Pacific Northwest History In-Person Class

September 23-November 18
10-11:30 am on Tuesdays
$150 for the 8-week class

Teach the Children Resource Center
4034 W. Van Giesen St, Suite G
West Richland, WA

Families with children taking this class are eligible for 25% off
Pacific Northwest History Basic Kits, Lesson Books, and Workbooks.
Register Now!

This 8-week class will cover the first 8 chapters of Sparrow Homeschool’s Pacific Northwest History curriculum. Beginning with Creation and moving forward chronologically, children will learn about the worldwide flood, the Ice Age, Ice Age mammals in this region, and what caused the crazy landscape in the Pacific Northwest. We will talk about the Indigenous peoples and their lifestyles, and we will end with the early explorers. In each 90 minute class, there will be a slideshow presentation followed by hands-on activities. This class is best for children in 5th grade and up. It is a great way to introduce each chapter if you are reading the curriculum at home, but the class can stand on its own if you are not reading at home.

Detailed Class Schedule and Activities

Creation, the Worldwide Flood, and the Ice Age

This class will cover Pangaea and how the one landmass broke apart during the worldwide flood, how post-flood conditions were perfect for the Ice Age, Ice Age mammals that lived in the region, evidence for people and dinosaurs/dragons living at the same time, and Rudolph Virchow’s theory about Neanderthals and rickets disease. 

Hands-on Activity: Pointillism Mammoth Acrylic Art Activity

Volcanic Activity

This class will cover the lava flows from fissures, what caused them, how the Yellowstone Hotspot moved across southern Idaho, leaving a path of basalt that became the Snake River Aquifer, and how the mountain ranges were formed. 

Hands-on Activity: Play-Doh Layers of the Earth and/or Graham Cracker Plate Tectonics

Volcanoes, Mount St. Helens, and Epigenetics

This class will cover how the volcanoes were formed and will focus on Mount St. Helens and its mudflows, canyons, Spirit Lake, and faulty carbon dating. While talking about the Northwestern salamander at Mount St. Helens, the workshop will also introduce DNA coding, junk DNA, microevolution, and epigenetics, which is the way behavior and environment can cause genes to change the way they work.

Hands-on Activity: Sand Dough Volcano Experiments and/or Rain Shadow Experiment 

The Missoula Flood, the Bonneville Flood, and the Cascadia Tsunami

This class will cover the Missoula Flood, the Channeled Scablands, J. Harlen Bretz, glacial erratics, the Bonneville Flood, the Cascadia Earthquake of 1700, and the cause of the Cascade Rapids in the Columbia River. We will look at The Great Wave painting. 

Activity: Canyon Carving Activity and/or The Great Wave Watercolor

Indigenous Peoples of the Northwest Coast

This class will cover the lifestyles and customs of the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast. 


Hands-on Activity: Estuaries Experiment and/or Watercolor Longhouse Art

The Makah and the Olympic Peninsula

This class will cover the deep-sea canyons off the coast of the Olympic Peninsula and the Puget Sound, the Indigenous peoples and their lifestyles, and artist Paul Kane’s art and travels.

Hands-on Activity: Watercolor in the Style of Paul Kane

The Puget Sound and the Columbia River Plateau

This class will cover the Coast Salish and Columbia River Plateau nations, buffalo, and Columbia River Petroglyphs.

Hands-on Activity: Cave Paintings and Sketching Petroglyphs

Early Explorers to the Pacific Northwest

This class will cover the early world explorers, why explorers were looking for the Northwest Passage, and early explorers to the Pacific Northwest. We will also look at Vincent Van Gogh as an artist.

Hands-on Activity: A Portuguese Polaris Acrylic Painting