AMERICAN GIRL HISTORY || ELEMENTARY HISTORY CURRICULUM || LITTLE SCHOOL OF SMITHS

[@catdogmom155]

Thank you so much for sharing this! I am an American girl doll collector and recently purchased some of the Teacher Guides.

[@MaryBarfield]

I’m glad you enjoyed it! American girl was such an important part of my childhood and I’m so glad my girls are loving the series too! 🥰

[@MandyLou82]

I am planning on doing this with my girls this coming school year. I found most of the books on KZbin! There’s a lady that reads them in videos!! I still plan on buying some of the books though. Ty for the flip through! I’ve only bought Kaya so far. I couldn’t believe the price for her Kaya’s World book!

[@MaryBarfield]

Thank you for sharing about the KZbin read alouds! That’s a great option to help keep the cost down for this curriculum! I was honestly shocked too by the price of Kayas world. Especially when I was able to find all the other girls world books for anywhere between $7-$15. I hope you and your girls enjoy the curriculum! We are 2 weeks into Kayas unit and loving it! 🥰

[@MandyLou82]

@@MaryBarfield the videos aren’t the same has holding the book though. If that makes any sense! Lol But on the days we have appts or something we can download the videos and listen to them in the car!!

[@MaryBarfield]

@@MandyLou82 definitely makes sense! I prefer to have a book in my hand personally, but it’s nice to have the option of KZbin readalouds ☺️

[@lacey8454]

One of my best thrift finds to date was Kaya's World for $30!

[@MaryBarfield]

That’s awesome! 🙌🙌 I would have been so excited to find it for that price! Thankfully we can use the looking back sections in her books, but it would have been nice to have it all in a bigger format in Kayas world! 🥰

[@JessieTBRoverflowing]

So excited y’all are doing these units this year because we will be too! My girls will be in second grade and my son in Kindergarten. I fell in love with historical fiction in second or third grade because of the American Girls books-it’s still my genre of choice. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is being able to dive into shared experiences together, and this is a perfect example. Wishing you a fun year with your girls! I think we’ll be starting it later in the school year, so I’m eager to glean from your experience with this curriculum. Thank-you for sharing!

[@MaryBarfield]

I feel the exact same way! I love Historical Fiction (and oddly Non-fiction too lol). When the girls started to show an interest in the American Girl Books, I knew we had to do this curriculum! I'm glad that we will be doing it ahead of you so that you can see how our updates go with each of the girls units (hopefully in time before you do them). I will most likely break my videos up into each girl's unit! :) Thank you for following along!

[@HeatherAnne10]

There is an additional unit you can get as well for the war of 1812 too... I forget the dolls name though because she didn't exist yet when I was a kid. 😅

[@MaryBarfield]

Yes! I just saw that she had a unit for Caroline discussing the war of 1812! I may hold off on that because I may do Americans Girl Christmas at Christmas time (another 4 week unit, bringing the curriculum to a full 36 week history curriculum), but I haven’t decided yet. We have a lot on our plates for next year 😅 so I want to see how the first month or 2 goes before adding anything else lol.

[@jessicaTX964]

Oh this looks so fun! I'm so sad that American Girl has gotten away from the strong historical fiction focus. We just read the newest (?) books set in 1920s Harlem, and they were good, but there is only 2 books, and there is just not the array of costumes and furniture and historical details with the dolls the we had. 😪 We're moving into the 1930s and I have Kit's books but may "need" to get this guide too!

[@MaryBarfield]

Oh no! That’s sad to hear! I haven’t read any of the “new” girls books yet! We have Meet Julie (which I planned to read next summer after we finished this curriculum up to stay in chronological order) and I think she is one of the new girls that may be impacted by what you are talking about. So I’ll be interested to see how her book is! I had Samantha with the Victorian table set and brass bed! I loved all the history that came from her when I was younger! 🥰 I will be doing updates on this program throughout the school year so stay tuned to see how it goes! 🥰

[@PatriziaBella85]

What age is this recommended for? P.S. My oldest of 4 daughters is named Felicity, partly because of this fictional character lol

[@MaryBarfield]

Omg I love that and I love the name Felicity - such a beautiful name! So I think it depends on your kiddos ability to sit for chapter books. My newly 7 year old is loving it and following along with everything. Whereas, my youngest (turning 5 in August) likes to sit for some of it, and some of it she just doesn't have the patience for and I don't push her on it. I think the sweet spot would be 7-10 years, but I think kids younger and older will still enjoy it depending on their personalities, and interest level.

[@PatriziaBella85]

@@MaryBarfield oh perfect! Two of my girls just turned 9 and 10. I'll do this with them, thanks!

[@rewise73]

Have you been able to find welcome to Kaya’s world? That’s all I’m missing to have all the girls books! It seems like when i do see one people are asking a couple hundred dollars for it 😳

[@rewise73]

Well nevermind you answered it right after I asked haha!

[@MaryBarfield]

😂😂 it was tough because I kept holding out for welcome to kayas world. When I finally realized it wouldn’t drop in price, I went ahead and got her other 3 books, which my girls were excited about because we now have her whole story line! 🥰

[@rewise73]

@@MaryBarfieldsame! I found all her chapter books pretty easily but I still search every now and then for the welcome to Kaya’s world book! I would just love to have them all!