Make the Industrial Revolution meaningful with this homeschool curriculum! A Charlotte Mason open-and-go morning time study for all ages.

Unpack the Industrial Revolution in Your Homeschool- Without the Headache!

The Industrial Revolution can feel like a big and complicated topic to bring into our homeschool. Factories, machines, crowded cities… it is a lot to take in, especially for younger children. And if we are honest, history can sometimes feel a little dry or difficult to connect with in a meaningful way.

But at its heart, this time period is really about people. It is about families adjusting to new ways of life, inventors creating things that would change the world, and communities learning to live in a time of rapid change. When we begin to look at it that way, the Industrial Revolution becomes much more relatable- and much more engaging for our children.

If you have ever wondered how to make this era feel more approachable and less overwhelming, you are not alone. It can be hard to know where to start or how to present it in a way that feels both rich and manageable.

That is exactly why we created the Industrial Revolution morning time curriculum. It is designed to help you explore this important period in a gentle, thoughtful way that fits naturally into your homeschool rhythm. Instead of trying to cover everything, it focuses on meaningful ideas, real stories, and simple lessons that invite your family to learn together. Discover a small sampling of what’s included below!

Industrial Age Tea Time Recipes & Reading

Bring a taste of the Industrial Revolution into your home with these simple, thoughtfully chosen tea time recipes inspired by foods families would have enjoyed during this era. From comforting apple pie to traditional treats like parkin and plum cake, each recipe offers a small window into everyday life during a time of great change.

Industrial Revolution Tea Time Spread
  • Apple Pie
  • Little Cakes
  • Parkin
  • Rye and Cornmeal Bread
  • Apple Frazes
  • Plumb Cake

As you bake together, these recipes create a natural opportunity to slow down and connect what you are learning with real, lived experience. Pair them with your weekly readings, gather around the table, and enjoy a cozy time of food, conversation, and shared discovery. These are the kinds of moments that quietly weave learning and memory together in your homeschool days.

Add a Historical Poem to Your Tea Time:

Take your family back to the Industrial Revolution with our featured poet, William Blake, one of the most well-known voices of his time. Writing during a period of great change, Blake’s poems often reflect both the beauty of the world and the deeper questions surrounding industry, society, and the human experience. We selected six of his poems to study and paired four of our favorites with copywork sheets for deeper study. Check out a sample of one of these selections below:

The Divine Image
by William Blake


To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

All pray in their distress,

And to these virtues of delight

Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

Is God our Father dear;

And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

Is man, His child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart;

Pity, a human face;

And Love, the human form divine:

And Peace the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime,

That prays in his distress,

Prays to the human form divine:

Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,

In heathen, Turk, or Jew.

Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell,

There God is dwelling too.

Discover History with the 160+ page “Industrial Revolution Morning Time Session”!

Step into a season of change and discovery with this Industrial Revolution morning time curriculum! This 160+ page guide has everything you need to study this innovative period of history through creative, hands-on learning activities.

Inside, you’ll find:

  • 6-week Calendar with each subject scheduled on it
  • Prayer and scripture memorization
  • Copywork selections from Prayer for Commerce and Industry, Colossians 3:23-24, The Lamb, The Tyger, Laughing Song, and The Divine Image in primary, elementary, cursive, and a notebook sheet for high school students (and moms)
  • Memory Work: Prayer, scripture memory, and poetry memorization
  • Living Books recommended reading list
  • Artist & Picture Study: J.M.W. Turner 
  • Music Study: Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Poet & Poetry Study: William Blake, with the poems, The Chimney-Sweeper (from Songs of Innocence), The Chimney-Sweeper (from Songs of Experience), The Divine Image, Laughing Song, The Tyger, and The Lamb
  • Hymn Study: Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me with sheet music and listening links
  • Folk Song Study: John Henry, with sheet music and listening links
  • Industrial Age Recipes: Apple Pie, Little Cakes, Parkin, Rye and Cornmeal Bread, Apple Frazes, and Plumb Cake
  • Tea Time Readings: Oliver Twist, Chapter II: “Treats of Oliver Twist’s Growth, Education, and Board,” by Charles Dickens, North and South, Chapter X: “Wrought Iron and Gold,” by Elizabeth Gaskell, Shirley, Chapter II: “The Wagons,” by Charlotte Brontë, “The Goose and the Golden Egg,” by Aesop, “The Bundle of Sticks,” by Aesop, “The Charger and the Miller,” by Aesop
  • Geography: Map Study of Industrial Revolution-Era England and Scotland, The Story of Mankind, Chapters 56-61, by Henrik Willem van Loon, Our Island Story, Chapters 95-102, by H.E. Marshall, This Country of Ours, Chapters 65-73, by H.E. Marshall
  • Handicraft: Pierced Tinwork 
  • Art Lesson: J.M.W. Turner-Inspired Art Lesson
  • Nature Study: Industrial Revolution Nature Study
  • Plutarch: The Children’s Plutarch: Stories of the Greeks, “Golden Shoes and Three Crowns”
  • And more!

Ready to explore history in your homeschool? Get your guide today and let your adventure begin!

Norham Castle, Sunrise Art Lesson

Add a touch of light and atmosphere to your homeschool day as you explore Norham Castle, Sunrise by J. M. W. Turner. In this engaging lesson from our curriculum, your children will learn to use Turner’s “scumbling” technique, gently layering soft colors to create a glowing, misty landscape full of depth and feeling. It is a wonderful opportunity to see how light and texture can transform a simple scene into something truly memorable, while giving your students a chance to slow down and enjoy the creative process.

Enjoying your art lesson too much to stop? Grab these history-themed lessons from the Masterpiece Society to keep the fun going!

Living Books to Explore the Industrial Revolution in Your Homeschool

Want to explore the Industrial Revolution even further? These living books are a wonderful way to bring the era to life through fascinating stories for a variety of ages. Look for them at your local library, or add a few favorites to your homeschool shelves to enjoy again and again.

Picture Books

The Little House 75th Anniversary Edition: A Caldecott Award WinnerThe Little House 75th Anniversary Edition: A Caldecott Award WinnerThe Little House 75th Anniversary Edition: A Caldecott Award WinnerMike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel: A Classic Construction Story About Friendship and Perseverance for Children (Ages 4–8)Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel: A Classic Construction Story About Friendship and Perseverance for Children (Ages 4–8)Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel: A Classic Construction Story About Friendship and Perseverance for Children (Ages 4–8)Ox-Cart ManOx-Cart ManOx-Cart ManThe Bobbin Girl: Library EditionThe Bobbin Girl: Library EditionThe Bobbin Girl: Library EditionJohn Henry (Picture Puffins)John Henry (Picture Puffins)John Henry (Picture Puffins)John Henry: An American Legend (Knopf Children's Paperbacks)John Henry: An American Legend (Knopf Children’s Paperbacks)John Henry: An American Legend (Knopf Children's Paperbacks)Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Aladdin Picture Books)Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Aladdin Picture Books)Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Aladdin Picture Books)Steam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with TrainsSteam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with TrainsSteam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with TrainsSamuel Morse, That's Who!: The Story of the Telegraph and Morse CodeSamuel Morse, That’s Who!: The Story of the Telegraph and Morse CodeSamuel Morse, That's Who!: The Story of the Telegraph and Morse Code

 

Elementary & Middle School

Railway Children (Wordsworth Children's Classics) (New Cover for this edition)Railway Children (Wordsworth Children’s Classics) (New Cover for this edition)Railway Children (Wordsworth Children's Classics) (New Cover for this edition)Mill Girl (My Story)Mill Girl (My Story)Mill Girl (My Story)Lyddie (A Puffin Novel)Lyddie (A Puffin Novel)Lyddie (A Puffin Novel)So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, An Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847 (Dear America Series)So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, An Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847 (Dear America Series)So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, An Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847 (Dear America Series)You Wouldn't Want to Work in a Victorian Mill! (You Wouldn't Want to Be)You Wouldn’t Want to Work in a Victorian Mill! (You Wouldn’t Want to Be)You Wouldn't Want to Work in a Victorian Mill! (You Wouldn't Want to Be)The Industrial Revolution (Cornerstones of Freedom: Third Series)The Industrial Revolution (Cornerstones of Freedom: Third Series)The Industrial Revolution (Cornerstones of Freedom: Third Series)Industrial Revolution (Living History Series)Industrial Revolution (Living History Series)Industrial Revolution (Living History Series)The Industrial Revolution for Kids: The People and Technology That Changed the World, with 21 Activities (51) (For Kids series)The Industrial Revolution for Kids: The People and Technology That Changed the World, with 21 Activities (51) (For Kids series)The Industrial Revolution for Kids: The People and Technology That Changed the World, with 21 Activities (51) (For Kids series)The Story of Eli WhitneyThe Story of Eli WhitneyThe Story of Eli WhitneyMillMillMillPioneer Plowmaker: The Story About John Deere (Creative Mind Biographies)Pioneer Plowmaker: The Story About John Deere (Creative Mind Biographies)Pioneer Plowmaker: The Story About John Deere (Creative Mind Biographies)Ten Mile Day: And the Building of the Transcontinental RailroadTen Mile Day: And the Building of the Transcontinental RailroadTen Mile Day: And the Building of the Transcontinental RailroadCaddie WoodlawnCaddie WoodlawnCaddie Woodlawn

 

Upper Grades

North and South (Wordsworth Classics)North and South (Wordsworth Classics)North and South (Wordsworth Classics)Cranford (Oxford World's Classics)Cranford (Oxford World’s Classics)Cranford (Oxford World's Classics)Mary Barton (Wordsworth Classics)Mary Barton (Wordsworth Classics)Mary Barton (Wordsworth Classics)Wives and Daughters (Wordsworth Classics)Wives and Daughters (Wordsworth Classics)Wives and Daughters (Wordsworth Classics)Hard TimesHard TimesHard TimesOliver Twist (Puffin Classics)Oliver Twist (Puffin Classics)Oliver Twist (Puffin Classics)David Copperfield (Wordsworth Classics)David Copperfield (Wordsworth Classics)David Copperfield (Wordsworth Classics)Silas Marner (Wordsworth Classics)Silas Marner (Wordsworth Classics)Silas Marner (Wordsworth Classics)Jane Eyre (Wordsworth Classics)Jane Eyre (Wordsworth Classics)Jane Eyre (Wordsworth Classics)

 

The Industrial Revolution Morning Time Curriculum: A Gentle Way to Explore a Changing World

Studying the Industrial Revolution does not have to feel heavy or complicated. With the right approach, it can become a time of rich conversations, thoughtful questions, and meaningful connections for your whole family.

This curriculum was created to help you slow down, learn together, and enjoy the process. Whether you are introducing this time period for the first time or revisiting it with older students, my hope is that it brings a sense of peace, curiosity, and connection to your mornings.

If you are looking for a simple, open-and-go way to study the Industrial Revolution in your homeschool, you can find the curriculum here. I hope it becomes a special part of your days together.

“It may be that the souls of all children are waiting for the call of knowledge to awaken them to delightful living.”

~Charlotte Mason

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