America: The Story of Us ~ Episode 2: "Revolution" Lesson Plans

Geez .. It's only the second post in this series and I almost forgot about it! On Thursday night, as I was packing to go out of town for the weekend, I remembered that I would need to get it ready to auto post. So, I stayed up that night to get it done.

The second episode of America: The Story of Us is "Revolution". We spent three weeks on this unit.

We read The Winter of Red Snow by Kristiana Gregory and Yankee Doodle Boy by Joseph Plumb Martin. We read an equal number of pages each day to cover the three-week unit (The Winter of Red Snow was good, I thought, although Dawson did not enjoy it as much. It was more of a story than Yankee Doodle Boy.)

We watched Episode 2, did the discussion questions/video quiz for the episode and the vocabulary words. These can be printed by going here. The Episode Guides are down the left hand column on the site.

All "notebooking pages" are printed from Advanced World History Vol. 2 from Hold that Thought!

All "America's Heritage" references are materials printed from America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty by The American Heritage Education Foundation, Inc.

Dawson also does Internet research to help him obtain information for his note booking pages. He is required to write 8-9 sentences since he is in the 9th grade.

We did the following activities:

* "Great Encouragement for Seamen" recruitment poster (from Episode 2 Guide)
* Declaration of Independence Signer's puzzle from America's Heritage
* Declaration of Independence Unscramble from America's Heritage
* Declaration of Independence worksheet from America's Heritage
* Memorized Preamble
* John Hancock notebooking page
* Declaration of Independence notebooking page
* George Washington notebooking page
* Valley Forge notebooking page
* Cornelius Surrender notebooking page

Books Read (maybe not the whole book, but reading through it for notebooking pages and general information):

A Revolutionary Field Trip: poems of Colonial America by Susan Katz
Valley Forge by Richard Ammon
George Washington: Our First President by Garnet Jackson
Young Patriots: Inspiring Stories of the American Revolution by Marcella Fisher
Yankee Doodle: A Song from the American Revolution by Ann Owen

Videos Watched:

"School House Rock, American Rock"

** These lesson plans were based on planning for an American History course for a 9th grade boy. I allow some activities to be under his grade level and some to be above in order to give him a fun, exciting, and well-rounded understanding of the materials.

Previous Lesson Plans Posted:
Lesson 1 ~ Rebels

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

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A New Year, the Same Me

Happy 2019! It is that day of the year where everybody is up extra early starting their new exercise routine, eating only healthy foods, cracking open the pages of a new planner and Bible study, and debuting their Word for the year. You chuckle or roll your eyes, but you are doing at least three of these things. By the way, so am I. So let's start with the Word of the Year. Mine this year is Lagom. It's the Swedish word for "not too little, not too much, just right". It's a concept of being, doing or having just enough. So let's rewind to last New Year's Day. My Word was Might. And that's how I planned to tackle my year. And, I did. I worked out hard, I mommed hard, I traveled hard, I worked hard. And it was a good season. It prepared the way for this year. I accepted the Challenge I set for myself and succeeded. But, I don't need to keep up that pace. I am at a place in my life where I can kind of sit back and enjoy my life without f...

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TiciaFebruary 18, 2012 at 10:27 AM
Did you know there's a boy version of Dear America? It's called "My America," and I know there's one for the American Revolution and a few other things.
LaurieFebruary 18, 2012 at 12:57 PM
I appreciate you remembering! Wonderful.
SusanFebruary 18, 2012 at 5:23 PM
I pinned this post and your first one in this series...I am hoping to watch this DVD series with my girls sometime in the future. Thanks for taking the time to put this together, and share it!
KarenFebruary 19, 2012 at 4:52 PM
I'm with Susan, I am pinning these too. Honestly, this makes me want to punt Middle Ages [which we love] and follow along with you. GREAT ideas Nicole.
AnonymousFebruary 20, 2012 at 12:25 AM
I love that you are sharing this lesson plan(s)... it is similar to what we began last year, and are still plugging away at...at a much slower pace than you, lol. Get to about 1800, and we'll be around the same lessons, then I can follow your lead *hee*
@ Ticia~ thanks for the heads up on 'my america' - who knew? love dear america, but I have 5 boys! =)
~Sheri
CodyeApril 11, 2012 at 1:02 AM
Wow! I am so to find your blog! This is our first year to homeschool, 6th grade, and we chose to do so for very similar reasons. My husband has handled history this year but will be in Afghanistan as we begin 7th grade. I have been very nervous about teaching something I know so little about. This resource has sparked my excitement and I can hardly wait to get started! I know how busy homeschooling keeps all of us and I truly appreciate you taking the time to share your plans.

Codye
Jamie FranziniMay 27, 2013 at 7:58 AM
Do you know if the episode guides are available somewhere else? They are no longer available on the link you provided above. Thank you so much!! Planning to do this next school year!!
Shayna S.July 5, 2013 at 9:50 AM
You can still find them if you google them. I found them all just last night (July 4, 2013). It is true the links above don't work, but the episode guides *are* available online!

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