Eat Your U.S. History Homework a TOS Homeschool Review

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This entry is part 24 of 25 in the series 2015 Homeschool Reviews

We love learning about history and the way people did things in the past, especially with food, so when it came to reviewing Eat Your U.S. History Homework by Ann McCallum Books we thought that was right up our alley!

And we were right!

Eat Your U.S. History Homework  is a 48 page hard backed book with a paper bookcover/sleeve that takes your child on a culinary journey through the history of America from 1620 to 1790, or from the founding of Jamestown to the election of President  George Washington.

The suggested age range for this resource is 7-10. My daughter is 10.

There is also a downloadable 19 page Teacher’s Guide to really expand on the recipes, play some games, dig deeper, and have even more fun.

Meal Planning 5 Day Bootcamp

I’m not sure who was more excited, me or my daughter when the book arrived.

 Eat Your U.S. History Homework contains 6 modernized recipes based on happenings in history. Each recipe starts with a historic retelling of what was going on during that time period and where the idea for the recipe camp from.

Then the recipe, complete with cute example graphics, follows. There are Prep steps, Equipment to use, and then the Ingredients. Each step of the recipe has a cute cartoon graphic to go with it so your child can know what is happening next.

After that there are some more historical details and a little tid bit, called a “Side Dish”, you may not have known about.

The recipes are….

  • Thanksgiving Succotash
  • Colonial Cherry-Berry Grunt
  • Lost Bread
  • Southern Plantation Hoe Cakes
  • Revolutionary Honey-Jumble Cookies
  • Independence Ice Cream


After perusing through the book I waffled back and forth between which recipes to try. I kept landing on on the Colonial Cherry-Berry Grunt page because that looked really yummy. But we already had a house full of desserts so I forced myself to move on and we decided to back up and start with the Thanksgiving Succotash.

eat-your-us-history-thanksgivin-succotash

Hubby was going to be out of town for a few days and I thought a little special mealtime treat that she created would be a nice thing for Sweet Peanut and I to do together.

The recipe did give me some pause initially because it uses hot dogs and bacon which wasn’t in line with my new healthier eating but I opted for nitrite free and turkey versions of the two and we forged ahead.

The ingredients and instructions are clearly written so I let the Sweet Peanut take the lead with me just watching and offering sous chef support. She sometimes doubts her cooking ability so this was a good thing to give her a bit of confidence.

We started off reading the historic background of Thanksgiving and how it came to be. We learned how President Lincoln and then President  Franklin D. Roosevelt decreed it into law the holiday we now know today that arrives on the fourth Thursday of November every year.

We also learned how Squanto helped the pilgrims learn about the edible foods in their new land and how to grow them. And then we feasted!

The recipe was very simple to put together and surprisingly delicious. Sweet Peanut enjoyed taking the lead and we’ve promised to remake the dish for dad now that he’s home.

eat-us-history-homework-french-toast

Next up we made Lost Bread for breakfast one morning. As I was getting the Sweet Peanut up I let he know I would like her to make breakfast. After preparing for the day I gave her the quick lesson on the French and Indian War and the French pain perdu (Lost Bread) which we took a stab at.

Okay so this is essentially French Toast but it’s nice to know where it came from. I left out some bread overnight in preparation for this. Except for a little snafu with cracking the eggs the Sweet Peanut took the lead again cooking from beginning to end.

Cooking with kids in the kitchen is a great time to tackle several skills at once. First we want good hygiene so we scrub our hands before beginning. There’s the reading of the directions correctly and thoroughly (oh how many times have I screwed up a recipe by not reading it thoroughly before hand). Reading the measurements and preparing your ingredients in advance. Doing things in order (we cover order words in English class). Her dexterity with a knife (so important for a chef). And being organized in our work.

This is all covered in Kitchen Tips in the Eat Your U.S. History Homework book.

My daughter really enjoyed this cooking time together. Most young children love cooking with their parents in the kitchen and she’s no different.

Right now in our history curriculum we are in World War 1. While that hadn’t happened yet in our Eat Your U.S. History Homework Book  (to recap it covers from the Pilgrims to George Washington becoming president) we took the Lost Bread lesson and used that to discuss what life might have been like for soldiers during various wars.

This was a really cute resource to bring all that U.S. History home in a fun way. It would be a great compliment to any elementary U.S. history curriculum.

Check out these other books in the Eat Your Homework Series….

Eat Your Math Homework
Eat Your Science Homework
Eat Your U.S. History Homework

and read about them in these other reviews from my fellow Review Crew Members when you click the green banner below.

Click to read Crew ReviewsTOS-Disclaimer

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