Before I begin, I want to note that I have a little trouble with this one. Perhaps it is because this isn’t what I teach, so I’m narrow minded. Perhaps my reasoning is right–who knows? One of many reasons that I decided to homeschool, is because I felt like kids were “dummied down” in public schools. Rather than being fed meat, they were being fed fluff.
Social studies is one area that I deem “fluffy” as it were. Don’t misunderstand, I of course want to teach history and geography which also would fit into the technical definition of social studies. However, by this age I start teaching just that–plain old history and geography. It is true that my kids probably wouldn’t be able to list all the neighborhood helpers and what they do. . .but they know where all the continents are, most major countries, oceans, rivers, etc. They also know quite a bit of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman history.
So now you’re wondering why I’ve written a blog that I don’t agree with? The purpose of this series was to go through what a “typical course of study” is. There are many states, which have laws that indicate that you should teach curriculum “comparable” to that of public schools. This list is comparable to curriculum all over the United States for a first grader in public school. However, I would suggest that if you abandon the traditional course of “social studies” and consider teaching meat instead–your child will definitely not be behind! With that said, here is a list of objectives and accompanying resources as appropriate.
Holidays, traditions, and customs
Websites: Check out The Holiday Spot. I think every conceivable holiday is listed and is linked to stories, facts and ideas.
Yahooligans Holidays Directory also has links to every imaginable holiday–religious or non. This is friendlier for kids to search than the Holiday Spot.
Our American Heritage
Websites: Check out Save America’s Treasures. You can take a virtual field trip and note the significance of each piece. Very interesting tour!
Different cultures at different times
Check out the Xpeditions at National Geographic Kids. Just a warning though. . .your kids have to enjoy studying this to get a lot from this site.
Farm and zoo
If you are like us and live in the middle of the city you can visit the 4-H Virtual Farm.
Neighborhood helpers/ Jobs and careers
The Higglytown Heroes is a whole cartoon about neighborhood helpers, jobs and careers. Besides, where else will the pizza delivery guy qualify as a hero?
Here is a list of basic geography terms to know and/or be able to identify on a map:
Continent (including where each one is on a map)
Equator
Latitude
Longitude
Country
State
Major landforms like: ocean, mountain, desert, rain forest, peninsula, gulf, river, etc.
Making and reading a simple neighborhood map