Civil War Unit Study

There were three main causes of the War, slavery, economics and state rights.  Much of history focuses on the topic of slavery, but very little on economics and state rights.   Our reading list (at the bottom of this post) shows the time spent on understanding slavery and it’s affects on both the north and south.

We spent a total of 8 weeks on this topic.  Our location avails us to many opportunities for field trips and local historical sites.  Even though we have officially ended our unit study, we do still have several more field trips and a Civil War Summer Camp in the pipeline.

Hands On Activities:
In addition to our extensive reading list (at the bottom of this post) we also did a few hands on activities.   The favorite by far was our salt dough map of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

I also combined several online free lapbooks and created one large lapbook to go with out unit.  The two resources I used are linked below.

War Between the States Lapbook, from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool
Civil War Lapbook, from Homeschool Share

Field Trips:
We were able to go on various field trips, and this was by far the best element to this particular unit study. I’ve posted about each field trip we’ve taken (I’ll be updating with more links).  Be sure to check them out in the links below.

Virginia Museum of the Civil War – Field Trip
Civil War & Emancipation Day – Field Trip
The Bread Basket of the Confederacy – Field Trip
Visiting Stonewall Jackson – Field Trip

Library Resources:
The Dred Scott Decision; by Brendan January
Harriet Tubman, Freedom Bound; by Janet & Geoff Benge
Journey to Freedom, Harriet Ross Tubman; by Don Troy
Escape North, The Story of Harriet Tubman; by Monica Kulling
Get On Board, The Story of the Underground Railroad; by Jim Haskins
Eliza’s Freedom Road, An Underground Railroad Diary; by Jerdine Nolen
Secret Signs, An Escape Through the Underground Railroad; by Anita Riggio
The Underground Railroad for Kids; by Mary Kay Carson
Civil War Weapons: by C.B. Colby
Great Map of the Civil War; by William J. Miller
Civil War Battle Atlas; by Time Life Books
The Civil War, Fort Sumter to Gettysburg; by William C. Davis and Bell I. Wiley
The Battle of First Bull Run; by Larry Hama
The Battle of Gettysburg; by Gina DeAngelis
Gettysburg; by Ruth Ashby
Antietam; by Christopher Hughes
Shiloh; by Richard Steins
Fort Sumter; by Brendan January
Chancellorsville to Appomattox; by Corinne J. Naden & Rose Blue
1862 Fredericksburg, A New Look at a Bitter Civil War Battle; by K.M. Kostyal
General George Armstrong Custer and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign; by Adolfo Ovies
American Kids in History, Civil War Days; by David C. King
A House Divided, The Lives of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, by Jules Archer
Stonewall Jackson; by Don McLeese
Ulysses S. Grant; by Don McLeese
George McClellan; by Brent Kelley
Jefferson Davis; by Cory Gideon Gunderson
Confederate Commander, General Robert E. Lee; by Sue Vander Hook
Jeb Stuart; by Don McLeese
Abraham Lincoln; by Mike Venezia
Abe Lincoln Remembers; by Ann Turner
The Gettysburg Address; by Abraham Lincoln
Just a Few Words Mr. Lincoln; by Jean Fritz
Across Five Aprils; by Irene Hunt