More American Girl Unit Studies

 I’m still going down the rabbit hole of American Girl dolls.  I have several young friends who adore the original Pleasant Company dolls.  My friend, Jen, is teaching her daughter, Sophie, a unit this coming fall. The six historical dolls (plus Kit) offer an excellent range for American History.   

1. Portraits of American Girlhood (POAG) and the Welcome to the World books are frequently cited in the Well-Trained Mind Community, a highly reliable forum.  POAG is a curriculum, which uses the American Girl books.  

2.  Look at the Historical Craft Kits once sold for American Girl dolls.  Jen’s plan is for the girls to make rag dolls. I recommend using a felt doll pattern and yarn hair.  Felt is easy to sew.  Here is a more authentic rag doll pattern.  Use a quilt cheater panel kiddos can sew up quickly into a doll quilt.  

3. Look for Recipes, Pioneer Potato Soup, Addy’s Shortbread, and Historical American Recipes are all free and open the door to another rabbit hole!  

4. What about science?  In this Unit Study for Kirsten, one topic is tornados, perfect for a science study!  Make a Zoetrope, made popular is the 19th Century.  Schools made Milk Plastic as a science experiment. Students from 1900s on grew plants and created School Gardens.  Any focus on practical farming would be consistent historically.

5.  Write a book report with a simple book report template.  Your kiddo can practice hand-writing, spelling, and recap her favorite American Girl book.  You can add questions.  What is the time period?  Where is the story set?  Would you change the ending?  How?  Write a Movie vs.Book report.  Which is better?  Does the movie capture the book?  (Spoiler alert!  The book is always better!)  

American Girl Teacher’s Guides

 If you are planning a history unit based on the American girl dolls, you are going to want as many resources as possible.  I found two of the Welcome to the World books at Good Will. Keep an eye out for the American Girl Teacher’s Guides, which are books are different from the Free Teacher and Conversation Guides.  Let me organize what I found.

1. Here is a sample of the Nez Perce Indians from The Girls of American History Curriculum.  The entire curriculum set is 109.90.  You’ll still need all of the books, craft materials, etc.

2. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has Addy’s World (use to guide a tour of the American History Museum) and   Addy Walker (watch the video).

3.  The Pleasant Company published a book, ‘America at School’, which is a social studies unit.  I found an image and isbn.  The listings are exorbitant.  See if your library can track down a copy.

4. A girl’s window into history is an interesting article about Pleasant Rowland.  I like a little context.  Read this inspiring article about how dolls teach history.  How American Dolls Teach History is interesting, too.  Did you know there are American Girl Reddit forums?

5.  Look at this forum for ideas, too! Here are suggestions for using the dolls to teach about Mesopotamia.  Too fun!  

Co-op Fees

  The local Co-op used to rent space at a neighboring church, one day a week.  (Our church has a large school and even larger religious education program.  There just isn’t space for home-school families.  Frankly, some of the school’s teachers are none too thrilled with RE classes held in their rooms.)  The Co-op had costs, such as insurance, which they divided among the participating parents.  For many years, the Co-op held classes at the local library; the library now discourages home-school families from holding classes.  

During COVID, we held Co-op classes remotely; in Virginia, there was an extended lock-down.  The local library was closed, reopened with appointments, and closed intermittently whenever COVID spiked over the next year.  The library made it clear they did not want science classes taught in their Maker Space any more.  

We needed a solution.  Our house has a large basement; we increased our liability insurance and have held classes in our basement.  Smaller groups meet in individual homes, too.  Do we charge?  We ask for a fee of $35 per family for Biology and Chemistry classes to defray costs.  Otherwise, the math or literature classes aren’t expensive to host.  We do buy all the textbooks and lend them to students to ensure they all have the same edition.  (I shop for textbooks ruthlessly.  If one goes missing it’s not a big deal.  The same is true of graphing calculators we lend to students.)

BTW my husband and I tutor from time to time, too.  We don’t charge to tutor either.  Why?  Once upon a time, I was commissioned to tutor the basketball team for a local college.  Wow!  The team seemed to think I was there to start an IV and transfuse understanding.  I learned quickly I do not have the stomach to tutor for money.  When I tutor as a favor, the onus remains on the student to learn the material—not on the instructor to miraculously transmit knowledge.  

Other home-school groups do charge fees.  My friend, Jen, belongs to a Classical Conversations Group in Woodbridge.  Classical Conversation’s fees are distributed among tuition, facility, and supplies.  The Classical Cottage Consortium charges fees for different classes.  Other Co-ops hire veteran teachers directly.  (Sometimes veteran teachers need to be paid to derive meaning from their work.)  While many churches have space available for a Co-op to meet, others don’t.  Be sure to check about insurance or facility fees!  

Local History!

 Visit your hometown like a tourist!  Living on the east coast has advantages; we do have loads of history!  We just visited Rock Hall and Chestertown, Md.  Both Rock Hall and Chestertown have museums.  Really! (I was surprised, too.). Chestertown (founded 1706) and Washington College (founded in 1782 and located in Chestertown) have loads of history.  I bet your hometown does, too!

Make your hometown a history, unit study.  Read Hometown History: The Story of Ft. Herrick for inspiration.  When was your town founded?  Who were the founders?  Why did they choose the name of the town?  What are major events in the town’s history? How is the town renowned?  For example, Dean Martin was born in Steubenville, Ohio, also home to Franciscan University of Steubenville, my son’s alma mater.  (Not that I’m biased.)  Does your town have a historic district?  Does it have distinctive architecture?  Did the town take part in any war.  For example, Winchester, VA changed hands 72 times  during the Civil War. (Yes, that number is highly debated.)   Kings Mountain SC was the site of an important Revolutionary War battle. (I had had no idea until we visited Kings Mountain.  It’s beautiful!). Freeland MI had Camp Freeland , which held prisoners of war during WWII.  

Here  is one town history guide.  Add maps, photos, brochures, etc.  Work together as a family.  When our family first moved to Winchester, VA, we visited major historic sites: Stonewall Jackson’s Headquarters, Winchester National Cemetery, George Washington’s Office, and a host of sites, especially Old Town Winchester.  We used to show visiting friends the Canon Ball House or Handley Library.  So much history!  Think how much your family will learn!

Lakeshore

 Lakeshore Learning is having a big sale.  Look at Landforms.  However, you may want to look at Good Will or eBay for deals. Below are examples of the range of items—not the best prices.  Look over the sets you find most interesting on the Lakeshore website.  I’m a fan of the People Long Ago Resource Boxes.

Above is the set I bought at Good Will for my friend, Jen; she’s using it to develop an Kirsten Pioneer Unit Study and Little House study—literature program.  The resource box helps frame the study. Below are more Lakeshore kits, both modern and vintage.  Keep at eye out for a deal.

American Girl Doll History

 One of my home-school friends is teaching her daughter history next year with American Girl dolls.  So smart!  Her daughter, Sophie, loves her dolls.  What a fabulous way to introduce a love for history and literature!  Start at your local library.  Who knows?  The library may have all the Welcome to the World books to get you started.  There are both vintage and more recent editions of the American Girl books.  Remember, this is your child and your program.  You could read the six books, cook a few recipes, play a few games, and try a few crafts.  Call it a day.  You may want to take a deep dive into Native American culture.  Focus on the doll or period of history which resonates with your daughter.  (Face it.  Your son is NOT going to be as excited.) Below are a few links.

1. Fields of Daisies has several American Girl History Units for sale.  However, some of her material, such as reading lists, etc are free.  You may find the outlines are sufficient to build a curriculum.

2. American Girl has Conversation Guides. Beforever has the history timeline for the American Girl dolls. The other conversation guides are reader’s questions for the books in each doll series.  They would be terrific for a book club based on the Historical dolls.  The teacher’s guides, like the questions and activity guides , are generic—but free.  Take a look.

3.  The Unlikely Homeschooler’s unit studies (such as Kaya’s) are more of an outline with suggestions in blog posts—still free!  

4.  Heavens to Betty had better results and uses the American Girl books: Kaya, Felicity, Rebecca, Molly, and Nanea.  You can do a great deal of instruction with the American Girl Doll books!  The unit studies include cooking, crafts, etc.  

5. My favorite is Kirsten.  Here and  here are guides.  Here are Kirsten videos, which look educational.  Here is a long list of books.  Little House on the Prairie dovetails well with any pioneer, unit study.  Here is a pioneer history unit study.  Select elements you like.

I found a Lakeshore People Long Ago resource kit for pioneers at Good Will.  You could use these kits with your unit studies.  Used sets are available at eBay.  

Want some more fun? Sew!  I’ve made a few dresses and accessories!

How many hours a day should you teach?

 I bet you anguish over the number of hours a day you teach your child.  How many hours do you need?  Many, many kiddos can complete their core subjects in three hours.  Teens may need more time, especially to complete essays and labs.  Everyone should assign time to read.  Have friends with their kiddos in public school asked you why your child doesn’t need seven or eight hours doing school work?  You should ask your friend if she has spent a day in the classroom.  I taught in both public and private schools.  There is more time lost in public schools than I private schools, at least in my experience.  

How is time lost?  Behavioral issues rob instruction from classes.  Before any break, many, many teachers run movies in their classes.  Additionally, teachers feel entitled to take most of their sick days or personal days.  Substitutes generally do not deliver quality instruction; too often, the sub plan is another movie.  At least in the local school district, PE consists of running, walking, or planning with balls.  PE also includes Health or Driver’s Ed.  Many, many teachers allow students to work on homework in class, especially if the school is organized into block periods of eighty or ninety minutes.  In the local district, there are courses required, such as career exploration.  These courses are vague and lack structure.  It’s up to the teacher to design a good class.  Too often the teacher doesn’t.  

Then there are the disruptions and distractions: spirit days, fire drills, lock-down drills, weather drills, year book distribution, book sales, field days, home-room, assemblies, speakers, and announcements. If a team makes it to States, the entire school might go outside to cheer them on to the buses.  Really.  The number of minor disruptions is myriad.  Teachers are observed by administrators.  Classes may be combined because there are a lack of subs.  Anytime school is delayed for inclement weather, the class schedule is either half-day or brief encounters with students.

 One of the biggest disruption is standardized tests.  In Virginia, the SOLs are in May.  Teachers end instruction in April to begin review for the SOLs.  Not every student in their classes has to take an SOL; those kiddos do some alternative project instead.  Once the SOLs are over, so is class.  School may still be in session; few teachers offer any instruction.  In fact, Virginia is changing the testing schedule for SOLs to increase instruction.  These aren’t the only standardized tests administered.  For example, Juniors may take PSAT.  AP students take exams over two weeks in May, too.  AP instruction ends early, too, in order to review.

You spend your time teaching your children and minimizing disruptions.  If a child goes off-task, parents insist they complete their work.  Home-school families can complete the work in three hours because they have more control over their environment, especially if they focus on core subjects.