Charlie will never have the opportunities I had as a child to stay on a Farm and watch the farmers work in the gardens. Or gather eggs from a Hen House. But through these Homeschool Resources we will be able to see what farmers do.
Age Range: 8-18 (Grades 3-12 approximately, with parental supervision) This website is a companion to a real “Living History Farm” in Nebraska, where you and your children can learn about the history of agriculture in America and how technology has changed it.
You can also learn about the man, David Wessels, whose estate made possible his vision of a Living History Farm. One of his major concerns was “that today’s kids – both urban and rural – have almost no idea how farmers went from essentially a medieval system of plowing with horses to huge tractors run by computers with global positioning systems and air conditioned cabs.”
The story told at the website, goes back to Native Americans who first cultivated the fields, through the first European immigrants staking out the prairie ground, to boom and bust cycles, and then the incredible technological innovations of the 20th Century.
When you get to the site you’ll find information on:
- Farming in the 1920’s
- Farming in the 30’s
- Farming in the 40’s
- Farming in the 50’s
- 70’s to Today
You’ll see videos and or graphics and sound for each, along with links to these categories:
- Farm Life
- Making Money
- Water
- Machines
- Crops
- Pests & Weeds
- World Events
Listen to interviews on many aspects of farming history as well.
Also, on the left side bar, be sure to check out the link for Ted Kooser – podcasts from a former U.S. Poet Laureate. And the video link has all the videos in one place.
The Living History Farm seeks to educate everyone about the role agriculture plays in providing nourishment to the world. If you can’t make it to Nebraska to explore the farm in real time, this is the next best thing
Recommended Website: Explore History through Timelines
Age Range: 10 and up (Grades 5 and up; children with parental supervision) Lovers of timelines will thoroughly enjoy this simple-to-navigate and ultra-informative website.
Using the two sidebar navigation tools, hone in on the points of history you wish to survey. Discover the people and events covering a time span of 3,000 years.
This website allows visitors to explore not only the events in history, but also the people and places of history. In addition to timelines for general history, events, and people, specific topics covered include:
- Science
- Culture
- Artists
- Music
- Writers
- Religion
- Politics
Once you have selected a particular timeline to view using the left-hand side bar, narrow down your timeframe using the right-hand sidebar. The entries within the timelines are clickable, providing additional topical information on the right hand sidebar.
In addition to the timelines, there is a selection of maps to geographically envision the seven periods of world history:
- Early Civilizations
- Greek Colonization
- Rome & Han China
- Barbarian Invasions
- Expansion of Islam
- Mongol Empires
- A.D. 1500-1800
An online, comprehensive, 250 chapter history text written by Frank Smitha that complements HyperHistory is also available for free through the link “Book Text”. (Please note that the “Book Text” link takes you to an external ad-supported website.)
Timelines are a valuable resource for putting history into perspective and you will find yourself bookmarking this site to come back to time after time.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
