Settling the New World: Colonial History Unit Study

During the elementary and middle school years, our history studies – for the most part – take place as unit studies. In a relatively short amount of time, we can cover SO much material in fun and interesting lessons. And this unit was no exception!

Colonial History Unit Study

Over the course of about six weeks, our Colonial History unit study covered everything from the first colonies of Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth to the settlement of the 13 original colonies and life in colonial times.

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Colonial History Notebooking

We used two central “spine” books during this unit. Hands-On History: Colonial America provided us with fantastic notebooking activities! The reproducible notebooking pages and mini-books helped my children document the period thoroughly and beautifully.

Take a look at some of their pages! (I used colorful cardstock to make the pages exciting. The colors made the final journals look great, too!)

{Cover page | Roanoke question wheel | Jamestown fact web}

{Colony comparison chart | 13 Colony mapping | Mini-book of Colonial trading}

{History of the 13 Colonies mini-books}

Hands-On Learning for Colonial History

Not all our units are as jam-packed with hands-on activities as this one. Too many hands-on activities can sometimes become overkill, but we never tired of trying new things during this unit! Thus, there is a heavy load of hands-on projects. Most of the ideas came courtesy of Colonial Kids.

Believe it or not, the pictures below don’t show all the hands-on activities! Some additional activities included making hasty pudding, playing leapfrog, bb gun target practice, sewing, knot tying, candle making, knitting, and decoupage.

{Colonial style boxes painted with typical Colonial designs | Homemade butter | Clay buttons}

{Silhouettes | Bread dough figures | Homemade honey cough syrup}

{Embroidery hand-prints using the clay buttons | Writing with feather pen and berry ink | Homemade soap}

Colonial History Living Literature

As a family, we enjoyed two excellent historical fiction books. I read Night Journeys by Avi aloud, and we listened to The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spear as an audiobook in the car.

During the unit, my oldest (12) was assigned two books: Calico Bush by Rachel Field and Indian Captive by Lois Lenski. I asked her to complete a “book report” on one of the books using a resource called Better Than Book Reports: More Than 40 Creative Responses to Literature. While the book report guide has many project-based ideas – mobiles, dioramas, timelines, etc. – she chose to write a traditional book report with an oral presentation.

Because he was in the middle of reading other books for other subjects, my son (9) only had to read one straightforward book as part of the unit. Witch Hunt: It Happened in Salem Village by Stephen Krinsky is a step 4 reader with plenty of information about the Salem Witch Trials for a young student.

Colonial History Online Resources for Kids

Jamestown Online is a fun game that allows you to make decisions like the original settlers would’ve had to make. In the end (it only takes a few minutes), you see how well your colony survived based on your choices. My kids loved it!

Colonial Williamsburg Kids Zone has many historical online games that reinforce academic skills. They are short, sweet, and fun!

PBS’s Colonial House site has several interactive games and quizzes. Would you have survived the colony?

Quia has a fun colonial quiz.

End-of-Unit Project-Based Learning for Colonial History

I typically end our unit studies with one or more open-ended projects that my children complete independently. The projects assess what was learned during the unit and always require some level of research.

For example, my son completed a fantastic research-based brochure of the 13 Colonies!

This unit study is one of my all-time favorites, and my children agree. We enjoyed incredible living books, fun and meaningful hands-on projects, and even some field trips. I highly encourage you to spend several weeks studying this amazing era of American history in your homeschool!

Learn how to plan unit studies like a pro!

Planning unit studies and project-based learning isn’t as complicated as you might think! These video classes for parents can help you easily implement both into your homeschool.

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