Unit Study: The Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials

 The 15 year-old is almost finished with her unit study on the US of the mid-1800s.  I've decided that our next unit study is going to be about the Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials.  Here's a tentative plan for our study.  Keep in mind that this student turns 16 during the unit study.  I wouldn't do this study with any of my younger kids.  I expect this study to take about two months - mostly dependent on how quickly she can work through the Progeny Press guide.  

Literature and Writing

• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Scarlet Letter Progeny Press Literature Guide
• Weekly writing prompts from the literature guide
• Daily discussion questions and vocabulary from the literature guide
• Research topics from the literature guide

Government

• Whatever Happened to Justice by Richard J. Maybury

Logic

• The Fallacy Detective by the Bluedorn brothers

Geography

• Video: "Landmark Tour of Plymouth, MA"
• Video: "America Before the Pilgrims"
• Video: "Who Were Samoset, Massasoit and Squanto?"
• Continue Mapping the World with Art

History

• Record events in Timeline/Book of Centuries
• History Channel: "The Mayflower"
• Research: The Mayflower Compact - read the Mayflower Compact
• Video: "Touring Plimouth Plantation - Bob Vila"
• Compass Classroom's "Who Were the Puritans" - talks about how The Scarlet Letter is different from what the Puritans were really like
• Research: Who Was Jonathan Edwards?
• Read: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
• Research: Who Was Cotton Mather?
• Read the article: "The Witches of Salem"
• Read the original Salem Witch Trial Transcripts (verbatim transcripts of the court records):  http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/category/swp.html

Art Appreciation/History 

• "The Puritan" sculpture by Saint-Gaudens (Met Museum)
• "Mrs. Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary" - portrait
• "Oliver Cromwell" portrait by Robert Walker
• "Thomas Anguish, Mayor of Norwich" portrait
• "Cotton Mather" portrait by Peter Pelham
• "Increase Mather" portrait by John van Der Spriett
• "The Mason Children" portrait 1670
• Mayflower Collection from the Pilgrim Hall Museum
• "Ships in Harbor"
• "Departure of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven"
• "Embarkation of the Pilgrims"
• "The Mayflower and Speedwell in Dartmouth Harbor"
• "The Mayflower at Sea"
• "The Signing of the Compact in the Cabin of the Mayflower"
• "The Mayflower on Her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor"
• "The Landing of the Pilgrims" - 3 paintings
• "The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth"
• "Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft" - painting 1855
• "Examination of a Witch" -painting 1853, Matteson
• "The Salem Martyr" - Slatterwhite 1869
• "The Execution of Mrs. Ann Hibbins" - painting 1886

Music Appreciation

• I want to include music from the Puritan world, but I need to do more research into this, first.  I'm not sure if they even had music, except for hymns.

This is only a tentative framework.  We tend to take rabbit trails and drag our unit studies out longer than they would've.