Category Archives: History & Social Studies

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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Pandemics – Unit Study Several days ago Pandia Press reached out to Pandia authors & SEA Homeschoolers Samantha Matalone Cook, Amy Sharony, Lindsey Sodano, and Blair Lee and asked us to collaborate on a unit study focused on the history and science of the causes, cures, and responses of pandemics. Here it is as a direct download. We worked to create something usable for a large grade range. Much of the science is excerpted, rearranged, and edited (to be specific for this topic) from RSO Biology 2. All the rest is newly written. Even the science has some new labs …

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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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