My biggest goal for school last yaer was to tackle both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars with the kids. Fairly ambitious, but since we were going to be on the east coast for a few months, I really wanted history to come alive for us. About halfway through our trip, I realized that there was no way we were going to cover both wars. Wrapping our heads around just one was an impressive feat, but I loved the deep dive on the Revolutionary War we were able to accomplish. Even as an adult I learned SO much right alongside our kids. That was the most magical outcome of all.
Below I’ll outline what resources we used, what sites we visited, and how I feel like they fit in to our unit study. Some worked better than others, but mostly we reinforced concepts, events, and ideas over and over in different ways. It was incredible.
I’ll start with our physical resources and then move on to the actual places we visited.
Physical Resources
“Time Travel with Exceptional Americans” Audio Books by Rush Limbaugh
We’ve always listened to audio books as we drive, and when I learned about this Rush Revere Audible series I knew I wanted to try it out. We started with the Pilgrims and listened through Rush Revere and the Presidency. The audio books expound the events leading up to the Revolutionary War plus the Battles of Concord and Lexington. I wish Mr. Limbaugh had included the Battle of New York or even the end of the war in Yorktown to finish up, but we also learned the Revolutionary War was complicated, long, and world wide. So, we’ll take what we can get.
These books are written and narrated by Rush Limbaugh. We are not listeners of his radio show, nor do I know much about him as a person so I can’t comment on that, but we did enjoy the narration. I do love that he included that the first Patriots absolutely believed they had a divine mandate to free this country from Great Britain and were inspired by God. Being Christian, I felt that was super important to our studies.
“Brave Pilgrims” – Covers the early moments of our nation as the Pilgrims come over to Plymouth from England. Introduces William Bradford, Myles Standish, and Samoset.
“First Patriots” – Covers the Stamp Act, Intolerable Acts, King George III, and the Boston Tea party.
“American Revolution” – Covers the year 1775 including the Boston Massacre, lanterns in the Old North Church, Paul Revere’s Ride, and the battles of Lexington and Concord.
“First Presidency” – This was my least favorite only because it involves less time travel than the other books. We do get a look at the first three presidencies of the United States but we could have not listened and I would have been fine.
“Seeds of America” Trilogy by Laurie Halse Anderson
I read the “Seeds of America” trilogy by Laurie Halse Anderson a few years ago and loved them. I’ve mentioned them to my older two kids who tried to read them on their own and just couldn’t get into it. Since we were already listening to Rush Revere, listening to these as audio books didn’t make sense, and we just don’t have the time or energy to read aloud together (although I know there are incredible benefits to that!).
My solution? We started a book club. We assigned a certain number of chapters to be read in a day and then talked about them over dinner. We all loved it!
The series follows three young slaves, Isabel, Curzon, and Ruth through the course of the Revolutionary War and their fight for freedom alongside the Patriots. “Chains” begins in New York when the British invade (so picks up kind of where Rush leaves off) and are more focused on the characters rather than events. The characters remark on events, “I heard Washington escaped through the fog” but its a more localized tale about the hardships and the struggles of the people.
“Forge” takes place during the winter encampment of Valley Forge and is the story of Curzon and his fight as a soldier as well as being captured and returned to slavery.
“Ashes” follows the end of the war near Yorktown. I *wish* we had had time to visit southern Virginia to close up the unit study, but either way we definitely needed to finish the series to find out what happens to the characters!
The biggest takeaway of this series for us was the fact that while the Patriots were fighting for freedom they still kept thousands of African Americans in slavery. The hypocrisy of this situation was not lost on any us, and spurred some really important discussions with our children. You can buy the trilogy on Amazon here.
Smash Journaling the American Revolution Timeline
One of the additions for school this trip as been our “Smash Journals”. Inspired by our friends over at KidProject.org I decided to help the kids keep a record of our travels while exercising their creative muscles. We bought $5 dot graph journals from Michael’s and the kids have journaled, sketched, printed photos, and included stickers, National Park stamps, and ticket stubs.
When we began talk of the Revolutionary War I knew we needed a timeline so my kids could understand the events as they played out.
One afternoon in Acadia NP, Alyssa and I gathered all our crafty materials and spent a few hours with all the kids on a picnic table but by the bay helping put their timelines together. Originally we made space through the Civil War and we did end up adding dates for Lincoln’s assassination but most of our dates are between the Pilgrims and the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
“Everything You Need to Ace American History in One Big Fat Notebook”
We randomly picked up a copy of this book at Costco on our way to the East Coast. Thinking that my kids would just sit down and read it (which they do sometimes), Sam and I both felt it was a good resource to have on hand. While not a complete study of the Revolutionary War, the short section did help us fill in our timeline and reinforce events. You can also buy it on Amazon.
Places We Visited
I realize not everyone has the chance to visit, in person, the Revolutionary War sites in the eastern United States. However, most of these parks are run by the National Park Service and they have incredible information on their websites. So, you could still study the locations and the sites even if its from home.
This visit was a happy accident. We just happened to be in the area and were able to visit the fort. While the timeline was confusing (the fort was used in multiple wars) it did introduce the concept of the French and Indian Wars. We learned later that the Stamp and Intolerable Acts were direct results of King George III trying to pay off the war which made it relevant to the kids. See more about our visit here.
I debated between this and the Boston Tea Party Museum due to the cost. It was fairly expensive, but I knew we could easily spend most of day exploring here. Plus, our friends wanted to go so that sealed it. My favorite part was sitting in the Native American village and listening to stories about the Wampanoeg culture. Unfortunately the Mayflower is under renovation and wasn’t there but we did also get to wander through the 17th Century English Village.
Overall I think I’d give the park a B-. It didn’t help that it was hot and humid walking through the English village and the kids were tired. Overall I’m glad we went though!
I was SO excited for Boston. I was ready for the history, and to just feel the city. I’m not sure what went wrong but it really didn’t do it for me. We walked most of the Freedom Trail and saw the site of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere’s House (pay to go in), the Old North Church (also pay to go in), and the Battle of Bunker Hill (climb to the top for free).
It was a lot of walking and kind of cool to see where things were but Boston has changed so much I didn’t get the history magic goosebumps I was looking for.
I liked Minute Man NHP SO much more than Boston. Located between the cities of Concord and Lexington everything was slower paced and I could imagine what it would have been like in 1775.
The multi-media presentation a the visitor center is not to be missed. It was an INCREDIBLE detailing of the events that led up to the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere’s Ride & Capture, and the battles of Lexington and Concord.
We only happened by Federal Hall because of the Rush Revere series. We were listening to the “First Presidency” as we drove into NYC and he talked about the fact that Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America on the steps of Federal Hall. Huh. We should go there. So we stopped by. Unfortunately it was closed but since I’ve learned that the visitor center there is actually quite good. So, maybe check to make sure its open before you happen by!
We visited Philadelphia 5 years ago just after purchasing the Airstream. It was one of our first moochdocking experiences and we loved hanging out with our friends. We didn’t plan super far in advance (yes, that’s usually how it goes) so we were unable to get tickets for Independence Hall. Consequently, touring Independence Hall was the ONE thing I wanted to do this time around. Sam had to work, so the kids and I drove in early and were able to acquire tickets for the late afternoon which gave us time to explore the Museum of the American Revolution.
The tour itself was actually kind of uninspiring (after ALL those years of waiting, lol!) but I can now check it off my bucket list.
This was AMAZING. The Museum of the American Revolution is Philly’s newest, state of the art museum and they did an incredible job. They had lots of multi-media presentations, videos, artifacts, and summaries of the events. The museum is laid out chronoligcally so we journeyed from the ascension of King George III to the throne of Great Britain, to the early events and conflict of the American Revoluation, the battles, and finally the aftermath and how it affected both the United States and the world as an example of a democracy.
I loved that we had studied so much of this that my kids were like, “Yes! We talked about this!” They recognized many of the events, stories, and battles which took place so this was kind of an overview/review type experience. At one point, Andrew excitedly ran up to me and said, “They have a piece of Kind George’s Statue!” Yep. The one the patriots tore down after hearing the Declaration of Independence and melted into bullets (thanks Rush!).
We did learn more about the Native American struggle with choosing sides, the battle at Saratoga, the invasion of Philadelphia, and the Battle of Brandywine. Andrew also spent quite a bit of time aboard the privateering ship talking to a docent about the role they played in the war.
My FAVORITE part was the presentation of George Washington’s actual war tent. You guys! They have HIS TENT. It was a beautiful video presentation and reveal, I just wish they had given us a chance to stare at it a little longer. If I’ve learned nothing else through this study, its to complete respect this man who did so many amazing things for our country.
Because we had been reading the “Seeds of America” series, I was equally excited to visit Valley Forge and explore the area with our kids. Valley Forge was a turning point in the Revolutionary War as we finally received foreign aid and Baron Von Steuben helped discipline and train our troops over the long winter. Totally fascinating.
Equally amazing was visiting George Washington’s headquarters and realizing the original banister was still in place. Totally geek out moment. We thoroughly enjoyed riding our bikes through the park and imagining what it must have looked with like all those troops nestled in for the winter!
While I we didn’t cover ALL the available sites, by the time we turned back west I felt we had done a pretty good job of studying the Revolutionary War. My only twinge of sadness was that we didn’t make it down to Yorktown to really round things out!
Have you studied the Revolutionary War with your kids? What are your favorite resources?
My family came to visit for a week and my mom rented a house in nearby Victor, Idaho so we could all stay together. Anyone else’s reunions crazy fun and utterly exhausting?
The kids are excited to check out all their favorite trails, and I think they will spend most of December becoming familiar again with their favorite runs. The kids also love the various paths through the trees that turn technical skill practice into something fun! Those will help with their turning and handling skills in preparation for tackling some of the easier intermediate trails.
