American History is a staple component throughout the homeschooling years. From our founding fathers to the election process, with wars and reformations, the history of America has shaped the country as we know it today. Many say that history is important so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of our fathers, and their fathers before them. Studying American History allows us a window into the life and times of those they came before us, and a chance to learn about methods that may have succeeded or failed. Here are our favorite homeschool American history resources.
How you study American History may look very different from the homeschool next to you.
Here are a few ways in which you might study American History:
Hands-On American History – In this manner you might create lap books, resurrect models, or cook period relevant foods.
Historical Fiction – Reading about history through historical fiction is a great way to bring history alive. Historical fiction brings you into the heart of the history with a story and characters that make it more real, and relevant.
Text – This would entail using American History textbooks that contain such things as review questions, quizzes, document reproductions, artist and real photo documentation and more.
Video – From dramatizations to documentary there are a host of videos to choose from. We often use these to supplement what we are learning.
Combination – Maybe you use a combination of the above methods. You might read about a period of time or person via text, then add in a historical fiction book and watch a movie all pertaining to the same topic.
Our Favorite Homeschool American History Resources From The Curriculum Choice Archives
At The Curriculum Choice we have shared many reviews of our favorite homeschool American history resources. Be sure to browse the tabs above to find curriculum reviews for American History.
You might also enjoy these that we’ve selected from our archives:
- Homeschool Presidential Studies
- All American History – The Civil War to The 21st Century
- Eat Your Way Through The USA
- America From the Beginning
- Compass Classroom American History
- US History Resources from Dover Publications
- Stack the States App
- American Kids in History Book Series
- Short Lessons In US History
- In The Hands of A Child: Industrial Revolution
- All Through the Ages
- The American Story ~ 100 True Tales From American History
- We Sing America
- A Pioneer Sampler
- Susan Kilbride’s Our America Series
- Interactive 3D Maps – American History
Our Favorite Homeschool American History Resources From Curriculum Choice Authors
The Curriculum Choice authors have active blogs where they regularly offer ideas and experiences about their homeschool adventures. Below are their favorite American history resources.
Heidi from Start At Eight
It is no secret that Historical Fiction is a favorite subject of mine. Here is the landing page for all things Historical Fiction. Including events like the Titanic sinking as well as wars like the Civil War and historical figures like Columbus.
U.S. Elections Unit Study – Another great way to study history is through unit studies. Here is a great one for learning about our presidential election process. You can use this as well as these Mostly FREE Election Resources.
United States Court System – A two part unit study for middle and high school students.
Fun Resources to Learn About American Presidents – Books, games, printables and more!
Create Your Own Atlas – This is a great project for young and old alike. Can be used for World or United States with simple modifications.
For all things American (and history in general) check out these Pinterest Helps for Homeschool History – great boards to follow with tons of ideas, resources and projects broken down into categories.
Our Favorites for High School American History – Are you looking for frugal resources for your teen’s US History studies?
Here’s how we made our own course, using living literature, pairing it with primary resources, US geography, with a great spine from Rainbow Resource, and even American Art History, to add to the mix.
Our Favorites for US History – Elementary – With living literature, hands-on activities, and short lessons, written directly to the student, we loved studying about our country’s history. This post includes a link to free printables from Education.com.
The Patriot’s History Reader – My Review – This book goes back to the sources, including the documents, speeches and legal decisions that made our country great, and it added a lot to our US History in high school.
Kyle McVay from Aspired Living
Resources for Studying the American Revolution – A list of resources that we use in conjunction with Mystery of History to study the American Revolution.
Planning for Mystery of History Volume 4 – This is the final volume in the Mystery of History Series which, if you are unfamiliar with the series, covers world history. The final volume however covers a great deal of American History including all of the wars as well as major American historical events.
Cindy from Our Journey Westward
I’m a big believer in using living literature to help teach history. We’ve read some really good books over the years! Here are our favorite Early American History books and here are our favorite Modern American History books.
Since we love living literature so much, sometimes textbooks can drive us crazy. I’ve come to love using informational books as our textbooks and using them as our springboard for learning activities.
We’ve also used lots and lots of unit studies over the years that have been full of great books, hands-on learning, and field trips. We LOVE history in our homeschool!
Susan & Megan at Education Possible
100+ American History Lessons and Activities for Homeschoolers – To help make your family’s study of American history even more interesting we have gathered more than 100+ American history lessons and activities from some of our favorite homeschool bloggers to share with you!
6 Pioneer Crafts for Teens to Make – Items that we consider crafts today, were created to be useful tools by the American Pioneers. Days were long and full of challenges, so everything they made served a purpose. Functionality was key, especially in the early to mid 1800s.
Tricia at Hodgepodge and You ARE an ARTiST
American History Art Lessons – We’ve found that a wonderful follow up activity to a history field trip or a study is to create art around the topic. We have a continuing series of art lessons connected to our history studies including a Civil War topics, the American Flag, the Washington Monument and more. There is a series of American presidents, you can learn about the branches of government, early American Explorers like Lewis and Clark and more! We love this combination so much that we have a series of American History Video Art Lessons of key topics to complement your history studies. Here are 7 American History Homeschool Lessons Your Kids Will Love.
Compass Classroom American History – All of Compass Classroom’s curriculum offers a wonderful Biblical worldview which is very important to us. And the digital, streaming classes make it so very versatile for a high school schedule and for cycling through homeschool history with multiple ages.
What I’ve Learned Homeschooling with Tapestry of Grace – (My full review of Tapestry of Grace is here at The Curriculum Choice). One of those wonderful benefits of homeschooling is continuing to learn right alongside your children. History, a love of art, composers, nature study. I just love continuing education. For many years now, Tapestry of Grace has truly woven together all the learning in our home. All ages learning the same topics, on their age, grade and skill level.
Homeschool Makeover: History Shelf – the solution to this problem: Spending time searching for what we needed to start our history studies. History books scattered throughout the house. Supplemental material getting lost in my stacks.
Civil War Field Trips and Resources – A giant list! Two years ago we studied the Civil War as part of our Tapestry of Grace studies. It just so happens that 2014 was the 150th anniversary of the Civil War here on Georgia soil. There were several commemorative events and activities that enriched our learning about this part of our American history.
Follow Curriculum Choice’s board History & Geography on Pinterest.
The Curriculum Choice Review Team Features
- Our Curriculum Choice History and Geography Pinterest board.
- Have you enjoyed this special post from our review authors? Our Curriculum Choice review team features a topic monthly. You can see all that our authors have shared on electives, math, curriculum choices and more under Review Team Features.
Be sure to SUBSCRIBE so you won’t miss any reviews from our team of veteran homeschoolers!
~ Hosted by Heidi Ciravola
originally published April 2016
Heidi Ciravola is mom to three kids who were all homeschooled. Two have graduated college and one is finishing homeschooling high school. She spends much of her time navigating the high school waters (from electives to college prep) and reviewing homeschool curriculum for all ages. You can find her writing about these things as well as her love of books and homeschool life in general over at Starts At Eight.
Thank you! These are very useful resources that I will use.