This version has been kept for those that would prefer to use it.
It has taken quite a while, but I have a basic plan for Canadian History for the first few years of homeschool
Year 1 - A Pioneer Story by Barbara Greenwood. (also called A Pioneer Sampler???)
Although not in a chronological order, this is a nice gentle book to ease the student into thinking about the past, without worrying about any real historical details.
Also
A Child's History of the Life of Christopher Columbus by Josephine Pollard
Year 2
- Great Canadian Lives: Portraits in Heroism to 1867
Available online here - not sure how with copyright
Basically covering from before 1600 to 1713 (A New Found Land, Settling the Land, and about 1/2 of The Great Days of New France)
(stop at "The Colony at Peace" - this gives about 60 portraits to do over the 36 weeks of school)
- My First History of Canada - by Donalda Dickie & Rudiger Krause First 9 Chapters. (Same time period as above)
Year 3 - continuing in Great Canadian Lives and My First History of Canada
Basically covering from 1713 to 1830 (1/2 of The Great Days of New France, After the Conquest, 1/2 of Danger on All Sides)
(start at "The Colony at Peace" and stop at "Building the Future" - this gives about 60 portraits to do over the 36 weeks of school)
Ch 10-13 of My First History
Year 4 - continuing in Great Canadian Lives and My First History of Canada
Basically covering from about 1830 to 1867 (1/2 of Danger on All Sides, From Sea to Sea)
(start at "Building the Future" and go to the end of the book - this gives about 60 portraits to do over the 36 weeks of school)
Ch 14-15 of My First History
Additional Reading:
The Last Safe House: A story of the Underground Railroad - Barbara Greenwood - add during the North to Freedom section.
Year 5 - My First History of Canada - other resources unknown at this point
Ch 16-19 + about 1/2 of 20
Covering from 1867 to about 1939.
Topics include, but not limited to:
RCMP
Gold Rush
WWI
Halifax Explosion
Famous 5 (women's rights)
Depression
Additional Reading:
Gold Rush Fever: a story of the Klondike, 1898 - Barbara Greenwood
Factory Girl - Barbara Greenwood
Year 6 - My First History of Canada - other resources unknown at this point
2nd half of Chapter 20, chapter 21
Covering from 1939 to present
Topics include, but not limited to:
WWII
Japanese Internment
Gov't help - UI, CPP, Family Allowance, Medicare
FLQ Crisis
Quebec Nationalism / Referendums
Canada Act
NOTE
Great Canadian Lives is unfortunately out of print, and can be expensive. Because it is used for 3 years, it may be worthwhile to purchase, especially if you have multiple children that will be using it. I will be using the library until I can find an inexpensive copy (our library has several copies). Update - there is a copy online here but as copyright is still in effect, not sure how they have it there....
However, if you can not find this resource in a manner that fits your budget, please feel free to replace it with seperate biographies of a few people within the various periods of history! (If you have any recommendations, please share!)
Hmmm, some of these ideas look interesting - even to me as an Aussie!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I am counting on the other Barbara Greenwood being as good as "A Pioneer Story".
ReplyDeleteIt has taken quite a while to find a resource I liked - I ahve taken so many Canadian History books out of the library! Some would look good for a bit, then I was bored to death... lol. The "Great Canadian Lives" looks good and is telling history through little biographical portraits. It is only a page or two per person, so I'm hoping it is enough to get a feel for each person - but from the stuff I've read, I've got a better idea on what some famous Canadians did than I did before.
It also took a while to figure out how much to put for each year - but this seems like a reasonable breakdown of the years for the first 6 years.
Anyway - I have to say that Canadian History is a LOT more interesting than it ever was in school - and I sure hope that my kids will find it interesting.
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI came through your SCM forum post.
This looks good and brava for doing it yourself. Have you read the Barbara Greenwood books? I am wondering how the fiction/non-fiction mix is. My son loves historical fiction (as do I).
Best,
Richele
At this time, I have only read "A Pioneer Story" by Barbara Greenwood. However, I was very impressed with it, and have heard general good things about her books by other homeschooling mom's, so I have added them in my plan.
ReplyDeleteFor "A Pioneer Story", each chapter started with the fictional story, which was a wonderful introduction to the topics that followed. I'd say it was about 5 or so pages of reading for a chapter, and had value as historical fiction. Then there would be maybe 4 to 10 pages of information, depending on the topic(s). Some of these had things that you could do as an activity, like making cheese, or finger-spinning some cotton etc... which I admit we didn't do, but would probably add a lot to the interest.
Hope this helps!