Interest Led Homeschool
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: California History
[This is a subtopic of The West and also part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Lower Grades (K-3) Amelia’s Road-Altman (4.1/0.5) Astro: The Stellar Sea Lion-Harvey (4.5/0.5) Barrio: Jose’s Neighborhood–Ancona(5.6/0.5) Boom Town-Levitin (3.7/0.5) Brothers-Yin (3.1/0.5) Calling the Doves-Herrera (4.5/0.5) Chang’s Paper Pony-Coerr (2.8/0.5) Cehlonia: Return of the Sea Turtle-Navarro (4.7/0.5) City of Angels: In and Around Los Angeles-Jaskol (7.9/1) Condor’s Egg-London (3.2/0.5) The Day Roy Riegels Ran the Wrong Way-Gutman (2.5/0.5) A Day’s Work-Bunting (2.7/0.5) Dust for Dinner-Turner* (2.4/0.5) Earthquake in the Early Morning-Osborne (3.3/1) Earthquake! A Story of Old San Francisco-Kudlinski (3.7/1) Fish for Jimmy:…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: Gold Rush
[This is a subtopic of The West and also part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] This does not include California’s gold rush, that is under California History. Lower Grades (K-3) Adventure in Gold Town-Hopkinson (3.9/1) Crazy for Gold-Wishinsky (3.5/1) Gold Fever-Kay (2.4/0.5) Gold Rush Winter-Murphy (3.1/0.5) Klondike Gold-Provensen 96.0/1) Sailing for Gold-Hopkinson (3.7/1) Sitka Rose-Gill (4.1/0.5) Stinky-Sargent (4.4/0.5) Middle Grades (4-8) Bonanza Gold-Berton (7.1/3) Fire and Snow: A Tale of the Alaskan Gold Rush-Gunderson (3.2/0.5) Gold Fever Trail-Hughes (4.9/3) Gold in the Hills: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Rush-Ransom (3.6/2) The Gold Miners’ Rescue-Jackson…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: The West
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] The following are subtopics of The West: Traveling West Lewis and Clark/Louisiana Territory Texas Revolution/Mexican-American War California History Gold Rush (Not including California) Transcontinental Railroad Life in The West/Manifest Destiny 1700’s-1930’s Lower Grades (K-3) The Adventures of Rose & Swiney-MacBride (3.7/1) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-Kulling (3.3/1) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: The Best Fence Painter-Nichols (2.0/0.5) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: A Song for Aunt Polly-Nichols (2.1/0.5) Animal Adventures-Wilder/Peterson (3.6/1) Apples to Oregon-Hopkinson (4.1/0.5) Araminta’s Paint Box-Ackerman (5.2/0.5) Arbor Day Square-Galbraith (3.2/0.5) Arizona Charlie and the…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School
Tot School: Beach and Ocean Theme
The great thing about themes is that any academic subject fits into them. There’s no need for objectives at this age, because she has such a limited knowledge of most subjects, totally immersing ourselves in a theme results in her knowing a lot more than she did at the beginning. There are a ton of things out there to do for this theme, but I stuck to things that involve the least amount of prep and work on my part since 2 year old’s (and most kids) are notorious for not being interested in things we plan for them. 🙂 We did all this in about four weeks. Books (what…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: Immigration to the U.S.
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Lower Grades A Gift for Gita-Gilmore (2.8/0.5) All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel-Yaccarino (4.2/0.5) (Ellis Island) The American Wei-Pomeranc (2.7/0.5) An Mei’s Strange and Wondrous Journey-Molnar-Fenton (3.8/0.5) At Ellis Island: A History of Many Voices-Peacock (4.0/1) Brothers-Yin (3.1/0.5) Candy Shop-Wahl (2.5/0.5) The Castle on Hester Street-Heller (3.6/0.5) Cooper’s Lesson-Shin (3.9/0.5) Courage to Fly-Harrison (3.6/0.5) Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty-Glaser (5.5/0.5) (1883) Goldfish and Chrysanthemums-Cheng (3.2/0.5) Grandfather’s Journey-Say (3.6/0.5) Grandfather’s Story Cloth-Gerdner (3.4/0.5) Hannah…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: Ancient Asia
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Lower Grades (K-3) Cat and Rat: The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac-Young (3.3/0.5) Day of the Dragon King-Osborne (3.3/1) The Empress and the Silkworm-Hong (4.4/0.5) The Emperor’s Army: A Mathematical Adventure-Pilegard (5.4/0.5) The Emperor’s Painting: A Story of Ancient China-Gunderson (3.8/0.5) Fa Mulan-San Souci (4.8/0.5) The Jade Dragon: A Story of Ancient China-Gunderson (3.2/0.5) The Long Silk Strand-Williams (4.1/0.5) (Japan) Piecing Earth and Sky Together: A Creation Story from the Mien Tribe of Laos-Day (2.8/0.5) The Silk Princess-Santore (5.5/0.5) Stranger on the Silk Road: A Story of…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: WWII Aftermath
[This is a subtopic of World War II and also part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] The Aftermath Lower Grades (K-3) Boxes for Katje-Fleming (3.5/0.5) The Gift: A Hanukkah Story-Brodmann (4.3/0.5) Middle Grades (4-8) Alan and Naomi-Levoy (3.3/5) Journey Home-Uchida (5.3/4) Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift’s “Chocolate Pilot”-Tunnell(7.2/2) Nonfiction Candy Bombers-Elmer (4.7/5) Chasing the Wind-Elmer (4.7/7) Lost in America-Sachs (4.5/4) Miracles on Maple Hill-Sorenson (4..9/7) When the Sergeant Came Marching Home-Lemna (5.4/8) Annie’s War-Sullivan (4.7/5) The Bear Makers-Cheng (3.3/4) Escape to Freedom-Kasper (4.4/7) Far From the Storm-Elmer (4.5/7) Forget-Me-Not-Haworth (5.3/7) The…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: WWII Home Front
[This is a subtopic of World War II and also part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Setting/Home Fronts/Occupied Land Lower Grades (K-3) Across the Blue Pacific: A World War II Story-Borden (4.6/0.5) All Those Secrets of the World-Yolen (3.5/0.5) Anna’s Goat-Keefer (4.4/0.5) Children of the World War II Home Front-Whitman (5.3/0.5) Coming on Home Soon-Woodson (2.9/0.5) Ellen: The Waiting Time-Harris (4.7/2) Far from Home-Wishinsky (3.6/1) Flags-Trottier (3.4/0.5) How I Learned Geography-Shulevitz (4.4/0.5) Just Like New-Manson (4.8/0.5) Lily’s Victory Garden-Wilbur (5.4/0.5) The Lion and the Unicorn-Hughes (4.1/1) Lisette’s Angel-Littlesugar (3.1/0.5) Love You, Soldier-Hest (3.4/1) Mama…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: WWII Holocaust and Minorities
[This is a subtopic of World War II and also part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here. For photos of my visit to Dachau Concentration Camp, click here.] Holocaust/Minorities/Concentration and Internment Camps Lower Grades (K-3) Anne Frank-Brown (3.4/0.5) Nonfiction Anne Frank-Davidson (4.6/1) Nonfiction Anne Frank: Voice of Hope-Woronoff (4.2/0.5) Nonfiction Baseball Saved Us-Mochizuki (3.9/0.5) The Bracelet-Uchida (4.0/.5) By the Hanukkah Light-Oberman (3.4/0.5) Home of the Brave-Say (2.8/0.5) Honey Cake-Stuchner (4.0/1) I Will Come Back for You: A Family in Hiding During World War II-Russo (3.6/0.5) Let the Celebrations Begin!-Wild (3.7/.5) The Lily Cupboard-Oppenheim (2.9/0.5) A…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: Pre-World War II
[This is a subtopic of World War II and also part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Middle Grades (4-8) Ashes-Lasky (5.2/10) Breathing Room-Hayles (5.3/5) Chicken Foot Farm-Estevis (5.1/6) Darkness-Schraff (4.4/3) Don’t Talk to Me About the War-Adler (3.8/6) The Devil In Vienna-Orgel (4.4/8) Echo-Ryan (4.9/13) I Should Worry, I Should Care-Chaikin (3.7/3) Listen for the Singing-Little (4.7/8) Something Remains-Barth-Grozinger (6.3/17) Middle Grades+ (6+) A Brief History of Montmaray-Cooper (6.5/12) Daniel Half Human: And the Good Nazi-Chotjewitz (5.0/9) The FitzOsbornes at War-Cooper (6.7/22) The FitzOsbornes in Exile-Cooper (6.6/18) My Family for the War-Voorhoeve (6.2/17) Upper…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: World War II
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Pre-War Holocaust and Minorities Home Front Aftermath Soldiers/Battles/Leaders/Resistance Movements/Spies Lower Grades (K-3) The Bicycle Man-Say (3.8/0.5) The Butterfly-Polacco (3.8/0.5) Shoes for Amelie-Steiner (3.1/0.5) Tail-End Charlie-Manning (3.8/0.5) (more suitable for 2nd or 3rd grade) The Tuskegee Airmen Story-Homan (4.2/0.5) The Unbreakable Code-Hunter (4.2/0.5) War Dogs: Churchill& Rufus-Selbert (5.3/0.5) Wind Flyers-Johnson (2.9/0.5) The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark-Deedy (3.7/0.5) Middle Grades (4-8) Aloha Means Come Back: The Story of a World War II Girl-Hoobler (4.1/1) The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips-Morpurgo…
- 3-5 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Intro to Shapes
Some find the idea of planning activities for two year olds crazy. But as a former teacher, I can rarely go a day without planning in my head. It used to be U.S. History that I saw everywhere (Pool noodles on sale? Those would make great bayonets for a Civil War battle! Controversial Dixie Chicks song? Perfect for our freedom of speech discussion!). Now that I’m a parent of a toddler, it’s a little different (Extra coffee beans? just the thing for the brown sensory bin! Worn out frying pan? Put it in the yard for the future mud kitchen!) It’s what we teachers do. I can’t not plan.…
