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Maybe your girls have read some or all of the American Girls books just for fun. If they haven’t read them yet, what better and more reader-friendly basis for studying American History? That’s what Cindy Sotelo must have been thinking as she put together this curriculum for her girls. The idea caught on with their friends, and a fairly large girl’s history study group formed to eagerly participate in all the fun and activities of the study. The study is divided into seven units, one for each American Girl, and arranged in chronological order of their time periods from Felicity to Molly. Each unit is designed to take about six weeks to complete, less if you would like to fit all seven units into a traditionally scheduled school year, or more if you feel you would like to spend more time on each unit and fill more of the year with it or stretch it over into the next school year. The primary reading material for each unit is, of course, the six American Girl books for the featured American Girl, although additional reading suggestions are recommended and there is plenty of room for you to add as many other valuable books as you feel are worthwhile. The American Girl Teacher’s Guides, Welcome to ______’s World, as well as the American-girl specific Cookbook, Craft Book, Paper Dolls, Theater Kit/Six Plays, as well as selected Childhood of Famous Americans are also recommended for each unit. Unfortunately, at this time many of the supplemental instructional American Girl items such as the Teacher’s Guides, Cookbooks, and Craft Books are out of print, however, you may be able to locate these at your local library. Internet resources are also listed for each unit, each with a synopsis of what you will find and use from each site. Each unit begins with a list of resources, both book, video, and internet, followed by a content overview for that unit. The unit plans are laid out week by week, with projects listed for each day of the week. Necessary forms are included throughout the unit, and are also included in printable versions on the accompanying CD-ROM. The daily projects include project name, approximate time required, materials needed (mostly arts/crafts items and household items you have on hand) as well as the skills covered, followed by detailed instructions. Along the way, numerous samples of student work collected by the author is included, so you can see some examples of what other students have done with the projects, or have added to the rest of the study.

As far as subject content, the study covers quite a bit of social studies and history, some diverse science topics, biographies of famous people, U.S. geography through history, supplemental math activities, and character education. Language arts is also covered in some detail, including dictionary skills, literature, grammar/usage, general writing skills, creative writing and journalism. I should note the math included is not intended to provide a solid mathematical foundation but is included as a supplement. You will need to continue a complete math program during this study. If the child is an early reader, you may also need to supplement with further phonics and reading instruction, and unless you take an aggressive approach to the spelling/vocabulary found in the reading of this program, you will probably need to supplement a spelling program as well. That being said, the rest of this curriculum contains a solid social studies, literature, and language arts core that provides numerous avenues to more in-depth topics, available to you to wander through and research as you wish. The author has suggested numerous other ways to extend the subjects, including keeping a portfolio by time period and other projects her daughters and friends became interested in as they studied each era. She also arms you with lists of tips, helps, and adaptations for different situations (new or reluctant readers, children with attention difficulties, and older students), as well as multiple suggestions for using the study with boys. An appendix contains several forms, along with suggestions for real-life writing, quiet/devotional time, and a sample schedule for a girl’s history club meeting. While you can just pick up the book and use it with a set of American Girls books, a few supplemental books and a computer, the study will be much more well-rounded and beneficial if a little research and organizational time is put in up front. A nicely done program that is sure to get your girls (and maybe even boys) interested in history and a variety of other subjects. This would also lend itself well to a homeschool co-op. - Jess

Customer Reviews

 
Kathy A. from Southeast Wisconsin wrote the following on 03/12/2008:
The American Girl series was created by elementary school teacher Pleasant Rowland to teach American History in an engaging and fun format. Homeschooling mother Cindy Sotelo has taken Pleasant Rowland's idea a step further by creating the "Portraits of American Girlhood" unit study. The study is divided into seven units, one for each American Girl from Felicity to Molly, arranged according to historical time period. Please note that since the publication of this unit study two new American Girls have been introduced, Kaya and Julie. They are not covered in this unit study. The unit study covers social studies, history, science, math activities, grammar, and character study. I purchased this unit study to use as our daughters introduction to American History. The unit study is graded for grades 2-5, however based on our experience I would recommend it be utilized for grades 4-5. To complete your curriculum you will have to the following materials on hand: American Girl book series on each American girl, craft and cookbooks for each American girl and "Welcome to ____'s World" for each American girl.

 
Lisa C. from Olathe, Kansas wrote the following on 02/01/2010:
I used this book with both of my daughters when the oldest was an 8th grader and the youngest was a 5th grader. They loved this program. Although the recommended ages are younger than 8th grade, there are recommended "extras" including web sites, and research activities that make this very fun and educational for older girls as well. We would also get the cooking, craft, and World books that go along with each of the American Girls which added to the great appeal of this product. If your daughters love the American Girl dolls and books, I cannot say enough about this product. Well worth the expense. Even though the new dolls are not included in this book, it was very easy to add those books, and modify the activities for use with those. This was my favorite learning experience with my daughters together by far!!

 
Inez V. from Austin wrote the following on 07/28/2010:
We just received this, and have not started using it yet. Our daughters are very excited about it. I found most of the out of print resources on ebay. However, I could not find the out of print teacher guides for anything remotely reasonable in price. I taught a class last year for our homeschool coop with handmade historical dresses using inexpensive 18 inch dolls from Michael's and Joanns. We found patterns on infinitefreedom, Simplicity, and McCalls but we could not find the actual AG patterns. One caveat is that this is not a complete curriculum, so if you wish to give a more complete picture of American history you will need to purchase something that fills in the gaps between the dolls. It looks great and really fun. I like it better than the lapbook from hands of a child.

 
Christy R. from Oklahoma wrote the following on 07/08/2011:
My 9 and 11 year old daughters loved doing this study last year! I also came up with additional resources for each character so that everything could be easily and safely found in one place. I hope others are able to use it, too! It can be found here: http://portraitsofamericangirlhood.blogspot.com

 
Ammie S. from Missouri wrote the following on 03/05/2012:
I was very excited to get this, and to use the American Girl books with my two daughters. I am so disappointed. Most of the ideas are just not very well developed, they are shallow activities. One day may be a well thought out activity, the next will just say to read, or go to the library, and the next is an activity which seems to have no grounding. For lack of a better, it feels schizophrenic in a manner of speaking. Just no pattern or consistency at all. Also, my husband about freaked when I put the printables' CD in the computer and it began grinding trying to read it. The sticker used to decorate the CD was of poor quality and crooked, causing quite a ruckus in the player. I would not recommend it, or purchase it again. I would have tried to get a refund, but feel I should have done my own homework before purchasing.