1000-1650 Living Book History Plans for Second, Fourth, and Sixth Grade Charlotte Mason Homeschool

Every year I feel like I am refining what the best books for our homeschool look like. I'm learning new things while unlearning or correcting some of the defects of my own history education (that officially ended in high school because I took zero history courses after that).

This year I combed through MANY possible choices for history books and additional or supplemental books for studying a very difficult and lengthy historical period. The books I was seeking needed to be

1. Living books, that is full of living ideas and told in a narrative style that doesn't talk down to the student
2. Written in a way that represents native people of the Americas, explorers, colonists, and African Americans in a way that I feel good about sharing with my children and matches our family values (aka has the ideas that I want to nourish my children)
3.  At a reading level that my 2 older students can read (nearly) independently, even given that my middle student is not a strong reader yet.
4. Affordable

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Before choosing the books, I thought about the ideas that I wanted to be sure to include in their curriculum. This year, those ideas included that:

• People lived in the Americas before Europeans arrived. Those people possessed culture, beliefs, and technology that were not necessarily inferior to the European culture, beliefs, and technology. 
• The people living in the Americas prior to European exploration and settlement were not homogenous, but instead practiced agriculture, built cities, managed resources, and lived in different ways depending on where and when they lived.
• Europeans came to America for different reasons, but they did intend to take land for themselves. The pervading idea that the European way of life was superior was used as a major justification for pushing the native populations out of the areas desired for European colonization. 
• Slavery was always wrong and there were always voices who expressed that knowledge while many others sought to profit from it.
• Some of what we know about this time period comes from contemporaneously written accounts and some comes from examining the artifacts that were left behind.

Where did I learn about all these books? Well, I love to consult Ambleside Online, a Catholic Charlotte Mason curriculum, A Gentle Feast, Wildwood Curriculum,  A Delectable Education, and Heritage Mom for book ideas. 90% of the tiles below came from one of those sites. I am also grateful to the many homeschooling moms who put their lesson plans online for me to discover new favorites. Finally, I sometimes just use library catalogs or Amazon to search for books on a particular topic. 

Form IB / 2nd Grade

My daughter is a very young 2nd grader so we are focusing on good habits, delight, and slowly building the habit of narration. I'm still calling this Form IB.

Meet the North American Indians by Elizabeth Ann Payne [Archive.org ebook]

Columbus Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire [already owned - $1 book sale find!]

Encounter by Jane Yolen [Library]

America Builds Homes: The Story of the First Colonies by Alice Dalgliesh [Archive.org ebook] to page 46 only
The Carving on the Tree by Elizabeth A. Campbell [already owned - $1 book sale find!]

Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla [$4.19 from Thriftbooks]

Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla [already owned, purchased with credit earned on Microsoft Rewards]

Her history is scheduled two days per week and I will not be including geography in her schedule. Instead, I will include additional history and geography books in our family morning time (booklist below).

Form IIB / Fourth Grade

My son is a late reader who has recently begun reading easy chapter books (the kind with lots of pictures). I am so excited that he finally enjoys reading to himself! I know that his love of reading and his ability to read will only continue to grow, but I carefully chose books for him that he could read to himself, although I will be reading some of them to him as needed. This was very important to me because 1) it will be his reading practice that will help grow his abilities, and 2) I notice that my kids get more from the books they read to themselves. 

This year he will begin studying British/European history alongside his continued study of American history. For American history he will use:

Discovery of the Americas by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro [$4.19 from Thriftbooks] 

Journey to Cahokia by Cahokia Mounds Museum Society [already owned - gift from grandparent]

Exploration and Conquest: The Americans After Columbus 1500-1620 by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro [$7.99 on Amazon, purchased with a gift card and credit]

Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World, to page 23 [$6.39 from Thriftbooks] to be continued next year

The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689 by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro, to page 29 [$5.99 on Amazon with a multi-buy discount] to be continued next year

Finding Providence: The Story of Roger Williams by Avi [$5.39 from Thriftbooks] 

And for British History he will use:

The Story of Britain from the Norman Conquest to the European Union by Patrick Dillon, pages 9-147 [already owned - bought used for $12 from Abebooks for his brother] I plan to read this book to him. 

His history is scheduled two days per week and I will not be including geography in his schedule. Instead, I will include additional history and geography books in our family morning time (booklist below). He will also be starting the practice of keeping a Book of Centuries this year. We use the ones from Riverbend Press.

He will also be assigned a book to read each day and some of those titles will relate to this time period. He will read some of the following (I'm not sure where his reading level will be as the year progresses!)

Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla [$8.99 from Rainbow Resource Center]

The Coming of Gray Owl by Ida May Hobbs[$6.89 from Thriftbooks] 

Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla [purchased for his sister - $4.19 from Thriftbooks]

Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla [already owned, purchased with credit earned on Microsoft Rewards]

The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh [library]

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare [library]

Form IIA / Sixth Grade

When my son was in 2nd grade, I started him on a 4-year history cycle, so this year is the first time that he will be revisiting a time period through the lens of different, more mature books. I have really had to grapple with whether the ideas I am presenting to him are the right amount of complexity. 

I decided to change things up this year by replacing Peter's British/European stream of history this year with a History of the Americas stream that explores the various cultures that existed in the Americas before and after European contact. Especially because his American history spine is very focused on the political and social interaction between England and the American colonies, this seemed like the best way to cover the big ideas of this period.

For his History of the Americas stream, he will read the first book as a spine, supplemented with four really interesting books focusing on archeological studies at sites of those settlements or civilizations:

A Picturesque Tale of Progress, Vol. 8: Explorations by Olive Beaupre Miller [$8.39 from Thriftbooks] 

The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde by Caroline Arnold [$4.24 from Thriftbooks] 

Cahokia Mounds by Timothy Pauketat and Nancy Stone Bernard [$5.69 from Thriftbooks]

City of the Gods: Mexico's Ancient City of Teotihuacan by Caroline Arnold [$4.69 from Thriftbooks] 

Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden: My Adventures on Ampato by Johan Reinhard [$4.24 from Thriftbooks] 

For his Colonial History stream, he will read the following: 

Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People, Intro to page 73 only [$12.59 new from Amazon with multi-buy discount] to be continued next year

America is Born p.10-126 only* (see below) by Gerald W. Johnson [$14.95 new from Yesterdays Classics]

A Young People's History of the United States, Intro-Chap 2 Only by Howard Zinn to be continued next year [$10.59 used from Amazon and purchased with a gift card]

Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World, to page 23 [$6.39 from Thriftbooks] to be continued next year

Keys to American History: Understanding Our Most Important Historic Documents by Richard Panchyk (First Charter of Virginia and Mayflower compact) [$9.49 from Thriftbooks] to be continued next year

Relation or Journal of the Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plymouth by Edward Winslow and others

*Note that I almost didn't include America is Born because the author is very ignorant about Native Americans and includes false and harmful statements, especially at the beginning of the book. Just one of many examples in the first chapter is on page 2 "five hundred years ago there was no civilization except in Mexico and Peru." He chooses to juxtapose native cultures with European cultures in ways that are unflattering. He also uses the term "savages."

By reading only pages 10-126, we will only cover the time period up to 1650 and will also eliminate all references to savages (I believe!) and most references to Native Americans. I chose to include these pages because 1) we already had it and Peter narrated very well from its sequel last year and 2) it covers the time period in a way that focuses on what was going on in Europe at an appropriate reading level. We will not be using it to learn about European interactions with Native Americans. 

For his Ancient History stream, he will read one chapter per week from 

A Picturesque Tale of Progress: Beginnings I by Olive Beaupre Miller [$7.49 from Thriftbooks] 

Peter's study of history will be supplemented by reading the following assigned biographies, and others if needed:

Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595 by Patricia McKissack [$5.49 from Thriftbooks] 

Famous Modern Men of Modern Times, to page 88 by John H. Haaren & A.B. Poland  [$9.39 from Thriftbooks] 

The Sea King: Sir Francis Drake and His Times by Albert Marrin  [$4.19 from Thriftbooks] 

Pocahontas by Joseph Bruchac [$4.19 from Thriftbooks] 

He will continue the practice of keeping a Book of Centuries this year. We use the ones from Riverbend Press. He will also join us at our family morning time where we will read additional titles about this time period. 

Family Morning Time

After many years of enjoying morning time together around the breakfast table, the practice stopped working well. One child likes to sleep in and with so many people at the table, there were too many interruptions.  Instead, we will gather together around 9:30 to cover subjects like history, geography, nature, artist and composer study, and folk singing. I do not know how this will work, but after many years of loving morning time as a family, I know we do not want to lose this time of learning together.

More titles will be thrown into the mix, but I definitely plan to include the following books to supplement our history study this coming year:

Turtle Island: The Story of North Americas First People, Chap 2 to page 92 [$11.99 from Target with book coupon] to be continued next year

Walk the Worlds Rim by Betty Baker [already owned - $5.44 used on Amazon, bought with promo credit]

The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty  [already owned - $4.77 new on Amazon

Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times by Kate Waters [already owned - $1 book sale find!]

Eating the Plates: A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners by Lucille Recht Penner [already owned - $1 book sale find!]

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling [already owned - used book gifted by a friend]

Pyramid by David Macaulay [already owned - $1 book sale find!]

Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki [library]

Mosque by David Macaulay [$6.59 from Thriftbooks] 

Beyond the Sea of Ice : The Voyages of Henry Hudson by Joan Goodman

Science in Colonial America by Brendan January

If you have any other favorite living books that might be great for our morning time this year, please let me know!