Tag: Living books

Early American History Book List

Early American History Book List

For purposes of this blog post, we’ll say Early American History covers the landing of the Pilgrims (1620) through the early 1800s.

Some key events that took place during these years include: the Pilgrims coming over from England and colonies eventually getting established, the birth of a new country and the Revolutionary War (and the French Revolution), and the establishment of our new country’s government (constitution and government).

There are so many books that cover this time period. We use mostly living books. I’m only including books we read but there are so many to choose from! 

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).

Reference Books/Biographies

We purchased many of the following through Beautiful Feet Books, specifically their Early American History packs, and Amazon.

A Child’s First Book of American History  by Earl Schenck Miers and illustrated by James Daugherty. This is a nice big book with big print and cool illustrations that focuses solely on American History. Good for all ages.

A Child’s History of the World by Virgil M. Hillyer.  A great overview of history. 

Picture Books

(These are best suited for the younger elementary years, but I read them to my older kids too!)

BenjaminFranklin by Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire

George Washington by Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire

The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh

Winter at Valley Forge by James Knight 

GEORGE VS. GEORGE: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer

Shh! We’re writing the Constitution by  Jean Fritz

A More Perfect Union by Betsy and Giulio Maestro

Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney

A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley by Kathryn Lasky

Books for Later Elementary and Middle School:

The World of William Penn by Genevieve Foster

Poor Richard by James Daugherty

George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster

Why Not, Lafayette by Jean Fritz

Pilgrim Stories by Margaret Pumphrey

Remember the Ladies by Jeri Chase Ferris
 

Turning back the pages of time booklet by Kathy Keller (This is a great booklet to have on hand.  It has lists of booklists on early American History.)

Historical Fiction:

Amos Fortune Free Man by Elizabeth Yates

Fearless by Elvira Woodruff (Not pictured. Also not specifically American history but takes place in England in 1700 – and so it was neat to read a book taking place at the same time in a different part of the world.)

Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes

Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Latham

The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz (not pictured)

Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin (chapter book for younger kids)

Matchlock Gun by Walt Edmonds (chapter book for younger kids)

Other Resources to Study American History

Chalk Pastel

Drive Thru History

Check out my other history book lists!

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome

Middle Ages

Reformation and Renaissance

And…  How We Do History – Textbook Free!

 

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How We do History – Textbook Free!

If asked as a child what my least favorite subject was, I might have said history. And if I had to describe how I felt about history as a child, I’m sure the words dry, boring, and pointless would have come to mind! (with the exception of the Holocaust which I have always been interested in)  

I actually got my only “C” ever in Western Civilizations in college. 

The material was just so “foreign” to me (seriously no pun intended!)  But truly, though I would PORE over my textbook for the class, the material just would not stick.  It was painful.  Can you relate?

Fast forward to now.  Would you believe history is one of my favorite things to learn about with my kids?  Probably because I’m right in there learning with them, for what feels like the first time!  If you’ve ever been in a Classical Conversations community, they refer to this as “redeeming your education.”

I personally find textbooks dry. Even the best of them. And the homeschool community has some wonderful ones to offer (I’ve not personally used these but have heard great things about them – Notgrass, History Revealed, and Mystery of History come to mind.)  Maybe I will use them someday, but for now, we are enjoying not using a curriculum (and we’re learning lots!)

Here’s how we do history – textbook free!  

History Textbook Free

This post contains affiliate links and purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you.) Thank you for your support.
We Love Living Books

Reading living books together, especially ones that deal with history has ignited a love for history in me. And there are just so many living books to read! If you need book ideas, two of my favorite books for finding living books are Honey For a Child’s Heart and Books Children Love.  

History Textbook FreeBeautiful Feet Books is also a fabulous place to purchase living books.  They have them categorized by grade level and time in history, and also author sets.  We have a few of their sets and LOVE them.  The D’aulaire set is especially a favorite as the illustrations are phenomenal.History Textbook Free

We also have Genevieve Foster’s Collection which is JAM-PACKED with historical facts (if you have an information lover!) History Textbook Free

Beautiful Feet Books also offer teacher guides, for parents who want that.

So far I have booklists of living books for history for Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome.  

We Use Interesting Spine Books

Our main “spine” book is a Child’s History of the World.  It’s written in an engaging way and helps fill in the gaps (that will inevitably be there) and makes sure we don’t miss any big events of history.  We also base our butcher paper timeline on dates from this book.

I love that all of history is on one giant timeline that the kids have created themselves. (If the idea of a giant roll of butcher paper scares you they make blank timeline books – this one is an example.) It really helps them to see how each event is just a snapshot in the big picture of time.  And that history DOES repeat itself.

History Textbook Free
My son retelling us about the Barbarians (in a dramatized voice!) invading Rome after drawing it on the timeline.

There’s something about drawing what you’re learning that really makes it stick in your brain!  And it’s especially wonderful for picture-smart kids!

We also use Usborne books for a spine.  Love Usborne! Our favorites are Time Traveler and The Encyclopedia of World History. History Textbook Free

Incorporating Technology

We’ve been incorporating more technology into our learning this year, especially with history.

Some of our favorite resources include:

History Textbook Free
My 5 year old’s chalk pastel drawing of the Colloseum.
  • Story of the World – I included this with technology since we only use it on audiobook.  We love Jim Weiss as a narrator and save this for the car! (hubby loves it too!)

I wish I could say we incorporate tons of amazing activities, but we don’t.  We HAVE done that at times(check out these awesome Hands-on Activities for Ancient Egypt), but usually, we stick to what I mentioned above.

Incorporate how your children learn when possible!

Since all children have different strengths/smarts, consider their strengths when deciding how to teach and present material.  A picture-smart child would enjoy drawing what they are learning.  A body-smart child might enjoy re-enacting a scene from history.  A music-smart child might connect to the material by listening to music from that time in history.  Etc. etc.  You get the idea!   

I would be remiss if I did not mention that my kiddos LOVE Horrible Histories.  They are a little more “edgy” and filled with tons of facts (that you may or may NOT want to know) but your kids will learn about history from reading them! That can not be disputed. 😉

So that is how we do textbook free history!  As you can see we are very eclectic in our approach.
What is your favorite history resource? 
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Ancient Rome books

We’ve studied Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and now Ancient Rome!  We have really enjoyed diving into living books and learning about these ancient times.  And I’m not sure who’s learning more – me or my kids!?

One of my absolute favorite things about homeschooling is redeeming my own education and getting to dive deep into things that I was only able to “scratch the surface” of during my time in school.

Listed below are the books we used to learn about Ancient Rome.  I used these for my 9 and 11-year-old.

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will result in a small commission for me (at no cost to you!) 

Our “spine” books that we use for all of history:

A Child’s History of the World by Hillyer.  A great overview of history.

Story of the World Volume 1 We only do SOTW on audiobook, the kids (and hubs!) just love listening to Jim Weiss.

Other books that cover Ancient history:

These are all Usborne books.  We love Usborne!

Time Traveler

Atlas of World History

The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History

Books for Ancient Rome

Non-Fiction Books For ANcient Rome

Rotten Romans from the Horrible Histories Collection -These are bit much for my taste BUT based on the fact that my kids love it and are learning a ton in the process, I have it on the list…  I have been amazed at historical facts my non-history loving daughter will spout out that we did not learn together.  When I ask, “Where did you learn that?”, her response is almost always, “Horrible Histories”.

Augustus Caesar’s World by Genevieve Foster – Genevieve Foster’s books are unique because she takes the main character (Augustus Caesar in this case) and weaves all world happenings together, going into detail of what was happening in other parts of the world at that same time in history.

Historical Fiction:

Twice Freed by Patricia St. John – Based on life of the slave Onesimus from the book of Philemon in the Bible.  This one was soo good!

The Runaway by Patricia St. John – set during the time of Jesus’s ministry on Earth.

Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare  – another one that’s during the time of Christ’s earthly ministry.  We listened to this one on audiobook and finished it in just a few days because the kids enjoyed it so much! Suspenseful and descriptive.

Other books to consider:

Any of Arnold Ytreeide books including but not limited to Jotham’s Journey, Tabitha’s Travels, and Amon’s Adventure.  These are meant for Christmas and Easter, but they are set in the 1st century and can tie in with both Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.

Jenny L. Cote’s ‘The Epic Order of the Seven’ Series – I haven’t personally read these but they are books my kids LOVE.  They are Christian historical fiction novels written from the point of view of animal friends.  What’s not to love!

Jenny L. Cote has a passion for God, history and young people and fuses those passions together in her writing.

These four (books 3-6 of the series) specifically tie in with Ancient Rome:

The Prophet, the Shepherd, and the Star – Setting is the time of the birth of Christ.

The Roman, the Twelve and the King – Time travel happens in this story, with the animals traveling to the time of Handel writing “The Messiah” in the 1700’s and also being there for Jesus’s childhood, ministry, passion and resurrection.

The Wind, the Road and the Way – covers the resurrection of Jesus Christ through Paul’s 2nd missionary journey.

The Fire, the Revelation and the Fall – About the events in Acts, and birth of Christianity.  Includes Nero’s reign and Paul’s third missionary journey.

Check out my other history book lists!

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Greece

Middle Ages


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Ancient Greece Book List Grades 3-6

Ancient Greece has been fascinating to study.  We’ve used a variety of books to deepen our knowledge and understanding of this time in history.   A time in history that has contributed to and influenced so many things in our current society.

One of my absolute favorite things about homeschooling is redeeming my own education and getting to dive deep into things that I was only able to “scratch the surface” of during my time in school.

These are the books we used to dive into the world of Ancient Greece.  I gave the suggested age range of grades 3-6 but you know your kids best so don’t feel like you need to be confined to that!

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will result in a small commission for me (at no cost to you!) 

Our “spine” books that we use for all of history:

A Child’s History of the World by Hillyer.  A great overview of history.

Story of the World Volume 1 We only do SOTW on audiobook, the kids (and hubs!) just love listening to Jim Weiss.

Other books that cover much of history:

Time Traveler  Usborne (this is one to OWN!)

Atlas of World History Another Usborne book!

Non-Fiction Books

Usborne Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece Usborne yet again 🙂

Horrible Histories: The Groovy Greeks and Rotten Roman’s  Confession – these are bit much for my taste BUT based on fact that my kids love it and are learning a ton in the process, I have it on the list…   I catch my daughter reading and re-reading this one often! I got this one off eBay, not sure why it’s priced so ridiculously high on Amazon!

Archimedes and the Door of Science   We were fascinated by Archimedes and his inventions and creativity!

Ancient Greece by Daniel Cohen – Fabulous illustrations and easy to understand text.

Fiction:

D’aulaire book of Greek Myths   BEAUTIFUL illustrations!

Theras and His Town A great historical fiction novel contrasting the Spartans and Athenians.  Probably the book that surprised us the most.  Despite the slow start it ended up being a favorite!

Aesop’s Fables  Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

Aesop’s Fables: A Pop-Up Book of Classic Tales  This is a great book to introduce younger kids (though my older kids liked it too!) to Aesop’s fables.  The pop outs are incredible.  

The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey  by Rosemary Sutcliff.

Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad, also by Rosemary Sutcliff (we actually did not get to this one yet, but is written by the same author as Wanderings of Odysseus)

The Usborne Illustrated Odyssey   Can’t get enough of Usborne! This is a simpler version of the Odyssey and a good book to use to introduce it (The Odyssey) to kids.  

Check out my other history book lists!

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Rome

Middle Ages


 

 

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What Are Living Books?

If you’re a homeschooler, you have most likely heard of the term “Living Books”.  You may be thinking, “What are they?”

Living Books are to homeschooling as Apple Pie is to America.

I first heard this term about 5 years ago, when I was a new homeschool mom. To me, the term was simply synonymous with “good” books as opposed to “fluff” books(ahem…Babysitters club).

However, as I began to dig deeper, I went to good ol’ Google and found that they are described many different ways…….

“Living books breathe life into a subject.”

“They tell a story behind the history.”

“They promote noble and good thoughts.”

“… are written by a person who has a passion for that particular subject about which they write.”

I decided to do some research for myself.

This post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
What Are They?

The term “Living Books” was created by Charlotte Mason, a classical English educator from the late 19th century. At a time in England’s history when most children had no rights whatsoever, Mason had the revolutionary belief that children should be treated as whole persons.

From Karen Andreola’s book, A Charlotte Mason Companion:

“Living books, unlike the compressed compilations of textbooks, are laced with emotion, saturated with ideas, and they convey information as well.”

Also:

“If we want the mind of a child come alive, we feed him living ideas. Ideas reside in living books, which I think has something to do with the intermingling of story, fact and author’s opinion or viewpoint.”

As you can see, these books are many different things. In a nutshell living books engage and ignite the heart and mind of the reader.

Why Living Books?

The characters in these books come to life and cause us to think and feel more deeply, which helps cement the facts in our brains. This contrasts with textbooks which tend to be drier and contain just the facts and information. They also inspire us to think about what is good, noble, and lovely.  In our home, living books have prompted many good discussions and we find this to be an extremely engaging and enriching way of learning history.

Where Can I Find Them?

I have a few tried and true resources I use for finding these books:

Honey For A Child’s Heart
by Gladys Hunt

Books Children Love
by Elizabeth Wilson

What are living books?

Beautiful Feet Books:

Beautiful Feet Books has tons of options and sets based on age, period of history, etc.  This is one of our favorite sets:

What are living books?

 

Turning Back the Pages of Time by Kathy Keller

Happy Reading!

 

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