Student Supplies
Watercolor Paper 9X12
Thin Sharpie
Travel Watercolor Set
Nature Journal
Narration Notebook
Book of Centuries (ages 10+)
Commonplace Book (ages 10+)

Family Book List
American Indian Prayer Guide, by Danette Maloof
A Child’s First Book of American History, by Earl Schenck Miers (coordinates with weekly Book of Centuries prompts)
America First (Updated Edition), updated by Rachel Lebowitz (short chapters that foster narration)
Bound for Oregon, by Jean Van Leeuwen
Home Geography, by C.C. Long
Minn of the Mississippi, by Holling C. Holling
North American Indians, by Marie and Douglas Gorsline
Nature Anatomy, by Julia Rothman
Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan

Elementary Book List
A Nest for Celeste, by Henry Cole
Ben and Me, by Robert Lawson
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin, by Marguerite Henry
Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims, by Clyde Robert Bulla
The Cabin Faced West, by Jean Fritz
The Courage of Sarah Noble, by Alice Dagliesh
The Burgess Animal Book, by Thornton W. Burgess
Toliver’s Secret, by Esther Wood Brady

Middle Book List
By the Great Horn Spoon, by Sid Fleischman
Harriet Tubman: Freedombound, by Janet & Geoff Benge
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison, by Lois Lenski
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
Justin Morgan Had a Horse, by Marguerite Henry
Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers, by John Burroughs (public domain)
The Lay of the Land, by Dallas Lore Sharp
The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare

Challenge Book List
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham
David Brainerd: A Love for the Lost, by Brian H. Cosby
Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Lyddie, by Katherine Paterson
The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare

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Bible includes a study of the parables of Jesus and scripture memory that coordinates with each parable. In addition to narration, older students are encouraged to transcribe the parables into their Commonplace Book.

Without Doors: Early America includes history lessons from the explorers through 1860. The living history spine is engaging for families as they navigate through early American history together.

The original “American History Timeline Song” will reinforce the timeline of the United States.

Older students will add suggested dates to their Book of Centuries.

General History Topics Covered
Native Americans
Founding of Jamestown
Voyage of the Mayflower
Marquette and Joliet
Benjamin Franklin
French and Indian War
Boston Tea Party
Paul Revere
Revolutionary War
Declaration of Independence
Benjamin Banneker
United States Constitution
George Washington
Lewis and Clark Expedition | Sacagawea | York
Battle of New Orleans
Fur Trapping
Sojourner Truth
Education and McGuffey Readers
Battle of the Alamo
Steamboating
Underground Railroad & Harriet Tubman
Whaling
Frederick Douglass
Gold Rush
Mexican-American War
Buffalo Bill & Bob Lemmons
Abraham Lincoln
Pony Express

Without Doors: Early America includes lessons, reading, map questions, and map-drawing assignments highlighting the Thirteen Colonies, the Mississippi River, and the Oregon Trail.

Students will read six living books that coordinate with the study of early America. Without Doors: Early America also includes one early American poet study per term.

Copywork selections coordinate with weekly lessons, building a strong foundation in spelling and grammar.

Older students will add passages to their Commonplace Book.

Poet Study includes Phillis Wheatley and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Students develop the habit of narration by responding to literature with oral and written narration.

The weekly written narration prompt rotates between history, geography, literature, nature study, and enrichment. Students will respond to the written narration prompt in their Narration Notebook, a notebook with lines for writing and a blank space for drawing.

Narration expectations (amount of words and/or paragraphs) should be different for younger vs. older students.

A Narration Notebook is a keepsake!

Students focus on rotating enrichment topics including: Composer Study, Artist Study, Hymn Study, and Handicrafts. The two composers, four artists, four hymns, and four handicrafts are all carefully chosen to coordinate with the study of early America.

Composer Study includes Stephen Foster and Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

Artist Study includes Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, Edward Hicks, and Thomas Cole.

The nature lore readings delight families while grounding students in scientific knowledge of North American small mammals. Out-of-door nature walks and nature journaling prompts inspire an interest in God’s beautiful creation.

History
Pilgrim Stories, by Margaret Pumphrey (Beautiful Feet publisher)
The Light and the Glory for Young Readers Series, by Marshall and Manuel
Liberty Kids: The Complete Series (DVD)

African American Stories and Heroes
Answering the Cry for Freedom: Stories of African Americans and the American Revolution, by Woelfle 
Amistad: The Story of a Slave Ship, by Patricia McKissack
Amos Fortune, Free Man, by Elizabeth Yates
Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West, by Lillian Schlissel
Black Heroes of the Revolution, by Burke Davis
Building a New Land: African Americans in Colonial America, by James Haskins & Kathleen Benson
Follow the Drinking Gourd, by Jeanette Winter
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History, by Dean Myers
Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity, by Janet & Geoff Benge
Let My People Go: Bible Stories Told by a Freedman of Color, by Patricia McKissak 
No More! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance, by Doreen Rappaport
Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge, by Ray Anthony Shepard
So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk to Freedom, by Gary D. Schmidt
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, by Deborah Hopkinson
The Bell Rang, by James E. Ransome

Geography
Without Doors: United States Map Questions (6 map questions for each of the 50 states)

Reading
McGuffey’s Readers

Artist Study
Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art, by Hudson Talbott

*To challenge your student, add more early American Living Books.

“Is there not some need for ‘mother culture’? But how is the state of things to be altered? So many mothers say, ‘I simply have not time for myself!’ ‘I never read a book!’ Or else, ‘I don’t think it is right to think of myself!’ They not only starve their minds, but they do it deliberately, and with a sense of self-sacrifice which seems to supply ample justification.” -Charlotte Mason

A Lantern in Her Hand, by Bess Streeter Aldrich
Build Upon the Rock: Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings, edited by Stephen A. Flick, Ph.D.
The United States Constitution
The Declaration of Independence
The Founders’ Bible (NASB), by David Barton
1776, by David McCullough
The Summer of 1787, by David O. Stewart
How to Read the Constitution & the Declaration of Independence, by Paul B. Skousen

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Leif the Lucky, by D’Aulaire
Columbus, by D’Aulaire
Building a New Land: African Americans in Colonial America, by James Haskins & Kathleen Benson
Pocahontas, by D’Aulaire
The Thanksgiving Story, by Alice Dagliesh
Homespun Sarah, by Verla Kay
Benjamin Franklin, by D’Aulaire
Johnny Appleseed, by Reeve Lindbergh
The Boston Tea Party, by Russell Freedman
A Picture Book of Paul Revere, by David A. Adler
The 4th of July Story, by Alice Dagliesh
George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides, by Rosalyn Schanzer
Dear Benjamin Banneker, by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Sam the Minuteman, by Nathaniel Benchley
A More Perfect Union: The Story of our Constitution, by Betsy Maestro
George Washington, by D’Aulaire
Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog’s Tale, by Laurie Myers
A Picture Book of Sacagawea, by David A. Adler
The Journey of York, by Hasan Davis
The Battle of New Orleans: The Drummer's Story, by Freddi Williams Evans
Doesn’t Fall Off His Horse, by Virginia A. Stroud
So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk to Freedom, by Gary D. Schmidt
Hornbooks and Inkwells, by Verla Kay
A Picture Book of Davy Crockett, by David A. Adler
Steamboat School, by Deborah Hopkinson
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, by Deborah Hopkinson
The Trail of Tears, by Joseph Bruchac
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford Follow the Drinking Gourd, by Jeanette Winter
The Bell Rang, by James E. Ransome
Whaling Days, by Carol Carrick
Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History, by Dean Myers
Sequoyah, by James Rumford
Gold Fever, by Verla Kay
Buffalo Bill, by D'Aulaire
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses, by Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney
Abraham Lincoln, by D'Aulaire
They're Off: The Story of the Pony Express, by Cheryl Harness

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