Handling History

History can't just stay in the past. It's an essential part of curriculum and, when properly covered, can give students and parents a unique perspective on today's events. After all, it was history that brought us where we are today.

If you are struggling to engage and enjoy the study of history, consider these ideas.

Find the Lesson

History enables us to learn from our mistakes. Have you ever touched a hot stove? Touched the thorn of a rose? Got a cavity? Most people have done at least one of these things, and learned a valuable lesson from it – don't touch hot surfaces, be careful with thorny plants, etc. Because of your history, you know to avoid these things.

Looking farther back into history can let us learn from the mistakes of others. When studying history, look for the lesson. What important lessons do we learn? How does it apply to life today?

Read it Firsthand

Find firsthand accounts of the history. Textbooks can be dull and distant, and remove the human elements of emotion. Reading a journal of someone who lived through the period being studied can pull emotional strings and make the study more engaging. For very recent history, try to locate a survivor in your area and interview them about their experiences.

Act it Out

Cast roles. Give each person a part to play and act it out within realistic and appropriate limitation. Becoming part of the action pushes players to learn their roles while gaining empathy and understanding by acting out the roles.

Eat It, Sense It

Engage the senses. As much as possible, incorporate tastes, smells, sounds and touch into the lesson. Make foods from that culture or period. Sing songs. Be creative.


Please comment! How do you handle history?

Gardening 101

Periodically over the next few months, Homeschool Skills will highlight different lessons that can be taught through gardening. This is the first of that series.

Seize the opportunity this summer to plant a garden as part of your homeschool curriculum. Gardens provide enormous cross-curriculum opportunities for learning. Science and math have obvious applications, but gardens can also be tied into literature, geography, and history. In addition to curriculum applications, gardening provides children with a beneficial life skill--and it can help save money on groceries!

Worried about space? A full-scale garden is not necessary for these lessons. Plant a few items in a small garden box, a window box or even in cleaned out trash cans! If you will be growing your garden in containers, review this helpful article.

Some plants can be grown upside down. For more information on what plants can be grown in these conditions, read this. Other plants can be trained to climb poles, posts or fences.


The first step of gardening is planning. Plan the location, size and contents of the garden.

Choose a convenient locaton that recieves six to eight hours of sunlight every day. Ensure that there is adequate drainage and that the soil will not become waterlogged. If the soil is excessively wet. the plants will not grow properly. If the soil is inadequate, build raised beds and purchase better-quality soil. (Science -- Experiment to find the areas in your yard that have the best sunlight and soil.)


If you are planting in raised beds, outline the area where the bed

will be. Raised beds are usually built in rectangles so that all areas are easily reached. (Math -- Measurements.)

Determine the material that you will use to outline the raised beds. Wood, bricks, and stones are all excellent choices. However, pressure treated wood should never be used because the chemicals used to treat the wood can affect the soil and plants. (Science -- Experiment to find out what materials work best. Math -- determine the measurements for the required materials and the total area of the garden.)


Fill the raised beds with commercial soil or with a soil-compost mix. Raised beds are more vulnerable to extreme temperatures and dryness than other gardens, so be sure to water regularly.  (Science -- learn about composting and fertilization. Perhaps you want to create several different, smaller garden areas to create a season-long growing experiment using different types of soil, compost, watering schedules, etc?) More information on raised garden beds here.

Select seeds that will grow well in your area and within the limitations of the garden you are planting. You don't want to plant something that spreads, like pumpkins, if your entire garden is only 2 or 3 feet square... unless, of course, you want to train the pumpkin plants to climb up a nearby shed, fence, or other surface. For more information on that, look at this page.


Taller plants should be planted on the north end of the garden so that they don't cast

shadows over the shorter plants.


Add some history to your garden by Introducing a traditional Native American gardening combination called 'the three sisters' to your garden. Plant corn closely together in a clump and plant climbing beans around the edges. The beans will grow up and around the corn stalks. Plant pumpkin around the edge of the beans, so that the vines will creep in and around these plants and keep the weeds away.

Focus on cultures you will be studying by growing culture or region-specific produce. If you are studying Mexico, grow a variety of peppers, tomatoes, and onions and celebrate the end-of-season harvest with a fresh homemade salsa. Irish studies can be augmented by growing onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and green beans, which can later be used to create this Irish recipe.

Grocery School

The grocery store holds more teaching opportunities than most people recognize. Few people recognize just how many things there are to learn there!

Here are a sample of the things that children can learn and practice at the grocery store (and/or at home, after the grocery trip). This list is not all-inclusive. If you are interested in more grocery store homeschool ideas, let me know and I’ll make another list!  

Young Children (Preschool & Younger):

• Colors
• Shapes
• Names of produce
• Sorting

Math

• Write a grocery list and have children guess the prices you will spend. Compare to the end receipt.
• Have children keep track of how much you are spending on calculators. Or, have them keep track of how much you are saving by buying items on sale or using coupons.
• Determine unit costs. If something costs $6.79 per pound, how much is it for an ounce? Two ounces? How much can you buy for $5.00? Challenge children to find the cheapest item by unit (instead of the price per can, determine the price per ounce, etc)
• Before you leave, have children clip coupons and determine how cheap the shopping trip can be. If they decide it is cheapest to shop at multiple stores due to coupon or discounts, have them factor the cost of gas to travel to both stores. Compare the end results of the shopping trip to their predictions.
• A scientist, Dan Meyer, determined a mathematic formula to determine what checkout line is fastest. Each item takes 2.9 seconds and each person takes 48 seconds to get through the line (ergo, it is faster to be in line behind one person with more items than three people with fewer items) (Orzel, 2009). Have children guess which line will be fastest, based on this formula. Have each child stand in line with an item and “race” to see who finishes their transaction first.

Science

• Learn the meanings of the food labels. What does it mean if something is pasteurized? Homogenized?
• Cooking itself an act of chemistry. According to the MIT class Kitchen Chemistry, “Cooking may be the oldest and most widespread application of chemistry and recipes may be the oldest practical result of chemical research” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009). Discuss how different ingredients and methods of cooking produce different textures, flavors, etc. (Ideas on specific Kitchen Chemistry experiments in a later post!)

Geography & Nature

• Where does your food come from? Make a map when you get home. Or, before you leave home, decide to experience a culinary world tour, and deliberately by meals from different countries.
• Where are pineapples grown? Bananas? Peanuts? How do they grow? Can you grow them in your area? Why or why not? How would your diet change if you could only eat locally-grown produce?

History

• What did people do before grocery stores existed? What would life be like for you if you couldn’t run to the grocery store?
• Did you know the first self-service grocery store was called Piggly Wiggly? It was opened on September 9, 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee. In 14 years, there were 2,600 Piggly Wiggly stores and other stores began changing to self-service.

Reading

• Read the labels and discuss what is in each item. There are some pretty weird food ingredients out there. Do you know what polydimethylsiloxane is? It’s a common fast food ingredient… and it’s also used in Silly Putty, head-lice treatments, and breast implants (Science Channel, 2009). You may not come across polydimethylsiloxane in your grocery trip, but you will most likely encounter (at least in passing) foods that contain high fructose corn syrup (candy), phosphoric acid (soda), etc. If you don’t know what an ingredient is, look it up when you get home and learn!
• Play a game where your family decides to avoid a certain item (like tomatoes or corn syrup) during the shopping trip and anyone who places an item containing that ingredient into the cart gets a penalty. If you have multiple children, encourage success by offering a reward for the person who makes the fewest mistakes (rewards could include a treat or not having to unload groceries at home)