U.S. History Living Books And Spine
Rich stories that spark the imagination to wonder and curiosity are a huge part of our homeschool and life.
Living books are some of my favorite things. Classical Conversations history sentences and geography gives me an opportunity to add to the weekly material that is presented on community day to my children through living books! I have used Beautiful Feet Books Early American History in the past and it came with wonderful living books that I will be utilizing this year as well! I will also be utilizing Heritage Mom Blog’s suggestions for some books as well as books suggested by Stories of Color. I added a few new titles this year too as we study United States history (Classical Conversations Cycle 3) and I am so excited to dive in! The books I am sharing about today will cover the first half of the CC year so weeks 1-12! I will divide up the sections of this blog post by years the books are set in rather than weeks covered by CC.
Some of the things I prioritize when it comes to books on U.S. History are:
1. An honest look at the good and bad of our country from the beginnings to present.
2. Reading stories widely about indigenous Americans, African Americans and all people of color while also honoring the stories about our founding fathers and influential people in American History.
3. Help create a love of learning about our country in my boys’ hearts! I love American History and I want them to do the same!
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Let’s talk spines!
This year is Cycle 3 in Classical Conversations and it is going to be all about U.S. History! CC provides history sentences and geography memory work for 24 weeks during the school year. We will use the CC material as our spine and add in The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic by H.A. Guerber and edited by Memoria Press plus The Story of the World Volume 3 and 4 by Susan Wise Bauer. These will be some of the main texts that we use and then from there we will add in more living books to give a more comprehensive historical look at U.S. History.
As we work our way through the first 12 weeks of CC, I will do my best to align all the living books in this blog post with the corresponding history sentence. I want to nourish my children’s minds with good stories and ideas just like Charlotte Mason advocates for in her method. The best way I can do that is by adding in living books as we approach history and geography!
Late 1400’s - Early 1700’s
The Very First Americans by Cara Ashrose is where we’ll start this year. I thrifted this book a couple of years ago and found that it is a very honest and good view into the life of the first Americans - the indigenous people to North America.
Leif The Lucky by Ingri & Edgar Parin D’Alaire is a colorful illustration about the first known European who came to the Americas. (Not pictured)
Encounter by Jane Yolen is a truthful look into the Columbus era. I want my children to have an honest view of history, the good and the bad.
Pilgrim Stories by Margaret Pumphrey another really good book. It follows along the stories of different pilgrims as they move from England to The Netherlands and then make their journey to America. I will probably skip around in this book to stories that I feel like align with our study of U.S. History this year.
Jamestown: New World Adventure by James Knight a series of journal entries by an original Jamestown settler as told to his grandchildren many years after he lived in Jamestown. It is very intriguing and because it is written as journal you get a feel for little details about Jamestown that you might not have had in a different sort of story format. It has been a couple of years since I read this to my kids and I think they’ll love reading this one again!
P is for Pilgrim by Carol Crane will be a book that I mainly read to my nearly 5 year old. It talks about pilgrims but also goes through the alphabet. My older boys will enjoy the extra details on the sides of each page as well.
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire is another one we will be adding in. I may add another text about Pocahontas also!
1750 - 1825
Crispus Attucks: Black Leader of Colonial Patriots by Dharathula H. Millender is the story about a boy who became a sailor and was one of the first involved in the American Revolution. I am excited to dive into this one with my boys!
Native American History For Kids by Karen Bush Gibson will be a slower read for us. There is a lot of information in this book but it will be a good one to intertwine with the rest of the year also! There’s activities too which is great!
Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire is a book that follows the life of Benjamin Franklin. I really love the illustrations of this book and the story of his life is fascinating! Each page has one of his famous quotes on it too.
George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire is much like the Benjamin Franklin book with gorgeous illustrations and interesting facts about George Washington. Since it is told in a story format it keeps kids engaged and I think they retain so much more info!
Francis Asbury: Circuit Rider by Janet and Geoff Benge is one that will fit perfectly into our study of the colonies and the beginnings of the United States. Francis Asbury was an English born missionary who rode over 300,000 miles in the 13 Colonies spreading the good news of the gospel. I have been very interested in the YWAM missionary series and I picked this one up at a homeschool conference I went to over the summer! Excited to dive in!
A More Perfect Union by Betsy Maestro is a story about the writing of our Constitution and the Constitutional Conventions with the founding fathers! It’s relatively detailed but I will pick out of it what I feel is going to be best for our homeschool!
George Washington’s Breakfast by Jean Fritz was a book I found at the thrift store, it is really cute and follows a little boy whose name sake was George Washington! He gets excited to learn more about his namesake and find out what George ate for breakfast! It’s a really sweet read!
The Picture Book Of Sacagawea by David A. Adler is a good book about Sacagawea, there were some interesting details about her that I had never heard before! Lovely illustrations to bring this very important woman to life!
Of Courage Undaunted by James Daughterty is a story all about Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea — I have not read it yet and look forward to jumping in, it is a chapter book and was republished by Beautiful Feet Books. I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic!
1825-1870
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and Illustrated by Barbara Cooney is a book that shows a full year process of a homestead - how one family grows and makes items to sell at a market once a year and also to live off of. It has lovely illustrations and reminds me of what perhaps the early 1800’s would have been like for a farmer and homesteader!
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a classic, it is essentially a very detailed story of the life of farmers and homesteaders and follows the story of Almonzo. It shares in detail how homesteaders did things back in the 1840’s. We will slowly read through this for about 3-4 weeks.
Moses by Carole Weatherford and Illustrated by Kadir Nelson shares the story of how Harriet Tubman was led to freedom by God and how she led others out of slavery too! It’s a beautiful story of courage and is very impactful!
Abraham Lincoln by Ingri D'Aulaire & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire is another biography like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. It follows Honest Abe’s life and stories that shaped him. Definitely a good read!
Crossing Bok Chitto by Tim Tingle is a story about the Choctaw tribe and them helping save friends from slavery. It’s a really amazing book and beautiful story!
Lift Your Light a Little Higher by Heather Henson is a book about a black enslaved cave explorer at Mammoth Cave.
Seeking Freedom by Selene Castrovilla is about an enslaved fugitive team that provided information about the Confederates to the Union. Because of the fugitives bravery it helped pave a path to inspire Abraham Lincoln to write the Emancipation Proclamation.
Behind The Lines: A Sourcebook To The Civil War was a book I picked up at the thrift store. I will choose bits and pieces from this book as there are some photos in it that my boys are not ready for. Very detailed!
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate is a story about the first published southern black writer. George Moses Horton taught himself to read as an enslaved child and then became a great poet!