White House Holidays Unit Studies from Silverdale Press LLC: A TOS Crew Review

White House Holidays Unit Studies from Silverdale Press LLC

We can learn with holidays?  Really! The White House Holidays Unit Studies from Silverdale Press LLC take our American holidays, and turn them into full unit studies that give us a rich education as well.

The White House Holidays Unit Studies have 6 downloadable PDF studies:
Labor Day

• Veterans Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Valentine's Day

These studies are designed for ages 5-18 with two options in each study, one for elementary ages, one for Middle/High school. It's the perfect way to bring the whole family together to learn!

The author, Jill Hummer is a homeschooling mom and Presidential scholar herself.  However, you will see right away,  that these unit studies are different from the fluffy, craft-filled (there are some optional craft projects) fact-less, activity based unit studies.  These are studies are well-written with plenty of research.  They are truly a course in American History!

Each study contains 3 to 5 lessons.  These studies can be used in a variety of ways.  You could spend a day going through each lesson, or spread lessons out over several days leading up to a particular holiday.  We purchased the Christmas study this past year and used it throughout the month of December as a break from our "regular" studies.

Let me show you what I mean by highlighting a few studies:

Valentine's Day

This 63 page study contains 5 lessons that focus in on different Presidents and the love of their life.  Our favorite was reading about Ronald and Nancy Regan, and their "pet names" for each other.  In our family, nicknames speak love...so, we enjoyed reading about a President who called his beloved wife "Mommie poo"

It's interesting facts like this that make these unit studies stand out from all the rest. They truly make our history come alive in a fresh new way.

Each study is filled with primary source documents, video links, art study, music appreciation, recipes and more.  In this particular study, the author gives helpful tips on how to calculate High school credit when using the study.

 Optional activities are included in each study.  I really liked that they were designed for different levels, or were activities all ages could enjoy doing.  With children in elementary, middle and high school right now, a well-designed unit study that we can all do is a TREASURE!

Martin Luther King Jr. -

This is a 77 page study with 5 lessons that introduce us to the amazing Martin Luther King Jr. and the holiday that bears his name.  I love how these studies incorporate so many additional topics that you can explore more.  For instance, learning about the Freedom songs of the Civil Rights era made us want to learn more about this musical genre.  We had a great time using YouTube, and even making some music of our own.

We spent 5 years living near Little Rock, AR.  My testers were intrigued to read about the part Little Rock played in MLK Jr's story too!

Veteran's Day - 

This 49 page study contains 3 lessons that introduce us to President Woodrow Wilson and the story of Veteran's Day. 

We celebrate this holiday, but really didn't know much about it's history (Did you know it used to be called Armistice Day?)  This study was fascinating.   I finally know what those poppy pins mean!

  A activity that was included was  having a "meatless, wheatless,  or sugarless" day or trying to eat corn at every meal. We failed our attempts to help the war effors with "food conservation" - but, we did get a better first-hand experience of the hardships during this time in history!

Labor Day - 

This study has 53 pages and 3 lessons that teach us about the history of Labor Day.  Since this is a traditional "end of summer" holiday - it makes the perfect study to ease back into school with. 

One feature I really love about these studies is that they reference primary source documents and photographs.  You get the opportunity to read it for yourself, see it or watch actual footage on videos (how did we ever homeschool without Youtube?)

These are MY FAVORITE unit study resource!  You will want to check them out and add them to your plan.

Other members of the Crew got a chance to review their new curriculum - Persuasive Writing & Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers for ages 14-18.  I'll be checking this one out!



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See what other members of the Crew thought here