Revolutionary Period (1754-1785)
We’ll start the revolutionary period at the beginning of the French and Indian War (1754). It’s difficult to hold a discussion about the causes of the Revolution without a basic understanding of the political, military, and social setting in the second half of the 18th century, and many of these are strongly rooted in the French and Indian War. Of particular interest is the relationship between colonial leaders, British Parliament, and King George III. With any military conflict it’s very easy to be drawn into a discussion of battles, tactics, leaders, and campaigns. With younger learners this can quickly become overwhelming, I suggest focusing on campaigns, the big picture, as it were. You can use names, especially if they hold local relevance, but, I suggest not making a list of persons and places the focus.
I am so excited about the next step on our journey. We are not yet finished with colonial history but I wanted to go ahead and give an overview of what was coming next month to afford time to prepare and gather any resources. Our family volunteers as living historians and costumed interpreters for a local historical site. We have spent a great deal of time focusing on the time around the American Revolution and are excited about our upcoming study.
Our focus will be on the “why” of the Revolution, how it affected the general population, the outcomes, and any interests of the children that arise during the study. I will cover some of the key battles with them but not focusing on dates and details.
One of our favorite resources for studying this time is the Liberty Kids video series. This series is one that the children love to watch and it teaches so much history. We don’t watch a lot of movies in our house but we have found these to be worth the screen time.
We will also be continuing our American History Art Program. There are lessons on the Boston Tea party, Revolutionary War Uniforms, Paul Revere, George Washington and more that will tie in very nicely to the American Revolution. If you are looking for an art program I highly recommend these chalk pastels. For more information read my full review.
We are looking forward to field trips to Tryon Palace, Historic Bath, and hopefully Brunswick Town. We will be reading a variety of books on the Revolution. My son is especially fond of Revolutionary War flags and will be working on a project in conjunction with the flags and history. We will continue studying selected chapters from America’s Story Volume 1 by Master Books.
I found this resource after I published the list of October Resources. I’ll be updating the list but in case you already downloaded it, check out this faith based movie about the American Revolution, Beyond the Mask. You can download it for as little as $3.99 and there is a free unit study to go with it here.
A couple additional resources that may be of interest to you are the current sale on Discovery Education Streaming Plus at the Buyers co-op. This is a great collection of educational programming. They also have a sale on Jim Hodges Audio CDs right now. He has several different collections that would work well with early American history.
If you would like to join us on this journey through US History, join our mailing list and get access to our free library. Each month I’ll post a list of resources and ideas for the time period we are going to cover the next month. You can learn more in our post Our Journey Through History. Colonial and Revolutionary resources are currently posted.
When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog
If you are looking for a more in-depth premade course on the Revolution you can check out this 9 week course at School House Teachers. They are currently running a special and you can get monthly membership for less than $10 a month for the whole family.
The Schoolin' Swag Blog 
These are some great resources! I was just looking at the one on #SchoolhouseTeachers this week for my son!
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That is great that you are able to be ‘living historians.’ I also appreciate when historic sites also have costumed interpreters – whether they are paid or volunteers. So important for learning about the entire history of the era.
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Thank you, we really enjoy it. We also notice when we go to other places that those costumed interpreters make such a big difference. I hope others feel that way when we are in that role. 🙂
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