…what duty more pressing than…[the education of our youth in the science of government]?”
Social Studies
Science
Art
PE
Language Arts
Math
Music
Patriots Day
Our approach is interdisciplinary and immersive. The curriculum is adaptable, allowing schools and teachers to tailor the experience to their needs. Teaching in all subjects progresses in customary sequences and at the normal pace. The curriculum is designed for six weeks, but many schools expand it to anywhere from 9 to 14 weeks to get even more out of the rich content.
Social Studies is at the center of the experience. Social Studies includes a textbook that covers just this period in history. In all other subjects, Why America Is Free provides lesson plans, primary documents, and stories.
Because we learn best when we can connect new knowledge to things we already know or are interested in, nothing is taught in isolation. The lesson plans in all subjects include ways to apply skills and knowledge that reinforce what students discover in Social Studies.
Subject Integration
Lexington-Concord, April 19, 1775
First Battle of the American Revolution
The significance of this battle is presented through linked lesson plans in Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Music, Art, P E, and Science.
In Social Studies, students listen to “Battle Road,” an audio program, and as they do, their imaginations take them into the unfolding events.
On the night of April 18, the British commander dispatches a formidable force to Lexington and Concord to capture Patriot leaders and arms.
Paul Revere and the other Patriot riders spread the alarm far and wide, and militiamen begin racing toward the two towns. British sentries, unnerved by the church bells and gunshot signals that cracked through the darkness from every direction, capture Revere but leave him and ride away on his horse.
Battle Road
The story of Lexington & Concord…the “shot heard ‘round the world!”
As this short excerpt begins, it is near dawn, Revere has returned to rescue a trunk of critically important documents just as the first of the British troops near Lexington green.
As the Battle Road audio program ends, the teacher holds up a musket ball and shows it to the students and says …
You are looking at death… this musket ball did not have to pierce a major organ, just cut through the skin deep enough, and the wound could become infected and lead to death. In the 18th century, they did not know about antibiotics.”
The Why America Is Free experience culminates on Patriots Day, the day that all the students have learned becomes real to them as they live a day and a night in the middle of the American Revolution. The younger grades are awed when they see the upper grade students in 18th century dress and manners. It lights a fire in them to look forward to the day they will be able to do the same.