Review of Eat Your U.S. History Homework

One of our favorite subjects is most definitely history! When I was in school if someone had ever told me that I would one day love history I would have thought that person was crazy. I was taught to memorize dates and information, which was very boring and I do not remember much of anything about the history I learned in school.  I knew I wanted to teach my kids in a very different way, and keep things fun and interesting so that they will remember what they learn.  When I saw Eat Your U.S. History Homework I thought it would be a really fun way to learn some history, and it definitely fits into my hands-on teaching approach.

Ann McCallum is the author of Eat Your U.S. History Homework, as well as several other books including Eat Your Math Homework, and Eat Your Science Homework which you can learn more about at Ann McCallum Books.  The book we reviewed was Eat Your U.S. History Homework: Recipes for Revolutionary Minds, which is geared for children in grades 2-5.  It is a 47 page, hardcover book that includes 6 recipes.  Several historical events that occurred between 1620-1776 in American history are highlighted throughout the book.  These include when the Pilgrims arrived in America, life in original 13 colonies, the French and Indian war, Slavery,  the Boston Tea Party, and the Declaration of Independence.

Each historical event has three parts to it:

First, there is a short, one page history lesson.  This particular recipe, Revolutionary Honey-Jumble Cookies, highlights America in 1773 and goes over the Boston Tea party and some of the events that happened at that time.  There are several bold words throughout the lesson which can be looked up in the glossary in the back of the book.

The next part is the recipe.  All of the ingredients and equipment needed are listed.  There are step by step, illustrated instructions.

The last part gives some brief, interesting information from the time period.  Then it ends with some thought provoking questions.

So, how did we use Eat Your U.S. History Homework?

Hailey is studying U.S. history this year, so this book fits in perfectly with our studies!  It definitely works as a great supplement to add some fun things into your U.S. history studies.  In the example I am sharing- we read about the Boston Tea Party and it reads more like a story than a boring history text book.

Hailey looked over the recipe for the Revolutionary Honey-Jumble Cookies.  All of the ingredients were regular items that we already had at home, so I did not have to buy anything.

Measuring some honey

Stirring some of the ingredients

Super delicious Honey- Jumble cookies

This is not a typical history book as it just highlights a few events.  I think it makes a great supplement to your history curriculum to add some fun cooking with kids.  The book is written in an entertaining manner, with cute illustrations, that keeps the readers attention.  It is very interesting to learn the origins of some familiar recipes- for example we learned that the Honey-Jumble cookies are now called snickerdoodles, one of our favorite cookies.   The recipes are simple and most of the recipes in the book use ingredients we already have at home.  Hailey, age 9 and in 4th grade, was able to follow the directions for the recipe and make the cookies entirely on her own.  While it is recommended for kids in grades 2-5 I think it would be fun for younger and older kids as well.

Hailey’s review of Eat Your U.S. History Homework: “I thought it was really interesting to learn about when they ate the cookies.  It was really fun to make cookies!”

I would definitely recommend Eat Your U.S. History Homework as a fun addition to your U.S. studies.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

We have really been enjoying picking a book and then doing activities centered around that book for a week.  Our latest book was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff.

Hunter really liked making a puffy paint chocolate chip cookie.  He mixed up shaving cream, glue, and brown paint.

Then he spread the paint mixture onto a paper plate.

Finally he added some chocolate chips.  When it dries it is puffy and it is really fun to touch and poke at it.

I cut out some brown circles and numbered them 1-10.  Then we counted out the correct number of chocolate chips to add to each one.  This took a little while to finish because the chocolate chips kept disappearing 😉

In the story the mouse draws a picture of his family, so Hunter drew a picture of his family.

Hunter practiced writing some lines.  (from Royal Baloo)

And of course, how could we read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie without making cookies?  So, we baked chocolate chips cookies together.

Hunter thought they were yummy!

Hailey wanted to help with the taste testing too.

Hunter definitely loved this story and asked to hear it over and over again!  We are having lots of fun in preschool!

Preschool- Letter H

Our focus letter during preschool has been the letter H. Here are some of things Hunter did:

Hunter glued hearts onto the letter H.

He made an H door knob hanger and hung it up on his bedroom door.

Hunter used Do-a-Dot markers to decorate the letter H.

He painted an H paper while he wore his H crown.

I helped him make a letter H using playdough.

He had a lot of fun making a house.

H is for house.  (He insisted on putting an H at the end of word house too.)

Hunter showed Harper his H wand.

He stamped the letter H onto some paper using paint.

Hunter used a paint roller to paint this letter H…

…then he cut out some hippos (with help)…

…then he glued the hippos onto the H.

(All letter H printables are from Confessions of a Homeschooler, 1+1+1=1, and Enchanted Homeschooling Mom.)

Since Haystacks starts with H, Hunter and I made some delicious haystacks.

Other fun activities:

Working on a puzzle

Playing ABC Mouse with Hailey

Using his pegs

Coloring on his white board

As I called out a shape, Hunter put a Ninja Turtle sticker on the shape I said.

Playing with his Farmland Math set.

It was another 2 weeks of fun in preschool!

Heart of Dakota- BLHFHG Unit 2

Our second week of homeschooling is complete and was a success 🙂

Hailey practicing counting by 3s during calendar time.

Hailey read her journal to Hunter.

History/Geography:

This week we read about Sally and Richard, two kids who lived in Jamestown, and what it was like for them.  Hailey really enjoys the readings each day and doesn’t want me to stop reading.

One of the readings was about Richard getting lost and Sally searching for him.  Hailey drew a map to show where Richard went.

Language Arts:

Hailey’s illustration of her poem from this week.

Hailey is working through the Emerging Readers and started with The Beginner’s Bible.  She is enjoying reading it, although it is not challenging her.  I am hoping it is building confidence for when we move on to the more difficult books.

We are using Rod and Staff Preparing to Build English 2 for grammar and I am finding it to be boring.  I have been looking at Pinterest trying to find some ideas to make it a bit more fun.

Math:

This week in math I introduced the concept of division.  Hailey picked some fairies and then had to give each of them an equal amount of Cheeze Its.  She loves the activities we do like that.  She’s not a fan of the work in her math book, but she loves our hands on activities.

Science:

Hailey is really enjoying science.  We only have it 2 times each week, but she is always so excited when I tell her we are doing science.  Even though the activities seem very simple she really enjoys them.

Hailey had to pick an animal from a different climate that she wanted to learn more about.  She decided she wanted to learn more about giraffes.  After we read about giraffes she picked a stuffed animal and narrated a play to show what she had learned.

We also studied tree squirrels and how they stretch out their legs and flatten their bodies and tales and then glide through the air.  We did the following experiment:

Hailey dropped a piece of paper that was crumpled up.

Then she dropped a flat piece of paper.  She immediately made the connection to the tree squirrels flattening out their bodies.

 This is Hailey’s notebooking page for the our tree squirrel experiment.

Music:

Hailey and Hunter really liked the song that went with our Bible verse this week and had a lot of fun dancing along with it.

Unit Study:

We are still learning all about apples.

Hailey made applesauce with the apples we picked last week.

We also made apple crisp.

Yummy!

Art:

We made this simple Apple Tree Craft.

We also made this Apple Life Cycle Craft.

Field Trips:

We went on 2 field trips and had lots of fun!

First Hailey and I went to see The Three Little Pigs opera.  It was so cute and she loved it!!

Hailey with the three pigs and the big bad wolf after the show.

We also went to see how donuts are made.

We got to see the process for making apple cider too.

After all of the juice has been squeezed out of the apple this is what is left.  It was pretty neat to see.

We are all ready for another fun week of homeschooling!!

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