General
- This classic, beloved game is now available to play for free! Play Oregon Trail online!
- Another great game, also available and free to play! Play Amazon Trail online!
- BBC Primary History
- Animated Battle of Trafalgar
- Battle of Trafalgar
- 19th Century America Primary Documents: links to dozens of sites for all year!
- Interactive activities and helps for those who use Western Civilization by Spielvogel
- Internet Modern History Sourcebook: teacher’s use initially. If older students want to read originals for themselves, they are here.
- All ages will love this site on US Government. This site transcends unit boundaries.
- Several books assigned for literature, and some not assigned but interesting to Rhetoric level students (like works of Voltaire and Darwin) are found here.
- The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Van Loon is now online: read from the screen or print to your heart’s content.
- Eyewitness History is GREAT! It has first-hand accounts, graphics, and a wonderful user-friendly interface. Bookmark today and use it all four years! I recommend that you start by clicking on “index” and then scroll through, noting upcoming topics in your Year-Plan! Enjoy!
Timelines:
- Timeline Book Instructions
- Timeline Maker
- Interactive Technology Timeline from PBS.
- Great animated timeline of the 1800’s!
Presidents:
- Do you want pictures only? Click here for a picture gallery.
- Another excellent site for studying the Presidents: POTUS (Presidents of the United States)
- Coloring pages of every president for your Lower Grammar kids
- Make a full color book on the Presidents.
- Site for inaugural addresses of the presidents
States:
- Use this site as you are making your deck of state cards. 50states.com
- This site shows the dates that each state entered the Union.
- Flashcards of the 50 States: Outline of State, flag, bird, small map showing where the state is located in the region. The back has info about the state.
Unit 1 – Napoleon’s World
General Resources for this Unit
- You might want to start by having your oldest students read this selection on “How to Read a History Assignment”.
Week 1: When John Adams Was President
- George Washington
- John Adams
- Archiving Early America: The Alien and Sedition Acts
- Thomas Jefferson
- James Madison
- Lord Horatio Nelson
- Maximilien Robespierre
- Excerpts from Robespierre’s speech “Justification of the Use of Terror”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- A comprehensive site linking more than you’ll ever need on the French Revolution.
- History of the White House
Week 2: Napoleon: The Man and His Career
- PBS on Napoleon: parents, screen first, please!
- Horatio Nelson
- Alexander I of Russia
- Short biography about Francis I of Austria
- William Pitt the Younger
- Maurice de Talleyrand
- Arthur Wellesley
- The Continental System
- The Third Coalition
- Napoleon’s Coronation
Week 3: Early Industrial Revolution
- Eli Whitney
- Robert Fulton
- Samuel Slater
- Francis Cabot Lowell
- John Kay
- James Hargreaves: click here and here
- Richard Arkwright
- Samuel Crompton
- Edmund Cartwright
- James Watt
- Thomas Newcomen
- Abraham Darby
- Richard Trevithick
- Robert Owen: Click here and here
- Henry Cort
Week 4: Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase
- Facts about Thomas Jefferson
- From Enchanted Learning: Thomas Jefferson. Use this week and next.
- Quotations of Thomas Jefferson on Religion and Liberty
- Meriwether Lewis
- William Clark
- Sacagawea
- Aaron Burr
- Twelfth Amendment
- Marbury vs. Madison
Week 5: Jefferson and the Supreme Court
- From Enchanted Learning: Thomas Jefferson.
- Monticello
- The United States Constitution
- John Marshall
- Judicial Branch
- Short biography of Aaron Burr
- Civil Law (Continental Europe and Louisiana)
- Precedent Law
- Writ of mandamus
- Judicial review
Week 6: Madison and the War of 1812
- James Madison
- Dolley Madison
- Key Events & Causes of the War of 1812: click here and here.
- War of 1812: timeline of events that lead to the war.
- Treaty of Ghent
- Story of the Star Spangled Banner
- Star Spangled Banner (complete version)
Week 7: Reshaping Europe and South America
- Simon Bolivar
- Francisco de Miranda
- The Congress of Viena: click here and here.
- The History of South America
Week 8: South America in Transition
- Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay
- The Boys’ Life of Abraham Lincoln
- Robert E. Lee’s Childhood
Week 9: Monroe and the American Hemisphere
Unit 2 – The Age of Industry & Expansion
Week 10: John Quincy Adams and Political Realignments
- John Quincy Adams
- Election of 1824
- Inaugural Address by John Quincy Adams
- Tariff of Abominations
- Louis Braille Biography
- The Erie Canal: A Journey Through History
- For the dialectic Accountability Question 9, click here and here.
Week 11: Jacksonian Democracy
- Biography of Andrew Jackson
- Elections of 1828 and 1832
- Indian Removal Act of 1830
- Biography of Sequoyah
- Facts for Kids: Cherokee Tribe
- More about the Cherokee
- Chart showing lots of good information about Native Americans. Excellent!
Week 12: Revolutions in Texas & Europe
- Jackson’s Second Inaugural Address
- Sam Houston
- Santa Anna
- James Bowie
- William Travis
- The Battle of the Alamo
- Paris and the Revolution of 1830
Week 13: Victorian England
- Victorian Era
- Prince Albert
- Lord Melbourne
- Leopold I
- George IV
- William IV
- Charles X
- Louis Philippe
- Victorian England: great for grammar students
- The impact of inventions on everyday life: The washing machine
- Lighting of the Victorian Home
- Heating, Lighting, and Hygiene in the Victorian Era
- Cooking in the Victorian Era
- The Victorians: great site for your mini-unit report.
Week 14: Victorians at Home and Abroad
- Australian Flora and Fauna
- Victorian England
- Victorian England: great for grammar students
- New Zealand
Week 15: Manifest Destiny
Week 16: Sea to Shining Sea
- James K. Polk
- Manifest Destiny
- Prelude to the Mexican American War
- Mexican American War
- Marcus Whitman and Narcissa Prentiss(Whitman)
- Telegraph
- Samuel Morse: inventor of the electric telegraph and Morse Code.
- Morse Code Chart
- The History of the Photograph: Excellent links here and here
Week 17: The Oregon Trail
Week 18: 1848: Gold Dust & Gunpowder
Unit 3 – Nations Uniting & Dividing
Week 19: Westerners in Asia
- Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act
- Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan
- Florence Nightingale
- Millard Fillmore
- Li Hongzhang
- Hudson Taylor
Week 20: Franklin Pierce & the Crimean War
- Crimean War
- Great PDF worksheets and activities about Florence Nightingale for grammar years.
- Florence Nightingale
- Franklin Pierce
- John Brown
Week 21: America Divides & Italy Unites
- Civil War
- Civil War Potpourri webpage.
- Jeffersonian View of the Civil War: Read with caution and the willingness to learn others’ viewpoints. Not a scholarly piece per se, but it does make excellent fodder for debate.
- Tax museum and the financing of the Civil War.
- The Dred Scott
- Missouri’s Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857
- James Buchanan
Week 22: Lincoln and the Start of the Civil War
- Information about Abraham Lincoln’s Inauguration
- Abraham Lincoln’s Inauguration Speech
- Abraham Lincoln
- From Spartacus Educational: Abraham Lincoln
- Detailed information on the battles of the Civil War. Click each picture for specific battles.
- The Battle of the Ironclads.
- Civil War guns: Muskets 101
- Short site for all ages on Camp Life.
- Civil War timeline
Week 23: Decisive Years of the Civil War
- PBS web site which encompasses the entire American history of slavery. Good for D and R levels.
- Biography of Clara’s life. Text is Dialectic level up.
- Another biography of Clara Barton.
- Other information on Civil War nurses.
- Read this first-hand account of abolitionist Levi Coffin, aid to over 3,000 slaves on the Underground Railroad.
- Learn and hear Civil War songs! All ages.
- Detailed information on the battles of the Civil War. Click each picture for specific battles.
- The Emancipation Proclamation
- The Gettysburg Address
- Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Good picture. Text is dialectic and up.
- Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, or click here for the inaugural addresses of all of the presidents.
- Looks like FUN! Check out this National Geographic Site: A game for the Underground Railroad.
- Christianity Today has an excellent article written by Mark Noll entitled “The Puzzling Faith of Abraham Lincoln”.
- Online quiz for Lower Grammar students about Lincoln’s life.
Week 24: Closing Years of the Civil War
- Railroad timeline
- Reconstruction: outline and summary of events.
- Abraham Lincoln
Week 25: Andrew Johnson vs. Radical Reconstruction
- An Eyewitness Account by the Lakota Chief Red Horse recorded in pictographs and text at the Cheyenne River Reservation, 1881. Click on the various episodes on the left to see great images!
- Plains Indians and horses: Scroll down and find some nice pictures. Text is Dialectic up, and a little hard to read.
- The Plains Indians and their dependence on buffalo: This site encompasses art and history. A Native American artist created this tapestry and kids are encouraged to think constructively in order to understand its meaning. Explanations and online matching activity are provided.
- HUGE gorgeous site with all kinds of links to follow up. Westward Expansion is only ONE part of this site on the Gilded Age
- Andrew Johnson
Week 26: Ulysses Grant & the Plains Indians Wars
- Very short bio with good picture of Bismarck.
- This link is from The Henry Ford museum site. Use this link again in Year 4.
- Ulysses S. Grant
Week 27: Technological Progress & the Unification of Germany
- Biography of Henry Stanley
- Otto Von Bismarck
- History of the Suez Canal
- The Great Chicago Fire
- Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Panama Canal
- Benjamin Disraeli
- Biography of William Gladstone
- David Livingstone
- Louis Pasteur
- Biography of George Eastman
- The History of Alexander Graham Bell
- Biography of Thomas Edison
- Issac Singer
- Alfred Nobel
- Christopher Sholes
- Levi Strauss
Unit 4 – The Gilded Age
Week 28: Introducing Africa and Reforming Empires
- Detailed History of Lord Palmerston
- William Gladstone
- Biography of Benjamin Disraeli
- Lord Salisbury
- Quick Biography of Nicholas I
- Alexander II
- Alexander III
- Charles Boycott
- Africa Studies
Week 29: The Scramble for Empire
- Imperialism
- Helpful, basic site on Imperialism.
- Biography of Rutherford Hayes
- Biography of James Garfield
Week 30: Imperialism and Culture
- Biography of Chester Arthur
- James Africanus Horton
- Edward Wilmot Blyden
- The First American Centennial
- The Centennial Exhibition (1876 Philadelphia).
Week 31: Waves of Immigrants
- Online handbook of the Statue of Liberty
- Statue of Liberty to Assemble
- History and timeline of Andrew Carnegie
- Joseph Pulitzer
- Frederic Auguste Bartholdi
- Ellis Island
- Ellis Island History
- History Videos of Ellis Island (scroll through and watch videos at the bottom of the page)
- Jacob Riis
Week 32: Captains of Industry
- Biography of Benjamin Harrison
- Andrew Carnegie
- John Davison Rockefeller
- John Pierpont Morgan
- Biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt
Week 33: Labor Issues and the New South
Week 34: Farmers, Populists, Gold Strikes and Gold Standards
- Biography of Thomas Watson
- Mary Elizabeth Lease
- Biography of William Jennings Bryan
- Andrew Carnegie
- George M. Pullman
- Sam McClure and McClure’s Magazine.
- Ida Tarbell
- Lincoln Steffens
- William Jennings Bryan: Cross of Gold (speech text and audio)
- Political Cartoons of 1896
Week 35: Powerful Men and Inspiring Women
- Otto van Bismarck
- Wilhelm II
- Theodore Roosevelt
- A biography of Sanford B. Dole
- Queen Liliuokalani
- Life history of Helen Keller
- Marie Curie
- Pierre Curie
- Anne Sullivan
Week 36: The Balkan Problem & American Imperialism