A Quick Study of Johnny Appleseed

One of the read-alouds included with Sonlights Core A is Johnny Appleseed (First Biographies) by Gini Holland, a part of the First Biographies series. We did not get around to it during the year this year.

This week, as we had some time in the car, I grabbed it off the shelf and brought it in the car. I figured it was something that my 7 year old could read herself. I thought maybe she could read a few pages during our car ride.

I was ecstatic to realize that she not only could read it but she was very interested in it and devoured the book. She finished it in a 30 minute read-aloud session in the car.

It was a very enjoyable book. It closes with a summary of the legend of Johnny Appleseed and how children sing songs and talk about him even today. My daughter asked about the songs so I decided to look into it.

I found some great resources online and on You Tube and really love that I was able to use my smart phone to help continue our spur-of-the-moment learning on the run.

We enjoyed a video of the Johnny Appleseed song and then found a lovely cartoon video, two part, on You Tube that she enjoyed that expanded on the story. It was very fun! What a great story! Though I remember studying him in school, I don’t remember the story being so interesting in the textbook.

I loved that she associated the dates with all the history we studied this year. From George Washington’s Army that Johnny’s dad was fighting in to his exploration through Indiana, our state, which made her excited that he was in Indiana. The historical aspects were great and I loved seeing her so interested in learning. Not to mention, I thought she did a great job at reading the book.

Here is the 2-part video which includes the Johnny Appleseed song in Part 1. Enjoy!