happynurse Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Hi, everyone. I'm new here, but I've been reading the forums for a little while now. I'm a bit sleep deprived, but hopefully my question below makes sense! I am curious how History and/or Social Studies works in your homeschool? I have two boys, my oldest is only 3, but we've decided that we'll be homeschooling when the time comes. I've been researching my state's homeschooling requirements so I know what to expect, and there is a requirement that so many hours be attributed to "Social Studies". I can't tell by reading the requirements if History (a la SOTW or something similar) would count. I've read these forums long enough to know that History is often introduced in elementary school, per TWTM recommendations (growing up in ps I don't think I got into much world history until junior high). In addition to history, do you also do anything for "Social Studies" in the younger years? If so, what do you use and how do you incorporate it? Thanks in advance for sharing. I've really enjoyed these forums and am amazed at how much insight there is among "the hive"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Welcome! I don't have any pertinent advice (my son is older and I'm not up on the latest and greatest for the younger years). :001_smile: But just wanted to say, glad you've joined us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara.I Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Hi! I have a grade 2 and a K right now. I came to the sudden and startling realization this year that social studies includes more than just history--in fact in my province it includes NO history. None. At all. Not until some grade higher than 2, anyway. So what we've been doing is looking at what the Province requires, and having a few conversations about those topics on the side while the rest of the time we do history. Next year I am looking at specifically including "Geography" as a subject, though I'm having to figure out what that is, too. LOL When I think of geography I mostly think of memorizing country names and that's about it...turns out there's more to it than that. Who knew? Anyway, between History and Geography, that will cover most of "socials", and we'll continue to keep an eye on curriculum in our province and just have some random conversations about the bits they consider crucial that we don't otherwise cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Social studies includes history, geography, and civics/good citizenship. In public schools, in my state, the early elementary grades focus on citizenship. Many of the topics they focus on can be covered informally and you can start now. For example, what do firemen do? Tour your local fire station and find out. Not only do the firemen tell the children what they do, they allow them to climb on some of the trucks and try on the gear. Ours also give plastic fire hats and coloring books. This is much more memorable than reading a textbook. Visit the police station, post office, public library, and other venues that offer tours. Did you know that some wastewater treatment facilities and landfills have regularly scheduled public tours? Watch refuge haulers and street sweepers in action. If there is a construction site nearby, take regular walks in that area so your children can observe the progress (and changing array of construction vehicles). Take your children with you when you vote. Talk about what they see. When they are ready for more, or you can’t answer their questions, read library books and watch video on topics of interest to them. By the way, your children now know about community helpers. Learn about national and religious holidays. Which holidays does your family celebrate? How and why? Have the children help with preparations. Interested in holidays your family doesn’t celebrate? Attend public events relating to those holidays or read about them in library books. Talk about what it means to be a good citizen. Why are manners important? How do we show respect for others and ourselves? Assign some chores. Learn about national and state symbols. Take advantage of your child’s fascinations. As a preschooler, one of mine loved maps. We bought him inexpensive US and World maps and laminated them. He happily occupied himself driving matchbox cars to various destinations. In the process he learned the 50 states and several countries. Because many of the topics to which schools must devote lesson time are part of family life, the homeschooling family can devote lesson time to history, geography, and other content subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happynurse Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 Thank you all very much for your welcome and your replies! That makes so much more sense now. Knowing that history is a component of 'social studies' makes much more sense. I definitely differentiated the two - mostly because growing up, my public school seemed to differentiate the two, with 'social studies' seeming to encompass more of a civics/sociology aspect. Appreciate the input! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Social studies, to me, always seemed like the taking of perfectly respectable subjects and putting them in a blender until you can't taste any of them properly. We do history a la Story of the World, with lots of valuable things added in like Horrible History clips. I think I like them better than dd does. :D We do geography, rather casually. Books, documentaries, maps, puzzles etc. We do world religion via literature, a religious calendar plan I cobbled together using picture books and colouring pages, plus a few other bibs and bobs. I've acquired a few Jewish themed jigsaw puzzles and an Islamic themed board game. Haven't played that one yet but I'm sure it will be informative... That's what we've been doing thus far, and will keep doing for the foreseeable future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 These 2 free resources might interest you. Out-of-door geography https://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/vol1complete.html#072 Payne's Geographical Nature Studies https://archive.org/details/geographicalnat00payngoog Living real life in a community, reading real books, and studying a religion, geography and history will cover most everything. The vintage geographies contain some outdated and racist bits, but they often provide an excellent scope and sequence for "social studies" along with a lot of earth science. These 2 are probably the most popular. C.C. Long's Home Geography http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12228/12228-h/12228-h.htm Charlotte Mason's Geographical Reader http://books.google.com/books?id=YWcDAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s The Old Order Amish continue the practice of only teaching vintage style geography and health for all of social studies and science. And they assign some book reports. The rest they learn in church and from real life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I just downloaded a social studies scope & sequence for my state, and I'll make sure we cover these topics (mostly so they're ready for the standardized test at the end of the year...and because some things in there are actually helpful to know :)). I plan to do this mostly by conversing during walks to/from the grocery store & library. :) Most of it is pretty basic. Otherwise we do SOTW and geography as the bulk of our "social studies/history." HTH! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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