This week is the perfect week to study the American Revolution with your children. On this day, April 18th, in 1775, the Revolutionary War began.
There are many great movies you can watch and study with your children to enhance your studies of the American Revolution. Here are just a few.
Johnny Tremain
This movie follows Johnny Tremain, a silversmith’s apprentice turned
messenger for the Sons of Liberty. Johnny overcomes rejection, false
accusations, and a physical handicap to participate in the birth of a
new nation. Run with Johnny through the streets of Boston calling “one
if by land; two if by sea”. Then it’s off to join Minutemen on Lexington
Green for the opening shots of the American War for Independence.
You can also use the Zeezok Z-Guide to study this movie with your middle-schooler. It contains a topic overview, movie synopsis, and ten learning activities for fourth through eighth-grade students. Discover more about colonial apprenticeships, the Boston Tea Party and the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Relive the stirring passion of Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech. Expand your vocabulary and understanding of the reasons for American independence while dissecting “The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved.” Memorize a portion of the Declaration of Independence. Get the entire family involved with the “For Family Discussion” section. Coloring pages, a crossword puzzle, and the Johnny Tremain maze activity round out your study of the fateful events in and around Boston that produced a revolution. Now you can relive those experiences with the Johnny Tremain guide!
April Morning
April morning is a movie about Adam Cooper who at that awkward age
where he’s more than a boy but not quite a man. He wonders why his harsh
father doesn’t love him. On the eve of the American Revolution, father
and son Cooper come to understand each other in the midst of
extraordinary circumstances. In the process, Adam learns what it means
to be a man.
The Zeezok Z-Guide to April Morning is a great way to study the movie with your high schooler. It contains a topic overview, a movie synopsis, and ten learning activities for an in-depth study of the film. Learn more about the opening battles of the American Revolution. Read a British account of the events of that day. Memorize a brief selection from Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis or create a diorama of the Lexington skirmish. Get some friends together for a game show competition about the American Revolution, and complete the fifteen-minute history of the American Revolution. Evaluate your own beliefs with the worldview activity, probe the director’s mind with The Filmmaker’s Art activity, and get the entire family involved with the “For Family Discussion” section at the end of the guide. Choose those activities which best fit your student’s course objectives, areas of interest, or time schedule.
Have fun learning about American history in your homeschool this week! Are there more movies you like to watch to learn about the American Revolution? Please share!