100 Oregon Trail Homeschool History Resources

Follow Josephine and Stephen along the trail as they camp in the wilderness, look out over incredible landscapes, and prepare for their new lives in the West.

As Josephine Jenkins sets off on the Oregon Trail with her mother and younger brothers to reunite with her father out West, she realizes that her beloved diary has gone missing. Meanwhile, her fellow traveler Stephen Byrd is sad to be leaving his friends behind as his family makes the move to Oregon. Readers (Ages 7-9) will follow Josephine and Stephen along the trail as they camp in the wilderness, look out over incredible landscapes, and prepare for their new lives in the West.

If you traveled west in a covered wagon--Would you ride in the wagon for the whole trip?--How would you cross rivers when there were no bridges?--Without road signs, how would you know where you were?This book tells you what it was like to be a pioneer and travel west to Oregon in the 1840s.

Traveling by covered wagon, young Rachel and her family follow the Oregon Trail from Illinois all the way to California. The terrain is rough and the seven-month trip is filled with adventure. Rachel's own handwritten journal chronicles every detail and features cherished "pasted-in" mementos gathered along the way.

In 1853, the Larkin family loaded up their wagons and headed west in search of a new life. But how did they do it? What did they eat? How did they survive sickness, and attacks from cattle thieves? Drawing on diaries and letters, and illustrated with photographs of actual object from the past, Daily Life in a Covered Wagon explored what life was really like on the wagon trail.

What if you could close your eyes and open them to find you were amongst hundreds of pioneers in 1843, packing up your covered wagon to travel the 2,000 miles of the Oregon Trail? Meet twins Liz and Lenny and their unique grandmother, who, with the help of her magic hat, can transport the twins to any time in history. In their first journey, the twins spend eight months crossing the country on foot and by covered wagon, braving the mountain ranges and river valleys, battling floods and droughts, and cooking slam-johns and sowbellies over buffalo chips.

Ezra Meeker's famous recollections of life in the American wilderness are published here complete with the one hundred and twenty original photographs and illustrations.In his memoir, Ezra Meeker casts his mind back to his early years growing up in Indiana during the 1830s and 1840s. He recalls setting off for Iowa and Oregon along the long and winding Western trail; the Gold Rush, which fueled migration to the farthest reaches of the continent, is remembered with evocative clarity.

Thirteen-year-old Hattie Campbell records the details of her family's harrowing migration to Oregon in a covered wagon and describes the many challenges, both joyful and tragic, that mark the journey.

In this boxed set, choose your own trail and complete the journey to Oregon City with all four paperbacks in this exciting series! It's 1850 and your first goal is to get your family, covered wagon full of supplies, and oxen to Chimney Rock on time. But hurry--you'll need to make it through the rugged mountains before winter snow hits. Plus, there are wild animals, natural disasters, unpredictable weather, fast-flowing rivers, strangers, and sickness that will be sure to stand between you and your destination!    Which path will get you safely across the unforgiving terrain--from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City? With twenty-two possible endings in each book, choose wrong and you'll never make it on time. Choose right and blaze a trail that gets you closer to your final destination--and don't forget to look at your map!

Discover the shocking and true story of the ill-fated Donner Party expedition with the New York Times bestselling graphic novel series!

When Papa decides to pull up roots and move from Iowa to Oregon, he can’t bear to leave his precious apple trees behind. Or his peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, and pears. Oh, and he takes his family along too. But the trail is cruel. First there’s a river to cross that’s wider than Texas, then there are hailstones as big as plums, and then there’s even a drought, sure to crisp the cherries.

John Sager was never any help to his family on the Oregon trail. Then his parents die, leaving John in charge of his younger brother and sisters. Will he be able to lead them through the perils ahead? "Will capture and hold the attention of every boy and girl".--"Saturday Review". B&W illus.