history for first and second grade

I will have a first grader next year too, and I have chosen to start with American history as well. I have looked at a few different things including the early modern guide from this website. I personally wanted to do just american, not world history, and I was not a huge fan of the Stories of America book, though I know many people like it.

So, what I have decided to do is I went through and thought of people and events I’d like to study this year, like native Americans, early explorers including Leif Erickson, Columbus, the Pilgrims, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (I have a daughter and the real story is just as interesting :), etc. Then I just found a living book or two to go with each topic.  I got ideas from Beautiful Feet (they have a teaching guide to go along with the books, by the way, but I chose to not do that exclusively because I didn’t like all the book choices), from Adventures in America (which is put out by the science we use called Elemental Science – I am using it as a “spine” of sorts. It progresses through early American history and has one page interesting stories for each topic, and she gives read aloud suggestions – not a fan of all the activities, but I like the stories), and random used books I found (I really like Stories of the Pilgrims, Sarah Morton’s Day and others like it, and one I think called Pioneers and Patriots – as I was looking through them I got caught up and wanted to keep reading, so that was a good sign!), and the booklist from SCM early modern. I’m also going to throw in some random crafts and activities to go with each topic.

So really long explanation, but you could go with a guide like beautiful feet’s early american or adventures in America or you could just pick living books you that go with each topic (and get the ideas for what books from the above mentioned places – all of them allow you to view a sample online that has the booklist).  Hope that helps with some ideas! 🙂

We did Early Modern when I had a 1st and Kinder (and little one) and really enjoyed it a lot! The book selections for Early Modern and Modern are really good for the early years (1st – 3rd) as well as the older grades as well.

In the Keep it Simple (https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/keep-it-simple/#choose-your-history-study) page simply select a history guide, Enrichment Guide and Individual Grade guide offered by SCM, or add in your own math and LA

Each of these will tell you what to do each day, but what I really like is that they are not “set in stone” so I never feel behind because they are not set for a day of the week. If you miss a day you simply pickup where you left off and continue the next day.

We have used SCM materials almost exclusively for the past 5 years and have been so happy with out school days. So thankful I found SCM it provides plenty of planning completed for me, but the flexibility to fit it into our days.