"Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people." -John Adams
"No man is entitled to the blessings of liberty unless he is vigilant in its preservation." -Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Too many young people today do not understand the privilege they have to live in this country. They cannot comprehend what are forefathers were fighting for because they have had freedom for so long. They do not know where we come from, so how do they know where we are going? The American Heritage Education Foundation, Inc. is promoting a FREE social studies/civics curriculum for grades K-12 developed by the Houston Independent School District. Obviously, this does not have a Christian slant. Many organizations have partnered with the American Heritage Education Foundation. Some of these include the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, American Federation of Teachers, Christian Law Association, Home Educators Resource Directory, National Flag Foundation, Clemson University, and Kentucky Department of Education. These organizations see the need for students to learn more about our heritage.
Elementary topics focus on "The Declaration of Independence", "George Washington", "Pledge of Allegiance", "The Statue of Liberty" and more. The Elementary lesson plans are also given in Spanish. Middle School topics include "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor", "U.S. Constitution", "Our National Documents", and "What Is an American?". "The Mayflower Compact", "Federalist 47", "First Amendment", and "Entrepreneurs in History" are some of the High School topics. The American Heritage Education Foundation will allow you to order the CD with all the topics on it or you can download them directly. ALL FOR FREE! These studies are geared for schools, but can be adapted to the homeschool environment. Each lesson contains purpose, objective, theme, core knowledge or standards met, time for actual work, materials needed, and preparation necessary. Information is laid out with simple instructions for teaching. This is a curriculum that does not need hours of studying before the parent understands what to do. Texts for important United States documents are given so the parent does not need to search for them.
Some activities are worksheet activities and others are more creative in their use. For example, a lesson on The First Amendment has the high schooler make a collage of "the rights the First Amendment guarantees them." Another activity in that lesson is to "review court cases examining First Amendment freedoms." I use more of the creative activities. The Pledge of Allegiance lesson in the Elementary curriculum has a game where the words of the Pledge are cut out and the student puts them into the correct order. This would be perfect for a workbox activity. The Middle School lesson, Lives, Fortunes, Sacred Honor, teaches about our own South Carolina hero signer of the Declaration of Independence, Arthur Middleton. It has a crossword puzzle of various signers and an activity in which the student makes a life-size signer. When we studied this topic, we made berry ink and signed our "John Hancocks" on calling cards.
A homeschool parent could use this as a stand-alone civics class for all students. Combining ages and thinking up more activities should not be too difficult. It may not be as meaty as other curricula, but helps to teach important historical information in an easy-to-follow manner. I would recommend this especially since it is offered to us FREE. Anything you could use from this product would be a plus. I would pair this with other more Christian based information and quality books. Otherwise, I think much of this information could go in one ear and out the other. Take the time to learn more here. Here is the website: http://www.americanheritage.org
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