Home-Places In Time

These two books by Buckley and Leacock are outstanding and perfect for the home study. Here's a blurb from Amazon: Gr 5-8-In the first book, a winning blend of facts, maps, and the drama of a well-written story results in an unusual and exciting view of this country's past. Some of the 20 individuals highlighted are well known, such as Daniel Boone, Ben Franklin, and Louis Armstrong. Others are more obscure, like Dame Shirley, a New England woman in the Gold Rush, and Venture Smith, an enslaved six-year-old African prince. Each double-page spread features an introduction, a story with numbered paragraphs relating to the map or illustration, a fact box, and colorful illustrations. All information is carefully researched and includes many primary resources. Any fictionalizing is marked with single quotation marks, while statements with actual historical evidence have double quotes. The second title uses the same format to present 20 sites in American history at the moment of their historical significance, beginning in 1200 (Cahokia) and ending in 1953. Places and times include New Plymouth-1627, Charlestown-1739, Saratoga-1777, Philadelphia-1787, Abilene-1871, and Chicago-1893. The detailed cutaway views of homes, forts, and mills are impressive enough to keep readers looking again and again. These fascinating slices of life stir the imagination and lead to questions and further research. Neither title has a bibliography, but scholars, historians, libraries, and museums are credited in the notes sections. While the books are perfect for individual perusal, educators will delight in the curriculum potential.
Here's a slideshow of the 1776 section from Places in Time that focuses on Boonesborough.