Unit studies are a fun and easy way to explore a topic or interest outside of your regular studies. When White House Holidays Unit Studies from Silverdale Press came up as a review option, I knew I wanted to work through a holiday or two as a family. The holidays currently included in the unit studies are Martin Luther King, Jr., Valentine’s Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. And more are planned including George Washington (hoping for Memorial Day and Flag Day).
Culture History Tradition These are great aspects to view a people or event through. We use these areas when learning about other peoples around the world, so it makes sense to look at our people, people of the United States of America, in the same way. This set of unit studies is not a history study – not exactly. It is more than just the remembering some event that brought about the holiday. The studies introduce our younger children to what is being celebrated or remembered. Our older children are looking deeper into surrounding events or political climates. White House Unit Studies look at Presidential proclamations and celebrations – how the holiday looks officially, related to Presidents and how, or if, it has changed.
Now, my younger children were, at first, bothered to be studying a holiday when it was not close to the time of that holiday’s celebration. They were surprised I wanted us to look at the holidays in November when it was not yet summer. When I explained it was important to not just learn about the first Thanksgiving, but at how the holiday has been celebrated, to learn why we do things how we do, their tune changed. We were soon doing more than reading about Pilgrims and making hand turkeys. We learned that the early intention of giving thanks to God was shared by some of the early presidents, but not all. We learned that the association of the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas and shopping has been around for decades. It even helped to determine when we celebrate Thanksgiving (sadly, consumerism and commercialism is nothing new).
The holiday I have wanted us to learn more about is Labor Day. My husband is a skilled trade union member (IBEW electrician). Talk of things related to his union membership and the benefits that come from that is everyday conversation. What we hadn’t dug into is the history of Labor Day and how labor unions fit into that. Each day as we learned more and shared with Daddy, he added to what we had learned. The teens had many interesting conversations. They are becoming more vocal about sharing their thoughts and opinions. Thoughtful conversations extending beyond the Labor Day history and celebrations was an unexpected bonus from our study.
Throughout each of the studies, the lessons have parts for younger children (K-6th grade) and parts for older children (7th – 12th grade). Some studies have the younger children’s lessons all together followed by the pages comprising the older children’s lessons. Other studies have the lessons segmented within each day. I haven’t decided which way I like better. Because we utilized both levels, the unit studies that had both levels in each day were easier to use. Some of the lessons have the information for the lesson (intended to read aloud with your students) with activities and source materials divided out by age after covering the main part of the lesson. This fit best for teaching all ages together. We really appreciate how meaty these lessons are. And the source material, much of it from various Presidential libraries, is great. If you don’t use source material within your history studies, this is a great introduction to the resource.
All of the materials are in a pdf. This made it easy to load onto my iPad and bring wherever we were – outside until our weather turned too hot. The hands-on activities for the younger children required typical art and craft supplies we always have on hand. I could explain to them what they needed to do and they took it from there. I did print the page that listed the phrases for their Labor Day parade signs, but not much else was printed. We covered a lesson a day, during Morning Time. The studies range from 3 to 6 days. You could easily make this a once a week study or fit it all in during one week (or two for Thanksgiving or Christmas).
White House Holidays Unit Studies are the perfect way to learn more about the history of some very American holidays. For many, these holidays are a day off work or the reason for sales at a favorite store. When you learn the history of how and why these holidays came to be, you’ll have a new perspective. You can check out samples of a few of the units from Silverdale Press. Crew families also reviewed Persuasive Writing & Classical Rhetoric. Click the image below to read all of our reviews for Silverdale Press.
