I've long thought there has been a major lack of simple American History overviews for the elementary homeschool crowd. Kids need hands-on activities to engage them, and they need a program based in engaging texts or living stories to keep them interested in the subject. In my preliminary series, 10 Days of Early American History for Elementary Kids, I’ll share some learning and activity ideas for teaching about American History from the Native Americans until James Madison.

I worked hard on getting together an amazing American History lesson plans for my co-op class this year. In this series I begin sharing some of these book lists and lesson plans about American History!

The following is the beginning for a tentative schedule for a basic American history year using mostly living history books and some interactive projects and ideas that I've found. I hope to finish up and send you the first nine lessons in the next two weeks. Then, I'll be back with more in a month or so!

1. Introduction: U.S. Geography
2. Lesson 1: Introducing Native American Cultures 
3. Lesson 2: Exploring the Explorers 
4. Lesson 3: Investigating Early American Settlements
5. Lesson 4: Life in the Colonial Era and Pretending to be a Colonial Kid
6. Lesson 5: Following the Road to Revolution 
7. Lesson 6: Highlights of The Revolutionary War 
8. Lesson 7: George Washington and A New Nation
9. Lesson 8: Early Presidents and Their Legacy 
10. Lesson 9: James Madison and the War of 1812 

How does this sound to you for a start to learning about American History? Are you as excited as I am to get started? The more interest I have from my readers, the sooner I will be motivated to get to the rest of my lesson plans.

Brainstorms for future lessons

Note: These lessons will certainly change!

1. America before 1492
2. Explorers Explore the World
3. Explorers Explore America
4. Investigating Early English Settlements
5. Colonial America
6. Prelude to Revolution
7. The American Revolutionary War
8. The Founding Fathers
9. Early American Conflicts
10. Westward Migration
11. The Problem of Slavery
12. A Nation Divided
13. Rebuilding the Nation
14. New Inventions Change the World
15. A New Century
16. A Nation of Immigrants
17. America and a World at War
18. The Great Depression and Alphabet Soup
19. Americans Join WWII
20. A Changing Society
21. Wars with Different Kinds of Battles
22. Looking to the Future