Why we created ‘Decade by Decade’
So, this is how it all started…
We were in the museum under The Gateway Arch. We had just finished a wonderful year of homeschooling, one I think the kids and I will always look on fondly, walking through early American history and reading the Little House on the Prairie series, using The Playful Pioneers. (We LOVE this curriculum – you can read more about our year using it here.) Aliza in particular had fallen in love with the Ingalls family, so when she stumbled upon a part of the exhibit that walked through the history of St. Louis and mentioned Laura Ingalls Wilder, she was so excited! She called out for us and we all came running! The exhibit mentioned her traveling in a car with her husband Alonzo. We all just kind of stood and took that in – Laura had driven in a car?!
The same Laura that used an outhouse?
The same Laura that literally lived inside a hill?
The same Laura that traveled in a covered wagon?
The car ride to our next destination was filled with questions and marveling over this mind-blowing thought – she had seen so much incredible change in her lifetime! We learned more about Laura as we visited her homestead (learn about that here) and continued our trip. Time passed and we started the next school year studying The Kind Kingdom (also from The Peaceful Press – read about it here). It was another rich and amazing year. And as it was dwindling down – ok fine, it was October – I began asking the kids what they wanted to learn about next school year. The answer was instant and emphatic – “What happened to Laura after the prairie?!”
I scoured the web for a good elementary aged literature-based modern American history curriculum (whew!) and just couldn’t find what I was looking for. I found text book-based curriculums and I found unit studies on certain decades or movements, but nothing similar to what we had been doing (and had worked so well for us), in this particular topic. It seems that most people don’t cover this time period until middle or high school.
Well, we aren’t most people – so, I set out to make my own…
What I found was an abundance of living books for a younger audience just waiting for someone to curtate them into a study and put them to good use! There are so many amazing picture books about inventions, historical figures, artists, and movements, why not make a year of it?
And what a year it was, it has absolutely flown by, we had so much fun working together to come up with craft and experiment ideas that go along with each decade, recording in our notebooks about all we’ve learned, and celebrating each decade with our ‘Decade Dinners.’ Not to mention some really fun field trips!
While I have no desire to be an entrepreneur (I can barely even spell the word), I wanted to share what we created in the hopes that it might bless another family who wants to know – what happened to American after the prairie? If you are curious, jump on over to the shop to check it out!
