Indiana History Unit Studies

Now that I've completed my first course of graduate school studying History, I'm ready to dive in and finally start creating those Indiana history unit studies I've been talking about for so long. My first course taught me how to do historical research, and my next class will teach me how to write history. My tentative plan will be to release my first unit study near the time I will be completing my second course next summer. 


What will it be about? The first unit study on Indiana history will be all about the Prehistoric Peoples of Indiana, beginning with the arrival of the Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago, and on up through the Mississippian peoples who made this area their home. As part of my research for the study, I have visited sites such as Mounds State Park in Anderson, Koteewi Park in Strawtown, and I have future plans to visit such places as Angel Mounds in Evansville, and a big trip to Cahokia Mounds in Illinois. The unit study will include vivid photographs from my trips, accompanying field trip tips to those sites, and of course, exciting history all about the peoples who called the Midwest and specifically present-day Indiana home, tailored for a 4th grade student beginning their study of Indiana history.



The Great Mound at Mounds State Park, Anderson, Indiana

I have a Bachelor's in Elementary Education and have taught in schools, but am relatively new to homeschooling. My daughter went to a charter school for Kindergarten, but we decided to transfer her to home school for 1st grade on. My son is two, and loves having his big sister home to learn alongside her. I develop unit studies especially for my daughter, mostly focusing on Language Arts. She is a very inquisitive little girl and I often let her decide what she wants to study. We just finished a three-week study on Space, and this week we switched gears and are doing a little study on Native Americans. For this, we went to Koteewi Park in Strawtown and went on a little walk (their Taylor Center for Natural History was unfortunately closed). But as we were walking the grounds and talking about the people who lived there, I realized something. I have the perfect co-writer. My daughter! I realized again just how creative and inquisitive she is, and concluded she just must do my research with me, and write my Indiana history unit studies along with me. It needs a child's touch, after all.

I'll be launching an author website in the near future, and keep in touch - I'll also be posting free lesson and activity ideas on this blog and that website, designed by my daughter and I. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me!

White River, or Wapahani, at Mounds State Park