Choosing the History curriculum for your child’s home schooling program

Choosing the History curriculum for your child’s home schooling program

Article by Gautam Punjabi

History, while not seeming to be as prevalent in our daily lives, is a very difficult and possibly daunting subject because of its wide spectrum. Choosing the content for your child’s History curriculum can be as difficult as deciding to not use public schools for your child’s general education schooling (K-12).

Many parents have made the decision to home school their children due to the many changes in public school systems have degraded the true history of our nation and that have allowed many important facts to be left out or even changed when it comes to the rich history of America. Choosing the right History curriculum content is critical in providing our children a balanced look at the world and in building the character as they grow in our society.

The History curriculum is a critical subject that its understanding helps our children form a value system based on what our ancestors did and believed in while shaping this country. As in other countries, History is cherished and the factual handing down of this history is what helps out children build character, moral values, decide on career paths and many other critical life decisions. Subjects in the History realm intertwine with all the other core subjects necessary for a well-rounded and complete general education during the K-12 years. Nevertheless, there are simple, but detailed methods in place to help you select the best programs for your children and to enable them to apply the subjects of their History curriculum to the many aspects of adult life after their home schooling program is complete.

Before creating a map of your child’s History curriculum and its content, completing the following tasks will help guide you through the necessary steps in ensuring that you find the best solutions for home schooling.

1. Grade placement – Go to their previous school or have sent to you any lesson plans, course outlines or synopsis of the History curriculum for your child’s last year in a public school. At the very least, ask the teacher to provide you an outline of the subjects covered and how deep they studied the subjects.

2. The home schooling teacher – Determine who the primary teacher will be as they will be central to the home schooling program and in mapping out the History curriculum. They must be one of the decision makers in determining the History content and other subjects they may teach. If the teacher is not a family member, they need to be included in the decisions and this is a good time to lay out your expectations to them. Remember, you are now the principal of the home school!

3. State requirements – Establish the History course requirements of the state Board of Education (BOE) for the grade level of your child. It is possible to use any of the suppliers of curriculum to get the required content, but getting it straight from the state is preferred. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to compare the state requirements with the content parameters of a few of the curriculum providers to check overlap of subject depth, have some refresher of last year’s subjects and have a smooth transition into this year’s progression. Another good idea is to determine the content guidance for a couple of follow-on years to ensure your child is prepared for those years and also determine if you feel your child can accomplish. This comparison and review needs to be done before each school year and the progression evaluation should include the course content of the current History curriculum and compared to that of the next four to six semesters, or two or three school years.

4. Once these steps are completed, select the History curriculum that best provides for meeting your requirements for the home schooling program for your child. Congratulations! The easy part is done. The hard part is teaching the History curriculum and keeping to the schedule – tasks that will ensure the successful home schooling of your child or children.

5. Remember – Set high goals for your home schooling program, but ensure they are reachable for your child.

About the Author

There are numerous benefits of home schooling a child. Benefits include choosing an appropriate and proper home school curriculum, which includes math, History curriculum, history, and geography for your child. For more information about Home School and Curriculums, please do visit our site – http://www.homeschoolcurriculum.org/