He is larger than life.You might think this brave explorer killed a bear with his bare hands, always wore a coonskin cap and single-handedly established the state of Kentucky. While these ideas are largely exaggerated, Daniel Boone was an interesting man with a huge role in westward expansion in the early 1800’s. I think you will find his life exciting enough without any folklore added to his feats. Come along with me as I share books and activities to add to your Daniel Boone Unit.
I’ve always been interested in the life of Daniel Boone. We live in West Virginia, not far from the famed Kentucky settlement that he helped establish. I have read a few local articles that say he did live in WV for several years, but that fact is not in most of the biographies I have found.
Daniel Boone was a pioneer who saw many significant events during his lifetime, including the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and westward expansion. There are so many rabbit trails that you can go down while studying his life, that may well be more interesting while viewing them through his eyes.
Public Domain Books
Daniel Boone, The Pioneer of Kentucky
Daniel Boone, Taming the Wilds
Make a Coonskin Cap from christephi on Youtube or buy one here. It’s actually a myth that he wore a coonskin cap, but it’s the vision many people think of when they think of this famous explorer. DB probably did have one, but many mountain men did wear them.
Recreate a map of Daniel Boone’s travels.
Go Geocaching and talk about how Daniel Boone did his exploring before there was such a thing as GPS. Rabbit Trail Alert: Find out more about how GPS works and what early explorers did use to know where they were.
Daniel Boone Unit Lesson Plans and Printables
Free Daniel Boone Lapbook and other resources from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool (She’s one of my favorites!)
Westward Expansion Unit from Hubpages
Daniel Boone Lessons from Lesson Pathways
Daniel Boone Projects and Activities from Ehow
Geography Quest- Daniel Boone Edition from Blog, She Wrote
Free Daniel Boone Old-time Radio Show from Homeschool Freebie of the Day
This post is part of the November Birthday series from iHomeschool Network.