Civil War Unit Study Part 1

Our favorite study during third grade was definitely our Civil War Unit Study.  Both of us learned so much and had fun while we were learning.

It all started with this book- I had just planned to have Hailey read Harriet Tubman by Maryann Weidt.  While reading the book, she became very interested in Harriet Tubman, the underground railroad, and the civil war.  When we finished the book she begged to learn more.  So, I went with her interests.  We paused our study of ancient history, that we had been working on, and I put together a unit about slavery and the civil war.  That’s one of my favorite things about homeschooling- we can learn about what we find interesting.

Here is a small sampling of some of the activities we did:

These are some of the books we read during our unit.  I found many living books to use, rather than text book type books.  We both really enjoy the living books.  Even Hunter (age 3) listened to most of the books.

After we read Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter, Hailey made her own representation of the drinking gourd, or the big dipper constellation.  She learned how the slaves on the underground railroad would look toward the drinking gourd and follow it so that they would not get lost while they tried to find their way north.  We also listened to the Follow the Drinking Gourd song on YouTube- it has a catchy tune and we both found ourselves singing it.

Hailey learned that slaves on the underground railroad would know a house was a safe place to stop for rest if there was a lantern burning in the window.  So, she made a lantern by gluing tissue paper onto a jar.

Hailey’s finished lantern, with a battery operated tea light candle inside.

We learned about how the slaves made quilts and the patterns on the quilt were secret messages to help them escape to freedom.  I found printables for the different quilt patterns and Hailey colored them while I read to her.

Hailey made this 3-D map of the underground railroad from the book Interactive 3-D Maps: American History.

Hailey really enjoyed playing Flight to Freedom, an online game where she played a slave who was trying to escape.  Not only was it educational and fun, but it was actually pretty hard to make it through the journey.

We learned about how slaves could only bring a few belongings with them when they ran away.  Hailey used a bandana and had to try to decide what she would have brought with her.

Hailey also designed her own quilt pattern.

She made a house with a lantern burning in the window.

I gave Hailey an assignment to build a model safe house and she came up with this all on her own.  She used a box and set up some furniture inside.

There was a secret passage in the floor for slaves to hide in.

And a secret spot in the wall for slaves to hide behind a book shelf.

Then she had to write a story and pretend she was a slave who escaped to freedom.  She had to write about her journey and what happened along the way.  She did an excellent job bringing everything together that she learned about the slavery, the underground railroad, and what happened after they escaped.

There is so much to read, do, explore, and learn about!  I couldn’t fit it all into one post, so check back soon for part 2 of our study.

Crazy Hair Day

During the last month of our homeschool co-op we did a different fun thing for spirit month each week.  One of our favorite weeks was crazy hair week.  Our homeschool co-op is on summer break right now, but since I never shared these pictures I wanted to share them now.

Hailey’s crazy hair.
Our original plan was to use pipe cleaner and put a braid around the pipe cleaner so that the braids would stick out.  But, when I tried to do it, her hair was just too long and heavy to stay up.

Hunter’s crazy hair.
All morning while we were getting ready for co-op Hunter said he was not going to have crazy hair.  As we were getting ready to walk out the door he decided he wanted to do it too.

Harper’s crazy hair.

It was such a fun day!!

The Three Little Pigs

We had so much fun focusing on The Three Little Pigs for our latest story.  Hunter loved the book and requested it several times each day.  Here are some of the fun activities we did to go along with the story:

He made houses of straw, sticks, and bricks.  We talked about first, then, and last.

We looked at his finished project and practiced retelling the story.

The next activity was one of Hunter’s all time favorite activities ever.  He had so much fun and kept playing with it long after we had finished.

First we set built a straw house and put one little pig inside.  He used his wolf that he got when we went to the Great Wolf Lodge and pretended to be the wolf.

Next we made a house of sticks and put two little pigs inside.

Last we made a house of bricks with all the pigs inside.

Hunter loved, loved, loved acting out the story this way!

We also made a wolf craft and

a pig craft.

We had so much fun with The Three Little Pigs!!

Preschool- Letter E

Apparently, I didn’t take very many pictures of our letter E activities because I don’t have a lot to share.  So, here are some of the activities we did for the letter E.

Hunter practiced his cutting by cutting apart some elephants.

Hunter eats scrambled eggs for breakfast every day so I cut his eggs into an E shape.

He made this “E is for earth” craft. First he colored a coffee filter with blue and green, then we sprayed water on it so that the colors would run together.

I made these cute chocolate eggs.  I just melted some white chocolate, then put a yellow M&M in the middle.

Hunter glued eyes on the letter E.

Hailey hid some plastic eggs in our backyard and Hunter did an egg hunt and found all of the eggs.

We only have letter R left to complete Hunter’s name.  Then we will take a break from letters until we start back to school in the fall.  Our focus this summer will be on reading lots of books and doing activities related to what we are reading.

(All letter E printables are from Confessions of a Homeschooler and 1+1+1=1.)