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Modern U.S. and World History High School Literature

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Let’s face it! Whether you’ve homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. Until I started using Beautiful Feet Books a few years back, I made the high school years unnecessarily stressful. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track.

So using modern U.S. and world history literature by Beautiful Feet Books not only filled a general literature credit Tiny needs, but also allowed us to meet a modern world history credit.

I stalked the mailman waiting for these books. I was given this product for free and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off or that a company will receive a glowing review. I don’t roll that way. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

How to Narrow Down Your High School Literature Scope

Understanding that you have to have goals or reasons other than needing literature in high school makes it easier to narrow down your choices for literature and curriculum providers.

That may be an obvious statement, but there are many factors that you want to consider when choosing a program for your junior or senior teen.

Let's face it! Whether you've homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track. You’ll love these high school literature books along with the literary analysis. CLICK HERE to read about this curriculum!

I have several reasons for using and believing in Beautiful Feet Books:

  • foremost is our love for literature-based history to avoid a boring and blah approach to history,
  • thought-provoking books which may conflict with our world view or tug at my teen’s emotions are part of my job in preparing him for adulthood,
  • the role of the teacher is valued, respected, and encouraged with this curriculum to shape the teen’s understanding,
  • as the supervising teacher, I need to be the one to decide when and how we will deal with sensitive adult themes,
  • all of my sons need to be exposed to literature which may be covered in higher education,
  • a passion for history of any time period is awakened and appreciated through the use of living books, and
  • although non-fiction is important for a framework of facts, advanced literary criticism happens when a teen selects from excellent fiction literature to analyze.

My reasons may or may not include classic books, but they always include good books or living literature.

Too, having the opportunity to cover modern world history was not something I even thought about covering with my first high school graduate.

Sticking to the commonly held belief that high school teens need to have an emphasis on American history or U.S. government, I over emphasized those time periods with my first graduate.

Of course, hindsight gives you perfect vision. So I knew with my second and now third high school teen that I could tailor and tweak to suit their needs because Beautiful Feet Books  is flexible when it comes to covering history.

Most of the middle school and high school curriculum includes two history eras. I never appreciated this fact until I switched from a strictly classical approach to a more eclectic approach with an emphasis on unit studies.

At first notion, this dual history period approach may seem hodgepodge. However it’s quite the opposite for a true historian. And there are two main reasons.

1.  Past history and today’s current events always have multiple world powers and key players in action at the same time. 
While it’s true that an in-depth study of any civilization would make a fascinating study, my goal for high school is for my sons to have a framework of key events in a time period.

2. Being able to pull back and look at events happening in the world at the same time helped my teens to make a meaningful connection to what they’re learning.

Juniors and seniors especially have the maturity now to see that one area of history is part of a much larger piece of the history puzzle. Being able to pull back and see the broad strokes of history like the events in the U.S. and world history simultaneously works well for both a history lover and history hater.

For my history lovers, it gives them additional topics for rabbit trails. For my one history hater, (yes I can’t believe I had a child that came from me that wasn’t wild about history) he got an overview of key events without overwhelming him about details which didn’t interest him.

That is exactly why I love the way Beautiful Feet Books designs their courses. All of the benefits of teaching it to adjust to each of my teens likes and dislikes along with my need for minimal teacher prep makes it a superior high school literature program.

The Nitty-Gritty of Modern U.S. and World History Literature

I know you want the nitty-gritty like I do. Look at what this level includes and the details:

  • it’s designed for Junior and Senior levels of high school,
  • it covers American and modern world history from the 1850s into the 2000s,
  • you can award one American history or modern world history credit and one general literature credit,
  • it’s a one year study, but we go a bit longer because we school into the summer and we like to spread it out,
  • it is Christian-based, but as with all of their literature and questions, it’s easier than some other providers to tweak to what I want my sons to know,
  • these beautiful books: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Rifles for Watie, The Red Badge of Courage, Virginia’s General, Up From Slavery, Around the World in Eighty Days, A History of the Twentieth Century, The Jungle, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Yanks are Coming, Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel, No Promises in the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hitler, Churchill, The Hiding Place, Night, Unbroken, Victory in the Pacific, Hiroshima, Lost Names, America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger, Red Scarf Girl and The Kite Runner, 
  • and it has a general literary analysis study. My goal was to be sure that Tiny had a general grasp on literary concepts. We used another language arts resource to enhance this one. Although literary analysis is very important to me at this age, it can be fun. For us that means learning it from books we love.

My emphasis on literary analysis leads me into another valued part of this curriculum which deserves the spotlight and it’s the Study Guide or teacher’s guide.

Modern U.S. and World History Literature Study Guide

I hesitate to call it just the teacher’s guide because at this age your teen needs to be independently delving into the Study Guide. Of course, it’s a teacher guide too.

Because the Study Guide is jam-packed full of teaching tidbits, supplements, and background information, you’ll want to take your time understanding how it’s set up.

The Study Guide is divided into five history periods:

  • Part I. Antebellum and the Civil War
  • Part II. Reconstruction, the Industrial Revolution, and the Turn of the Century
  • Part III. The First World War, the Depression, and Segregation
  • Part IV. Building Towards War, the Second World War, and the Atomic Age
  • Part V. The Struggle for Freedom in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

To help your student hone his ideology and principles there are themes in each section.  Some of them are:

  • A Study in Freedom and Responsibility,
  • A Study in Conviction and Triumph,
  • A Study in Fortitude and Forgiveness,
  • A Study in Ambition and Courage,
  • and a Study in Conscience and Fairness.

In addition to the extensive notes in the Study Guide with background information, points in each lesson guided us on each discussion.

After reading the books like Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel or Virginia’s General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War it made for some great discussions about topics like freedom and prejudice. I loved having the themes to guide my teen to comprehend the theme in each book which is a part he has struggled with in the past.

Because my high school kid worked on his own on part of this, I have to rely heavily on the Study Guide for the answers, questions, and some of the background information. Although it’s not easy to flip back and forth between time periods and books, you can easily with the way this is laid out.

Also, some of the books my son read right away and wanted to delve deeper into those topics. World War II is one topic that my son knows well and never gets tired of talking about. Besides reading the books in the curriculum by Albert Marrin, one of our favorite history authors, the Study Guide has more recommended books and videos in the back to feed my son’s love for the Second World War.

Yet another reason I loved using this is that we needed more help in literary analysis. I’ve never been keen on assigning book reports although I know they have a practical purpose which is to train a child to write critically in the older grades.

Because I’ve never forced Tiny to do a formal book report, but have worked on reading a lot of good books I needed to be sure he has a good grasp on literary concepts.

There are six books highlighted to use for literary analysis:

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
  • The Red Badge of Courage,
  • To Kill a Mockingbird,
  • Night,
  • Hiroshima,
  • and Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood.

Learning literary analysis should be repeated like grammar and it’s best taught in context or while using examples from literature. As an example, earlier I mentioned ideologies listed in each section. The reason this was important is because even at this grade level students can still get confused between the plot of the story and its theme.

Exposing my sons to the basic elements of fiction like plot, setting, character, point of view, mood, and theme are the foundation of literary analysis, but I wanted to be sure we touched advanced concepts as well.

In addition, there are some literary concepts that can’t be recognized until your child is older.  Some figures of speech and poetry devices confuses my teen. So the books used gave him a good overall grasp of basic and advanced concepts.

It’s not necessary to break down every novel, but it’s important to choose a few to do. I try to be balanced when teaching literature analysis because I don’t want to suck the joy out of reading, but it’s important for our teens to become critical thinkers too.

Simply requiring my son to write down the term, define it, and explain it to me is a simple method, but it’s the same one I’ve used since I first taught him to read. Too, we wrote a few on index cards for review because just writing it down once didn’t mean he remembered it. Making a notebook like we have as we’ve used Beautiful Feet Books work best for us.

In addition to the literary concepts we focused on, we also chose a few of the essay topics. Essay writing was not my exact focus for him because we’ve done a lot of writing. When we wanted to, however, the Study Guide made it easy for us to choose writing topics.

The Study Guide is much more than an question and answer guide. It is the backbone at this level and it’s all-inclusive.

Our Experience with Modern U.S. and World History Literature by Beautiful Feet Books

Even at the high school level, there is no one-size-fits-all curriculum. As the parents, we still have to be involved when choosing the right curriculum for our teen.

This is my third high school teen to use Beautiful Feet Books because I love their literature and easy approach to teaching. I’ve never been disappointed with the high quality literature, guides, and help for the teacher. This level is no exception.

As the teacher, I don’t think you ever stop worrying if you’ve prepared you teen enough for whatever track you ultimately decide.  However, I do know that my first two sons are doing well in college after using Beautiful Feet Book. I know my third teen is equally well-prepared.

You’ll love reading these other posts for how I used

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: Modern U.S. and World History pack
►Website: Beautiful Feet Books – BFBooks

 

Let's face it! Whether you've homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track. You’ll love these high school literature books along with the literary analysis. CLICK HERE to read about this curriculum!

 

How to Create a Homeschool Unit Study – Step 2: Separation

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If you’re wanting to homeschool out of the box, but are unnerved about the planning part of unit studies, you’ll want to start first with understanding the learning process.

How to create a homeschool unit study is done easily when you follow my mnemonic I-SIP.How to Create a Homeschool Unit Study - Step 2: SeparationI-SIP is something I created after I looked back and understood the 4 steps I followed regardless of whether unit studies are lengthy or quick.

The I-SIP steps are immersion, separation, individualization and personalization.

Homeschool Unit Studies: Moving From Immersion to Separation

In my first post on how a unit study unfolds, I shared points to identify the first step which is immersion. It is the one that can be most tempting to quit unit studies because you get totally immersed in an overwhelming amount of information.

Today, I’ll be sharing Step 2 which is separation and giving you tips on how to separate all the information or resources you’ve amassed. A lot of any good thing still needs to be spaced out and manageable in the best way to teach your kids.

At this point because you didn’t really limit subtopics, but explored them along with your kids, you now have an idea of the ideas or subtopics that interests your kids and which ones do not.

The length of time to stay in the  immersion or Step 1 varies for us with each unit study. When I first started doing unit studies, we would stay days or weeks on this step.

Looking back, I almost quit unit studies because I went overboard with the amount of information I tried to cram in.

So after doing unit studies for quite a few years, my most basic tip is that Step 1 shouldn’t last as long you may think. Whetting the appetite of your children is the goal and that can be anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

Delving into subtopics deeper is Step 3 – Investigation. Slicing and dicing material is what you’re doing in Step 2 – Separation.

5 Ways to Tame the Unit Study Information Beast

Also, this separation step is the first step which makes a unit study unique to your family.

Look at these 5 ways to tame the unit study information beast.

1)  Select subtopics that interests your kids and limit the subtopics.

This is an obvious because you want your kids engaged. Allowing them to pick some of the subtopics piques their interest and your kids understand that this is their education.

By allowing them to choose the subtopics or themes to your unit study you already have kids that are engaged.

Also, it’s at this step that you narrow the teaching points so that your kids learn instead of trying to cram in too much information.

Look at my FBI sample below where I limited the subtopics to about 8.

2) Select subtopics that you need to introduce to your kids or that meet your scope and sequence goals.

Here at this point is the hidden benefit of unit studies. Folded in with subtopics that pique your child’s interests are topics or teaching points you need or want to teach your kids.

For example, when we did our FBI Unit Study, I chose a subtopic Why Formed because I knew we needed to cover Russian history and world history.

My kids chose topics like espionage and radio wave learning and I added in some hands-on ideas like finger prints and invisible ink for a fun unit study.

The point is that covering world history was so much more engaging when we studied it in light of  my sons’ desire to learn about the FBI.

3) Plan for subtopics that build character or have lasting value for your family.

Also, every family is different, but at this point I also look for ways to make teaching points for character or for real-life learning.

Some unit studies like novels or literature may be easier to adapt to teach a moral or about the effects of making good or bad choices. Other topics like science unit studies may not be as natural to find a character point to teach.

4) Start planning for hands-on ideas or projects that fit your subtopics or themes.

From the subtopics that are coming to the surface that interest your family, you can start brainstorming easy projects or hands-on ideas to cement teaching points of each subtopic.

For example, in planning our Meso-America unit study we were going to learn about rubber. My youngest son was interested in games using the rubber made ball.

Some subtopics like nature may seem an easier fit for hands-on activities while a literature unit study may not be so apparent.

Just remember that you can add hands-on activities in as you move along in your unit study.

5) Include subtopics or ideas for both younger and older children.

What I really love about unit studies is that you can cover topics or ideas for your younger and older kids. Be sure to grab a mix of them. You can see how I do that below.

Including your kids in helping to plan is part of unit studies, but this step is one that is mostly for you.

Look at my planning page from my Ultimate Unit Study Planner.

Sample of how to plan FBI Homeschool Unit StudyMy unit study theme is in the center of my brain storming ideas.

Then look how I numbered the subtopics that emerged around that main theme.

Some subtopics like espionage my boys chose, but look how I folded in number 2 which is a U.S. Government study. This was a high school level unit study and we needed to focus on a deeper study of the U.S. Government.

The green line connecting the study of the U.S. Government to the 3 Branches of the U.S. Government shows how I broke down that topic for my younger son.

In addition, look at number 7 where I added in study themes for my older boys which are communism and understanding Russia.

Here are the subtopics that have emerged after I started planning the FBI unit study and after my sons had a day or two to see what piqued their interests.

  • J.Edgar Hoover
  • U.S. Government
  • Effects of World War I and World War II
  • Other Important People During the Forming of the FBI
  • World of 1908
  • Science behind Labs
  • Why Formed?
  • Espionage

As you can see, it ended up being a balance unit study plan.

I had history, geography, and science as subjects that could easily be covered in a natural way without a forced fit.

Planning is that easy. Now, it’s time to move on to the next step which is personalization.

Does this mnemonic help you to remember how to start off planning a unit study?How to Create a Homeschool Unit Study Step 2: Immersion. If you're wanting to homeschool out of the box, but are unnerved about the planning part of unit studies, you'll want to start first with understanding the learning process. Look at tips on how to separate the overwhelming amount of information.Here are other tips, you’ll love.

Hugs and love you,

 

19 Delight Directed Interest-Led Homeschool Blogs To Follow

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

While pregnant with my first child, Mr. Senior 2013, I was inspired by an article that encouraged homeschoolers to avoid a bookish routine in favor of real-life learning. However, out of fear, public popularity, and because I thought delight directed interest-led homeschooling meant wild abandon of any worthwhile learning, I followed with strict allegiance a bookish routine.

Then, as my sons grew and our lack of real-life learning lagged, I made a scary leap to interest-led learning.

It was scary because I was comfortable in my Nazi teacher approach.

19 Delight Directed Interest-Led Homeschool Blogs To Follow. Interest-led learning is the fuel the sparks lifelong learning. Getting started can be intimidating.Understanding delight directed is imperative. Click here to follow these 19 delight directed interest-led homeschool blogs!

I never felt like a nature loving or craft loving mother which was my impression of interest-led homeschooling. Lame, I know.As my love for teaching grew and realizing that my sons were in an apprenticeship for life, my day to day teaching lacked real-life application.

Soon after, I switched to a unit study approach which is based on mastery of interest-led topics.

Interest-led learning is the fuel that sparks lifelong learning.

Let me back up first and try to capture a simple meaning of interest-led and delight directed learning.

Interest-led and delight directed for our family means using a child’s natural love of learning to pursue subjects that spark his love of learning. Not the other way around. Academic subjects are centered around a child’s passion and then they take on life.

Although public school touts mastery, the truth of it is just the opposite.

A child never explores any passion in depth but is expected to be a jack of all trades or skills. He ends up master of none.

My switch to an interest-led unit study approach reminds me of the quote from Greg Harris which is indelibly imprinted in my memory.

A delight directed study is like a wonderful fire in the mind of a student. It starts small, but as it grows, it begins to consume vast amounts of information until it bursts into a roaring blaze of insight, understanding and creativity. It takes on a life of its own.

It doesn’t mean that there is no discipline or schedule which I thrive in, but it means guidance by the parent. It’s not indulgent, but reactive.

After I switched to interest-led homeschooling using lapbooks as our projects, it has been one choice I’ve never regretted for a moment.

I do regret lingering around the bookish approach for the first 5 years of my journey. Hopefully, you won’t make my same mistake.

To help you make the leap to interest-led and delight directed homeschooling, I’ve rounded up 19 blogs that I follow and you should too which emphasize this approach.

I’ll let each one introduce herself and tell you a bit about her blog.

Delight Directed Homeschooling

►I’m Rachel, and I blog at You’ve Got This Math.

I believe that math should be fun and hands -on. You’ve Got This Math focuses on ways to build number and fraction sense with free printables.

►I’m Susan Evans, and I blog at Susan Evans I love unit studies, themed cakes and parties, skits, re-enactments, and anything hands-on!

►I celebrate the homeschool lifestyle and frequently talk about learning through travel and adventures at This Crazy Homeschool Life.

►Hello! Hola! 你好！My name is Eva. My blog, Eva Varga focus centers around middle school science, specifically hands-on activities, service learning experiences, and project based learning – Minecraft and philatelic exhibits.

Additionally, we strive to expand our understanding of the world through our own cultural heritage and the exploration of diverse cultures (language studies and global travel).

►Hey hey! My name is Amy & I blog at Rock Your Homeschool.

My unique slant is to use Dr. Seuss to teach a love of reading. Also, I use Life of Fred for math learning fun. My five boys & I use brain breaks to keep our homeschool moving.

►Hi! My name is Joan and I write at Unschool Rules.

My unique slant it that we have used movies, video games and life learning as the basis for our entire high-school curriculum for my now 17-year-old daughter, and have a college-accepted transcript to show for it!

►Hey, hey! I’m Tiffany and I blog at Homeschool Hideout.

We are lazy homeschoolers so we like to binge-watch educational shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. We can cover everything from science and history to problem solving, without ever leaving the couch!

►Hi! My name is Colleen. I write all about raising kids to be lifelong learners through interest-led, hands-on homeschooling and parenting with a heavy focus on science, the needs of gifted and twice-exceptional kiddos, and cultivating creativity in all kids.

You’ll find monthly themed book and game lists, Minecraft challenge calendars, and loads of hands-on experiments on Raising Lifelong Learners and conversations with parents on our podcast — launching January 15th.

►Hello! My name is Jenny and I blog at Faith and Good Works. Our homeschool uses free internet resources for unit studies.

►Hi, I’m Ginny, and I offer authentic, hands-on writing experiences to help parents create a culture of writers (and thinkers) at home.
I blog at Not So Formulaic.

►Hello, my name is Sheila, publisher of Brain Power Boys. 

My unique slant is that our site has a lot of hands-on learning projects geared specifically toward boys. We focus on things they like, such as LEGO, Minecraft, Star Wars and topics which include pirates, robots, dinosaurs, knights and more to help them learn reading, science, history, math and other subjects a fun and natural way.

►I’m Ashley, and I love creating thematic unit studies.

We use a variety of resources from fun hands-on activities and great literature to movies and media. My goal is to inspire a love of learning and enrich our studies in every subject from math and science to history and grammar! Please join me in The Homeschool Resource Room! 

►Hi, I’m Erin and I blog over at The Usual Mayhem.

We focus on learning using nature on our cornerstone but occasionally head off into rabbit trails for months at a time (like my son’s year long obsession with King Arthur).

You can find all sort of nature themed posts and other fun on my blog.

►Hi, I’m Sara and I blog at Embracing Destiny. We focus on delight directed, literature-rich (living books) studies in our homeschool.

I’ve created some free Interest Inventory printables to encourage others to follow their child’s interests to foster a lifelong love of learning. We enjoy hands-on creative projects like lapbooking, notebooking, and unit studies. You can find my Ultimate Guide to Delight Directed Homeschooling cornerstone post here.

How to Make Your Homeschool Specialized

►Hi I’m Tricia Hodges at Chalk Pastel. We are a multi-generational homeschooling family.

My mother, Nana, my children and I are passionate about helping all ages lose insecurities and realize that yes, indeed, you ARE an artist. We JUST use chalk pastels and paper. No long, intimidating art supply list. Build confidence, choose favorite subjects and have FUN. We show you how with video art lessons, Facebook Live lessons and so much more to choose from. It’s not just one more thing to do, it’s a great way to make what you are already doing MORE fun while growing a LOVE of art! Art really does complement and help all other subjects.

►This is Ticia here, and over at Adventures in Mommydom I have three unique learners that keep me on my toes.

To stay ahead we cook our way around the world (with mixed results), read book and see how horribly the movie messed up the book, and use LEGOs to recreate history lessons (as well as a few other things). It’s learning adventures at the speed of fun.

►Hi, I’m Cindy West from Our Journey Westward. Teaching creatively is a top priority to meet the needs of my unique children and that’s exactly what I write about on the blog.

Active children excel through nature-based science activities . Reluctant writers blossom with picture book lessons. Struggling learners and those with attention issues make giant leaps through brain training games. And those are just a few examples of the creative learning ideas you’ll find at Our Journey Westward!

►Hi! My name is Pat Fenner and I blog at Breakthrough Homeschooling where I encourage and equip homeschooling parents of teens to homeschool through high school.

I believe in using life-learning and interest-led studies as a basis for a high school curriculum, and am convinced that college isn’t the only path to a successful future!

Then of course, I would love for you to follow my blog! Click below!

Take your homeschool from mediocre to true mastery by following an interest-led approach.

19 Delight Directed Interest-Led Homeschool Blogs To Follow. Interest-led learning is the fuel the sparks lifelong learning. Getting started can be intimidating.Understanding delight directed is imperative. Click here to follow these 19 delight directed interest-led homeschool blogs!

You’ll never teach your child everything he needs to know before he graduates, but you’ll teach him how to find out anything he wants to.

I know you’ll love these other super helpful tips!

Hugs and love ya,

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn’t know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Check out my how to homeschool high school page for awesome tips.

Also, there didn’t really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies.

Between determining if unit studies were a good fit for high school and understanding record keeping, it was a lot to wrap my mind around.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn't know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Also, there didn't really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies. Click here to read these 3 must know tips!

Sorting out myths from truth, I hope these 3 tips will help you to easily homeschool high school with unit studies. Or at least give you a beginning place.

3 Tips for Teaching High School Unit Studies

ONE/ Understand first that high school is just a continuation of the lowers grades – really!

Yes, it’s true that you’ll need to track credits and courses, but before stressing out about them, plan high school subjects like you’ve done in the lower grades.

That’s right. Begin with what you know.

In my article How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Lesson Planning Pages for THIS Year, I not only give you tips on how to do that, but each lesson plan form lists subjects by general categories; math, language arts, science, history and electives are the framework of well-rounded out high school courses.

It’s not hard to plan when you understand that you’re covering the same basic subjects albeit in more depth analyzing views instead of just a question answer format like your child did in younger grades.

TWO/ Look for resources which teach 2:1 or two-fer resources.

A two-fer resource is another secret tip to homeschooling teens.

Using a resource which teaches two subjects is vital when your child enters high school.

You don’t want your time wasted and neither do teens.

More important though is the reason that unit studies rocked in the younger grades is the same reason which holds true for high school.

Learning makes more sense when subjects are tied together instead of studied as separate subjects. Additionally, unit studies have always been a research-based approach.

This is a skill which is needed on into adulthood.

Living Books for Unit Studies

Resist giving up your unit study approach because it may require a bit more time to put together.

Sure, it’s easy to assign a text book and move on, but you and I know that high school is just hard sometimes. It’s a challenge to plan but still doable.

Begin again with something you know. Look at these things you may already know how and are doing with your kids in the younger grades.

  • Reading history living books and having your child choose writing topics based on history.
  • Reading science living books and choosing writing topics based on science.
  • Reading math living books and having your child choose writing topics based on math.

Now that you understand that high school courses fall into general categories and understand to look for two-fer resources, here are some examples of how to put it together.

We love the book Undaunted Courage.

Just a side note here.

When I look at a book which can serve as a springboard for high school unit studies, I note 3 things:

  • that it’s a living book,
  • that it’s high school level so that I can legally note on my high school transcript that it’s a high school level resource,
  • and I mull over how hard it will be to add external resources to enrich the study.

Not only is your teen covering part of his credit toward history when reading Undaunted Courage , but he is covering credits for literature too. Writing is part of a literature credit.

So your teen is covering 2–3 subjects at once depending on what credits you’ve lined out for the year.

Because covering literature in high school means more than just reading, you’ll want to have a variety of resources for analyzing literature and for guiding your teen how to write well.

A literature-based unit study which has a history setting has been the easiest to start off with at the high school level.

For example, I find it a challenge to round out a history book with literature analysis than a great book suited for literature analysis.

How to Put Together High School Unit Studies

It’s been easier to add history and science of a time period to a great read.

One super helpful resource we only discovered this year and that is the Thrift Study Editions by Dover. 

Not only are the books for high school level, but each one comes with a study guide in the back. 

For example, while reading A Tale of Two Cities, we studied about the culture of France and England and learned about the issues of the French Revolution.

With a resource like that, doing unit studies are a cinch at the high school level. This brings me to the third point you want to know.

THREE/ Fill your teacher nook with specialized how-two books for you and your teen.

Tackling how to teach a subject with out a curriculum can be daunting, but you can go from research to reward if you choose specialized teaching books.

Here are a few of my favorite resources. You don’t need all of them, but I’ve used them at one time or another to round out our unit studies.

Literature Unit Studies

  • The Design-A-Study series are timeless. This series of books about science, history, and composition gives an overview of what to cover in each grade.  Instead of giving you subjects, it’s helpful because it gives you the big picture of what your child needs to know from K-12. A resource like this is especially helpful if you want to cover a skill or topic that your highschooler may have struggled with in the earlier grades.
  • Warriner’s English Complete Course. This set of books have been around for years and helps to hone writing. Christine Miller of Classical Christian said, “This excellent reference can be used throughout all three years of the dialectic to teach writing. It thoroughly covers grammar in detail, which provides a nice review for those children that need it, or for those children that missed some grammar instruction in the grammar stage. It also covers writing in detail, with a complete section on writing mechanics, usage, writing correct and clear sentences, paragraphs, and papers, the research paper, using references, and even public speaking.” Read the rest of her review here. Before we started using Rod and Staff high school levels, we used Warriner’s. Rod and Staff’s Communicating Effectively I liked one year because I felt like it was more streamlined. It helps to.understand that I used Rod and Staff in the younger grades and their grammar is very rigorous and by 8th grade formal grammar is completed. When you click the link above you can see the sample of their English and what is covered in the high school years.
  • Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School. Don’t get overwhelmed by this book. There is no need to have to read all of it. Focus only on the grade level for this year. Having a handy reference like this will guide you to subjects for each grade.

In an upcoming post, I’ll show you how I plan credits now that you can see how easy it is to satisfy two to three subjects using carefully selected resources.

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies. Click here to grab the tips!

Also, check out Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies: The Dos and Don’ts and 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together and Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School.

Hugs and love ya,

How to Teach Science Through A Story – Middle & High School

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When you teach science through a story that is powerful. Using storytelling as a powerful teacher is not a new concept to homeschoolers. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips

Not only do we love reading stories but we understand their power to captivate and convince readers.

However, until I started using Beautiful Feet Books I wasn’t so confident that teaching science through a story or through biographies would benefit my kids all the way through to high school.

Using storytelling as a powerful teacher is not a new concept to homeschoolers. Not only do we love reading stories but we understand their power to captivate and convince readers. However, until I wasn’t so confident that teaching science through stories works for all ages of my kids. Click here to read 7 creative ways to teach older kids!

I stalked the mailman waiting for these books from Beautiful Feet Books. I was given this product free and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off or that a company will receive a glowing review. I don’t roll that way. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

First, I need to back up and explain what curriculum we’ve been poring over.

For the past couple of months, it has been a delight to use the History of Science.

I knew it was geared toward the 3rd to 7th grade level.

But we were over the top excited to ditch the science textbook and learn the history of science through living literature.

Besides, science biographies can be used for older kids.

And when you have a guide any study can be fleshed out for older grades. It was a great guide.

History of Science Living Literature

In addition, I had already figured out that my worksheet approach, as academic and bookish as it sounds, didn’t work because my boys retained lessons better using a learn-by-doing approach.

Next, early on in my homeschooling journey, I had stumbled upon Early American History with my then first kindergartner.

After using it with him, I learned that other equally important elements which stir a child’s thinking are living literature and absorbing history through a story.

There has not been a more enriching way to teach him or my other sons to high school than a literature-based approach.

What I’m saying is that storytelling, learning-by-doing, and living literature are inextricably linked.

Using those same elements while teaching science are the same ones used in teaching the History of Science and used for teaching an older child.

7 Creative Ways to Adapt Curriculum for Older Homeschooled Kids

Learning how to adapt a multiple age curriculum for upper grades can be challenging, but look at some ways I did this with the features of History of Science.

They are the same tips I used with my sons all the way through middle school and into high school.

How to Teach Science Through A Story - Middle & High School
  • With a yearlong program geared toward 3rd to 7th grade, there is a lot of room to allow exploring topics in more depth. Using a yearlong program is key. Your time is valuable and by using a curriculum that is laid out for a year, you have more than enough ideas in place to use as a springboard for all the ages of kids you’re teaching.
  • Even though the biographies are geared toward a lower reading level, they are likable by an older child. Many essay points can be gleaned from each biography. For example, previous to studying this curriculum, we hadn’t researched much about George Washington Carver. Reading about this American Pioneer and his many uses of peanuts made for a fun rabbit trail or research project. Even though your younger kids can join in the project to list the many uses of peanuts, I had Tiny delve deeper into this since it piqued his interest. I required that he explain the history of the peanut. I had questions like what is the history of the peanut, why was Carver encouraging farmers during the American Civil War to break away from cultivating just cotton, and explain the growing process of the peanut. For example, he had to know that it wasn’t a peanut at all but a seed and understand that the boll weevil could devastate cotton crops.
  • Another fascinating point to glean from the History of Science is understanding and seeing science through the eyes of great scientists. We use this concept for history all the time. We want to learn history through the eyes of a character who lived in a particular time period. Learning science through biographies of Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, George Washington Carver, Wright Brothers and Albert Einstein keeps kids equally inspired to learn about the wonders of science instead of dry, boring facts.
How to Teach Science Through A Story - Middle & High School
  • In addition, with many notebook pages, vocabulary words, and hands-on ideas the study guide is just that. It’s a springboard for you to use and add your own ideas. I really love how the guide is laid out because if it was totally scripted it’s hard to use that for older kids or younger kids. A guide on the other hand gives me a nudge or jump to another teaching concept that my son is interested in.
  • After I abandoned my wrong and stereotypical view that hands-on learning means no learning at all, I’ve been touting for years how hands-on learning needs to be used through to high school. The best books have been culled through and selected for easy hands-on activity that can be used for a variety of ages. Not only did we start our science portfolio notebook, but we did many hands-on learning activities like this one Day 4. Ancient Greece (Hands-on Science) 3 EASY Activities, ice cutting, and writing the Greek alphabet.
How to Teach Science Through A Story - Middle & High School
  • One more fun way to engage older kids through a story is to let them learn through a timeline. A timeline is a visual and natural way to learn. Kids can race ahead and place figures on a timeline while they read about scientific discoveries, events, and biographies. This is another key benefit to this curriculum. The timeline can stand on its own. It can be used completely separate. Instead of quickly placing the key events or scientists in order, challenge your older kids to learn about them before seeing the dates. Which significant event happened first, next and so on? Your middle school kids can memorize the events in order. It’ll give your kids foundational pegs as they fill in with more information with each time period.
  • Another tip that makes this curriculum especially useful to me is that it has scientists from different time periods. It’s organized into 3 parts that coincide with history, which are Ancient Scientists, Medieval & Renaissance Scientists, and Modern Scientists. I can easily add one section in depth this year and come back to this resource another year to focus on a different time period.
  • One last tip I do is to completely turn the teaching guide and everything over to my older kid. When you’re finished with the younger kids, let your middle or high school kid work through the lessons at their pace or at their will. For example, Tiny skipped all over the place when it came to reading and what interested him. That is such a liberating feeling for any learner and it’s the way to encourage independent learning. A lot of Beautiful Feet Books curriculum can be used that way, which is why I’ve been a user for a long time and couldn’t be more pleased.

The last thing I know you want to know about is whether it’s Christian or secular. I guess that depends on your definition of those two concepts.

It’s easier to tell you that it’s very friendly toward both type of views which I appreciate.

While it has some parts that ask your child to write a Bible verse, you can leave it, use it, or add your own. That part shows they support a Christian view.

However, their goal with their curriculum is to leave it up to you as the parent to add your worldview.

I can say it’s more easily done with this curriculum than many I use which saturate their curriculum with their Christian or secular worldview and makes it almost impossible to tweak.

If you’re wanting to use curriculum that teaches science through storytelling with a focus on hands-on learning by using a part unit study approach and part Charlotte Mason, you’ll love this curriculum like I do.

Read about the other curriculum I’ve used here at Early American and World History which is not available anymore and revamped, the Medieval History Sr. High levels and Medieval Intermediate Pack.

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: History of Science
►Website: Beautiful Feet Books – BFBooks
► Don’t Miss: The Getting Started page. It’s been such a helpful guide for me through the years.
►Type of product: These is a physical product but the study guide is available as a digital download too. From their site: Our newly revised and updated History of Science is a popular and exciting read-aloud approach to the study of science! Rebecca’s course uses biographies to tell the life stories of famous scientists like Archimedes, Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, George Washington Carver, Einstein, and others as well as hands-on experiments to prove the scientists’ theories and test their discoveries. An enriching way to introduce biology, chemistry, and physics. For grades 3-7, this one-year study will cover basic scientific principles and the history of scientific study beginning in ancient Greece and continuing through the 1990s. Contains 85 lessons, dozens of experiments, lab reports, and much more.