Homeschool Curriculum Ideas
Bible Memory Verses Below

Lesson 1: Understanding Freedom and Independence

Objectives:

Your child will be able to understand the definition of freedom and tell in their own words why the colonist felt they should be independent of the British rule.

Activities:

1. Look up the word freedom in a dictionary and thesaurus. Help your child notice that the word independence is synonymous for freedom.
2. Have your child on a sheet of paper list all the synonyms for freedom. Spend some time with your child discussing the meaning of freedom in your own lives.
3. Read a book that illustrates the causes of the American Revolution so that your child at least is able to trace the basic reasons for the movement towards independence.
4. Let your child read parts of all of the Declaration of Independence.

Lesson 2: The Promise of the Declaration of Independence Objectives:

Your child should understand that when the Declaration of Independence was written that the promise of "unalienable rights" did not apply to African Americans. Your child should also realize that the enslavement of African Americans existed at the end of the Revolutionary War. Another important objective for your child is to understand that many free African Americans fought for the colonies in the American Revolution.

Activities:

1. You could read to your child about black heroes in the American Revolution; "Black Heroes of the American Revolution" by Burke Davis.
2. Discuss with your child how "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" did not apply to all Americans at the time of the Revolution. Ask your child to tell you how the Declaration of Independence could be worded to include all Americans.

Lesson 3: People of The American Revolution in Fact and Fiction

Objectives:

Help your child to recognize the major events of the American Revolution and understand what life was like for those who lived during the American Revolutionary period.

Activities:

1. A great sourcebook is: "The Revolutionary War: A Sourcebook, by Carter Smith. Your child should have a basic understanding of the events of the war before continuing.
2. Use the booklist below and the recommended books above to stock a "bookshelf" for your child on the American Revolution. Encourage your child to write a report on the books that they read.
3. Read a chapter a day from the book, "If you Were There in 1776", by Barbara Brenner.
Book List
"The Corduroy Road" by Patricia Edwards Clyne
Tib helps an American soldier to West Point during the Revolutionary War.
"Samuel's Choice" by Richard Berieth
Samuel, a young slave in Brooklyn, must choose between helping the rebel colonists escape from the British and obeying his arrogant master.
Rabbits and Redcoats, by Robert Newton Peck
Vermont farm boys secretly join Ethan Allen's raid against the British-held Fort Riconderoga, which everone hopes will become the first American victory of the Revolutionary War.
"This Time, Tempe Wick" by Patricia Lee Gauch
Discover how clever Tempe protects her best horse, bon, and her sick mother from renegade Revolutionary Soldiers.
"I am Regina" by Sally M. Keehn
Regina, captured by the Delaware Indians in 1756, journeys through terror, life threatening danger, and near starvation to find love and acceptance in a new life, only to have that threatened by a new enemy.
"The Ice Trail" by Anne Elliot Crompton
Tanial remembers when his name was Daniel before he went to live with the Indians.
"My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier
Tim's parents are Tories and his brother is a patriot, but what will Tim be?
"Sarah Bishop" by Scott O'Dell
Sarah hates the Revolution after a raid destroys her farm.
"Mr. Revere and I" by Robert Lawson Sheherazade
Paul Revere's horse, tells his side of the famous ride.

Lesson 4: The Places of the American Revolution

Objectives:

Your child will be able to located many of the sites that commemorate the events of the American Revolution and understand how to obtain information about those sites. Your child will also understand how to create an informative booklet for visitors who might like to visit those sites.

Activities:

1. Read to your child about the places that commemorate the American Revolution from the book, "Historic Places of Early America."
2. Have your child brainstorm as to how to go about getting the addresses of organizations that care for the sites. Tie this activity on a lesson of how to write a business letter. Have your child write a letter to to group asking for brochures or further information about the site.
3. When your child receives the information requested, have your child work on a booklet that tells about the sites. The booklet should include a map showing the location of the sites. Each write up should tell about what part the site played in the American Revolution.

Lesson 5: The United States Constitution

Objectives:

Your child will be able to recognize that the process of creating the United States Constitution was an integral part of the American Revolution. Your child will also understand the basic form of the Constitution and how it was created. Finally, your child will be able to describe the form of government created by the Constitution.

Activities:

1. Your child should learn from this lesson that the freedoms discussed in the first lesson of this unit were secured by the creation of a stable, successful form of national government. The purpose of this lesson is to explain the basic premises of this document.
2. Many resources might be used to explain the efforts of the founding Fathers as they labored in Philadelphia to draft the Constitution. Read the book, "Shh! We're Writing the Constitution" by Jean Fritz, which focuses on the people involved in the Constitutional Convention. Another good resource is "Our Independence and Constitution" by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Help your child to recognize the contributions made by key individuals such as James Madison.
3. A good resource for helping your child to understand the format of the Constitution and the government it created is "We The People: The Constitution of the United States of America" by Peter Spier. Another good book, "Our Constitution" by Linda Johnson has a clear introduction to this topic. Your child should understand the three branches of government, the system of checks and balances, and the process of amending the Constitution.

Resources

"If You Were There in 1776" by Barbara Brenner
"Historic Places of Early America" by David M. Brownstone
"Black Heroes of the American Revolution" by Burke Davis
"Our Independence and Constitution" by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
"Shh! We're Writing the Constitution" by Jean Fritz
"From Colonies to Country" by Joy Hakim
"The New Nation" by Joy Hakim
"Our Constitution" by Linda Johnson
"We the People: The Constitution of the United States of America"
"Everything You Need to Know about American History" by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly.

Bible Story: Moses & Pharaoh
(Plan to cover Exodus at your own pace)

"Exodus" is a Latin word dervied from Greek Exodos , the name given to the book by those who translated it into Greek., The word means, "exit," "departure" (See Luke 9:31; Hebrews 11:22).

Several statements in Exodus indiciate that Moses was the author of the book of Exodus. Also Johsua 8:31 refers to the command of Exodus 20:25 as having been "written in the Book of Moses." The New Testament also claims Mosaic authorship for various passages in Exodus (see Mark 7:10, 12:26, and Luke 2:22-23.

According to 1 King 6:1, the exodus took place 480 years before the "fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel." Since that year was c. 966 BC, it has been traditionally held that the exodus occurred c. 1446.

There are 3 routes of escape that have been proposed. The route that took the Israelites along the west coast of Sinai to the southeastern extremities of the peninsula seems the most likely.

Exodus lays a foundational theology in which God reveals his name, his attributes, his redemption, his law and how he is to be worshipped. Emphasis is also placed on God's attributes of justice, truthfulness, mercy, faithfulness, and holiness. Thus to know God's "name" is to know him and to know his character.

God begins to fulfill the promises that he made centuries earlier to Abraham, Issac and Jacob as Israel is freed from Egyptian bondage and as they sat out for the Promised Land.

The theology of salvation is also one of the strong emphases of the book of Exodus. The verb, "redeem" is used, in 6:6, 15:13. But the heart of redemption theology is best seen in the Passover narrative of Chapter 12 and the sealing of the covenant in ch 24. The apostle Paul viewed the death of the Passover lamab as fulfilled in Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7) John the Baptist called Jesus, the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) (The NIV Study Bible)

MAJOR POINTS: Birth of Moses, Pharaoh's daughter, Moses kills an Egyptian and flees to Midian, Moses & the Burning Bush, "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Exodus 3:14, The Lord gives signs for Moses, Moses Returns to Egypt, Moses & Pharaoh - bricks without straw, Aaron speaks for Moses, Aaron's staff becomes a snake, The Plagues, The passover, The Exodus, Passover Restrictions, Consecration of the Firstborn, the Crossing of the Red Sea, The Waters of Marah and Elim, Manna and Quail, Water From the Rock, At Mount Sinai, The Ten Commandments, God's Angel to Prepare the Way, The Covenant Confirmed, The Ark, The Tabernacle, The Sabbath, The Golden Calf, Moses and the Glory of God, The New Stone Tablets, The Glory of the Lord

Vocabulary Words

Liberty

independence

Independence Day

revolution

colony

tax

delcaration

patriot

celebrate

John Hancock

congress

pledge

allegiance

united

justice

anthem

pyramid

pharaoh

redeem

plague

Memory Verses

"For freedom did Christ set us free stand fast therefore and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." Leviticus 25:10

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised,"
Luke 4:18

"Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, [there] is liberty." 2 Corinthians 3:17

"and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

"If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36

"and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness."
Romans 6:18

"For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death."
Romans 8:2

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