A Review of Girls of American History Curriculum

When I was contacted about writing a review for Girls of American History Curriculum which was chosen as one of the Top Picks of 2015-2016 in the Homeschool Curriculum Guide I was very excited to take a look!

Two of my girls are turning ages nine and seven this fall and I had been thinking about what history I wanted to study with them. I had pretty much settled back on American History since I already owned the entire Sonlight Core D American history package. However, I wanted another way to make it more fun, more hands on, more "girly", although boys needed to enjoy it too, since our youngest son, turning five would be joining in as well.

I was asked to pick any of the units I wanted. I chose to review the first one since that would be the one I would likely start with.
The website, although it is set to be updated, was pretty user friendly. The author of this curriculum, Justine Gamble, has done a great job explaining how the units work based on the fictional book series centered around the popular American Girl collection.
The first unit is titled "Nez Perce-Kaya®" and covers the time period starting with the Native Americans in 1764. The units are broken up into six week studies. Each week covers which book to be read, a craft and field trip to go along with each story.

Justine also offers other great resources to supplement the hands on experience such as History Pockets and the popular Draw Write Now series including which books that include the crafts for each unit.

In addition to these outside resources for purchase Justine also includes fun FREE resources. That was a nice bonus to see lists to FREE resources to supplement each unit study.
A weekly plan and schedule to implement this enrichment history course is also included, which I really loved.

When you purchase a unit study you have special access to even more online ideas! Justine will send you an email with your special code to access TONS more fun stuff to enrich your child's learning! Some of the fun crafts (with links to find the supplies to make them) for this unit are:basket weaving, drawing, make a canoe, make a teepee, necklaces, cave paintings. Field trips suggested were to visit a fish hatchery, create your own Pow Wow, as well as additional video sources.

Justine suggests that this curriculum can be both an enrichment curriculum to go alongside another core curriculum you are studying, or it can be stand alone by adding a few sources to it. It can also be used in a co-op setting with so many fun hands-on ways to learn and expand children's knowledge of American history!
I look forward to updating this post with pictures of our fun!

If you would like to make history more hands on, fun, and grab the attention of both young girls AND boys why not check this out for your family?

Girls of American History Collection

You can learn more here!

Why I Like To Wear Skirts and Some Thoughts on Modesty

Here I am in my lovely new skirt, compliments of my Mom.
This was taken back in May.
I've lost about 18 lbs of pregnancy weight here.
The skirt is light weight and a fun color. My son thought I should start doing a Hawaiian dance when he saw me wearing it!

Whenever my mom is out and about she searches and often finds the most lovely skirts for me! I love to wear skirts now. They have been the perfect transition during and after my pregnancy. Because I have been breast feeding for nearly five years straight I also wear shirts that I can easily breastfeed in.

With a houseful of boys I also have been becoming increasingly more aware of how I dress around my teenage sons. Along with the fact I have two little girls watching every move I make. My girls love to wear dresses too!

We put on our dresses and head off to run errands. Almost every outing lends a wonderful compliment and a question as to why we're all dressed up! No reason, we enjoy being feminine! We are girls so we want to dress like girls! My husband loves it when my girls and I are all wearing our dresses!

In the summer months, skirts and dresses are the only way to dress!

So lest you think we are of some strange religious homeschooling order where I am forced to wear skirts by my church or my husband, I wear skirts because I like them! I don't feel fat in them, I can move about rather easily in a skirt, and I'll tell you a little secret....

The number one reason I found to where a skirt....

I respect myself! 

(It also can bring out the chivalry in old men. Sometimes when they see me approaching a door wearing a skirt, they will stop to open it for me. If you ever wanted to try this as an experiment for all of you who don't wear skirts, I dare you! It's quite delightful to see a man take a few extra quick steps to grab a door for you! Now this is not done in disrespect to my husband or with total disregard for my marriage, this is about RESPECT.)

Take a listen to this video below, it explains what I'm talking about.

(Here is a little background on it.)

He begins with a recent study done by Princeton of what happens to men's brains while viewing women with little clothing on. The study done is very revealing (pun intended) that women who dress modestly allow men to see them for more of who they are and not just for their bodies. Something in a man's brain actually turns off when he sees a woman wearing little clothing. Take a listen, it's less than four minutes long but definitely worth viewing.

 

When practical, wear pants. As often as I can, I wear a skirt!

Moving into the colder Fall and Winter months, I've lost more of my "baby" weight and can fit back into my jeans and pants again. You can read about my journey here.  Even though I can fit back into my jeans better than ever I still long to wear my skirts. Raising Homemakers has a great blog post on how she wears her skirts year round. Adding long socks and fun leggings are great ideas. I think I will try using some of her techniques!

 

"I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." 1 Timothy 2:9-10

Just some thoughts to ponder!