Free shipping on USA orders over $129!
American history help
- This topic has 16 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 8 months ago by
.
- Posts
I’m having trouble with American history and wondering if y’all could help. For history, my plan was to use A Gentle Feast’s White year Form I – which is year 2 of 4 in history rotation and appx. 1650-1800. I picked it because my oldest is almost 8, going into 2nd grade and my 5yo is a tagalong kindergartener and I prefer to start with American history. I like that AGF starts with American history, then adds British, then World.
My problem is vintage history books. I’m finding them detailed, graphic and giving me nightmares if I read them before bed. Specifically, AGF uses America First by Lawton Evans. I’ve also read chapters in The Story of the 13 Colonies by Guerber/Miller (which I liked best but seems too old for a 2nd grader with tag-along kindergartener) and Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Eggleston and A First Book of American History by Eggleston. Specifically I read about Major Putnam in all these books. And Spanish explorers in the books that had that. And some Revolutionary War chapters across the books.
These are all great books!!! But the tortures, scalpings, ambushes, fighting – it just freaks me out. I know it happened. But can I really read them, or read American First, to a 5 and almost 8 year old?? My sister-in-law says I and my kids are too insulated from blood, war, etc. and that kids from the 1880s-1920s (when these books were written) would have been fine with the details.
I went to a convention last weekend and looked at Abeka and BJU 2nd grade history textbooks and they are not appealing at all. I want to do history based literature and really love the idea reading and narrating. And I really wanted to use vintage texts because the language is great and the stories are great but they give me nightmares. So what do I do? Did I just pick the most violent/graphic chapters to preview? Will they ruin my kids if they give me nightmares? Do I just start reading them aloud and see what happens and see if we (ie. I) can get used to them?
Thanks for any advice you might have. I’m just in knots and can’t figure it out. Sorry for how long this post is.
Katherine
I wouldn’t read that to my kids (4 and 6) either! I would maybe use some of the SCM suggestions or Christine miller’s book of booksor ideas from beautiful feet. You dont even need a spine book yet. I am doing Genesis through Dueteronomy but adding an American history read aloud 3 times a week. I am reading books by Jean Fritz, the D’Aulaires, Sara Mortons day, a few older childhood of famous Americans for fun, books I found at our library, older books my mother had (50 or 60s vintage). Honestly, I looked at the Eggleston books and found them dry and uninteresting…so I am not using them. You don’t have to use someone else’s plan. Your ahead of the game doing history now anyway and you know your kids. Trust your Gut! I was an easily frightened child and my oldest does not like tense books at all…sometimes I just tell him the end right away…he’s only 6;)
I agree, trust your gut! There are tons of great books out there for American history! I am doing that with my 1st grader this coming school year. Some of my favorites I’m excited to use this year are the Sarah Morton’s Day (mentioned by previous poster as well!) and the others that go with it, like Samuel Eaton’s Day and Tapenum’s Day. There’s also one I think called On the Mayflower. Others are Stories of the Pilgrims which we’ll do as a read aloud, American Pioneers and Patriots has great stories. I am using a book called Adventures in America (from elemental science) as a spine of sorts so that there is a flow to everything, and then adding in any cool living books like the ones mentioned and others like Pocahontas and the Strangers, The 4th of July Story, and Sybil ludingtons midnight ride, to name a few. There is SO much out there to choose from. Bottom line, do what you feel comfortable with! I’ve read many a “classic” that I wasn’t a fan of!
Yes I love 4th of July story by Alice Digalish (sp?). She wrote others too. I like your ideas to jmendoza….sounds like we are doing very simular things.
And just because it’s a “Classic” doesn’t mean I want to read it….I am remembering college and Madame Bovery, Metamorphosis, and a glimpse into the Wife of Bath`s tale from Canterbury Tales….and some Poe that was in my Highschool Abeka lit book…I am never going to make an over imaginative hs student read the Pit and the Pendulum…. (disclamer…if you have not read these you aren’t missing anything imho;) We are all grown up now and can decide what our kids need;)
We also use individual books without a spine book at young ages. Beautiful Feet Books have great selections that can often be found at your library. The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Bears of Hemlock Mountain are two favorites here. I did wait til the children were a bit older to read The Matchlock Gun because in was more violent. Some other good picture books we have found at the library are
Farmer George Plants a Nation</span>
Paul Revere ‘s Midnight Ride
<span style=”line-height: inherit;”>Redcoats and Petticoats (about spies in Rev. War)</span>
If you especially want a spine book History Stories for Little Children is one we have used. I think it is published by Christian Liberty Press. Theirbook Boys and Girls ofColonial Days is a good one too.
Remember that at these young ages the nitty gritty details are not your focus. You want to inspire them with great stories. We like the Childhood of Famous Americans series for this reason. It gives the childreninsight to what life was like during those time periods.
Oh Ladies – thank you, thank you, thank you. Big sigh of relief here. I’ve probably got almost half of the books you mentioned. American Pioneers and Patriots was one of my favorites but I had put it aside thinking it wasn’t stories about real people – as in not biographies – and therefore, not a good choice. But when I previewed it, I thought my almost 8yo would love it. Stories of the Pilgrims looks lovely as does Boys and Girls of Colonial Days.
Last year we read the Sarah Morton type books and my daughter read almost all of the David Adler picture book biographies and “Meet ______” biographies.
We’ll skip the vintage books and spine book for now and do the books above as read-alouds. And work on narration. Are the Childhood of Famous Americans for the kids to read themselves? My daughter is a voracious reader and I need to keep her book basket full.
Again, thank you sooo much. I looked through American Pioneers and Patriots and Stories of the Pilgrims during the night and they look just right.
Childhood of famous Americans is a huge easy chapter book series. Some are better written then others but i dont remember anything objectionable in any. Its been years since i read them as a chold so I would just skim each one.
You may also like Marguerite de Angeli books. They are really nice older chapter books and picture books at the same time. Skippack School is pre revolution so is Eline’s Amerika (this one has elves ect in it but I think it’s the only one), Thee Hannah is Civil War era or so and so is Copper Toed Boots. They are all nice stories. I don’t think they have been reprinted so check amazon, ebay and thriftbooks, Betterworld books…
I highly recommend a very tiny handbook called Turning Back the Pages of Time. It is my absolute favorite American History resource for elementary students. It is super cheap, like $5. It is a very manageable booklist. It is in chronological order, by grade. It lists all of the wonderful books mentioned above and more. You would flip it to the beginning which is Explorers I think and find several amazing age appropriate books for k-3 on explorers. Then 4-6 grade suggestions. We read as many books as we can find at the library for that time/event then move to the next major event. We have adored all the stories and the list is short and sweet so you dont feel overwhelmed at all, you really could read every book in 1-2 years if you wanted. Your kids will get a beautiful picture of the Godly character that built the country. Then when they are older you can introduce the blood and gore and sad mistakes that have been made.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>My boys are the same aga as yours and would be frightened by some of those topics as well! I’m sad to hear that about the Eggleston book bc I just ordered it last week 🙁 I will probably just pick and choose. I do second the D’alaires books, Stories of the Pilgrims, Boys and Girls of Colonial Days, and the SCM Stories of America volumes! Also I read aloud Viking Adventure and A Lion to Guard Us last year and we loved those! I purchased the BFB Early American History Primary pack and minus The Matchlock Gun I have been extremely pleased with the selections. You could just take a look at that and the booklist for the SCM Early Modern Times to get some great ideas too!</p>
Thank you to each of you. This has been sooooo helpful. I’m going to ditch a spine for now and just read some of these good books. Amber – the Eggleston books were not too bad. The story of Putnam in Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans was actually amusing. I think America First was just way too detailed in the sights/sounds of the violence and then going on to read more of Native American and Revolutionary struggles across all the vintage books just was too much for me. I actually read the first chapter of Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans to my almost 8yo daughter last night and she loved it and asked for more. I’ve previewed some of American Pioneers and Patriots as well as Stories of the Pilgrims and they both look great. The funny thing is……as much as the stories in America First gave me nightmares and I just didn’t want to read them to my almost 8yo daughter (or 5yo son)………..my instinct is that in 2-3 years my son will probably love that book. So I’ll keep it just in case. 🙂
Thanks again for all your help.
Katherine
I have found the same thing; a book that may be totally inappropriate at a young age will be just right a few years later. Even for myself. A few years ago I planned to read aloud Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. But I knew that I would not even be able to read because I would cry too much. I put it off til the next, and then again to the next year. We did finally read it last year when the oldest children were 10, 8, and 6 (I think!). And, of course, I did cry. One or two of the children did too. But we were all able to discuss the characters and their actions/choices as well as social conditions of that part of American history.
There is a blog post on charlottemasonhelp.com that talks about saving some books for when the child is older. I have been trying to figure out how to link it here, but I am so non-tech that I haven’t had any luck yet. Will keep trying 🙂
http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2013/05/on-proofreading-your-childrens-books.html?m=1
I know there’s an easier way. Had to type all that out 🙂
- The topic ‘American history help’ is closed to new replies.