Mar

22

“A History of US” - A Fresh Approach to American History

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

March 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment

My girls and I have discovered a wonderful series of history textbooks. Actually, I guess I shouldn’t even call them textbooks, because that name connotes such a dour, dusty old image. These books, written by Joy Hakim, help readers visual history.
Here’s a sample from the first chapter (the author draws the [...]

Jan

19

Celebrating Martin Luther King’s “Dream”

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment

About a year ago, I sat my older daughter down and we had a long history lesson.  We flipped through a Life Magazine book of American History and talked about some of the more disturbing images: photographs showing the devastating effect of racism and segregation. (A very depressing but essential subject.)
Then, we spent the week [...]

Nov

30

How to Make History Fun

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

November 30, 2008 | 1 Comment

History should definitely be fun.  Yet, most of my history teachers throughout my public school days made history as boring as possible.  To them, it just seemed to be a series of dates, names, and vocabulary words.  With one exception: Mr. Wolfe.  He was the coolest history teacher in all of Junior High.  And because [...]

Oct

19

The Good Ol’ Days? (A Visit to the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse)

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

October 19, 2008 | 1 Comment

Last weekend, my wife and kids (along with other adventurous homeschool families) visited Sutter’s Mill and experienced the lifestyle of early California gold-miners.  After a few days of panning for gold-flakes, they packed up their gear and explored Old Town Sacramento.  The girls’ favorite stop was the Schoolhouse Museum.  Here are a few photos:

Check out [...]

Oct

12

Panning for Nuggets of Gold (and a Bit of History Too!)

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

October 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment

My kids are so excited right now!  They spent their Sunday morning knee deep in icy river water, panning for gold.  And guess what, they discovered some!  Just some gold dust, really.  But it was enough to get them very excited, and enough to give them a glimpse of what it must have been like [...]

Sep

20

Field Trip: The Emancipation Proclamation

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

September 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Whew!  What a long, tiring, but ultimately fulfilling Friday!
While I was busy at work (boo hoo for me!) the girls and their mother met with other Homeschool families and journeyed to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.  If you are ever near Simi Valley, California it’s definitely worth visiting, especially now.  Why now?  Well, from now [...]

Sep

16

Our Wonder Wall

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

September 16, 2008 | 2 Comments

Last summer, my family and I traveled to England.  Before we arrived, the kids and I spent weeks learning about the culture and the history of the British Isles.  As we learned, we began writing down information, sometimes just a sentence, sometimes a whole paragraph.  The kids and I started drawing lots of pictures too:

We [...]

Aug

31

“The Well Trained Mind” by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

August 31, 2008 | 1 Comment

Here’s the first thing you read on the inside jacket of this fascinating book about “classical education”:
Is your child getting lost in the system, becoming bored, losing his or her natural eagerness to learn?  If so, it may be time to take charge of your child’s education - by doing it yourself.
And so begins this+700 [...]

Feb

11

Monday Inspiration: Obscure History

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

February 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

You know I went through high school in Texas, including an entire year of Texas Historya nd enver learned about the Republic of Texas Navy, or the Republic of Texas Marine Corps.
Marc is a leaner in the Royal Rangers program and he is getting involved in historic reenactment.  He was away this weekend at seminars [...]

Jan

18

Historical Fiction For Boys: Gary Paulsen

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

January 18, 2008 | 1 Comment

Historical fiction is super easy to find if you don’t care that the main character is a girl. In fact, much of the time every main character is a girl! With five boys, sexist or not, I know one thing. Boys like male main characters.
Gary Paulsen writes for boys. Maybe he writes for girls too, [...]

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