New Worlds, Old Lands

COMING LATE AUGUST 2026- Print and Digital will be available 
Dive into a brand-new year of Digestible Discoveries with Issue 10: New Worlds, Old Lands!
Set sail across the Atlantic and journey through the collision of worlds that shaped North America.
Replace rigid, dry textbooks with an open-and-go, interdisciplinary magazine-style unit that brings early colonial history, wetland ecology, and scientific illustration to life! Designed specifically for middle grade homeschoolers, Issue 10: New Worlds, Old Lands weaves together history, science, language arts, and visual arts into 20 bite-sized, daily lessons that spark curiosity without overwhelm.
What Your Student Will Explore:
History & Social Studies: Uncover European expansion and regional Indigenous civilizations. From the coastal fortresses of Spanish St. Augustine and the mysterious disappearance of Roanoke to the survival struggles at Jamestown (1607) and the drafting of the Mayflower Compact at Plymouth (1620), students explore motivations, the Columbian Exchange, early governance, and the development of forced labor systems in colonial North America.
Science & Engineering: Dive into Florida’s wetland ecosystems! Students examine biotic and abiotic factors, food web energy flows, and regional species like the American alligator—exploring how apex predators act as "ecosystem engineers." Plus, explore Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion through hands-on physics labs and a floating ship engineering challenge.
Language Arts: Strengthen informational reading comprehension, main idea extraction, and vocabulary through context clues. Students explore literary excerpts from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s "The Song of Hiawatha," and master paraphrasing and research skills by completing a European Exploration Research Project. 
Visual Arts: Build observational and scientific illustration skills! Students learn contour sketching, shading, texture, perspective, and color theory (warm vs. cool colors) while creating detailed habitat compositions and analyzing historical artwork for visual perspective and bias.
 
Enhance Your Learning with Unit Companions (Sold Separately)
Looking to extend this unit or add extra skill practice? Check out our matching unit companions:
Research Companion: A step-by-step guided student workbook that scaffolds the European Explorer project included within this unit—from note-taking and source evaluation to MLA citations and drafting.
Spelling Companion: A 4-week add-on workbook featuring domain-specific vocabulary lists, daily activities, and weekly dictation test sentences.