Western Expansion [Blood On The Border]

We want a good background for our study of the Civil War in Kansas.  When Raven and I decided on this topic, we were at the Homeschool Conference and had purchased a set of historical comic books.  We bought all the titles that had anything to do with Kansas and the West.

The first theme in our Blood on the Border study is the Western Expansion.

The only two purchased items for this theme were:

• Go West, Young Crab by Bentley Boyd
• Buffalo Before Breakfast (Magic Tree House book)

I broke this theme up into four separate topics.  Each topic could be an entire unit study itself!  When I make our history studies, I don’t plan specifically for time.  You can spend 1 week or 1 year on a topic, depending on how interested your kids are and how much material you can find on the subject.

Since we are trying to get into the main meat of our studies, the Civil War, we covered each of these topics for only a few days each.

Topic #1 – The Oregon Trail

Reading and Researching

• pg 1-7 in Go West, Young Crab
• Oregon Trail Education Resource Guide (pdf download, halfway down the page)
• The Oregon Trail
• Landmarks of the Old Oregon Country (video)

A quick note – One of the resources I will be recommending over and over again is the Read Kansas! cards available from the Kansas Historical Society.

We purchased a set of these at the Kansas Museum of History.

However, they can be downloaded for free and printed off. Simpy click on the card pictures to download the pdf file.

They make an excellent addition to your notebook and can be used over and over again!

• Read Kansas – Life on the Trails (2 cards)

Notebooking and Lapbooking

• Oregon Trail lapbook – Lapbook Lessons (we used the Oregon Trail map)
• Westward Expansion lapbook – Dynamic2Moms (we used the timeline)
• *or create your own timeline using the example at the top of the comic book pages

Topic #2 – Gold Rush

Reading and Researching

• pg 8-13 of Go West, Young Crab
• Eyewitness to History – California Gold Rush
• America the Story of Us – Gold Rush (video)
• The Start of the Gold Rush (video)

Notebooking and Lapbooking

• Gold Rush notebooking page
• California Gold Rush ’49  (in the Westward Expansion lapbook)
• Gold Rush hand-out (scroll down, the whole interactive notebook is awesome!)
• California Gold Fever (lots of great printables on this page)

Topic #3 - Transcontinental Railroad

Reading and Researching

• pg 14-19 of Go West, Young Man
• United the States of America (video)
• Transcontinental Railroad a mini-unit

Notebooking and Lapbooking

• Ten Mile a Day lapbook – Homeschool Share
• Transcontinental Railroad minibook (in the Westward Expansion lapbook)
• The Golden Spike – coloring page
• Map of America in 1860 – Education Place

Topic #4 – The Last of the Sioux

Reading and Researching

• pg 19-24 of Go West, Young Crab
• Buffalo Before Breakfast – entire book
• Read Kansas – Indian Removal (3 cards)
• Read Kansas – Impact of the Indian Removal Act (5 cards)
• Buffalo and the Native Americans (video)
• Westward Expansion Rap (video)

Notebooking and Lapbooking

• Famous Indian Chiefs minibook (in the Westward Expansion lapbook)
• Crazy Horse notebooking page
• Sitting Bull notebooking page
• General Custer notebooking page
• Plains Indians lapbook – Dynamic2moms