Tag Archives: social studies

A Caution About Introducing Children to Other Cultures

When I was a preschool teacher, I attended a workshop that challenged something I most loved to do. I was startled—someone was challenging something I believed was healthy and showed a commitment to diversity. As an adoptive parent, I now understand their point more than ever. I’ve always loved other cultures and try to show kids different customs, costumes and music from around the world. So I was very surprised when the workshop leaders criticized the “country of the week/month” held in many preschool and primary classes. The leaders pointed out that we often do this in a way which … Continue reading →

Homeschooling the Creative Child: Science and Social Studies

In my first post on Homeschooling the creative child I talked about how my high school chemistry teacher helped me tremendously by making Chemistry three dimensional for me and allowing me to draw pictures all over my test paper. He would often see the panic on my face at test time and say “just draw it… if you can draw it, then I know you know it.” Needless to say, he was one of my favorite teachers out of the many I had. Here are some tips you can use to homeschool your creative child science and social studies: Dioramas: … Continue reading →

What Your Second Grader Should Know in Social Studies

* Holidays and festivals Look for an upcoming blog in the Homeschoolers’ Advent Calendar regarding great ideas for celebrating a multi-ethnic Christmas season. * Patriotic celebrations While it’s a little young to teach all of the history surrounding Independence Day, I suggest reading several related books: –The Story of America’s Birthday by Patricia A. Pingry –Hooray for the 4th of July by Wendy Watson –Apple Pie for 4th of July by Janet S. Wong –Anything related that was written by Jean Fritz * Communities in other lands: past and present * Family and family history * Families around the world … Continue reading →

What Your First Grader Should Know: Social Studies

Before I begin, I want to note that I have a little trouble with this one. Perhaps it is because this isn’t what I teach, so I’m narrow minded. Perhaps my reasoning is right–who knows? One of many reasons that I decided to homeschool, is because I felt like kids were “dummied down” in public schools. Rather than being fed meat, they were being fed fluff. Social studies is one area that I deem “fluffy” as it were. Don’t misunderstand, I of course want to teach history and geography which also would fit into the technical definition of social studies. … Continue reading →

What Should Your Kindergartner Know Part 1: Social Studies

Here is a checklist for those of you who are teaching kindergarten. Remember that this is a guide, but of course you can use this to pull together your own curriculum. Not teaching kindergarten? Look soon for the rest of the sereis which will go through 12th grade. * Meanings of holidays, traditions, and customs Holidays.net has a HUGE archive of crafts, ideas, recipes, etc. to help celebrate. It’s also worth your effort to search the Yahooligans Holiday page. They have just about every conceivable holiday as well as links to crafts, activities, and lessons. * Understanding and appreciating other … Continue reading →