman
Bound for Oregon by Jean van Leeuwen
Activities
Any Native American museum, site, or exhibit
Paper Dolls
Music from this period
Art from this period
More Than Moccasins: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life by
Church History
The Church in History by BK Kuiper
Movies
Unit 3: Civil War
I have a Civil War unit study.
Literature
Emily Dickinson poems
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Amos Fortune: Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac
History
Topics:
Slavery
US Civil War
Underground Railroad
Sojourner Truth
Harriet Tubman
Nat Turner
Florence Nightingale
Clara Barton
The Alamo
Jim Bowie
Sam Houston
Books:
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun by
Abraham Lincoln’s World by Genevieve Foster
Abraham Lincoln by Ingri D’Aulaire
Activities
Any Civil War museum, site, or exhibit
Paper Dolls
Music from this period
Art from this period
Church History
Movies
Unit 4: Industrial Revolution
Literature
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Seabird by Holling C. Holling
Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning poems
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling
King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
The Hound of the Baskervilles by
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
The Invisible Man by HG Wells
History
Topics:
Imperialism
Charles Darwin
Steam Engine
Transcontinental Railroad
Thomas Edison
Photography
Louis Pasteur
Impressionism
Immigration
Carnegie
Orphan Trains
Spanish-American War
Books:
Ten Mile Day: And the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad by
Activities
Paper Dolls
Music from this period
Art from this period
Ride a train
Mining for gold or gems
Church History
Movies
I’m still adding to my list. I love researching and learning with my kids.
See my Pinterest board for Year 3 History:
What a list of information and resources!
This list brings back such good memories of time spent searching for the books I needed to manage a year of history with my boys. Homeschooling is such an adventure!
This is such a wonderful list and guideline to follow. Thank you for the time you spent putting it together.
Wow! This is a great list of resources. I find that I have been learning so much history since I began homeschooling. I’m not sure if there are just a lot of details our public schools didn’t teach me or if I just wasn’t interested in the dry facts way they presented it but I am learning so much about the dynamics behind everything and have found that I no longer think of history as that dreaded boring subject (like I used to think of it). Pinned.
This is super helpful right now as we are getting ready to move into Mystery of History book 3! Pinned to come back to many times this year, I’m sure. Thanks for linking up at Booknificent Thursday on Mommynificent.com this week!
Tina