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Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp
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about the book
The Homeschool Diner's Guide to
Homeschooling by Subject
Social Studies for Homeschoolers


Learning Social Studies Thru Literature

by Julie Shepherd Knapp, copyright 2006



Why settle for dry, dull textbooks?


Dover Publications - historic paper dolls, plus educational coloring books,
activity and sticker books for various topics in social studies and nature

Adventure Tales of America - comic strip style history text, with CD-Rom
adventure about the Constitution - http://www.adventuretales.com/

Myth Web -- cartoon approach to Greek Mythology, ideas for teachers

America's Story from America's Library -- multi-media about the past

American Rhetoric:  Online Speech Bank -- full text for over 500
speeches, some audio and video streaming

Calisphere: A World of Digital Resources -- from the University of
California, free online world of primary sources, over 150,000 digitized items
(photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of
art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, etc) document the
diverse history and culture of California, some classroom tips included

The Biography Channel -- a variety of written bios and videos

Sonlight Curriculum -- their History and Geography packages(available
separately)  include many works of historic fiction (check Core Packages 3
and above)

Beautiful Feet Books - study guides and literature packs for learning
history and geography thru literature

History Odessy -- (1 - 12)  study guides for history designed to be used
with Classical Education, three levels covering ancient history, middle ages,
and early modern, includes hands-on activities, literary analysis, and
research assignments for historical fiction and ancient texts

An Old-Fashioned Education -- links to hundreds of free online texts
(fiction and non-fiction) that were published before 1923 and are now in "the
Public Domain" (have no copyright restrictions), includes history, social
studies, language arts, math, science and nature, drama and public
speaking, fiction and non-fiction

Scholar Central Online Academy of the School of Abraham -- hosts
LDS-focused online study groups which cover academic topics such as
ancient philosophy, focus is on ancient texts

Rudiments of Wisdom Cartoon Encyclopedia -- illustrated cartoon
histories of various topics by Tim Hunkin

Understanding Daoism -- a 6th grade curriculum, activities include
learning thru Monkey stories



Social Studies Reading Lists

What to look for in GOOD historic fiction -- tips from the CSU School of
Library Science

Newbery Themes: History -- bring history to life with Newbery Award
books  

Children's Literature with Social Studies Themes from the Delaware
Social Studies Education Project -- lists of fiction, biography, and non-fiction

Historic Fiction List  from the Keene Public Library

Reading Your Way Through History -- a combination of secular and
Catholic resources

A Bibliography of Children's Books with Social Studies Themes -- an
interesting, eclectic mix from picture books to chapter books, includes
Civics, Core Democratic Values,  Economics, Geography, and History

The American Revolutionary War and Children's Literature -- reading
lists and suggested activities from Carol Hurst

The Caitlin Benson Collection -- encouraging children to respect
differences and appreciate similarities in themselves and  others through
reading, mostly picture books, a few chapter books

Paula's Archives -- lists of literature and movies for learning about history
and science

A Book in Time -- wonderful free online lists of books (fiction and
non-fiction) and crafts, grouped by time period,  that can be used to create
unit studies of American and World History  

All Through the Ages - a book which lists over 5600 historical narratives,
fiction, and biographies that are "real books" not textbooks, from all ageas
and covering all geographic regions, website includes some free lists of
books, as well

Reading You Way Through History -- Christian focused, a chronological
listing of historic fiction, biographies, and religious texts

Multi-Cultural Children's Literature -- from the North Central Regional
Educational Lab, links to reading lists

Vandergrift's Young Adult Literature Page -- includes lists of
biographies and autobiographies, male and female "coming of age" books
from various eras, and
for older readers -- adult versions of fairy tales



Some Great Examples of Historic Fiction

Dear America and My Name is America and My America and The Royal
Diaries -- these series by Scholastic are a blend of fact historic fiction
stories written in diary form, My America is about boys and girls, written for 7
- 10 year olds, My Name is America is about boys and Dear America is
about girls, both written for ages 10 and up.  

American Girl Series -- companion stories for each American Girl Doll,  
each doll is from a different time period in American history

Little House on the Prairie Series -- a series of stories by Laura Ingles
Wilder about life in the Midwest in the late 1800's.  The stories have been
adapted into books at various reading levels, and into a TV series from the
1980's (videos are available).   There are many educational resources
alligned with these books, including several websites (such as
Prairie
Fans), several study guides and unit studies for sale, and some free
unit studies . This Wikipedia article on "Little House..." contains links
to may other resources.

Glencoe Literature Library -- a series of books that compile a classic
book of children's historic fiction, with several related readings, such as
short stories, poems, essays, or informational articles

Horrible Histories and Horrible Geographies -- by Nick Arnold and
Tony de Saulles, originally published in the UK but now may titles are
availablethru Scholastic, these books highlight the gory and gross parts of
history and the weird or scary parts of geography.  Not recommended for
the squeamish or faint of heart.   For a complete list of titles, some  sample
pages to view, and to place orders for titles only available in the UK, visit
Del
Sol Books

Dead Famous biographies by Phil Robins and Clive Goddard and Horribly
Famous biographies by various authors and Terribly True stories by Terry
Deary -- bring historic personalities and events to life, available thru
Scolastic Books, in great, gory detail -- not for the squeamish  
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social studies