I had intended to be completely finished with this unit before Thanksgiving.  Although we’ve completed the study of the war and all the projects going along with it, I decided to spend another week or so on what I’m calling American Pride.  We’ll be learning about the Constitution, Bill of Rights, our flag, National Anthem and various American symbols, as well as some of the rights and obligations we have as citizens of the United States.

But for now, I thought I’d go ahead and share what made up the bulk of the American Revolution unit study.

We read and listened to many, many books – picture books, chapter books and books on tape. Some of our favorites were:

Johnny Tremain

Sarah Bishop

Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos

George Washington’s Socks

Benjamin Franklin

Katie’s Trunk

Yankee Doodle

If You Lived At The Time Of The American Revolution (If You.)

Paul Revere’s Ride

The Fourth of July Story

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

The Matchlock Gun

Below is a wonderful book my husband bought from the HSLDA table at our homeschool convention a couple of years ago. I highly recommend it!

The America’s Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty curriculum had many nice lessons for things such as the Declaration of Independence, George Washington, John Hancock, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. I think you can order a FREE CD-ROM of the lessons by going to their site!

By the end of the unit, I assigned each of the children projects to complete. Even though I already do end-of-unit projects with my children, the lovely samples on Learning Through Living’s blog have inspired me even further. After talking with her via email, she reminded me of the use of rubrics. Essentially, a rubric is a “What Is Expected” and “How You Will Be Graded” chart that lays out the exact expectations you have of your children and what it will take to get an acceptable score.

Mahayla’s final project had to include an Easy File Folder Reports biography of a notable figure from the war, some sort of presentation about a famous battle during the war, and a complete time line of important revolutionary dates.

Here’s what she came up with.

A file folder biography about Molly Pitcher.

An oral report about the Battles of Lexington and Concord, complete with maps and a model of the battle.

She even decided to make a little flip book of her battle.

And a time line three legal pages long!

Caleb’s assignment had to include a file folder biography and a presentation of a famous battle. Here’s what he came up with.

A file folder biography of George Washington.

And a reenactment of George Washington and his troops crossing the Delaware River to battle the Hessian soldiers, complete with Daddy as Washington’s horse!

Here are two more pictures of the file folder biographies – the title page and a not-so-great close-up of the little clay figures they made.

I promise, if you give your children a little guidance and a lot of freedom, you’ll be amazed at the results!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!