Social Studies

So many topics, so little time....

Social studies sometimes takes a back seat to the more immediately practical school subjects, however, homeschooling allows so much more depth and breadth in this very important area!

Every child's mix of knowledge will end up a bit different, and that's a good thing.  The world needs people educated in a variety of ways. No one can cover it all.  It's helpful to make peace with the idea of skimming over some things to focus on other things.

When choosing what subjects to cover, consider:

• What is your child interested in this year?

• How much detail is your child able to comprehend and are they emotionally ready for?

• What are your child's learning strengths and weaknesses?  Reading? Videos/documentaries? Hands on projects? Art? Music?

• What did your child already cover in school, if any?  No point in repetition.

• What is your own knowledge and ability?  Do you need detailed lesson plans or can you wing it?

• What is your time availability for lesson planning?  (Social studies especially can be time consuming to put together.)

Typical Subjects in Social Studies

• History -  Time periods and regional history

• World Cultures - Languages, religions, art, music, architecture, literature

• Geography - Topology, climate, political

• Civics - Governments, local and world, human rights

• Current Events - News and issues of the day

• Economics - Trade and financial systems

Frequently, curriculum will combine studies of these topics, with different emphasis from different sources.  So be sure to preview the contents or read reviews.

History

Print Curriculum and Spine Books

• A History of US, by Joy Hakim - Set of 10 books covering US History at a middle school level, very engaging. Study guides available on the web site or TeachersPayTeachers.  Individual books also available used at Powells.com. 

• A Young People’s History of the US, by Howard Zinn - US History from a sociological perspective. Teaching resources at the Zinn Education Project site. High school.

• Harcourt Horizons World History and Harcourt Horizons US History -  Textbook at middle school level, good spine for building your custom study.

• Build Your Library - Curriculum for all ages using historical periods as a basis.  A secular version of Charlotte Mason's program.

• History Odyssey by Pandia Press - Ancient, Middle Ages, Modern world history curriculum for homeschoolers. Inlcudes lesson plans and materials but recommended source books must be purchased on your own. 

• Moving Beyond The Page – MBTB covers social studies in it's comprehensive curriculum, however it is not easily separable if you just want social studies only.

• Big Fat Notebook of American History, and Big Fat Notebook of World History, by Workman Publishing - Lighthearted condensed facts and brief explanations, vocabulary, people and timelines.  Useful more as a spine for further study, or a summary overview.

• Horrible History book series by Terry Deary - Humorous and visual books aimed at the middle school level, with dramatic flair, for many historical periods. (Also a TV series from BBC)

• Oak Meadow World History - A comprehensive list of subjects to research and questions for inquiry or assignments.  Use your own choice of source materials, textbook, internet, library books.  High school level.

• Kingfisher History Encyclopedia - Excellent reference for high-level information on many societies and events, starting with early civilization.  Two pages on each topic, with short facts and pictures.  Also good for timeline references.

Online Resources

• Crash Course History - Very popular online video series for all history subjects.  Their web site makes finding the original YouTube videos easier.  Aimed at middle or high school level, each video covers a discrete subject within a larger playlist of topics.  The host speaks quickly and jumps from idea to idea, but you can slow down the videos in settings to 75% speed for better comprehension. 

• Global Academic Productions - Very high quality online World History and Modern Global Studies courses, reasonably priced!  Late middle school / early high school level.

• Big History Project - A free, one-year online self-paced course in the big-picture history of Earth and Humans.  Includes a hefty dose of science (physics, chemistry, biology) in the first half of the course.  Videos and printable worksheets, and a teacher training series to explain the navigation and curriculum. 

• Khan Academy - Free, online video and text curriculum for US History and World History, in the screen-capture blackboard style of Khan.   Built in quizzes.  An excellent spine for futher study.

• Timemaps Archive - A visual web site showing what was going on in the world at given points in history, through maps and encyclopedic articles.  Click through or search. 

• Extra Credits YouTube channel - Just one of many channels devoted to (mostly) world history lessons with animated characters.  

• FundaFunda Academy - Online high school US History, Economics, Government and Geography classes with recorded teacher videos and a teacher who grades homework and communicates with students via message board or email.  Tuition based, register in Spring for fall semester classes. 

World Cultures

"Cultures" includes so many things:  languages, religions, art, music, architecture, literature.  Some school-type textbooks lump them all together with an overview of geography and history by region, such as a typical middle school social studies book.  This can be good as a spine, but really, making a list of things your child is interested in is the best way to start.  Perhaps go by continent - every month cover a different continent, or take a particular tradition and follow it around the world.  Then add internet research, videos, library books, field trips, etc to make it relevant and fun.

Print Curriculum and Spine Books

• Global Village School - Literature-based curriculum focusing on creating global citizens.  They provide lesson guides and unit plans for K-8 and a high school diploma program. 

• Oak Meadow - A complete curriculum provider, each grade level incorporates some social studies options.  See their web site for what is covered in each year.

• World Geography and Cultures - Textbook by Glencoe, McGraw-Hill.  Middle school level textbook covering the world by region.  A great spine and basic text for building your study plan.

• World Cultures and Geography Survey, Student Edition - Textbook by National Geographic, covering covering the world by region.  A great spine and basic text for building your study plan.  Online content available. 

• Books on individual countries, such as the "Travel Through:" (by Teacher Created Resources) book set, or many others at the library or online book sellers.

Supplementary Ideas

Art:  Art projects from around the world, textiles, weaving, art museums, study famous artists and their lives, online virtual tours of art museums (Louvre, Smithsonian, Guggenheim, MET etc).  Culinary studies are fun, such as the "Eat your Way Around the World" book. 

Architecture:  Make models of famous buildings, view them in Google Earth, study ancient building techniques or tools, videos online of modern building techniques, compare traditional home styles around the world.

Literature: Poetry, plays, graphic novel adaptations of classic literature, original sources for older students

Religions:  Comparative Religion studies, books on major religions and practices, ancient mythology, religious art, architecture and music.  The book Comparative Religion by Carla Mooney is a great spine for middle grade kids.

Music: World music concerts pop up at libraries or cultural fairs.  YouTube is great for sampling music styles from around the world, both traditional and modern.  Also some books have project instructions for making DIY instruments.  TeachersPayTeachers has unit studies of various musical styles and famous artists and composers.  

Geography

Some kids love to memorize geographic features, cities, capitols and landforms.  Others like to link the geography with the story of the people who live there.  

Books:  "Passport to" and "Travel Through:" book sets,  Geography through Art book (by Jeffus)

Atlas:  Get several atlases!  One for the world, one with breakdowns of certain areas, one for your state, etc. Just looking at an atlas is great fun.  Although the "Children's Atlas" formats seem pretty, they are frequently busy with call-outs and pictures everywhere with factoids.  This may be difficult to read for kids with learning disabilites. Just a plan atlas with landforms or roads is easier to read. 

Globe - Something you can spin and turn to get a feel for real distances and relationships.  Globes can be on a traditional stand, or inflatable beach ball style, or hold-in-your-hands type. Just be sure the markings are big and legible.

Wall Map:  Every house needs a map of the world!  Lakeshore has many, also Barnes and Noble.  Find a big hallway where you can walk right up to the map and look at the details.

Outline map books - Available from teacher's supply stores, Rainbow Resource, or TeachersPayTeachers.  Make several copies of the outline then color and label the region for many uses.

Puzzles and Games:  Many puzzles are available which depict the US states, or global countries.  Board games such as Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?  Geotoys has board games as well. 

Online:   Seterra and Sheppard Software web sites have online geography games, Stack the Countries (or Stack the States) are apps for tablets and phones, and of course, Google Earth. 

Work books:   Evan Moor has a Geography series for various grades that focuses on map reading.  Search Rainbow Resource for geography workbooks in all grades.

Civics and Economics

Print Curriculum and Spine Books

Oak Meadow - OM curriculum covers civics in Grade 8, you can buy the book and teacher manual separately. 

TeachersPayTeachers - Many civics unit studies by actual teachers, covering a variety of topics.  One good example is this bundle of materials to go along with the Crash Course government video series. 

Intelligo Unit Studies - One of the few providers of civics curriculum for younger age students. Download and print unit studies for ages K - 8. 

Understanding Politics and Government - Usborne book for elementary ages, a colorful overview. 

Civics in Practice - Holt McDougal textbook, high school level.  Great as a spine for further study. 

Civics Today: Citizenship, Economics and You - Glencoe textbook, high school level.  Includes economics as well as government studies.

Civics: Government and Economics in Action - Prentice Hall textbook, high school level.  Includes economics as well as government studies.

Online Resources

iCivics - Online, free, civics lesson plans for either a middle or high school level.  Many subjects such as civil rights, news literacy, international affairs. 

Crash Course - CC offers a free series of videos on Government and Politics with many subtopics. Quick overviews but many things to think about. 

Khan Academy - Series of free videos and quizzes on US Government and Civics. 

Thinkwell - Online advanced high school courses in American Government and Economics. 

CSPAN Classroom - Watch recordings of live government sessions, with lesson plans, free.

Current Events

CNN 10 Student News - 10 minute videos on the news of the day, or search the archives for selected stories.

DOGO News - Kid focused news articles to read (free), sort by grade level interest.  For a subscription fee you can use the audio "listen" feature and access comprehension and vocabulary quizzes. 

Listenwise - NPR curated collection of over 1500 podcast stories, including daily current events. High school level. Free for basic listening, pay for interactive transcript reading (but the transcripts can also be found on the regular NPR podcast sites.)

Newsela - Online source of articles with changeable reading levels.  Made for teachers but homeschoolers can use the free account as a source of materials, with optional questions or activities. 

Izzit.org - Daily articles on current events (one per day, at either high school or middle school level reading), with transcripts and teachings resources. 

News Literacy - Lessons on current events literacy and spotting misinformation.

Supplementary Materials / Ideas

Add to your curriculum or take a side trip:

• Biographies - Use the library, or find online (DK Biographies, National Geographic Kids, "Who was..." series, etc)

• Historical fiction books - Fiction set in the time period of study, check Lexile level for younger ages

• Documentaries - Library DVD's, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc

• Topical YouTube videos - Search YouTube with "kids" in the terms, to help find appropriate level.  Such as "Ancient Egypt for kids". 

• Field trips - Museums for history, art and music shows for cultural, state capitol for civics, etc.