Category: History

History, Holidays, Living Books

The Christmas of 1776

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The Christmas of 1776: A Young Maiden’s Story by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton (PDF ebook)

Today’s resource is this delightful short story of a young girl’s Christmas experiences during the tumultuous time of the American Revolution, taken from the book “A Last Century Maiden” by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton. Lots of fascinating history and details of old-time holiday celebrations make this story a great read-aloud for the whole family! Check it out!

To download this PDF ebook, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key then click the link and save to your mac.

History, Holidays, Living Books

Pilgrim Stories III: Little Pilgrims & The Red Men

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Pilgrim Stories III: Little Pilgrims & The Red Men (PDF ebook)

Today we have the conclusion to this absolutely delightful three part serialization of the story of the Pilgrims – perfect for “read aloud” and sharing with the kids over the next couple of weeks! In Part Three, we learn how children from the Pilgrim settlements fared with their encounters with their Native American neighbors – this includes some outstanding stories of danger, adventure & friendship!

Also included in Part Three: A short but helpful “Teacher’s Guide” to learning more about the Pilgrims’ life and times through play-acting and other fun activities. Great stuff!

To download today’s resource, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer! Mac users, hold the “control” key down and click the link, then save to your mac.

History, Holidays, Living Books

Pilgrim Stories II: The Wild Land & Thanksgiving

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Pilgrim Stories II: The Wild Land & Thanksgiving (PDF ebook) 

In Part Two of our great “Pilgrim Stories” collection, the Pilgrims at long last arrive in the “New World”, only to find it a truly “wild land” filled with incredible danger and hardships. Providentially, they are befriended just when they need it most, and the very first Thanksgiving is celebrated.

To download today’s resource, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer! Mac users, hold the “control” key down and click the link, then save to your mac.

History, Holidays, Living Books

Pilgrim Stories I: From Old Homes to New

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Pilgrim Stories, Book I: From Old Homes to New (PDF ebook)

After several years absence, this week we are again featuring this absolutely delightful three part serialization of “Pilgrim Stories”, originally published in 1910. This is a wonderful “read aloud” resource that you can share with the kids over the next couple of weeks, to make Thanksgiving not only a family celebration, but a learning time as well.

We are loving this series! Thank you so much! We read almost the entire book the first day. My son is only 6 and I was amazed how much he enjoyed it! He didn’t want me to stop! I can’t wait to finish reading the rest of the series to him!- Diana

I can say enough how much we are enjoying this series of books. We keep reading and don’t want to stop. My children are very young but are really getting a lot out of these. They go very nicely with our study of Thanksgiving. These stories of real people help my children understand. – Connie

In Part One, we meet the Pilgrims and learn why they were forced to leave their homes in search of a place they could freely worship… a journey which had many false starts, and which eventually led to a hazardous journey across the ocean in hopes of reaching the “New World” and a place they could make their own.

To download today’s resource, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer! Mac users, hold the “control” key down and click the link, then save to your mac.

History, Living Books, Math

Number Stories of Long Ago

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Number Stories of Long Ago by David Eugene Smith (PDF ebook)

Back by popular demand! “The history of mathematics is in no small part the history of civilization,” the author points out in his introduction to this classic book that tells the story of man’s early attempts to count, write numerals, and do mathematical computations. But instead of being a “ho hum” dry, boring “history” of numbers, this is a GREAT “Living Book” of stories set in different historical eras (ancient China & Egypt, among others), showing how different mathematical concepts were developed and became a part of civilization. It is wonderful blend of history, economics, and mathematics that will really be enjoyed by upper elementary and high school students who are curious about the origins of the civilization we take for granted today.

An extra bonus in this book: Each chapter ends with several discussion and math questions based on the concepts presented in the story. Not only that, but the last two chapters of the book are a treasure trove of great mathematical word problems, puzzles and questions, which will intrigue students and parents alike. A great find! Don’t miss it!

To download this ebook, RIGHT CLICK HERE  and “save” to your computer.

Mac users: Press the “control” key, then click the above link and “save” to your mac.

Audio, Government, History

Mr. President: Ponies in the Elevator

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Do you know which President had to deal with rats in the dining room, ponies in the elevator, and butter on the bannisters?

Mr. President: Ponies in the Elevator  (MP3 audio)

“Mr. President… at home in the White House — the elected leader of our people, our fellow citizen and neighbor. These are little-known stories of the men who have lived in the White House — dramatic, exciting events in their lives that you and I so rarely hear…”

In this great episode of the classic radio program “Mr. President”, we find this Mr. President trying to take care of the country’s business while chaos reigns at the White House.  Which President is it? Listen and see if you can figure it out!

To download this MP3 Audio program, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to you computer. Mac users, press the “control” key, then click on the link and “save” to your mac.

History, Video

History Videos for Kids

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Homeschool curriculum publisher Brookdale House has a wonderful page of history videos that they have collected from youtube and other sources especially for homeschooled students. This is a well-curated and professionally designed collection of videos, broken down into Ancient history, medieval history, early modern & modern history categories.

Here’s what they say about this collection:

History Videos for Kids–Don’t you just love ’em?

Well, so do I, so I came up with a way to create a gallery of history videos for kids! These videos cover the four year history cycle–ancient history, medieval history, early modern history, and modern history. If you are one of those teachers that like to use videos to help your children understand history, then you’re gonna love these videos. Our galleries of videos were created by researching the BEST YouTube history videos for kids that we could find.

Bookmark this… it is a great resource!

Click here to go to the site!

Economics, History

This History of Money: From Its Origins to Our Time

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This concise, 12,000 word “Junior Histoire” by economist James Robertson (originally published in French but here translated to English) explains how money began, how it has evolved to the present day, what it has enabled humans to achieve, why so many people in the world today suffer from the way it works, how it may develop further, and how young people today might want it to develop. It’s a fascinating story and great “living history”!

A great and short (22 pages) introduction to the history of money and how it has developed over the centuries.

To download this PDF ebook, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save link” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key, then click the link and save to your mac.

Also, here’s a link to Mr. Robertson’s main site if you want to do further study.

Civics, Government, History

Easy Lessons on the Constitution

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EASY LESSONS ON THE CONSTITUTION (PDF ebook)

Here’s a classic teacher’s guide that presents 25 excellent lesson plans to study the United States Constitution, and it’s perfect for homeschool use!

This is a complete and very well done vintage curriculum – Highly Recommended!

To download this PDF ebook, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save link” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key then click the link and save to your mac.

Note: Since this PDF is a scanned version of the original book, it should be viewed on a computer. It will not show up well on a mobile device.

Audio, Government, History

The Origin of the Constitution (Audiobook)

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The Origin of the Constitution
by James Baldwin, Audiobook read by Nathan Pilling
MP3 Audio Reading (22 minutes) + PDF ebook

In honor of Constitution Day next week (Sept 17th), here is a short introduction to the events and problems that faced the fledgling United States of America, and how they were resolved in the creation of the United States Constitution. Both the audio version as well as the PDF ebook version (with discussion questions) are linked below.

To download the audio version, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save link” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key then click the link to download to your mac.

To download the PDF version with discussion questions, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save link” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key then click the link to download to your mac.

We’ve got another wonderful resource on the Constitution tomorrow… be sure to get that too!