This semester long classroom experience is ideal for 9th-12 grade students who are home schooling but all learners who would benefit from this class and my instruction are certainly welcome to attend.

This course will be the second of four semester long courses during which we will establish a chronological timeline of United States history. This course will cover the Early Republic, Westward Expansion, and the American Civil War.

Our lesson units will combine our internet research skills with our reading and writing skills to analyze evidence left behind from the past to form our own conclusions.  Learning packets will be sent via Outschool message to all learners who enroll. Questions will be research based and will require students to answer them using internet searches. Grades will be provided as needed to satisfy home schooling requirements. Research will be conducted through primary and secondary source analysis. The primary sources included in this course can be found for free on the Library of Congress website, the Native Knowledge 360° website, the Center for Racial Justice website, Learning for Justice, and the 1619 Project website. Specifically during the Westward Expansion unit we will utilize Westward Expansion: Encounters at a Cultural Crossroads collection from the Library of Congress includes letters written by Seneca chiefs in which they express their fears, concerns, and impact felt by westward expansion.

The first day of class will serve as an introduction. I will go over expectations and procedures. We will get to know each other, and I will also offer students an outline of what the semester will look like.

We will meet every week live on Zoom. Class will be held on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday will serve as a catch-up day for any missing homework assignments and for watching videos assigned as homework. On Thursdays we will discuss the video assignments from Wednesday's homework. I will find as many free videos on YouTube as possible to offer students additional resources. YouTube has a seemingly limitless virtual library of free documentaries. Other video assignments will utilize History Vault, HBO Max and Paramount Plus, all of which require an account and parental consent before use. Watching videos on these streaming services will be homework. The documentaries selected will feature commentary from professional field historians. Watching any assigned videos is intended to be beneficial in adding additional perspectives and examples of the content which we will cover in class. Video assignments are not intended to introduce any new learning content outside of what is already being taught during live class time. Any documentaries assigned as homework are not in any way intended to make this a hybrid course. Documentary video assignments include:

Underground Railroad: The Secret History on HBO Max.

Civil War 360 on Paramount Plus

Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color on History Vault.

America The Story of Us on YouTube.


Throughout the semester we will be reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave by Frederick Douglass. In my opinion his book is exceptional for helping high school students to further develop their critical thinking skills. His book also serves as a primary source which demonstrates his own experiences as a slave.


I will offer school vacations just like we would have in a public school. We will have one week off in February for Winter break and one week off in March for Spring Break. The semester is the second in a series of 4 classes which will be offered year-round.


This course will address controversial materials which not all learners and families are comfortable with. Throughout history humans have not always been kind to each other, the United States is no exception. This course will address issues such as racism, sexism, slavery, war, politics, religion, crime, and genocide. This course will not endorse any of these controversial events, but this course will educate learners to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions about them. 

This course will be taught from multiple perspectives, we will utilize primary sources, if possible, we will welcome guest speakers. Any perspectives demonstrated from primary sources will come from whoever left the source behind or us to interpret. None of the viewpoints expressed in this course will be my own. I will not teach from a religious or a political perspective, we will explore all of the issues in this class neutrally. All learners will be treated with equality and fairness, nobody will be made to feel discriminated against. We will not endorse any of the controversial or harmful events of the past, but we need to acknowledge that they happened and learn about them in order to prevent them from ever happening again. 


To ensure that we take multiple perspectives into account we will utilize both primary and secondary sources. This way we will not just take into account well-known voices who have historically taken most of the credit. It is important that well-known figures as well as commoners and minorities whose voices might have traditionally been left out are heard. The accounts as shared by Frederick Douglass are not traditionally shared in mainstream education which makes them so invaluable to this class. 

History is usually recorded by victors who dominate. Primary sources will include journals and letters written by our explorers who discovered the new world, the founders of the American Revolution, and perspectives from minorities and women. This course will equally include perspectives from all accounts. By including sources such as letters and diaries from women, and minorities such as African Americans and Indigenous tribes we can ensure that their voices are not left out or forgotten.


An example schedule is listed below. The schedule has been broken down into month long units.


Month 1 January: The Early Republic.

Week 1: The Early Republic After George Washington’s Presidency activities and video assignment.

Week 2: The Early Republic The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition activities and video assignment.

Week 3: The Early Republic the War of 1812 activities and video assignment.

Week 4: The Early Republic Research Project and video assignment.

Month 2 February: Westward Expansion unit and activities. 

Week 1: Westward Expansion Mapping, Labeling, and Identifying activities video assignment.

Week 2: Pioneers Travels, Hardships, Settlements and video assignment. 

Week 3: Gender Roles in the West, Indian Removal Act, The Abolitionist Movement, and video assignment. This week will focus on what daily life was like for the people extended to the west, and how they interacted with each other. This will also demonstrate how much differently the people who live in these areas experience life today. Additionally, this week will examine the harmful effects of legislation which took land away from Indigenous tribes, and early attempts to bring an end to slavery practices in America.

Much of the traditional "Westward Expansion" narrative does not include Indigenous perspectives and perpetuates several historical inaccuracies. To properly tell an inclusive and accurate historical narrative secondary sources from Indigenous historians and authors will be included alongside the sources from the pioneer perspective. During westward expansion Indigenous tribes were forcefully removed from their land. A combination of primary and secondary sources from Indigenous historians and authors have been included within the Library of Congress website and from Native Knowledge 360°. These sources are intended to demonstrate how westward expansion might have harmed or marginalized certain groups. These sources are not intended to glorify violence or reinforce any harmful stereotypes. These sources are intended to provide unbiased and accurate information to the fullest possible extent.

Week 4: Westward Expansion Research Project and video assignment.

Month 3 March: Civil War activities packet questions and video assignment.


Week 1: Civil War Causes/ Reasons for Southern Secession and video assignment.

Week 2: Grant Vs. Lee, Major Battles, Advancements in Technology, and video assignment.

Week 3: Civil War Roles of Women, Roles of African Americans, Roles Indigenous Tribes, and video assignment.

Week 4: Civil War Research Project and video assignment.