For those who are looking for a unit to go with the chronological time frame they are studying, below are the free unit studies we have available listed in rough chronological order.
When viewing our units in chronological order, the assigned dates may seem a bit contrived, but were selected to make our units fit our schedule and interests. You are always welcome to assign a date more fitting to your studies. (For example, assigning Columbus a date in 1492 rather than October 12, 1892, the first celebration of Columbus Day).
You can also view our units by event/date, units by subject, or most recently added.
Table of contents
Early History
1500s
- March 5, 1512
Gerardus Mercator born (maps) - May 2, 1519
Leonardo da Vinci dies - April 20, 1535
Sun dogs seen (and recorded) in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1535 - June 9, 1535
Cartier discovers the St. Lawrence River - February 24, 1582
Gregorian calendar declared official by Pope Gregory XIII
1600s
- May 14, 1607
Jamestown settlement established - June 19, 1623
Blaise Pascal born - June 20, 1632
Charter of Maryland granted - October 24, 1632
Anton van Leeuwenhoek born (microscopes) - March 21, 1685
Johann Sebastian Bach born - March 19, 1687
Robert La Salle dies (The Great Lakes)
1700s
- March 16, 1751
James Madison born - February 29, 1752
First modern Leap Day - November 14, 1765
Robert Fulton born - June 12, 1766
Virgina adopts a Declaration of Rights - February 10, 1775
Charles Lamb born (Shakespeare introduction) - June 16, 1775
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers established - June 14, 1777
Flag Day - 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 - February 20, 1792
Postal Service Act signed into law
1800s
1800–1849
- April 30, 1803
Louisiana Purchase treaty signed - July 4, 1805
Stephen Meek born (Oregon Trail) - November 15, 1806
Pike first sights Pike’s Peak - February 12, 1809
Abraham Lincoln born - February 3, 1811
Horace Greeley born (westward expansion) - May 12, 1812
Edward Lear born (limericks) - June 18, 1812
Madison signs declaration of war (War of 1812) - July 25, 1814
George Stephenson completes the Blucher (steam locomotives) - November 23, 1814
Elbridge Gerry born (gerrymander) - December 24, 1818
“Silent Night, Holy Night” first performed - March 29, 1819
Edwin Drake born (oil well) - March 15, 1820
Maine became a state - March 24, 1820
Fanny Crosby born - May 5, 1821
Napoleon dies - February 8, 1828
Jules Verne born - April 14, 1828
American Dictionary of the English Language completed by Webster - October 3, 1830
George Brayton born (internal combustion engine) - June 30, 1834
Indian Intercourse Act passed creating Indian Territory - December 17, 1843
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol published - May 22, 1844
Mary Cassatt born - May 24, 1844
First Morse code telegraph message sent - July 22, 1844
Archibald Spooner born (wordplay) - September 4, 1846
Daniel Burnham born (Chicago World’s Fair)
1850–1899
- May 30, 1854
Territory of Nebraska established by the Kansas-Nebraska act - November 6, 1854
John Philip Sousa born - April 3, 1860
The beginning of the Pony Express - September 7, 1860
Grandma Moses born - January 29, 1861
Kansas becomes a state - May 16, 1861
Irving Washington Colburn born (glass) - March 26, 1863
West Virginia ratifies a new state constitution - May 26, 1864
Territory of Montana created - October 31, 1864
Nevada becomes a state - July 5, 1865
The Secret Service created - February 7, 1867
Laura Ingalls Wilder born (Little House on the Prairie series) - February 17, 1867
First ship makes transit of the Suez Canal - March 6, 1869
The periodic table of elements presented to the world - May 10, 1869
Golden Spike ceremony for the first transcontinental railroad - April 11, 1875
German astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe died (solar cycles) - April 26, 1875
John James Audubon born (birds) - March 10, 1876
Alexander Graham Bell transmitted first words over a telephone - June 25, 1876
The Battle of Little Bighorn - January 27, 1880
Incandescent light bulb patented by Thomas Edison - January 18, 1882
A. A. Milne born (Winnie-the-Pooh) - May 8, 1884
Harry S. Truman born
September 5, 1885
First gas pump sold (gasoline) - February 2, 1887
First Groundhog Day procession to Gobbler’s Knob - March 31, 1889
Eiffel Tower dedicated - April 22, 1889
First Oklahoma land rush - November 20, 1889
Edwin Hubble born (telescopes) - April 23, 1891
Sergei Prokofiev born (Peter and the Wolf) - October 12, 1892
First official Columbus Day celebrated - July 13, 1897
Marconi receives U.S. Patent for wireless telegraphy - April 21, 1898
Spanish-American war - July 11, 1899
E.B. White born
1900s
- October 23, 1903
First Crayola crayon sold - April 18, 1906
Great San Fransisco earthquake - October 20, 1906
First triode vacuum tube demonstrated - May 19, 1910
Earth passes through the tail of Halley’s comet - September 17, 1911
First Constitution Day observed - January 6, 1912
New Mexico becomes a state - March 7, 1912
Amundsen announced he had reached the South Pole - June 28, 1914
The Beginning of World War I - December 4, 1918
Woodrow Wilson sets sail for France (France) - July 27, 1921
Insulin first extracted as a treatment for etes - March 3, 1925
Mt. Rushmore Memorial Commission authorized - July 7, 1928
Sliced bread first sold - October 17, 1933
Einstein arrives in the United States - May 9, 1934
The Dust Bowl - July 17, 1938
“Wrong Way” Corrigan takes off … in the wrong direction (compasses) - August 9, 1944
Smokey Bear created (fire & fire safety) - August 22, 1944
Nazi SS attempt to capture the Bayeux Tapestry - September 18, 1947
CIA established - December 6, 1947
President Harry Truman dedicates Everglades National Park - April 28, 1952
Treaty of San Fransisco ends World War II - November 1, 1952
First hydrogen bomb detonated - April 7, 1954
Domino Theory articulated in a speech by Eisenhower - May 25, 1955
F5 tornado touches down in Udall, Kansas (Tornadoes) - March 17, 1958
First Vanguard satellite launched - January 3, 1959
Alaska became a state - August 7, 1959
Lincoln Memorial penny goes into circulation (coinage) - January 23, 1960
Trieste sets record manned ocean descent (the ocean) - June 10, 1967
The Gateway Arch opened to the public - July 20, 1969
Men first land on the moon - September 3, 1970
Heaviest hailstone of the 20th century falls (hail) - March 3, 1973
First Iditarod - January 17, 1991
Operation Desert Storm began - September 13, 1994
DNA Identification act established (DNA & genetics) - September 19, 1995
Orville Redenbacher dies (popcorn)
2000s
- August 8, 2003
World’s biggest jackfruit harvested (fruits & veggies)
Units not listed chronologically
- Around the World in 80 Days: A Unit Study
- Child’s Own Book of Great Musicians (music studies)
- Cedric the Forester (book study/knights and castles)
- The Century Book for Young Americans (civics studies)
- Fox and the Grapes
- Gardening
- Great Inventors and Their Inventions (science studies)
- The Horse
- Little Red Hen (book study)
- Presidential election
- Our Wonderful World (nature studies)
- Soil
- The spring equinox
- Stories of Great Americans (history studies)