I absolutely love incorporating unit Studies into our learning, as  there is so much you can do with them to include many different subjects at one time. We recently had the chance to review White House Holidays Unit Studies by Silverdale Press LLC. These unit studies are for ages 5 – 18.

White House Holiday Unit Studies teaches children about the history of our national holidays. The holidays that are included in this set are: Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Valentine’s Day. The nice thing about these unit studies is they are designed for children of all ages but are split into separate activities for older and younger students.  Each study really goes into detail about the history of the holiday and how it came about. You might find some videos that go along with it, hands on activities, further research, and etc.

How We Used This:

I used these studies with my son. We completed Labor Day and we are just about done with Martin Luther King, Jr. Labor Day had three lessons to complete and Martin Luther King, Jr has 5 lessons. I decided to take our time and really explore the holiday. We not only learned about the holiday but we learned more about the people behind the holidays. I had extended our learning for each lesson.

Labor Day – Labor Day was really interesting. I knew what it was for but never really knew the history behind it as much as I thought I did. In the first lesson we learned about Eleanor Roosevelt and Child Labor. I was blown away at just how young children were working and for how long. I was even blown away by the working conditions they worked in. They were not very clean at all. You didn’t really get paid much back then. Elanor Roosevelt changed the way for First Ladies and politics.  I had no idea that she was had helped draft the UN Nations of Human Rights. Factories put workers at risk for more profit. Many of the sweatshop workers were immigrants and children who earned $6 – $10 per week sewing clothes. They worked 14 hour days. One of the things that had happened during this time was a terrible fire at the Triangle Sweat Shop and that brought the start of change to improve working conditions and protecting workers. The sad thing was that there was one floor that didn’t get out from the fire because that floor had a locked door. Very sad. One thing I liked about this lesson was that you really got to see what was happening through older pictures. You studied the pictures and answered questions about them. Bottom line is one of the things that Eleanor Roosevelt fought for was Child Labor and better working conditions.

In the next lesson we learned about McGuire, Maguire, and the First Labor Day. This was a time when the unions had formed. It was amazing at just how big the first Labor Day parade and picnic was in September 5, 1882. Lots of people attended. During this time people were working 12 hour days/7 days a week. Mostly the poor and the immigrants had unsafe working conditions. We looked at different messages that were wrote on posters and banners. We looked on the internet to find more Labor Day posters and pictures. We even made our own poster by recreating one from way back when.

Lesson 3 was really fascinating to me as well. We learned about President Cleveland the Pullman Strike. President Cleveland is the one who declared Labar Day a holiday. We watched videos about George Pullman and his town. We watched some videos on the fancy passenger cars he had made. He had a whole town named after him. There came a time where George Pullman told the workers they were out of jobs. Most of these workers are ones that lived in this town. Workers couldn’t afford the high rent and demanded more money but Pullman had said no. This lead to the Railroad Strike. On June 26, 1894 it was time to boycott all Pullman Railway cars. There was riots. While the strike happened there was no mail, food or packages that was delivered. President had to step in because it was his job to see that this was all running. He also had to make sure that no one was destroying property or violent acts. He sent Federal troops to  Chicago to arrest any who brown the law. The strike lasted 2 days. We did further study on watching videos about President Cleveland, George Pullman, and the Railroad Strike. One of the activities we did here was put the story into pictures. We also wrote some important facts on them as well.

Martin Luther King, Jr. – One of the things that I really liked about this lesson was that there was extra videos to watch about what you had read. There was also a time line to be created as well as some mapping.  There was also speeches to be read as well as listened to. The lessons were a little longer then the Labor Day one. They went into detail and there many pictures as well. There were some hands on activities that really gave you the example of what was in the lessons, but we didn’t do those as my son opted out of those. We did look at the finished results and talked about what it meant in greater detail. I am in awe of Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he fought for civil rights. He believed in fighting through peaceful demonstrations and through the power of religion. I also didn’t know how big of a role that John F. Kennedy played in civil rights either. I had on idea just how much he fought for things to be changed. Martin Luther King, JR. was a very determined man. One of the things that I never knew about was the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I know who Rosa Parks is, as she refused to move to the back of a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested and taken to jail. She lost the case and had to pay $14.00 fine. This loss lead to something greater and that was the appeal to a higher court. Because of this there was a bus boycott that lasted for 381 days. There was loss of profit because of this protest. It was then later granted that all residents ride integrated buses. Rosa Parks was an amazing lady. I really had no idea that she worked for civil rights after. She found it difficult to find a job. She founded an institute. She also received many awards and died at the age of 92. This unit sparked a lot of conversation with my son and a lot of questions.

My Overall Thoughts: 

My son and I really enjoyed these unit studies so far. I am really fascinated with just how much was taught. I think I learned more in these unit studies that I actually learned in school. I think that is great knowing the history behind a holiday. It was interesting in learned about people, events, and the holiday. I do like the fact that the reading were grouped as one but the activities for the older and younger were separated. I LOVE that their was hands on activities as well. They will make great keep sakes in our learning. If you want to learn the history of how the holidays came to be, I highly suggest checking this out.

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