Happy Independence Day, Sweet Friends! Today, my husband Ted and I are so happy to welcome you into our kitchen as we celebrate America’s birthday and share a very special gift with you: our free Modern Pioneer Celebrates America Curriculum. We created this curriculum to help families, homeschool groups, grandparents, and traditional foods enthusiasts celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary by learning about our nation’s history through the wonderful foods that have nourished generations before us.
Inside the curriculum, you’ll find lesson plans, traditional recipes, hands-on activities, and links to free Mary’s Nest videos—all designed to make learning American history both meaningful and memorable around your own kitchen table.
Also, in this blog post, I share how my lifelong love of American history began not with textbooks, but in the kitchen, cooking alongside my sweet mother and discovering the stories tucked inside old cookbooks and traditional recipes.
Affiliates note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. My content may contain affiliate links to products and services. If you click through and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission. It does not affect the price you pay.
Table of Contents
- How I Fell in Love With History
- Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary
- Learn History…Through the Kitchen
- Designed for Every Age
- Will You Need Additional Cookbooks?
- More Than Recipes
- Join Me in Celebrating America
- Looking for Another Free Curriculum?
- Continuing the Journey
- In Closing
- More Independence Day Videos
- The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
- The Modern Pioneer Pantry
- Start Your Traditional Foods Journey
- Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
- Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy
- Kitchen Academy Videos
- Shop for My Favorite Items
How I Fell in Love With History
As a sweet friend of Mary’s Nest, you already know how much I love history. But perhaps what you don’t know is how I first fell in love with it. Surprisingly…it wasn’t through a history textbook. It was through cookbooks!
When I was growing up, my sweet mother, Gloria, would bring home wonderful old books from the library filled with traditional recipes, but they weren’t just collections of recipes. The home cooks who wrote those books also wrote about their lives—what was happening in America at that moment in history, how families lived, what they grew, what they celebrated, and how they cared for one another during both prosperous times and difficult ones.
As we cooked together, she would stop every so often and say something like…“Now isn’t that interesting?”
Before I knew it, I wasn’t just learning how to bake bread or make a simple dessert. I was learning American history!
History Lives with Our Foods
Without realizing it, I was discovering that history isn’t only found in famous speeches and important dates.
- History lives in our kitchens.
- It lives in family recipes.
- It lives in the meals that nourished generations of Americans long before us.
Those moments in the kitchen with my mother learning all about American history stayed with me my whole life. And now I’d love to pass that same experience on to you.
Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary
To celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary, I have something very special for you that I’m delighted to share with all of my Sweet Friends in today’s video: The Modern Pioneer Celebrates America Curriculum!
The Modern Pioneer Celebrates America Curriculum provides comprehensive lesson plans to teach traditional food recipes and celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary with students in grades K–12. This free curriculum brings together American history, civics, geography, literature, kitchen math, and hands-on cooking activities.
Through traditional recipes and meaningful lessons, students will step back in time and learn how home cooks helped nourish families through the founding of our nation, westward expansion, wartime sacrifice, the Great Depression, and more.
And the best part?
- It’s completely FREE.
- There is no cost.
- There is no email signup required.
- Simply download The Modern Pioneer Celebrates America Curriculum and begin whenever you’re ready.
Learn History…Through the Kitchen
Rather than simply reading about history, this curriculum allows children—and adults—to experience it through traditional American foods. Each lesson centers around a historic recipe that connects to a particular period in American history.
As students prepare the recipe together, they’ll also learn about:
- America’s founding principles
- Important historical events
- Remarkable men and women throughout our nation’s history
- Geography
- Literature
- Civics
- Math
- And the everyday home cooks who quietly helped build America one meal at a time.
I especially love that this curriculum reminds us that while famous heroes often make the history books, strong patriotic families helped shape our nation too.
Every loaf of bread baked…
Every harvest preserved…
Every meal lovingly prepared…
Helped build America!
Designed for Every Age
Whether you’re homeschooling, teaching in a classroom, leading a co-op, coordinating a summer camp program, or simply looking for meaningful activities to enjoy with your children, grandchildren, or nieces and nephews, this curriculum is designed for you.
The curriculum divides lessons into three groups:
- Grades K–4
- Grades 5–8
- Grades 9–12
And because each lesson stands on its own, you can move at whatever pace works best for your family:
- Complete one lesson each week…
- One each month…
- Or enjoy them all this year, starting in July, during your America 250 celebration.
There is no deadline. History never goes out of style. 😉
Will You Need Additional Cookbooks?
You don’t need any additional cookbooks to use The Modern Pioneer Celebrates America Curriculum. Everything you need is freely available right in the curriculum and online through videos.
The curriculum is your guide, and every recipe is available right here on my website, along with a companion video on The Modern Pioneer Celebrates America Curriculum web page demonstrating exactly how to prepare it.
That means you can simply print the curriculum, gather your family around the kitchen table, and begin learning together.
More Than Recipes
As my wonderful husband Ted and I were working on this curriculum along with Jamie O’Hara (a professional curriculum developer), I kept thinking back to those afternoons with my mother.
She probably never imagined she was giving me a lifelong love of American history. She was simply sharing stories while we cooked. Yet those stories stayed with me. And that is my hope for this curriculum.
Yes, children will learn about history.
Yes, they’ll gain confidence in the kitchen.
But perhaps even more importantly…
You’ll create memories together.
Remembering Recipes As a Family
Years from now, they will remember what you taught them about American history because they will associate it with making biscuits with you.
They’ll remember gathering around the kitchen table together, eating a pandowdy, and imagining what it must have been like during the early days at The White House when Abigail Adams served her favorite dessert!
They’ll remember rolling out dough to make hardtack as you share how these crackers were often the only food Civil War soldiers had to eat!
They’ll remember stirring a pot with Grandma and maybe hearing stories about rationing during WW 2.
Those are the learning experiences and memories that last a lifetime, not only creating a love of our great country but also instilling an understanding of the sacrifices and triumphs made by the generations that came before us.
Join Me in Celebrating America
As we celebrate our great nation’s 250th Anniversary, I hope you’ll join me on this very special journey.
Let’s honor the generations who came before us…
Celebrate the resilience of America’s home cooks…
And pass these timeless skills on to the next generation.
After all…
History isn’t just something we read.
It’s something we live.
One meal at a time.
Looking for Another Free Curriculum?
The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum is a free, comprehensive educational companion to The Modern Pioneer Cookbook. Each lesson features a different recipe from the cookbook, as well as discussion questions, engaging activities, and cross-curricular connections to math, science, history, and more.
Children and adults of all ages will enjoy digging deeper into the topics of The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, becoming experts in traditional cooking methods and their health benefits.
- Download your free copy of The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum.
Continuing the Journey
Throughout the coming months, Jamie O’Hara, along with her children, will be sharing blog posts here on my website that coordinate with many of the lessons in The Modern Pioneer Celebrates America Curriculum.
She’ll walk you step by step through the recipes and bring each chapter of American history to life through the eyes of her children.
So be sure to subscribe to my free Mary’s Nest Newsletter to learn when we publish new content and a whole lot more!
- Note: See the curriculum experiences Jamie and her family previously made for The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum. Each experience includes additional free download activities to make each lesson plan even more special.
- Thanks for Your Support: These curricula are offered free for families, homeschoolers, co-ops, teachers, grandparents, and lifelong learners. If this resource helps your family and you would like to support the creation of future Mary’s Nest curriculum materials, consider becoming a Sweet Friend Supporter on Patreon.
In Closing
Most Americans know our National Anthem—The Star Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key. But here is a bit of history, some may not know:
“Attorney Francis Scott Key witnessed the twenty-five-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry from a British troopship anchored some four miles away. He had boarded the ship to negotiate the release of an American civilian imprisoned by the British, and had been detained aboard as the bombardment began. On September 14, 1814, as the dawn’s early light revealed a flag flying over the fort, Key exultantly began jotting down the lines of the song that became our national anthem.” (Credit: Smithsonian Francis Scott Key web page.)
Most of us know the first verse of our National Anthem. And now, thanks to the World Cup being held in the USA, many foreign visitors who have come to love our country know it now too and have heartily joined in with the sing-along! But did you know there are many verses to that beautiful song? Here, I would like to share the last verse because it is exceptionally beautiful:
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
May God continue to bless our country, and may the Star-Spangled Banner wave for another 250 years and beyond. ❤️🇺🇸❤️
🇺🇸Happy Birthday America!🇺🇸
More Independence Day Videos
The Maslin Method: A Blueberry Buckle—The Quintessential 19th-Century American Dessert
Bake a 19th-century blueberry buckle with The Maslin Method, blending whole grains for a tender, rustic summer dessert.
A Shrub, a Switchel, and a Shilling – Stories from a New England Tavern
Learn how to make Colonial American and British recipes and about my experience with America’s Bicentennial celebrations in 1976.
How to Make Old Fashioned Apple Pandowdy
Enjoy this delicious 18th-century recipe that’s easy to make.
Order YOUR COPY Now!
The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
Seasonal ingredients, traditional techniques, and nourishing recipes. Over 85 traditional, from-scratch recipes! Discover for yourself how you can use simple ingredients and traditional techniques to cook the modern pioneer way.
Order YOUR COPY Now!
The Modern Pioneer Pantry
Simple ingredients, timeless techniques, and a well-stocked pantry. Discover over 100 nourishing recipes to preserve food and turn pantry staples into homemade meals. Build a wholesome, traditional pantry—just like a modern pioneer!
Start Your Traditional Foods Journey
Sharing my passion for traditional cooking goes beyond my YouTube cooking school—it also comes to life in the pages of my cookbooks. Both of my books, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook and The Modern Pioneer Pantry, are proudly published by Penguin Random House.
The first is filled with time-honored recipes to help you create a traditional foods kitchen, while the second is your complete guide to home food preservation. Order both books today to start or continue your traditional foods journey.
Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!
Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy
Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? If so, I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.
Kitchen Academy Videos
Baking with Whole Grains: The Maslin Method, Grain Mills, and America’s Bread Basket
Explore whole grain baking with The Maslin Method, fresh-milled flour, grain mills, heritage wheats, and more.
A Sweet Season of Celebration and New Beginnings with The Maslin Method Baking School Series
Celebrate the close of a heartfelt book tour and the exciting launch of The Maslin Method Baking School for traditional baking.
Why We Should Incorporate Mackerel Into Our Diet
Easy and nourishing ways to enjoy mackerel into your meals.
Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest
- Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
- Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
- Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
- Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook - Get a hardcover book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.
- Order The Modern Pioneer Pantry - Get Mary's latest hardcover cookbook about preserving food and making delicious meals from your Four Corners Pantry. Mary's second cookbook is also published by Penguin Random House.
I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!
Shop for My Favorite Items
Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Spice Grinder
- Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
- Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
- Vacuum Lids
- Whisk
- Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
- Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
- Flour Sack Towels
- pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)
Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide
- Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
- Get a 30-day Audible trial with a free audiobook
- Visit my Shopping Guide page
Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Backwoods Home, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, and More!
