On September 11, 2001, I got up early because that was the only time my apartment of six was quiet. I read the entire New York Times and headed up to my early Economics class. When I got there, I learned of the attacks in New York.
It's hard to consider how to teach of this historic happening without causing very young children undue fear. One thing I focused on, when my kids were 6 or younger, is the more generic yet important concept of what it means to be an American.
To do so, we studied the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem. What better way to learn about being an American than by declaring "I pledge allegiance" to this country!
I made a little booklet of the Pledge of Allegiance. If you too would like to study it today, print it out, glue the inside pages, and quarter-fold it to have your own simple booklet with the words.
There are vocabulary lessons enough in that for a week!
I hope that September 11, a day of remembrance, is a peaceful one for you as you ponder what being an American means for you.
Despite my best intentions, when I teach my year-long overview of American history, it is simply not possible to cover all the thousands of cultural groups that lived in America before the arrival of European explorers. It would take a year of study on its own! As a result, when I introduce my young kindergartner
Read MoreBefore we jump in to our lessons about American history, I wanted to make sure my daughter had a general understanding of the geography of the USA. The United States of America would be nothing without the land. Before we study the people who live here, we need to understand where “here” is! Our introduction
Read MoreWhen I read Recipes for Play (reviewed on Rebecca Reads), I started feeling the urge to try something messy and drastically different. I saved some newsprint and bought paints. To learn about the geography of the United States, we made a three-dimensional paper mache model of the United States. I learned to let mess in, and
Read MoreI first wrote the booklet about early Native American homes because I could not find something simple for a brief introduction to Native Americans for my son. I wanted him to understand that there was a variety of cultures living on the American continent before Europeans arrived. I wanted him to understand that the vastness
Read MoreTo begin my hands-on American History class at my homeschool co-op, I decided to introduce the world explorers by playing our Guess Who?-inspired game: Guess the World Explorer! Not all of the kids knew details about the various world explorers, so we revisited the information cards to learn as we played. Setting up the World
Read MoreIt’s never too early to nurture a toddler. Shapes is the perfect toddler learning subject. When I’m busy teaching, I set up a “busy box” that I can take with me when I teach as well as great picture books and other activities. A Shapes Busy Box Example When we are going out and about,
Read More