{REVIEW} The Good and the Beautiful History Year 2 – Colonial America / The United States Constitution

I don’t know what it is about this year of history {especially this unit} but we have had several lessons that have truly changed me. I realize that sounds pretty bold, but I have many ah-ha moments and things come up that have really made me think. It has been incredible. History is BY FAR my favorite subject to teach.

What is covered?

• Jamestown, John Smith, and Pocahontas
• The Pilgrims {Two Lessons}
• Henry Hudson & the Dutch Colonies
• The Puritans
• Thomas Hooker & Roger Williams
• William Penn & James Oglethorpe
• Everyday Life in Colonial Times {Two Lessons}
• The Thirteen Colonies
• Benjamin Franklin {Two Lessons}
• The Coming Forth of the Constitution
• Basics of the Constitution
• Important Principles of Freedom
• The Blessings of a Constitutional Democratic Republic
• George Washington as President

Supplies

There are several optional recipes that you can do in this unit. These definitely are not essential to the lessons but we thought they were a fun addition!

• Pilgrim Hat Cookies
• Maple Snow
• Make your own candles (I really wanted to do these but we didn’t have the supplies to do it – next time it is HAPPENING!)
• Johnny Cakes
• Butter

A few other supplies you need are:

• A few brightly-colored ribbons and beads
• A bottle of pure maple syrup
• A Bible
• A pair of socks
• A picture of your family
• A postage stamp or envelope
• Dried fruit
• A bandage or first aid item
• A shoe
• A book
• A $1 bill
• Cold coffee or tea
• Blow Dryer

Student Explorers

Jacob is using the student explorer for Grades 1-3. This unit he continued to work on his timeline pages, which covered:

• Jamestown, Virginia, is settled
• The Pilgrims Establish Plymouth, Massachusetts Colony
• New Hampshire is settled by English fisherman
• The Dutch settle New Amsterdam. In 1664, the English gain rule and change the colony’s name to New York
• The First Puritans Come to America
• Maryland is settled by Catholics
• Thomas Hooker settles Connecticut
• Pennsylvania is Founded by William Penn
• Georgia is Founded by James Oglethorpe
• The U.S. Constitution is Signed

There is a map of the original thirteen colonies for them to label and color.

There is also a coloring page of Benjamin Franklin sharing books and discussing ideas with his friends.

And we discussed and did a page about the power delegated by the founders to the federal government and to state governments.

Read Alouds

This unit we read William Bradford: Pilgrim Boy by Bradford Smith. We really enjoyed this book. One thing that became very apparent was how much knowledge I lacked about colonial America. Other than recognizing his name, I couldn’t have told you anything about William Bradford before this unit {EMBARRASSING!}.

This book was perfect for young elementary aged kiddos. It mostly focused on William Bradford’s life growing up as a young boy. I actually loved that it was written this way. We have a couple books about important people in history that relate more there experiences as a child, and it has been really powerful for Jacob. This book was great and I think William Bradford has become a history hero for both Jacob and myself.

Independent Reading

I love to add in some additional reading if I can!

If you have been around here – you will know that Jacob is a HUGE Imagination Station fan. And I love them for many reasons too – including that there is always at least one book in the series that we can link up to what we are learning about.

Jacob read Problems in Plymouth by Marianne Hering and Marshal Younger. It’s a winner.

He also read Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla. These two books are great for young elementary aged kiddos – I would say between 2nd and 4th grade.

We also had Jamestown, New World Adventure by James E. Knight and The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall. These books were books that we already had and we didn’t read them cover to cover but they were nice to reference and Jacob enjoyed looking through them.

Length of Unit

This unit had seventeen lessons and took us about nine weeks to get through.

Our Favorite Activities

As I mentioned earlier, this unit had a lot of optional recipe activities and these were a HUGE hit for us! Jacob loved getting into the kitchen!

Some of his favorites were definitely the pilgrim hat cookies, johnny cakes, and butter!

Another great part of this unit was Jacob was able to pick a colonial figure to research and then present an oral report on them. Jacob picked John Smith. He did a really great job working with me to come up with his report. I actually think he really enjoyed seeing how different John Smith was in real life compared to the Pocahontas movie.

We also really enjoyed making our own parchment paper and writing the Seven Articles of the Constitution on it.

Final Thoughts

I love history. And I truly love how The Good and the Beautiful makes history come alive. It’s amazing.

To see sample pages and more about this history, visit The Good and the Beautiful website.

To see all of Jacob’s second grade curriculum, click here.

ALL of our unit reviews for History 2 can be found here:

• Unit 1: Ancient Greece / Ancient Asia
• Unit 2: Vikings / Exploration / Pre-Columbian America
• Unit 4: History of United States Education / WWI through the Great Depression

Our full review of History 2 can be found here.