American Girl: Felicity 1774 – American History Unit Study

by heavenstobetty, posted in Homeschool

“It seemed to her that life on the plantation was busy and lazy at the same time. there were a great many things to do, all of them pleasant, and there was never any hurry about getting them done.”

Felicity Saves the Day (page 7)

For homeschool this year, we’re using American Girl book series as a fun way to learn about American history. The books are really delightful and have strong male and female characters. All 3 of my kiddos (2 boys and 1 girl) enjoy listening to the stories read aloud by yours truly. The Felicity stories are set in the year 1774, at the time of the American Revolution, in Virginia. We finally finished reading the six books in the series.

1. Meet Felicity
2. Felicity Learns a Lesson
3. Felicity’s Surprise
4. Happy Birthday Felicity
5. Felicity Saves the Day
6. Changes for Felicity

We also read Very Funny Elizabeth (a companion book) and we referenced Felicity’s Cook Book and Welcome to Felicity’s World: 1774 – Life in Colonial America. You can find the books used on amazon, ebay, thrift books, etc.

We did the following hands-on projects that coordinated with the books:

1. Cook recipes from Felicity’s Cook Book – apple butter & johnnycakes

2. Tea Time (the kids like this apple vanilla tea by Republic of Tea)

My friend LT gave us a Peter Rabbit tea set by Stow & Green, it’s so adorable!

3. Tin Punching Christmas ornaments – Here are instructions from Housewife Eclectic

4. Quilt Lessons with Muga (grandma)


5. Learn How to Cross Stitch

found these kits at the Dollar Tree


6. Writing with ink and quill (I found the quill, ink, and parchment paper sets at Rainbow Resource Center)


7. USA puzzle map (I picked this up at Goodwill a few months ago) & map the 13 colonies worksheet – Here are some great free printables 13 Colonies Worksheets

The idea is to read one book per week and do one hands-on Colonial-inspired activity per week. In real life, this took much longer than 6 weeks and we got distracted with other things several times.

I run a tight shipwreck

If you run a better schedule than I do (and if we’re being completely honest it really wouldn’t take much), this lesson plan could be done in 6 weeks or so! At the end of our unit study we enjoyed a movie night and watched the Felicity DVD by American Girl.

Other activities that would be great to go along with this unit study: horse riding, dance lessons, and decorating the house for Christmas with fresh greenery.

Happy Homeschooling!

22 thoughts on “American Girl: Felicity 1774 – American History Unit Study”

  2. Very impressive! How fun to make history so real and relevant! My daughter loved these American Girl books; they were first being published when she was about 8 or 9. Back then, I would loan the books to my Grandma who was in her nineties at the time. She loved them as well. So what if it takes longer than 6 weeks? The lessons and memories will last a lifetime!

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    1. Thank you Betty! I’m probably about the same age as your daughter because I remember getting a Samatha doll for Christmas when I was about 8 or 9. Tell your daughter that American Girl’s latest “historical doll” is Courtney and she’s from 1986!

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      1. 1986 is historical? That is hysterical! Yes, you are probably about the same age. I remember there were 3 American girl dolls when she first became interested. I think the American Girls dolls/ books are a great concept!

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      1. You’re welcome 😊 I did teach. I love it so much. I taught special education 3 years (K-4), 2nd grade 5 years and then primary principal 4 years (preschool to 2nd), middle school principal 8 years, and then back to elementary principal (2nd-4th) 4 years. I used Abeka when my boys were small and dreamt of homeschooling. I had a fabulous group of home school parents and they’d come to the library (I always welcomed them) and some would even request assessment (informal). I anyways applauded and supported them; they were my friends. After all a parent is the #1 educator and we needed to provide support. I no longer work in the public school system and I support my teacher friends. But do struggle, and did, with things expected and the depth and scope of what is required and the overload of assessment. I felt in 24 years there were many things let go that were good. And from the top down it was hard to support. I taught as you teach. Thematically. But I also believed kids shouldn’t be placed in classrooms based on their “dates of manufacture “ 😂. They each have their own trajectory and I used the outdoors to boost their interest. I was an archery coach at the middle school and partnered with the Missouri Conservation Dept to teach Dutch oven cooking, pellet gun safety, fishing, archery, etc…anything that would bring real life skills to real life! And I see so many home school parents, such as you, that are using projects (I’m a project-based person) that are lighting up the imaginations of kids and supporting them without just sitting in front of a computer screen. I’m sorry I wrote so much! I’m passionate about learning. I’m proud of you and commend you!

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  6. I came across a couple of your posts about Addy and Felicity! What amazing ideas! Thank you so much for sharing! Did you study any of the other American Girls? If you had ideas or resources to share, I would love that. I couldn’t locate any other posts but absolutely could have missed them!
    Thank you again! This summer research has gotten me so excited to start our school year in the fall!
    Hope to hear from you soon!

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth! We recently finished the Molly series but I haven’t put together a post about it yet… your comment is motivation for me to get working on it! So far, I’ve only done posts on Felicity & Kaya. They are such good & beautiful book series. Really great quality stuff to fill young minds! I really appreciate you taking the time to send such a nice comment. 🥰 Happy homeschooling!!

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  7. Wonderful to hear back from you! Yes! I would love any ideas you had on the Molly series. I loved how streamlined your post was. So many fun ideas.
    Thank you so much and have a wonderful rest of your summer!!!

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