Unit Study: Early Settlers and Explorers (+ History Lessons Explained!)

 As I've mentioned earlier, this year, our history focus is answering the question, "how did everyone in the US end up here?" We explored Native American history first, and we just recently took some time to talk about early settlers and explorers. We also read a few excerpts from A Child's Introduction to African American history, and touched on briefly on slavery and the Middle Passage as another way people came to this country. I am sure we will delve further into this as the girls get older; I wanted to lay a basic foundation in an age appropriate manner.

Here are the books we read:

Leif Eriksson: Viking Explorer, by Joanne Mattern
Christopher Columbus: Explorer and Colonist, by Stephen Krensky
In 1492, by Jean Marzollo
Did Christopher Columbus Really Discover America? And Other Questions About the New World,
by Emma Carlson Berne
If You Were a Kid in the Thirteen Colonies, by Wil Mara
The Pilgrims of Plimouth, by Marcia Sewell
A Child's Introduction to African American History, by Jabari Asim

Charlotte Mason believed that history should be taught through living books. If you are unfamiliar with the term, here's my attempt at a brief explanation: a book written by a single author who is passionate about the topic, rather than a bundle of dry facts deemed to be important by a group of experts. The author's enthusiasm is catching, and there's a certain "spark" to the book. It's quality literature that draws you in. Little House Learning Co has some good thoughts about living books. Unfortunately, I struggled to find living books on these particular subjects, at least for this age. But I only intended for this to be a brief, basic introduction on topics that we will delve into further in future years. Nevertheless, we learned a few interesting things and laid a foundation for the future.

Another tool that Charlotte Mason recommended for teaching history is a Book of Centuries. As it sounds, it is simply a book, either store-bought or homemade, that has a page for each century. Here is ours.

As you learn about historical figures and events, whether through history lessons, artist and composer studies, field trips, or anything else of interest, you simply jot it down on the timeline. It's a great way to visualize when things happened in relation to each other.