American History Resources

Whether you want your kids to experience the excitement of standing at the podium in Seneca Falls with suffragettes or riding the first subway car beneath New York City in 1907, there are lots of excellent American history homeschool curriculum options. These include books that weave together exciting stories that bring history alive and also hands-on learning activities. There are also a few options that provide history with a focus on the role of working people, women, and organized social movements in shaping us history homeschool curriculum.

A popular option is the Sonlight American History program. It is a full year’s curriculum that uses beautiful literature to teach history, geography and Bible. Kids start with daily Bible reading and then dive into the rich literature based lessons that teach American history. The curriculum includes fun hands-on activities like Pilgrims and Puritans Venn Diagrams, a branches of the American government tree, Constitution flip book and Civil War battles sheet.

The curriculum also includes a great collection of maps. It covers all time periods from the arrival of the Native Americans and Mayans to the end of the Civil War. The curriculum is geared to students in grades six through eight and covers many of the key historical events that your kids will probably remember well.

Truthquest history is a literature-based curriculum that can be used across multiple grade levels. It uses a general history spine instead of day to day lesson plans and is designed for a more relaxed approach without the need to follow rabbit trails. The curriculum is very flexible and can be tweaked to meet your kids needs.

American History Resources to Homeschool High School

You can use it with a unit study style to really make your children fall in love with history. The curriculum includes a timeline to help your child keep track of dates and events, but the main attraction is the living book format that teaches history through the stories of the people who lived it.

This curriculum is also a great choice for your younger kids because of the colorful illustrations and easy-to-understand text. The book is written in a very child-friendly font and is accompanied by cut out activity pages to reinforce what they’ve just read. The topics are varied and include Pocahontas, Lewis & Clark, the Civil War, Jazz and more.

It is not as in-depth or detailed as the Genevieve Foster series but it does cover a broad range of historic figures and events. It is a great choice for elementary ages and is designed to be read aloud or as an independent reader.

The Smithsonian American History: A Visual Encyclopedia is organized chronologically with short two-page spreads on eras, topics, famous people, influential art, and world events. The book also features a timeline at the back of the book to help your student visualize the timeline of important events in American History.