Great List of Historical Documentaries

Check out this wonderful list of historical documentaries on my friend's blog! Stay and look around her blog. Lisa is a second generation homeschooler and has a lovely family that includes natural and adopted children.

A History of US

This year I will going through 5th grade Calvert for the third time. It is not my favorite Calvert grade and one reason is the tediously dull American History text. At least, it was tediously dull - perhaps they have upgraded to a less dull text but history textbooks seem to have dull as part of their definition.

But Calvert has other strengths and I know an excellent way to supplement middle school American history. About 6 years ago, I read through Joy Hakim's A History of US with my two older children. It was a delightful experience. I remember the writing being crisp and entertaining and the stories enthralling. The only downside, for me, was a strong liberal bent to both the selection and presentation of the material. However, I never mind getting more than one side of a story and this is no exception. I find my understanding of history to be greatly enriched by viewpoints that challenge my own.

I am quite looking forward to making the journey with Ms. Hakim again...

A Little History of the World

Farm School Review of A Little History of the World

Wonderful review of a little book that I cannot wait to get for my family! It sounds as if it may be very similar to A Child's History of the World which I use to introduce my children to world history in 4th grade (or there abouts). Using the Calvert curriculum taught me the concept of starting with world history and proceeding "inward" - the opposite of our school system's method of starting with the neighborhood and proceeding outward. American history makes so much more sense in the context of world history. I will post my own review of A Little History of the World once I have the chance to read it!

History Resource Finds

In doing my research, I come across some great history resources. I have a links section but here are a few from the last couple of weeks.

History at our House offers online history lectures/classes. While I do not agree with all of Scott's assertions in his parental workshop, the class lecture that I listened to was excellent. This may grow into a valuable resource. Here is how he describes what he is working on:

Mr. Powell is now concurrently working on the development of an accessible, integrated history program for professional adults and the new homeschooling history curriculum History At Our House.

Another interesting resource that I came across is HyperHistory. There is a online resource and what looks like a fabulous world history timeline. I want one!! The online portion is interactive and covers a lot of ground.

Serendipity Books and More has a huge history selection. I bookmarked it to go back later and browse the offerings. My husband will be delighted...more books!

Dewey's Treehouse: Carnival of Homeschooling #85: School Stuff Edition

One of my posts is included in Dewey's Treehouse: Carnival of Homeschooling #85: School Stuff Edition

This is a fun way to find other interesting homeschool blogs. Go check it out!!

A Complicated Family Tree

One of the resources that I plan to include in my book project is a detailed family tree or genealogy. I started by jotting down notes while I was reading through Peter the Great on the details and people that I wanted to include; making a hand drawn version of the genealogy as I went.

Next, I searched for programs on the internet that might help me with this part. Naturally I searched out free options first. Amazingly, I did find a freebie that is awesome! It is called My Heritage Family Tree Builder.

While this site does have other applications for sale, the basic Family Tree Maker is free and it is a powerful program with many options including the potential of publishing online. This might prove to be a great feature for me.

If you have any use for a family tree program, I recommend that you take a look at this one.

In the meantime, I have to simplify my chart. Right now it is printing out on 8 pages! Whew!

Getting HELP on my History Project

When I decided to go to work on a rather ambitious project, I did what I often do - what I have learned to do over years of facing challenges - I asked for help. And I asked for help from one of my favorite sources...the homeschool community.

I sent the following email out to the local homeschool information yahoo group that I moderate, along with a large list of homeschoolers that attended a family oriented college play that I helped organize.

Hello all,

I am working on a homeschool resource business project. It involves recording a historical narrative that is now public domain (the copyright is no longer in effect). Kind of like G.A. Henty except more of a narrative rather than an historical fiction story. I am also working on a resource packet to go with it that so far includes vocabulary words, a timeline, an outline, etc. I am hoping that the finished audio will be 6 to 8 hours in length. I am working on Chapter one now and it is taking some practice to get it right. I am not striving for perfection but rather, a pleasant and interesting listening experience. I have done some audio recording but this is my first try at a whole book.

I will need some help and I am recruiting now. :-)
I need 3 to 5 local families who enjoy history (who have at least one member who loves history) and who would be willing to listen and review the set when I get it finished in a timely fashion (like a week to 10 days after I get it to you). It will be a wait, wait, wait, and then hurry kind of thing as I don't know how long it is going to take me to finish. I have to record when A) the house is relatively quiet and B) I am relatively awake. As you can easily imagine, having these two conditions coincide doesn't happen for all that long each day!

It does not have to be the mom or the whole family as long as at least one member will listen to it all. The mom/dad can just review the resources and listen to enough to get the idea if they do not have the time or interest to listen to the whole thing. The commitment is what is important to me - that you can make it a high priority to get it done. Obviously, I understand that the week I may need it may be impossible - you can just tell me that at the time and I will go on to the next family on my list. Just if you do accept the job at the time, commit to doing the best you can to get it done asap.

The set you review will be what I can do with materials available. If the feedback is positive enough, I will be trying to find ways to "produce" the various parts in an economical but attractive manner. I hope to end up with a finished product that can be sold at a very reasonable cost - returning a small profit to me per set while (hopefully) blessing a lot of families with another history resource. If I can do that, there are a lot more where this came from.

Other help or suggestions that I need:

**Some way to make sure that I am pronouncing Russian names correctly - anyone know anyone who speaks fluent Russian?

**Some way to reproduce audio CDs economically from a master recording CD

That is all I can think of right now. Please email me directly if you are interested in helping and tell me a little about why you are interested. This isn't a contest, it would just help me to know. If I can't find enough help locally, I will go statewide and then national but I would rather keep it here. Please feel free to forward this to local support group lists or to individuals who may be interested.

~Karen

Well, what goes around comes around; I was not disappointed. I received just the right amount of offers of help and a large welcome dose of encouragement.

So far, my trickiest problem has been getting help with the Russian names as they are English versions of archaic Russian names. I have yet to exhaust all the help offered, however, and I am confident that I will get past that obstacle so that I can begin the actual audio recording very soon.

My Favorite Homeschool Subject

When you homeschool, you get asked a lot of questions.

Right behind the perennial favorite "But what about their socialization?" is the WHY question. Why do we homeschool? why...why...why

I can give a short and sweet "Cause we love it" or I can spend an hour enumerating the many and varied reasons why we began homeschooling and why we continue to homeschool and why we plan to homeschool until the last child is graduated.

But the reason I only give once in a while out of fear that it will sound too self serving is that homeschooling has been good for me. Yes, while the questioner is either doubting my sanity or elevating me to sainthood, I am standing there knowing that homeschooling is one of the best things that ever happened to me, personally.

I often remark that I learned more in my first four years of homeschooling than in my four years of college....and mean it most sincerely. Particularly if one factors in the value of the lessons learned.

And out of all I have learned, setting aside the myriad of character lessons, I value most what I have learned about history. Of course, I didn't realize just how little I knew of history when we started. And the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. History is truly a lifetime subject; one that never will come up empty when you seek to add to your store of knowledge and understanding.

Not all of my children share my love of history. I hope that they will leave my homeschool with, at least, a basic understanding of world history, America's place in that history, and an openness to learning more as they live their lives. I am fortunate, however, that my oldest son shares my thirst for learning more. It gives me a good excuse to acquire historical resources.

And now I begin on a new project that will allow me to share my enthusiasm for history with a wider audience. Stay tuned...