Multimedia:
Digital History from the University of Huston lists united States history by eras and has has topics, resources and references with text, primary sources, audio and visual material to support each section. This is a great starting point for researching a paper for school on a myriad of topics in United States history.
http://www.myaudioschool.com/ Combines free e-books with the free audios so you can read while you hear the book. They also have public domain music that is also listed with the different time periods to have a full range of learning modes. While this site does have a yearly subscription, there are plenty of free information as well.
Timeline:
Just after I purchased a fancy, expensive clip art library I found a great FREE alternative. Educational Technology Clearinghouse at the university of South Florida has put together a spectacular array of clip art, pictures, and maps from various media that was taken from copy rite free sources. The clip art is through the early 20th Century and pictures to the modern day.
Classical Historian has created two games to help learn U.S. History timeline. One is similar to classic memory and the other is like hearts or go fish. In my class this year we will be playing these games and we will also be creating our own based on each week's lesson.
Books:
Satori Smiles searchable historical book list is for you if you want to pick from an elementary children's history book list which can be sorted by the time the book occurs and also includes an interest level for reading.Nicola Mansfield has arranged Historical Books arranged by time with sub categories by learning level. Some of these books are used in both the Well Trained Mind and Sonlight. Some of the same books as Satori Smiles list, but this site also has books beyond elementary grades.
Wisconsin Historical Society has American history primary sources from the 1000 - 1840 sorted by date and person.
Government entities that house primary sources are not limited to the following, but they will start you on a journey. Library of Congress, National Archives Digital Vault Experience, and the Smithsonian Institute.
Audio & Video:
Old Time Radio AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH THE EYES OF RADIO has 550 episodes chronologically listed and vary in length which dramatize American History From 1712 - 1977 when Elvis Dies. These recording contain politically incorrect language, so you may want to preview the episodes before others listen.
America the Musical: Volume 1 by Kindermusik- This is professionally done and sung by adults. This is good music and has great examples of American folk music that tells the story of the early U.S history.
Wee Sing America- The production quality isn't very high, but the amount of songs you get on the CD is. For a survey of American Folk music at a small price this is worth exposure our kids receive.
Adventures in Odyssey History episodes: Parents will want to preview these first for younger and sensitive children as there are some tense scenes in several of the episodes.
Adventures in Odyssey: "For God and Country" - 12 Episodes from Columbus to World War I.
Adventures in Odyssey: Episodes 708-711: Sergeant York
Adventures in Odyssey: Episodes 664-666 The Jubilee Singers
I have a separate page for videos I like. Netflix also has many other documentaries on U.S. History.
Activities and Academics:
Lapbooks from Dynamic2Moms has many U.S. history lapbooks that are very nicely laid out.
Sonlight Core D+E TIPS CD corresponds with Sonlight Core D+E American history year and is a PDF document with 36 pages of links for each week of the curriculum. The document is loaded with hands on activities, coloring pages, audio and video clips and much more. I own this and it is worth the price because of the time I save following the selected links for U.S. history.
With my older students I will be creating Socratic Questions to help the students question our history and find answers for themselves. If you are not able to come up with these ideas on your own, Classical Historian has several books covering history from Ancient Civilizations to the Modern Era in both U.S. history and world history using the Socratic Method. The material in the Classical Historian's Take A Stand! will cover writing, literature and history while using several sources to discover your student's answer to their question behind the question.
