(Digital) Heroes and Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum from Golden Prairie Press {Schoolhouse Crew Review} -

I’ve been a fan of Amy Peutz – and Golden Prairie Press, for awhile, subscribing to the Heroines of the Past e-zine. We adored the Costumes with Character that we reviewed and have used her Heroines of the Past Bible study. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to review her latest offering, a complete history curriculum, Heroes and Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum (digital version full-color $98.99/print version with 3 b/w books and 3 CDs $98.99).

The full curriculum includes the text in two parts. Part 1 covers from the year 1000 to 1837 or The Period of Discovery through The Period of National Development. There are 15 sections intended to span 15 weeks or one semester of study. Part 2 continues from 1837 to the present. The section numbering is also carried on, starting Part 2 with 16 and continuing through 30. The final two lessons of the last section cover recent presidents from Reagan through Obama.
The other parts of the curriculum consist of an e-book of skits, and three files of what is found on the CDs from the print version – Listen to Some History, Sing Some History and Additional Materials. The Additional Materials is where the timeline pages are found as well as game printables for the historic games and a pdf file of the historic artwork covered in the lessons. This is truly a full curriculum with nothing else needed. There are some recommended readings for your students at the upper-end (5th or 6th graders). These can be read aloud for all, assigned as additional work for the older learners, omitted altogether or a combination. Many of these can be found in the public domain or at the library. There are also some editions edited by Amy Peutz available at Golden Prairie Press.

We study history using living books as much as we can. I was so thrilled that this is the way in which lessons are covered in Heroes and Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum. We also like to experience what we are learning about in as hands-on a way as possible. The inclusion of recipes, crafts and other activities makes this such a great fit for our family.
We’ve been working on a very drawn-out study of American History – so many interesting people and events that we’ve not kept any certain pace with our lessons. When we received our files for Heroes and Heroines of the Past, I looked through the lessons covered in Part 1. This is roughly the time period we have already covered, so I knew we wouldn’t start at the beginning. I did notice some interesting activities and some great stories that we weren’t familiar with. We can’t just skip those! We have spent the review period (the past 4-6 weeks) covering all of these interesting lessons. With all of the picture studies, songs, speeches and sermons to listen to, and of course some of the hands-on activities, we’ve been busy! This has been such a fun way to learn (or review/fill-in).

We have learned about Pueblo Indians – and made our own adobe houses from homemade play dough (a recipe is included – referenced from an earlier lesson) – or LEGO. As this was a favorite activity, I’ll fill you in on what a this week would look like. Day one has a reading – actually two depending upon the learners’ ages – concerning Cabots’ explorations, Amerigo Vespucci’s map and why our continent is America and not Columbia, Spanish explorers during the first half of the 16th century, and Magellan’s voyage around the world. This is followed by some questions, writing assignment ideas and mapwork. But wait! – there’s more! Timeline work, the introduction of the week’s memory verse, additional, optional reading for older learners and a fun activity involving a hammock. That may seem like a lot for one day, but you don’t have to do everything – choose what you have time for and your children want to do.

Day two begins with reading about further explorations by both Spanish and English – again for two different ages of learners and Aztec picture writing. Questions, writing, map and timeline work round out the day’s options. There is also another recommended reading for older learners – from Ten Great Adventurers which is also available as an audio book read by Jim Hodges. We need to get this resource. We love having listening lunches and this would be perfect!

Day three tells of Balboa – a Spanish explorer – in the story “The Man Who Hid in the Barrel” by Rose Lucia. This story is for all ages. Next we learned about cocoa beans and make a cocoa drink. This is all for this day. See, not every day is crammed full!

Day four is all about French explorers. Again, the reading is leveled. The younger learners’ reading (1st and 2nd graders) is only 1 page while the older learners’ reading is 3 pages. There are drawings/pictures on the pages, so it is not as much as it sounds. Following the reading are questions, writing ideas, map and timeline work. This lesson also includes the Examining Historical Art topic. I love how these things are incorporated right in. I don’t have to plan and coordinate it on my own – it’s right there in the lesson.

Day five is when we learn all about Pueblo Indians. The lesson begins with a story titled “The Little Pueblo Prince” by Mara L. Pratt. This is a fun story for all ages. We then had fun making our own adobe homes. Not all of my learners wanted to use our play dough. One son chose LEGOs, and that was just fine with me! We also had found a picture book from the library that showed some detailed drawings of a pueblo. This book was on the Recommended Resources list at the end of the section. The final thing for this week was reciting the memory verse that was introduced on day one. With everything else being written right in the text (no separate lesson plan yay!), it would have been nice to have a mention of the memory verse on other days – at least for the first few weeks until it became routine.
You can see there are a lot of options for activities and fun. It is so easy to implement with everything written right in the lessons. When the resource is found elsewhere – one of the accompanying CDs or files, you are told exactly where to find it. Other than ensuring you have the necessary recipe ingredients or craft supplies on hand, this is very easy to just “open and go”. The only things we will be adding as we continue (and finally finish our American history studies) is the available audios of the optional readings and the coloring book ($9.99) – which I wish was available as a pdf.

Thank you Golden Prairie Press!