Women's History Reading List March is Women’s History Month and the SEA Homeschoolers facebook group has been buzzing with excellent book recommendations to add to your family’s TBR lists. This Women's History Reading List is full of curated recommendations making it perfect for March, or any other month! Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! This unique A-Z book introduces 26 diverse women spanning several centuries and multiple professions. There are artists and abolitionists, scientists and suffragettes, rock stars and rabble-rousers, and agents of change of all kinds. Recommended …
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Making through History: Sometimes We Should all Be Uncomfortable I’ve been leading a class that I created called Making Through History for almost two years, and it has been one of the best teaching experiences I have ever had. The class explores history and the humanities through the art and invention that expressed the values and aspirations of people in a specific time and place. These days STEM/STEAM education is all the rage, and we are told that our children can’t be prepared for the future without it. While I agree that technology and science literacy are essential to navigating …
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Free giveaway for - Making History Matter Through Project-Based Learning – Samantha Matalone Cook, MAT Thank you! Here is a downloadable PDF excerpted from Project-Based Learning: Creating a Modern Education of Curiosity, Innovation, & Impact.
Are you thinking about how to approach history in your homeschool? Particularly if you are just starting out, it can seem like there are too many choices. Should you start with American history, or go chronologically? Should you buy a structured program or build your own, based off your child’s interests? I’ll be breaking down how to make decisions about history for your homeschool, and sharing my planning process plus a free printable chart along the way.
Holistic History I believe in the complexity of the human story, and that there’s no way you can tell that story in one way and say, “this is it.” Always there will be someone who can tell it differently depending on where they are standing . . . this is the way I think the world’s stories should be told: from many different perspectives. secular homeschool history —“Chinua Achebe: The Art of Fiction CXXXVIV,” interview by Jerome Brooks in The Paris Review, Issue #133 (Winter 1994-5) History is traditionally taught through use of a single textbook. This method presents history …
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Why Study History? History is our story, the record of our triumphs and tragedies. Without history, everything is new and surprising; history does not predict the future, but it narrows the possibilities. The best way to learn history is to immerse yourself in the study of it – through historical television dramas, movies, historical novels, and by reading history, particularly one that takes both a social and political approach. Children love learning what other children’s lives were like, but even older students (and adults) like their history to read like a novel. In teaching history, remember the twenty-year rule: do …
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The Home School History Project: American Government “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana I interpret this quote to mean that through studying history people are less likely to repeat past mistakes. I think this is an important reason for studying history. In the United States the best way to accomplish this is by participating in the election process and at least voting. It disturbs me that young people, those who are likely to live the longest and therefore be affected the most by voting decisions made now, are not voting. It seems to me, they are …
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History: A Repeat of a Favorite Class and Volunteering The Course: A Brief History of Humankind: This is a Coursera course, https://class.coursera.org/humankind-002, that repeats regularly. It is the best history course I have ever taken. The instructor, Dr. Yuval Noah Harari, from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem comes across as brilliant, even as he makes history accessible to a lay person! There is a book as well, but Sean did not use it. I did though, http://www.ynharari.com/sapiens-the-book/short-overview/. I read it, referred to it, and made a series of questions from it to accompany each lecture. Sean got a lot more out of the class …
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Homeschooling Elementary School Homeschooling elementary school is a perfect educational setting for developing a personal philosophy based on the intellectual life you want for your children. I encourage you, as your child's primary educator, to take the time to reflect on what you hope for your child's "intellectual life.” The Wonder Years Over the years, I taught and tutored students in grades 1st through college. There are high points in teaching every grade, but it is the elementary students I miss the most. It is just so fulfilling and fun to work with this age group as they discover the …
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SEA HomeschoolersOnline Conference Series SpeakerLearn More About the Speakers!Register NowSee Full Conference Schedule Bertha Vazquez Bertha Vazquez is a retired science teacher who taught middle school for 34 years in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She is the education director at The Center for Inquiry, an international nonprofit organization that promotes reason and science. She runs several CFI projects, including the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES), Generation Skeptics, and ScienceSaves. Her multi-faceted approach to teaching climate science has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Earth magazine, and a book and film series by Lynne Cherry titled, Empowering Young …
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How to Talk to Your Child about Not Being on Grade Level with Peers Blair, How do I talk to my child about them not being on grade level with their peers? My child would be in 3rd grade if they went to b&m school. We work at their pace and level. At times we have been a bit more relaxed while working through neuropsych evals and more structured when we’ve been able to. They are very bright, but not working at a 3rd grade level in most subjects. They recently started saying they think they are not smart because …
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Exploring Buoyancy with Paper Boats Archimedes didn’t invent boats, but his thinking about them is important for understanding why boats float! Archimedes was a classical Greek thinker and tinkerer who lived from about 287 B.C. to 212 B.C.E. He realized (while in the bathtub, according to history) that the weight of the water that is pushed out of the way is equal to the lifting force on that object. In this activity, you will apply Archimedes principles and design thinking to paper boats, as you investigate the factors that affect their buoyancy and stability. Learners will also explore how different …
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Advice for a Former School Teacher Blair, I’ve been teaching in the public school system in Florida for 18 years, as a second-grade teacher for 6 years and then as an elementary reading specialist for the last 12 years. Due to the changes to curriculum, gun policies, and the attack on LGBTQ+ families in FL, my wife and I no longer feel the public school system is the right place for us. My kids are headed into 1st and 4th grade in the fall. I am excited and scared. I know I can teach them, but I am feeling overwhelmed …
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