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local history
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Looking over the guidelines for introducing history, I’m left wondering about state history? and as much as I am looking at the American history section I don’t see anything on Native americans. How do folks work these in, or do you and at what grade level. I think history is great, but learning about your own backyard is a foundation for expanding out to the rest of the world. But is teaching history in grade one just for fun, or will they really remember? Advice?
I think it’s up to you! We would add those in on our own through stories. We also do that for 2 other ‘focused’ history categories that SCM doesn’t do (because they are offering a broad-appeal curriculum instead of area, state, or religion specific):
- Ohio History – we read stories of people in Ohio’s history with a few fun books because we live there. If we lived in FL or WA or anywhere else we would do the same. Just read it when we want to or when it fits in with our regular history rotation.
- Church history – We read historical accounts and stories about our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) too.
You could do this in a patterned way, maybe every Thursday you read from a story about something you want to cover. Or every summer you do this sort of reading. Or just whenever the mood strikes! 😉
I am going to do state history with my 4th grader this summer. I prefer to squeeze it in this way because our local schools teach it in 4th grade so there are many books at our library on this level. During the school year it is more difficult to get the books because the public school kids are using them.
My younger daughter will be here for the read alouds too.
Our once-a-month co-op focused on Ohio history (our home state) a couple of years ago, and it was terrific for all of us because each mom who taught a lesson picked a different topic. One did Native American tribes and the geographical areas where they lived (and we have A LOT of tribal names for counties….can you say, “Tuscarawas?”), another talked about the rivers and Lake Erie, yet another discussed wars fought within Ohio, one covered American presidents born in Ohio (there have been 7 so far!)….well, you get the idea.
It might be fun for you to get together with another homeschooling family you know and learn about your state’s history together.
My children are 16 and 12 and we are covering state history right now. I wanted to wait to have them do it together so I only have to do it one time. We have taken a season off from our regular history and are doing this instead. There is a LOT of history to cover in this state so it will take quite a few months. We will be traveling too to see some of these places in person. Look at homeschool sites to see if someone has already done a unit study for your state or made a resource to use. About 4 years ago I happened upon a website that offered a state study on a cd. I am using that as the base of our study and we are adding in books (soon), research activities and sight seeing. You can probably find a lot online.
Note: For anyone in Texas who is looking for help I recommend the Discover Texas cd. It can be found at this website:
http://www.discovertexasonline.com/
My children have learned a good bit of SC history from PBS documentaries and just stopping to discuss historical places/ people as we come across it. For instance, a small church in our community has bullet holes in the pillars. Apparently Sherman usedi it as a stopping point, and locals say the steps were red from all the blood. Sort of gory, but fascinating to young children. My husband and children enjoy searching for arrowheads when the fields have been plowed. That also sparks a lot of conversation. I guess I’m just trying to help you think about local history you can share with your children outside of a formal lesson.
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