luuknam Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Hi, I'm new. I have a 2nd grader who I'm planning on homeschooling for 3rd grade, and a 4yo at home who has already mastered pretty much all there is to master in K so should probably be in 1st grade next year. Wrt my question (about nontraditional subjects) I'm mostly curious about 3rd grade, but any elementary grades will do. I'm curious... does anybody cover subjects like economics, psychology, statistics or any other odd subjects in the elementary grades? I know that social studies curricula often touch on these, but that's often as far as they'll go, as far as I'm aware. A lot of these subjects would be easy to find books for at the high school or college level, but not much for elementary levels. What nontraditional subjects do you teach in the elementary grades and what do you use to teach them? ETA: my 2nd grader is very good at math, math-wise 4-6th grade material is fine... but his reading comp is not at the same level... that's definitely at 2nd grade level, presumably at 3rd grade level next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 We're going to do an economics unit from Moving Beyond the Page this summer. You might like to look at their offerings. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherOfBoys Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I like the idea of teaching Psych in elementary. I went to Rainbow Resource under Science then Psych and found Psych for Kids. It's grades 3-9 but it's been discontinued. Maybe a unit study approach with library books and a topics to cover list? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 We're going to do an economics unit from Moving Beyond the Page this summer. You might like to look at their offerings. Thanks. I'm a little disappointed I can't look inside the books though to see what they're like (they don't even list the number of pages the books have). Have you bought the book yet? What's it like (knowing you haven't gone through it with your child though)? I did remember though I saw a DK Eyewitness: Economy book at the library. My son hasn't liked the Eyewitness books yet, but he might as he gets a little older and improves his reading a little more (Amazon says they're for grade levels 3+, which makes sense). I also came across http://econkids.rutgers.edu/top-5-books-by-concept-econmenu-155 which lists childrens books featuring economics concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 I like the idea of teaching Psych in elementary. I went to Rainbow Resource under Science then Psych and found Psych for Kids. It's grades 3-9 but it's been discontinued. Maybe a unit study approach with library books and a topics to cover list? Thanks. A unit study might be the way to go. Sort of hoping someone out here knows of a list of useful books kind of like what I linked to in my previous post for economics? My 7.5yo was asking me about bell curves etc day before yesterday. Maybe I can adapt something for older kids for him, since he's good at math. I just think statistics and economics are subjects that get way too little attention in most K-12 eduction while being very important for creating well-educated citizens/voters. Not that that means they have to be covered in 3rd grade. Curious whether anyone teaches other odd subjects (not that econ, psych, and stat are odd... but they are for elementary grades). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 We cover these sorts of topics informally using library books. Basic statistics are covered in math concept books such as Stuart J. Murphy's Math Start series (http://www.mathstart.net). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 We cover these sorts of topics informally using library books. Basic statistics are covered in math concept books such as Stuart J. Murphy's Math Start series (http://www.mathstart.net). Thanks. I like the mathstart books (some more than others), but they're too simple for homeschooling my son in 3rd grade next year. Contemplating Zaccaro's "Scammed by Statistics", although it's grade 6+ (but, kid's awesome at math). Can't find a "look inside" anywhere though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 We plan to do some philosophy and econ classes with Athena's: http://www.athenasacademy.com/mod/page/view.php?id=45866 I read somewhere that AOPS was thinking about designing a stats class, but I assume that will be for the high school level. We will probably do some psych with middle school bio, but I doubt I will cover it explicitly in elementary school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Thanks. I'm a little disappointed I can't look inside the books though to see what they're like (they don't even list the number of pages the books have). Have you bought the book yet? What's it like (knowing you haven't gone through it with your child though)? It's a slim spiral-bound book, black and white except the cover. There are 92 pages. You are meant to buy/borrow the book "If You Made a Million" to go with it. Topics are money (earning, budgeting, spending), jobs, taxes, interest, checks (with some to try filling out), wants vs. needs, capital and natural resources, services, producing and consuming, opportunity costs, supply and demand, equilibrium, changes in the local economy, advertising, and entrepreneurship. It's meant to be used every day for about eight weeks. I can see that some activities will be appealing to DS, but not all of them. Several activities include graphs to make, charts to fill in, and questions to discuss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 We plan to do some philosophy and econ classes with Athena's: http://www.athenasacademy.com/mod/page/view.php?id=45866 I read somewhere that AOPS was thinking about designing a stats class, but I assume that will be for the high school level. We will probably do some psych with middle school bio, but I doubt I will cover it explicitly in elementary school. Thanks. I hadn't ever heard about Athena's before (I think). My son definitely does not meet the 6th grade level reading requirement for their econ class, but someday he will. Philosophy would indeed be another subject that schools typically don't cover much in elementary (or, many schools, not much in middle or high school either). AOPS has been on my to-buy list for a while, but my son probably isn't ready yet for their easiest book, and AOPS statistics would probably be a few years off for him. I'm not entirely sure what level my son is at for math - he had his times tables memorized by the end of K, could divide as well, could use a coordinate plane, negative numbers (incl. adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing them), do simple fractions and decimals, and then a few more things in 1st grade, but this year we haven't had time to do any math other than the busywork the school sends home. So I'm not sure where he'd be after I homeschool math with him for a couple of months, other than well ahead. I also know some kids plateau, so really not a clue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 It's a slim spiral-bound book, black and white except the cover. There are 92 pages. You are meant to buy/borrow the book "If You Made a Million" to go with it. Topics are money (earning, budgeting, spending), jobs, taxes, interest, checks (with some to try filling out), wants vs. needs, capital and natural resources, services, producing and consuming, opportunity costs, supply and demand, equilibrium, changes in the local economy, advertising, and entrepreneurship. It's meant to be used every day for about eight weeks. I can see that some activities will be appealing to DS, but not all of them. Several activities include graphs to make, charts to fill in, and questions to discuss. Thanks for the info! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
displace Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I'm starting engineering and technology next month for my ending first grader. There are 20 elementary engineering and tech units called engineering is elementary put out by Boston science museum I think? They have long videos of each section being used in a class by a teacher. Each unit is $50. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 www.teachengineering.org When my daughter was in elementary, we had some fun with "Your Business Math" from Simply Charlotte Mason. https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/your-business-math/The student is responsible for either a book store, pet store, or sporting goods store---managing inventory, deciding on an advertising budget, paying bills, filling orders, paying taxes, figuring profit or loss, dealing with unexpected expenses like snow removal outside the store, etc. If you like the look of AOPS, their program Alcumus is free. Check with your local 4H council and see what might be available. I don't believe you have to be in a club to purchase the materials and they are inexpensive. http://www.4-h.org/resource-library/curriculum/ The Actuarial Foundation has some free materials http://www.actuarialfoundation.org/programs/youth_education.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 My boys enjoyed this book several years ago. IMO, it is appropriate for late elementary school ages on, though it could likely be adapted for younger kids. They still remember some of the information from the book. http://www.amazon.com/Whatever-Happened-Explanation-Economics-Investments/dp/0942617622 The book title is Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I think engineering is elementary has a few free units (I downloaded one once). Statistics is part of the NZ maths curriculum from year one so I wouldn't consider it non traditional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 We began social justice, environmental ethics, and civil disobedience discussions when my son was in first grade. Peace Heroes, media literacy, forms of activism, legal rights and provisions, all involved with environmental science followed very quickly there after. Ds has been pretty set on saving the world from Climate Change since he was bitsy. There was a very distinct need for him to channel his anxiety into action. City level and grass roots work stuff began in third grade. Fourth grade began specific political science work, beginning his non profit, and grant writing. This year (5th) he started lobbying at our state capital and willingly decided to become vegan. Next year is larger scale community and regional organizing and social media networks. Economics we are studying (and it is definitely a "we" since I know very little!) in 7th grade. When Ds was younger, most of it was done through documentaries on Netflix (Flow, King Corn, Blue Gold, Death of the Electric Car, the kid just sent anything to the house he could find back when there was very little streaming). I read him books about movements (Wendell Barry, Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold, Blessed Unrest, Powerful Words). He began advocating for us to pull our house off the grid through finding information for Dh on various blogs through Google. He later progressed to wanting to do activities outside of the house so we started going to tree plantings, depavings, logging protest hikes, anything I could find that might ease his anxiety and have him feel like he was making a difference. Then our church showed the movie Bidder 70 and set up a carpool to speak at a hearing about coal trains and fossil fuel exports. Ds was 7 and that was it, he found his niche speaking to elected officials about the dangers of climate change on future generations. Everything slid from there. That was three years ago. None of it was ever kid information. It was all adult stuff. I have found that when neither he nor I know much, getting beginner adult resources is far better than any kid stuff. Most of the kid resources are patronizing. I might need to explain things back and forth between us, but discussion is a big part of our homeschool. We have to jazz it up with action here and there, a movie or two, or take the pacing down to a more managable level, but it doesn't mean we use more superficial text. The most important part around here is that I am not dictating that such things should be learned. We are a household where information is readily available and as parents we actively educate ourselves. Ds does not know a time when NPR didn't come out of the radio anytime the car was on and I did not spend my evenings listening to Great Courses. He found a topic he was interested in and we helped him learn or do anything he could. Take what your kids are interested in and go for it. Resources will produce themselves if the interest is there. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 www.tolerance.org has some good free materials for teaching about social justice issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 I found out that DK has a new children's philosophy book: http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Book-Philosophy-DK/dp/1465429239/ref=zg_bs_3189_35 The preview looks interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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