Summer may be in full swing, but our homeschool is still in session. This year we decided to homeschool year round to spare us from summer boredom.
After recently studying Colonial America in our homeschool, we decided to move on to the A
merican Revolution.
Today I’ll share what we used in our homeschool to study this monumental moment in American History. I’ll also share some additional ideas you could include in your own lesson.
American Revolution Express Lapbook
Like all of our history lessons, we like to choose a lapbook to use as the base of our study. My favorite place to find lapbooks is from A Journey Through Learning. Their lapbooks are colorful, informative, and the girls have fun completing them.
Since we’ve been really busy with unpacking and adjusting to life in our new home, we decided to “take it easy” and use the American Revolution Express Lapbook. This express lapbook took only one folder to complete.
The American Revolution Express Lapbook briefly covered the following topics:
- A brief overview of the American Revolution
- Boston Tea Party
- First Continental Congress
- The meaning of “revolution”
- The difference between Loyalists and the Patriots
- Declaration of Independence
The girls each worked on their own separate lapbooks this time (sometimes they both work together on one, but not in this case). They would read the lesson for that day and complete the accompanying booklet to add to their lapbook.
What I also love about these lapbooks is that there are always additional activity ideas included that are optional and to be completed outside of the lapbook itself. Sometime’s there are coloring pages (which is perfect for little sis to stay busy with while we read the lessons)
Save on Printing Costs!
Love lapbooks, but hate spending all of that time and money on printing supplies to print them out? A journey through learning also sells their lapbooks in an already printed format and will ship it right to you.
You can also check out this post here where I share about how I’m saving money on printer ink!
Revolutionary War Books for Kids
We found so many great books about the Revolutionary War that we checked out at our local library. Here is a list of some of the books we found, plus some other titles that would be great to read as well.
Eat Your U.S. History Homework: Recipes for Revolutionary Minds (Eat Your Homework)The Revolutionary War: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History)
Revolutionary War on Wednesday (Magic Tree House (R))
American Revolution: A Nonfiction Companion to Revolutionary War on Wednesday (Magic Tree House Research Guide Series)
What Was the Boston Tea Party?
You Wouldn’t Want to Be at the Boston Tea Party!: Wharf Water Tea You’d Rather Not Drink
The Boston Tea Party: A History Just for Kids
Causes of the Revolution: Early America (Primary Source Readers)
History for Kids: The Battle of Bunker Hill
What Is the Declaration of Independence? (What Was?)
Paul Revere’s Ride
Who Was Paul Revere?
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? (Paperstar)
Tweet ThisDocumentaries and Shows
One of our favorite show’s to watch while studying American History has been Liberty’s Kids. My kids have learned so much about our nation’s history including key figures simply by watching this series.
I cannot recommend this series enough, especially for the price!
Liberty’s Kids: Education Edition + Digital Content
In addition to Liberty’s Kids, we also found some of the old School House Rock video’s on Youtube, so we watched a few of those as well.
Such as this video about the Declaration of Independence:
And don’t forget this one about the Boston Tea Party:
Declaration of Independence
Last year at our local history museum I purchased a replica of the Declaration of Independence. We pulled it out during this unit study so the girls could get a look at what the real Declaration of Independence would have looked like.
They had a lot of fun trying to read the writing of our founding fathers, and having that “hands-on” experience. You could find your own replica of this document here.
Additional Activities
We were unable to get too involved with the extra activities and crafts I found on Pinterest for the American Revolution, but I did find these that I thought was fun and wanted to share. Since we just did a brief look into the Revolutionary War, I plan to revisit it soon. Hopefully, we will be able to do them very soon too.
- Channel your inner spy and go on a treasure hunt. – via “Adventures in Mommydom”
- Create a Historical Silhouette – via “Education Possible”
- Write your own Declaration of Independence – from mom! – via “Adventures in Mommydom”
- Have some fun with American Revolution role playing – via “Young Teacher Love”
- Hold a mock trial – via “Wild About Fifth”
Have you studied the American Revolution in your homeschool yet? If so, how did you make it fun? Share your comments below with the rest of us!
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[…] far as content here at the blog goes, I was finally able to share yesterday about how we have been studying the American Revolution this summer in our […]