study american history

Study American History with Home School in the Woods

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read my disclosure policy.

I received Time Travelers: New World Explorers for free and was compensated for my time. All opinions are my honest opinions and I was not required to post a positive review.

If you’ve been wanting to study American history with a hands-on history curriculum and don’t know where to start, then you need to check out Home School in the Woods!

Study American History with the Time Traveler Series

The Time Traveler Series allows you to study American history with a series that covers:

  • New World Explorers
  • Colonial Life
  • American Revolution
  • the Early 19th Century
  • Civil War
  • Industrial Revolution Through the Great Depression
  • World War II

Since my kids and I have just reached the New World Explorers in our history studies, that’s the one I snagged!

study American history
Magnetizing a needle to make a compass.

American History: New World Explorers

Time Travelers: New World Explorers includes 25 lessons that walk you and your kids through why people went exploring, the different explorers, pirates, the parts of a ship, and more!

These lessons aren’t dry textbooks lessons. Instead, they come in two parts: text pages and project pages.

And before you panic, yes, a lesson planner is included in the curriculum to guide you through the program.

In general, you’re looking at 4 lesson days followed by 1 project day to complete a project or do an additional one!

Study American History with Text Pages

The text pages introduce children to the topic at hand and give you the information you need to study American history.

Here, I’ll run you through Lesson 1: What Is an Explorer to show you what I mean.

Now it may seem obvious to adults, but kids don’t always understand what an explorer is and why they would take off on a dangerous journey to find new lands.

So the text pages walk kids through what an explorer is and why they went exploring. Reasons such as to find spices of the orient, wealth, land, adventure, and to spread Christianity.

I printed the lesson sheet and read it to my kids. The text page is interesting and fun to read. Plus it includes references to the Bible!

But you can always read the lessons to your kids straight off the computer or your phone!

After I read the page aloud,  the kids and I discussed what I’d read aloud to them.

New World Explorers doesn’t have discussion questions, so I simply ran the kids through a quick review.

The text pages include all the information you need! And let me tell you, I love not having to check out extra books from the library or purchase books.

Especially since the library is only just starting to reopen around here.

If you want more information about, an additional resources page is included to help you find books and videos about the explorers

Hands On American History Through Projects

After you’ve covered the basic information through the text pages, you move on to the New World Explorer projects.

Lesson 1 includes these projects:

  • Making the continents and oceans
  • 5 Reasons for exploring (a section of the lapbook you can make about explorers)
  • Cooking with spices (spice cookies or spice ornaments)

The kids and I made spice cookies because anything food-related is popular in my house!

Some of the projects are easy to complete in an afternoon, such as the spice cookies or making a compass.

Checking to see if the homemade compass actually works!

Other projects, like making a captain’s log (lesson 3) require more time. Since you’re aging the papers and binding them together before you write in the log!

And the lapbook is completed over the course of the curriculum!

Hands on History with a Lapbook

A lapbook is a file folder filled with information your child puts together over the course of the curriculum.

And no, you’re not required to complete a lapbook to use New World Explorers. You can stick to other projects or collect your information in a 3-ring binder instead of a file folder.

But lapbooks are a fun way to pull together everything your kids learn over the course of the program.

And your kids will love thumbing through their book and reviewing all the fun they had putting it together!

Let me tell you, the Time Traveler series is a fun way to study American History. You have information sheets, projects, a lapbook, and the handholding you need to pull it all together!

So head over to Home School in the Woods and take a closer look at Time Travelers: New World Explorers!

Grab your FREEBIE:

Home School in the Woods is giving away their Greek Life! File folder Game!!!!

Just use the code: iHNGameNight at checkout.

No purchase necessary. This offer expires on August 31, 2020.

Study U.S. Elections

The last time the U.S. Presidential elections came around, my kids and I studied the U.S. Elections using Home School in the Woods U.S. Elections Lap-Pak.

It was an amazing way to learn about the entire process and history, no matter how old the kids were. I even included my high school teens since they would be voting in the next election.

And studying U.S. elections is especially relevant during an election year when your kids can watch the election process in real-time!

study american history