July - Independence Day Rabbit Trails
Independence Day! July is another vacation month where you might go visiting places that are steeped in American history. But the first theme of the month is to learn why we declared independence from England in the first place.
Here's a wonderful bunch of links to resources from The Homeschool Mom
Jim Weiss recording about the Founding Fathers - great audio to listen to in the car.
Read Aloud for the whole family:
George Washington's World
A great independent read for teens is 1776 by David McCullough. Reads like a novel!
If you need activity books in the car while driving to your destination spot, or just some quiet time activity, here's a kit from Dover Publications.
My kids really enjoyed this CD
Science
The science behind fireworks!
Or watch this video (over an hour long) and probably better for teens. Count it towards your chemistry credits!
Copy Work:
The Declaration of Independence
Quotes from our Founding Fathers
Patriotic songs and poems (formatting is weird for these poems)
Rabbit Trails:
USA geography game - Stack the States. My youngest daughter loved this game. It's an app. Here's a review from Common Sense Media.
Seton's 5th grade handwriting book. You could wait to use this more formally during the school year but honestly it is just interesting to read through all the wonderful Catholic history and heritage you learn through this handwriting book!
Moving from the Declaration to the Constitution:
Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz. She's written other books about the founding our country. Highly recommended!
The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz as well. I remember my oldest daughter especially enjoying this one.
Studying the Revolutionary War may lead to interest in:
The French and Indian War (Seven Years War in Europe) - a major contributing factor towards our Revolutionary War.
The War of 1812 - Napoleonic Wars spill over into our new country. Since the French were our allies, we got sucked into this war.
Catholic interests:
Here's an overview of the various saints' days in July.
The Catholic Founding Father - The Carrolls
Or find an old copy of the Vision book on Bishop John Carroll.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton - Kat Finds a Friend. (My kids enjoyed all the Glory of America saint books.)
Field trips:
Any trip to Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Williamsburg/Yorktown, Charlottesville, etc.
But really a trip anywhere to see what life was like in early America. What was going on in your neck of the woods from 1776 up through the War of 1812?
More Reading:
There are so many great books out there on this time period. Some of our favorites were:
Amos Fortune, Free Man
Calico Captive
The Sign of the Beaver
Johnny Tremain
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
How We Crossed the West
Crafts
Any kind of bush craft or old time skills: learning to forage, make a fire from flint, etc. Or simple skills like hand washing something and hanging it out to dry, making butter, learning to hand sew.
Townsends - I just linked to this amazing youtube channel, but I'll link again!
Try writing like George Washington! Learn to use a quill pen! They wrote so much back in the day and yet it was quite tricky!
Speaking of George Washington, learn about his Rules of Civility.
Art
Famous Founding Father Portrait Artist - Gilbert Stuart. Here's a link to an CM style artist study.
Math
Let's not worry about math this month. Just watch to see how it comes up naturally in every day life!
Here's a wonderful bunch of links to resources from The Homeschool Mom
Jim Weiss recording about the Founding Fathers - great audio to listen to in the car.
Read Aloud for the whole family:
George Washington's World
A great independent read for teens is 1776 by David McCullough. Reads like a novel!
If you need activity books in the car while driving to your destination spot, or just some quiet time activity, here's a kit from Dover Publications.
Science
The science behind fireworks!
Or watch this video (over an hour long) and probably better for teens. Count it towards your chemistry credits!
Copy Work:
The Declaration of Independence
Quotes from our Founding Fathers
Patriotic songs and poems (formatting is weird for these poems)
Rabbit Trails:
USA geography game - Stack the States. My youngest daughter loved this game. It's an app. Here's a review from Common Sense Media.
Seton's 5th grade handwriting book. You could wait to use this more formally during the school year but honestly it is just interesting to read through all the wonderful Catholic history and heritage you learn through this handwriting book!
Moving from the Declaration to the Constitution:
Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz. She's written other books about the founding our country. Highly recommended!
The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz as well. I remember my oldest daughter especially enjoying this one.
Studying the Revolutionary War may lead to interest in:
The French and Indian War (Seven Years War in Europe) - a major contributing factor towards our Revolutionary War.
The War of 1812 - Napoleonic Wars spill over into our new country. Since the French were our allies, we got sucked into this war.
Catholic interests:
Here's an overview of the various saints' days in July.
The Catholic Founding Father - The Carrolls
Or find an old copy of the Vision book on Bishop John Carroll.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton - Kat Finds a Friend. (My kids enjoyed all the Glory of America saint books.)
Field trips:
Any trip to Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Williamsburg/Yorktown, Charlottesville, etc.
But really a trip anywhere to see what life was like in early America. What was going on in your neck of the woods from 1776 up through the War of 1812?
More Reading:
There are so many great books out there on this time period. Some of our favorites were:
Amos Fortune, Free Man
Calico Captive
The Sign of the Beaver
Johnny Tremain
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
How We Crossed the West
Crafts
Any kind of bush craft or old time skills: learning to forage, make a fire from flint, etc. Or simple skills like hand washing something and hanging it out to dry, making butter, learning to hand sew.
Townsends - I just linked to this amazing youtube channel, but I'll link again!
Try writing like George Washington! Learn to use a quill pen! They wrote so much back in the day and yet it was quite tricky!
Speaking of George Washington, learn about his Rules of Civility.
Art
Famous Founding Father Portrait Artist - Gilbert Stuart. Here's a link to an CM style artist study.
Math
Let's not worry about math this month. Just watch to see how it comes up naturally in every day life!
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