Posted on 06/16/2011 9:58:07 AM PDT by Paladins Prayer
will definitely check it out, thanks.
A friend of mine stopped being a Chicago Public School teacher for precisely this reason. “I’m nothing but a babysitter.”
If anyone knows of an age appropriate book I can teach him history from please advise
Up until this year (when us parents put a stop to it) this is the garbage my son's school was teaching. No kidding, i could not understand his 2nd grade math problems.
Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth
Thirty years ago when I graduated from high school, the only reason I could have correctly answered many of those questions was due to factors outside my formal schooling. History was something we memorized, regurgitated for a test, and then promptly forgot. There was never any real importance attached to it, other than getting a good grade. Test scores were important, understanding was not.
For the benefit of our 9 year-old son, we have taken a chapter from the book, “How to Raise an American”, and applied it to our lives. Each month we have a Patriot’s Birthday Party held for a famous American, or someone who contributed to our society in a great way.
We will not only discuss what the person did to make them special, but what America was like at the time, what they wore, what they ate, toys their kids may have played with, and songs they may have sang. Often my son will get a small gift related to the person or event, like for Columbus’s Birthday he got a compass, and a lesson in basic map navigation like Columbus would have needed to know how to do. A Kite on Ben Franklin’s day, a new Baseball glove on Lue Gehrig’s day, and so on.
We also plan our meal around it - with the Birthday of Columbus we had Italian, for Ben Franklin Philadelphia Cheese Steak Sandwich and French Fries for being the first ambassador to France. For Neil Armstrong’s day we ate good old fashion TV Dinners and freeze dried astronaut ice cream. And for Ronald Reagan’s 100th we had Jelly Beans for desert.
When possible we will also watch a movie or documentary together about the person, or get a book from the library.
It’s great fun and educational, and he can’t wait to see who I pick next month.
Get the Idea?
The possibilities are as much fun planning as doing it. Reagan, Washington, Harry Truman, Sally Ride, Lou Gehrig, Henry Ford, Jesse Owen, Walt Disney, Jackie Robinson, Abe Lincoln, Father Flanagan, and on and on.
I was lucky. My high school American History teacher was passionate about the job. He really got into it, and loved to dive into to details not discussed in the history book. Especially if it grossed out the girls in class, like what a mini-ball will do to your bones, or how American Indians would torcher captives. Yea he was somewhat of an oddball, but he got you to listen.
Unless your son is at genius level, I believe the books by Ingri & Edgar Parin Daulaire, which include George Washington, Ben Franklin and Abraham Lincoln would be a good place to begin. They are wonderfully written and beautifully illustrated, an I think they would introduce a hunger for more information on these men and their times.
I believe these books are out of print, but check it out with Barnes and Noble because they might be reprinted. In any case I found my original copies on eBay, so you might try there.
If you are a garage saler, or are near a used book store you might find them there. Good luck.
You are a good dad.
You are right on,my friend!!! If you or I were to go up to Boston and at random pick out ten “Harvard” students, let’s say all seniors, and ask them who Nathaniel Greene was, who Daniel Morgan was, who George Thomas was, or even who George Patton was, I’d bet eight out of the ten would have no idea!!! Ask POTUS Obama the same questions and he might get George Patton correct!!! And let us not forget Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Robert Goddard, etc. These are all easy basics which should be taught in school, but we have let the union thugs steal our education systems. At the end of the day, sad to say, we are the guilty ones for just standing by and letting that happen. We, however, have a golden opportunity coming in November, 2012, not only to destroy communist POTUS Barack Hussein Obama, politically, but the entire liberal, Democrat, RINO establishment. It is our last chance, IMHO, so we better get everyone ready for hard work and action at the polls!!! We cannot lay back or rest for one minute!!!
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When I was growing up, H.S. asst. principals were typically the “enforcer” and kept a paddle in their offices. I suspect similar for you.
I was never paddled in H.S., or even middle school, though I was a time or three in elementary school.
>>Thanks for the tip. A great book recommended on the Glenn Beck program was A Patriot’s History of the United States. It’s a bit heavy for my 9 year-old, but it is a great reference book, and will be more so as he grows older.
It is worth noting that the author, Larry Schweikart, is long-time FReeper LS.
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