So much can be included under the umbrella of social studies. It includes anything that has to do with communities, cultures, and relationships among people. It includes history and government, and it certainly includes map skills general geography. Depending on your state requirements, you can include some or all of these social studies concepts in your homeschool. Some homeschool curricula make it very easy to add in learning these subjects, and others incorporate homeschool social studies learning into literature or even science learning. I love to teach social studies through great living books!
Social studies is a subject that is often portrayed with religious or political bias. Therefore, parents may want to keep a part of the student's learning in order to open discussions. After all, the name of the subject is social studies. Understanding one's role in society and history is kind of the point of growing up. As with my other guides to getting start homeschooling, I focus on secular curricula for this post. For some of these links, I am not positive the resource is 100% secular, but they appear to be; I have not personally used them all.
Of course, older children can also gain a better understanding of communities and cultures. A comparative religion course could meet social studies requirements. Studying cultures of the world studies that could likewise meet student learning needs. Or, older children may be interested in studying government, civics, and psychology.
Ideally, every child can travel and experience different cultures and countries. However, when that is not possible, you may want to check out some of the curricula I mention here.
History is obviously told from a certain perspective, so for me it feels important to focus on learning details in different ways each time, so my children can get a broad view of history while I am in charge of their education! Here are som secular (or secular friendly) history and government homeschool curricula.
As I find more amazing curricula, I'll add it to this list.
There are so many subjects to cover in a homeschool career, but the good news is we only need worry about one day, one week, and one year at a time. Take it easy and figure out what you'd like to do this year!
I’ve been basing the “how to get started guides” on my state requirements for what subjects must be taught. This post includes some other subjects that students may or may not be required to be taught and that you may want include, including homeschool foreign language options, life skills in your homeschool, and more.
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