If you are looking for an interesting way to cover a content subject, here are our free unit studies arranged by subject.
Obviously, the nature of unit studies dictates that the subject categories be rather loose. Units cover more than one subject. It is also true that every unit could fit into history, but if you are working your way through history, you may prefer to view the units in chronological order.
We have tried to choose the most obvious category. Where the topic fits into more than one subject, we have added it to each.
You can also view our units by most recently added, by date/event, or enjoy our Holiday Helps and Book Studies.
History
- Latest known inscription written in Egyptian hieroglyphics
August 24, 394 - Cedric the Forester (book study/knights and castles)
- Stories of Great Americans (book study)
- May 14, 1607
Jamestown settlement established - April 30, 1803
Louisiana Purchase treaty signed - July 4, 1805
Stephen Meek born (Oregon Trail) - February 3, 1811
Horace Greeley born (westward expansion) - June 18, 1812
Madison signs declaration of war (War of 1812) - May 5, 1821
Napoleon dies - June 30, 1834
Indian Intercourse Act passed creating Indian Territory - April 3, 1860
The beginning of the Pony Express - May 10, 1869
Golden Spike ceremony for the first transcontinental railroad - June 25, 1876
The Battle of Little Bighorn - April 22, 1889
First Oklahoma land rush - April 21, 1898
Spanish-American war - June 28, 1914
The Beginning of World War I - May 9, 1934
The Dust Bowl - April 28, 1952
Treaty of San Francisco ends World War II - November 1, 1952
First hydrogen bomb detonated - April 7, 1954
Domino Theory articulated in a speech by Eisenhower - January 17, 1991
Operation Desert Storm began
Geography
- March 5, 1512
Gerardus Mercator born (maps) - June 9, 1535
Cartier discovers the St. Lawrence River - June 20, 1632
Charter of Maryland granted - March 19, 1687
Robert La Salle dies (The Great Lakes) - June 12, 1766
Virgina adopts a Declaration of Rights - September 20, 1776
State Constitution of Delaware adopted and put into effect - January 9, 1788
Connecticut became a state - January 26, 1788
Australia Day, commemorating first ship landing to colonize Australia - February 6, 1788
Massachusetts becomes a state - November 15, 1806
Pike first sights Pike’s Peak - March 15, 1820
Maine became a state - May 30, 1854
Territory of Nebraska established by the Kansas-Nebraska act - January 29, 1861
Kansas becomes a state - March 26, 1863
West Virginia ratifies a new state constitution - May 26, 1864
Territory of Montana created - October 31, 1864
Nevada becomes a state - February 17, 1867
First ship makes transit of the Suez Canal - March 31, 1889
Eiffel Tower dedicated - January 6, 1912
New Mexico becomes a state - March 7, 1912
Amundsen announced he had reached the South Pole - December 4, 1918
Woodrow Wilson sets sail for France (France) - March 3, 1925
Mt. Rushmore Memorial Commission authorized - July 17, 1938
“Wrong Way” Corrigan takes off … in the wrong direction (compasses) - December 6, 1947
President Harry Truman dedicates Everglades National Park - January 3, 1959
Alaska became a state - January 23, 1960
Trieste sets record manned ocean descent (the ocean)
Civics
- Presidential elections
- The Century Book for Young Americans (civics studies)
- March 16, 1751
James Madison born - June 16, 1775
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established - June 14, 1777
Flag Day - February 20, 1792
Postal Service Act signed into law - February 12, 1809
Abraham Lincoln born - November 23, 1814
Elbridge Gerry born (gerrymander) - September 4, 1846
Daniel Burnham born (Chicago World’s Fair) - July 5, 1865
The Secret Service created - May 8, 1884
Harry S. Truman born - October 12, 1892
First official Columbus Day celebrated - September 17, 1911
First Constitution Day observed - September 18, 1947
CIA established - August 7, 1959
Lincoln Memorial penny goes into circulation (coinage) - June 10, 1967
The Gateway Arch opened to the public
Science
- Great Inventors and Their Inventions (book study)
- May 2, 1519
Leonardo da Vinci dies - April 20, 1535
Sun dogs seen (and recorded) in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1535 - June 19, 1623
Blaise Pascal born - October 24, 1632
Anton van Leeuwenhoek born (microscopes) - November 14, 1765
Robert Fulton born - July 25, 1814
George Stephenson completes the Blucher (steam locomotives) - March 29, 1819
Edwin Drake born (oil wells) - October 3, 1830
George Brayton born (internal combustion engine) - May 24, 1844
First Morse code telegraph message sent - May 16, 1861
Irving Washington Colburn born (glass) - March 6, 1869
The periodic table of elements presented to the world - April 11, 1875
German astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe died (solar cycles) - March 10, 1876
Alexander Graham Bell transmitted first words over a telephone - January 27, 1880
Incandescent light bulb patented by Thomas Edison - September 5, 1885
First gas pump sold (gasoline) - November 20, 1889
Edwin Hubble born (telescopes) - July 13, 1897
Marconi receives U.S. Patent for wireless telegraphy - April 18, 1906
Great San Francisco earthquake - October 20, 1906
First triode vacuum tube demonstrated - May 19, 1910
Earth passes through the tail of Halley’s comet - July 27, 1921
Insulin first extracted as a treatment for diabetes - October 17, 1933
Einstein arrives in the United States - May 25, 1955
F5 tornado touches down in Udall, Kansas (tornadoes) - March 17, 1958
First Vanguard satellite launched - July 20, 1969
Men first land on the moon - September 13, 1994
DNA Identification act established (DNA & genetics) - September 19, 1995
Orville Redenbacher dies (popcorn)
Nature
- Gardening
- The Horse
- Our Wonderful World (book study)
- Soil
- The spring equinox
- April 20, 1535
Sun dogs seen (and recorded) in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1535 - April 26, 1875
John James Audubon born (birds) - February 2, 1887
First Groundhog Day procession to Gobbler’s Knob - April 18, 1906
Great San Fransisco earthquake - May 25, 1955
F5 tornado touches down in Udall, Kansas (Tornadoes) - January 23, 1960
Trieste sets record manned ocean descent (the ocean) - September 3, 1970
Heaviest hailstone of the 20th century falls (hail) - March 3, 1973
First Iditarod
Health
- July 27, 1921
Insulin first extracted as a treatment for diabetes - July 7, 1928
Sliced bread sold for the first time - August 9, 1944
Smokey Bear created (fire & fire safety) - September 19, 1995
Orville Redenbacher dies (popcorn) - August 8, 2003
World’s biggest jackfruit harvested (fruits & veggies)
Math
- February 24, 1582
Gregorian calendar declared official by Pope Gregory XIII
Literature and English Language
- Around the World in 80 Days: A Unit Study
- Little Red Hen (book study)
- The Fox and the Grapes
- February 10, 1775
Charles Lamb born (Shakespeare introduction) - May 12, 1812
Edward Lear born (limericks) - February 8, 1828
Jules Verne born - April 14, 1828
American Dictionary of the English Language completed by Webster - December 17, 1843
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol published - July 22, 1844
Archibald Spooner born (wordplay) - February 7, 1867
Laura Ingalls Wilder born (Little House on the Prairie series) - January 18, 1882
A. A. Milne born (Winnie-the-Pooh) - July 11, 1899
E. B. White born
Art
- May 2, 1519
Leonardo da Vinci dies - May 22, 1844
Mary Cassatt born - September 7, 1860
Grandma Moses born - October 23, 1903
First Crayola crayon sold - August 22, 1944
Nazi SS attempt to capture the Bayeux Tapestry
Music
- March 21, 1685
Johann Sebastian Bach born - December 24, 1818
“Silent Night, Holy Night” first performed - March 24, 1820
Fanny Crosby born - November 6, 1854
John Philip Sousa born - April 23, 1891
Sergei Prokofiev born (“Peter and the Wolf”) - Child’s Own Book of Great Musicians (book study)
Holidays
(Also see our Holiday Helps.)
- February 29, 1752
Leap Day - June 14, 1777
Flag Day - December 24, 1818
“Silent Night, Holy Night” first performed - December 17, 1843
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol published - February 2, 1887
First Groundhog Day procession to Gobbler’s Knob - October 12, 1892
First official Columbus Day celebrated - September 17, 1911
First Constitution Day observed
