American history books/sites for 11-12 yo who is very independent

[sieglinde]

We've decided to do American history this year because dd has always been fascinated, and also because we're off to Washington for a holiday in the spring and plan to visit battlefield sites etc. I have some books I used with ds, but there's such a plethora - does anyone have any experience? DD will not be happy with textbooks; she likes doing her own research and reading. Sourcebooks? Wall charts?

What about lapbooking? Loads of American history projects on Currclick or HandsofaChild.

Visit the Sonlight site. They list all the books, fiction and non-fiction which they include in their curriculum for American History. I'm not sugesting buying them but some of the books might be age and topic appropriate and you may be able to order them from the library.

Erm, clings to walking stick. What is lapbooking?

Thanks too to FlyingSeagull, but all I can find on the Sonlight page is their textbooks. Obviously I'm having a Dim Day.

sieglinde I.m not very good at links, but if you google 'lapbooking' you will find loads of info and sites.

American History for 11-13yearolds

Sonlight doesn't use textbooks for their history and geography. They're simply books. If you have an independent learner they may enjoy reading the books and notebooking or lapbooking from them. The readers and the read-alouds are fiction or biographies but the American history section includes many books based on fact. Some of them will be easily available in the UK. I think if they chose to use them to teach their American students about their history they'll be good examples. I read several of the readers just before we visited the States for a holiday and I had a grasp of the American Civil War which I had no knowledge of previously.

History Pockets

are fun. Lots of colouring/cutting/sticking and your DD can always research particular things she's interested in. My DD did 'Moving West' and 'The American Civil War' this last year and really enjoyed them.

zinnedproject.org/

This is quite interesting too - a 'people's history' of the United States that gives a slightly alternative (not weird or scary!) view..

Many thanks for all of these helpful tips. Dd is a keen American Girl fan already and most of the books seem to be available at knockdown prices in the UK.