The Louisiana Purchase

April 29th marks the 205th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. On that day, the United States purchased a huge amount of land, from France. The cost of this land, which nearly doubled the size of the US, was said to be between three and four cents an acre.

The following video features an excellent explanation of events that occurred. The purchase is commonly referred to as the best real estate deal in history… for just pennies an acre I am inclined to agree.

The following sources provide lesson plans, appropriate for all grade levels. If you have never incorporated the Louisiana Purchase into your curriculum, there’s no better time than today!

At Teachers Guides/Lesson Plans, K-4 lesson plans include: French sayings and map reading. Grades 5-9 will enjoy making trivia books. 9-12 grade level curriculum includes: Louisiana’s Indian tribes, the 1812 Louisiana Constitution and the price of European commodities, in 1803.

If you are considering teaching your children about the Louisiana Purchase, what unique ideas do you have? Have you found other curriculum sources you are willing to share? If so, please post them here.

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!

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(This is a guest post. Thanks go out to Brenda Emmett.)

One of the most difficult things to do when you are homeschooling is to keep everything new and exciting. We love the time we spend educating our children and helping them to learn, but sometimes it is just plain hard to make it not seem dull. Things become routine and boring, no matter how great the material that we are learning happens to be. So how do you create excitement and fun in your homeschool? Here are a few ideas that have worked well in our family:

Jammie Day
One of our favorite things is when I have declared it jammie day. This is a day when we get to stay in our pajamas all day long. There is something distinctly sweet about staying in your pj’s all day. Perhaps it is because the children know that their friends who attend public school can’t do the same. Days like this are often filled with giggles as the schoolwork is completed. I often hear pleadings of “let’s have a jammie day!”, but I only do it on occasion. This keeps it special.

Reading Day
On this occasion, we just put aside the rest of the school work and cuddle up with a soft blanket, a pillow and a favorite book or books. Then we just read all day long. We share our favorite parts of the book we are reading with each other and discuss why we like or dislike a particular book or passage. Sometimes we even combine this with jammie day.

Read, Then Watch
Something that has worked well for our family is to read the book or story and then watch the movie. This really gives the children something to look forward to and I know that they have read the story first. It will often foster a conversation on how the movie differed from the book. Then we discuss which way we liked it the best. The book usually wins every time, but the movie is fun to watch. And the children love that it is part of their school.

Draw it!
I realize this sounds like art class, but really this is when I simply write down all of the subjects that we must complete that day on slips of paper. Then we fold the papers and mix them up in a bowl. We take turns drawing out a slip of paper to see what we will be doing next. This creates excitement for everyone. We are more excited to work on research papers or spelling lists when we draw them out of the bowl. It creates an element of surprise and unexpectedness. It is also just a little more fun.

In what ways do you keep your homeschool fun and exciting? C’mon, we really want to know!

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!

Photo by: Mike Davis