American history Fenn style
An update to my post about American history: We have done two weeks of American history lessons and so far so good. I take my hat off to parents who homeschool their children on a full-time basis. I always thought it would be challenging but I highly underestimated the amount of patience that is required and I have a new-found respect for homeschooling parents.
Firstly, the amount of bickering between the two (they both want to show off their expertise and both vie for my attention) is unbearable. I don’t want to shout at them to stop, but that is what I end up doing. Surely they don’t act this way in school! When I asked them this, they replied “Of course not!”
Secondly, finding good teaching materials is time-consuming. I mean I have a full-time job running my own company, I have a book to promote and a blog to keep up to date plus a household to run, a husband to keep happy and 3 children to take care of. Last week I spent an extra three hours trying to find materials I could use for the lesson on the end of the American Revolution. I think I may have to buy an American history book for children – the cost will be worth the time it saves me in lesson planning. Problem is that I haven’t found one that looks comprehensive enough. Parents who homeschool must get teaching materials from somewhere??!! And not just the Internet…..
The children seem to be doing well and are enjoying the lessons – my daughter more than my son, who runs off whenever he thinks I’m not paying attention to ‘meet’ his friends online – something he’d much rather be doing. This week he exclaimed “America is so much cooler than England because it’s so random”. OK. No idea what he meant by that!! My daughter was able to tell me exactly what we learned last week almost verbatim. That’s my girl.
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Meghan, I love this post, especially since I may actually end up home schooling the kids for a few months if we end up on school waiting lists if we return to the UK, nothing like missing the secondary school selection process:/ Something I never thought I would say! Also, I have been thinking of ways to keep the kids learning up over the summer break, they say that kids lose some learning over the summer break and since my son Cole already needs to do some catching up I know I need to stay on top of some of the basic math and reading skills for him. So I have been giving home schooling a lot of thought and trying to think of ways to make it fun for all of us.
One thing I am trying to incorporate is the kids different learning styles – visual, experiential, kinesthetic, olfactory, auditory etc. So one idea I have is to do an “American Pie” lesson. Based on the song by Don McLean that the kids love. I found a great website http://understandingamericanpie.com/index.htm that breaks down each verse and goes into the meaning and background. A fun, engaging way to learn about the late 50’s to ’71 american history that incorporates, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Vietnam, The Beatles, Woodstock and much more.
Another amazing and possibly surprising resource are the American Girl books, based on different stages of American history. Each one tells the story of a girl and her experience, spanning American Indians, WWII, Colonial America, escaping slavery and many, many more. My daughter Madison loves these books and they really bring the history to life through the eyes of a child and what they experienced. They also have movies that do the same.
Also the brain quest line of products, they have great packages which are grade specific and also topic specific, Black History, American History etc. They can be purchased on Amazon.
I also was impressed with the museum of slavery in Liverpool, in case a summer trip takes you that way. Another amazing trip for the future would be to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia if you all haven’t done that yet. Although if a trip is not possible they ahve some learning resources on their website which may come in handy, one specifically related to the American Revolution as well http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/
Anyway continued success to you, surely a lesson in American after school snacks could be a fun plan one day – milk and chocolate chip cookies anyone:)))))))
Thanks Heidi. Those websites will come in handy I’m sure – I am struggling to find material so this is great.
Yesterday’s lesson went much better! Good luck this summer 🙂
[…] sex ed and is finding it embarrassing but also pretty interesting as well. We will be resuming our American history lessons at home next week and thanks to a whole bunch of material from Heidi, I have fresh new lessons and […]