Writing History Lesson plans

I have a lovely weekend with cold weather, crackling fires, and even an inch of snow. It isn’t nearly enough to make our gang happy, but it is still beautiful. What do I do with a winter’s day when I was bored with reading? Plan stuff for next year (I really have a sickness).

I spent quite a bit of time working on my American history unit study for middle schoolers, trying to create the same sort of whole learning format I have been using with Ty. I want the learning to be interconnected and natural, instead of disjointed.
I am having a great deal of fun putting it together. Using history as the timeline guide, I am able to put the pieces togetehr more easily.

A friend is selling off all her homeschooling materials as her daughter is getting ready to graduate. I am happily purchasing Joy Hakim’s “History of the US” set from her. While I was hesitant to spend $120 for the set , I will happily buy it from her for $25. As much as I am not a big textbook person, I do like the format of these books as a spine of sort in their highly readable and bright format.

Now that I have the spine set, I have been raiding our bookshelves for coordinating literature/ fiction. This is where it is getting fun and frustrating at the same time. There are just so many quality books about this period. I would like to divide our year into ten sections, and have Girlie read two literature selections a month. I am trying to include at least five books a month as choices, and even include some applicable picture books. This list should be ready for posting by the end of February.

Once that is done, I will start making lists of possible activites to go along in the areas of writing, art, nature study, cooking and crafts. This is where I really start having fun. I will be making heavy use of History Scribe journals, as they are so lovely and perfect for recording narrations and drawings, even recipes and photos.