After studying the Trail of Tears with your child, ask her to imagine that she is a member of the Cherokee people on the Trail of Tears. Ask her to write a letter as if she were telling another family member of her journey. Include her feelings, daily routines and details of landscape and surroundings. Evaluate your child's writing based on the amount of detail and number of historical facts she includes in the letter.
Arrange a visit to your local history museum. While the museum may not have a specific exhibit on the Trail of Tears, it will likely have a Native American exhibit. Prior to the field trip, study the Cherokee people, their customs and beliefs. View the exhibit along with other home-schooled children, and compare the Native Americans showcased in the exhibit with the Cherokee people. Gather the children together and discuss the similarities and differences in struggles between the Cherokees and the Native Americans featured in the exhibit. Talk about the role of the government in the treatment of the Cherokee tribe.
Gather a group of students who are home-schooled and invite a member of the Cherokee people to speak to the group. Ask the speaker to bring Cherokee items and discuss his family history with the children. While there are no living Cherokees who made the journey, many Cherokees have family members who did travel on the Trail of Tears. Ask the guest speaker to tell the stories of his ancestors who were forced to make the journey.
Provide a variety of resources about the Trail of Tears to your child. You can find them on the Internet or at your local library. Allow him to research the geography of the journey and then create a map detailing the journey. Depending on the age of your home-schooled child, provide him with a blank map of the United States or ask him to draw his own. Ask the child to include such map features as a title and legend. On the back of the map, have the student write a short paragraph or a few short sentences detailing how the United States government forced the Cherokees to leave their homes to the new location.