Master Books, an award-winning publisher! Master Books is part of the New Leaf Publishing Group which includes Master Books, Attic Books, and New Leaf Press. Choose from over 550 titles in a variety of subjects, including literature, science, history, apologetics, parenting, Creation, and more.
| ScotClans: Scottish History Grades 5-12, with parental supervision. This ad-supported website offers the condensed history of Scotland. It has a well-organized and easy-to-maneuver format. Here are some of the highlights: You can explore the key historical happenings by century – and see some photos of Scottish ruins and landscapes. Learn all about the origins of 120 Clans from A-Z – and you can even see photos of each clan’s tartan and crest! Read some Scotch Myths – (and download some tartan “wallpaper” in the process!) This site is designed to be a teaser for the products offered in the store. But there is plenty of interesting information for free at this site – that will be of particular interest to anyone with Scottish heritage. |
Looking for a history product to delight children of all ages? The Chester Comix history series is an entertaining, educational comic book series in print or digital versions (with digital Teacher Guides).
Sit back and enjoy the fun as hat-wearing Chester the Crab takes your child on a colorful and witty romp through U.S. history. Plus, the exclusive Co-op offer also includes free books.
Grades 3-12, with parental supervision This website is a companion to a real “Living History Farm” in Nebraska, where you and your children can learn about the history of agriculture in America and how technology has changed it.
You can also learn about the man, David Wessels, whose estate made possible his vision of a Living History Farm. One of his major concerns was “that today’s kids – both urban and rural – have almost no idea how farmers went from essentially a medieval system of plowing with horses to huge tractors run by computers with global positioning systems and air-conditioned cabs.”
The story told on the website, goes back to Native Americans who first cultivated the fields, through the first European immigrants staking out the prairie ground, to boom and bust cycles, and then the incredible technological innovations of the 20th Century.
When you get to the site you’ll find information on:
- Farming in the 1920s
- Farming in the ’30s
- Farming in the ’40s
- Farming in the ’50s
- 70’s to Today
You’ll see videos and/or graphics and sound for each, along with links to these categories:
- Farm Life
- Making Money
- Water
- Machines
- Crops
- Pests & Weeds
- World Events
Listen to interviews on many aspects of farming history as well.
Also, on the left sidebar, be sure to check out the link for Ted Kooser – podcasts from a former U.S. Poet Laureate. And the video link has all the videos in one place.
The Living History Farm seeks to educate everyone about the role agriculture plays in providing nourishment to the world. If you can’t make it to Nebraska to explore the farm in real-time, this is the next best thing.
Award-winning Mapping the World by Heart from FableVision Learning makes it easy to integrate lessons, activities, and drawing into any existing geography curriculum. Get your child excited about geography with Mapping the World by Heart!
Historical Scene Investigation
Grades 6-12, with parental supervision
This website provides social studies students with the opportunity to become virtual history detectives through investigating primary source documents.
Students investigate prepared “case files” about historical events by examining primary source materials archived at this website. Through these “journals, diaries, artifacts, historic sites, works of art, quantitative data, and other evidence from the past… they compare the multiple points of view of those on the scene at the time.”
Developed in partnership with the College of William & Mary School of Education, University of Kentucky School of Education, and the Library of Congress, H.S.I. is an effort to take students beyond textbook facts and give them “experiences that more closely resemble the work of a real historian.”
When you get to the website you’ll see a menu that offers information about the H.S.I. Project and a link to the “Investigations” that include:
- Jamestown Starving Time
- Bacon’s Rebellion
- The Boston “Massacre”
- Lexington and Concord
- Constitution Controversy<
- Antonio a Slave
- Finding Aaron
- Children in the Civil War
- School Desegregation
- Case of Sam Smiley
- March on Frankfort
- When Elvis Met Nixon
Click on any “case file” and a new page opens with a description of the historic event and a question for the student to answer through investigating documents.
Click on “Student View” to read the documents and access a series of questions that guide the student in analyzing the information in order to crack the case.
Help your child bridge the gap between STEM education and application. Each Growin’GEERS challenge helps to connect an engineering concept to problems that people face regularly.
Detailed lesson plans that cover a multitude of different engineering disciplines using video, written, and hands-on materials mean minimal prep for you! Register for an exclusive coupon for the Growin’GEERS subscription for up to five household users for only $69.
Grades 5-12, with parental supervision
Lovers of timelines will thoroughly enjoy this simple-to-navigate and ultra-informative website.
Using the two sidebar navigation tools, hone in on the points of history you wish to survey. Discover the people and events covering a time span of 3,000 years.
This website allows visitors to explore not only the events in history but also the people and places of history. In addition to timelines for general history, events, and people, specific topics covered include:
- Science
- Culture
- Artists
- Music
- Writers
- Religion
- Politics
Once you have selected a particular timeline to view using the left-hand sidebar, narrow down your timeframe using the right-hand sidebar.
The entries within the timelines are clickable, providing additional topical information on the right-hand sidebar.
In addition to the timelines, there is a selection of maps to geographically envision the seven periods of world history:
- Early Civilizations
- Greek Colonization
- Rome & Han China
- Barbarian Invasions
- Expansion of Islam
- Mongol Empires
- A.D. 1500-1800
An online, comprehensive, 250 chapter history text written by Frank Smitha that complements HyperHistory is also available for free through the link “Book Text”. (Please note that the “Book Text” link takes you to an external ad-supported website.)
Timelines are a valuable resource for putting history into perspective and you will find yourself bookmarking this site to come back to time after time.
Thank you.
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
