SereneHome Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 As I mentioned before, I didn't grow up in US and didn't really go through the school system here until almost college. I am having a very hard time understanding what Social studies are and what should be taught at what age. My husband asked me a few days ago if I am planning to do it with the kids, at least the oldest, bc he thinks it would be great to be learning it during election time. We have a lot of candidates coming through our state right now so they have been talking about a bit. I would really appreciate suggestions on curriculum, books, any other ideas on this subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 As I mentioned before, I didn't grow up in US and didn't really go through the school system here until almost college. I am having a very hard time understanding what Social studies are and what should be taught at what age. My husband asked me a few days ago if I am planning to do it with the kids, at least the oldest, bc he thinks it would be great to be learning it during election time. We have a lot of candidates coming through our state right now so they have been talking about a bit. I would really appreciate suggestions on curriculum, books, any other ideas on this subject. "Social studies" is a term that became fashionable in the 70s, similar to "language arts." Everyone thinks it means something else, lol. "Social studies" includes history, geography, and civics. It can include much more, but really, for young children, history, geography and civics is enough. There are no rules about what "should" be taught at any age. If you agree with WTM, you'll do a four-year history rotation. If you agree with folks like Beautiful Feet Books author Rea Berg, you'll teach American history first, because we're Americans and young children can most closely relate to the history of where they actually live. If you agree with Rob and Cyndi Shearer of Greenleaf Press, you'll do world history first (not necessarily a four-year rotation). Here's an article that discusses what civics is. I think doing civics over the next year in preparation for the presidential elections is a good idea. You can keep it quite simple by reading articles in your local newspapers, watching presidential debates on TV, and writing to the candidates (you can usually find some sort of contact information on the Internet). If you live near a library, you might ask the librarian for books on the election process (you can find stuff on the Internet, but it's good to help your dc widen their horizons, as it were). Of course, your children are quite young, so you don't need to try to go too much in depth. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 Depending on your state, you can probably select what you want to teach. But, if you are looking for a general guide, you could take a look at your state's education website or a local ps website to see what is taught each year. (i.e. In our state, 4th grade is state history year.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma2three Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 It's a catch-all phrase that includes subjects like geography, history, basic economics, and civics. In younger grades, it often involves a lot of "learning about my community" type stuff... jobs people do, places people live. It sounds like he's mostly interested in the kids learning about the election process, and about the US government? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SereneHome Posted August 28, 2015 Author Share Posted August 28, 2015 It's a catch-all phrase that includes subjects like geography, history, basic economics, and civics. In younger grades, it often involves a lot of "learning about my community" type stuff... jobs people do, places people live. It sounds like he's mostly interested in the kids learning about the election process, and about the US government? Yes. And so am I. I would think that kids learn about the community simply by living in one?? LOL OK, thanks everyone for explanation. We did do a bit of geography last year, didn't do much history, but I am hoping to catch up on that. Any suggestions on books about government, etc for elementary age kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 I don't have any book suggestions off the top of my head, but Schoolhouse Rock has a great series of short videos with songs that go over concepts of civics and economics. I think a lot of them are on YouTube, or we were able to get the complete collection of the videos on DVD pretty inexpensively (maybe $10 or so). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma2three Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 I was just browsing Homeschool Buyer's Coop, and found this textbook series for public schools. It lists what is taught in each year for Social Studies for schools using this series. https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/hmh-history/?c=1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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