Kit Kitteridge is my favorite American Girl movie so far and I just love storytelling in this movie. In addition to the movie, the soundtrack is GREAT! You can download it on iTunes. The best collection of songs from that era! A perfect way to create the mood for a 1930's unit or just play it for fun.

Obviously, this is a great movie to help illustrate the way the depression played out in american families and add to a 1934 history study (Great Drepression). There are many existing lapbooks and unit studies out there that help a homeschooler get the most out of this movie too. American Girl (http://www.americangirl.com/) has books and resources, and of course, the Kit doll, to add to the whole experience. I like to support companies that are providing wholesome toys, books, movies, and products for kids and especially tweens.

A little twist on the obvious may be doing a unit on the history of the typewriter and inparticular 'QWERTY' ( the placement of the alphabet keys on the keyboard- article). We were able to find an old manual 'Smith-Corona' typewriter through Craigslist a few years back with the case and everything. While we didn't do an official 'unit study', we had the typewriter out on the table and found that when friends came over they all gathered around this 'bizarre' contraption and wanted to play 'Kit Kitteridge". It is such a novelty for kids, who are growing up so computer saavy, to sit in front of a ribbon typewriter and pound away, watching the keys stick together when you type too fast.

This movie also lends itself nicely to a journalism or 'newspaper' unit. Making a "family newspaper" with a computer program or something more basic with handrawn pictures for little ones. Blogs have also become a modern version of journalism and if you have your own blog you may consider having a 'guest post' by your child. This unit may be a fun way to help inspire a reluctant writer or even let them 'dictate' a story into a recorder and help the struggling writer 'orally compose' and have it transcribed.

If you have any fun ideas or interesting things you have done with Kit Kitteridge, please share in the 'user review' section. We would love to hear your ideas!