Social studies? When I was in school we learned, in school about what was on/in the news. Is that what social studies is? Is it history, or cultural differences? I have no idea.

We do not (nor will we ever) get cable, so never watch the news. So, what ways should I approach teaching history/social studies? Ideas? Topics that are important? My child is 10.

What would that be in regular school, 5th grade? I remember having California history (or I guess whatever state you live in) and map books. You could always watch the news online, I think CNN even has a student news thing, I don't watch the student stuff though so I don't know what age it is aimed at. Or there's always newspapers.

I think it's important for everyone to be well-rounded and well-informed. I know its still quite a ways away, but someday your child will be voting (I hope) and having a chance to influence the world. He or she will need to be informed about what's going on in the world and will need to understand the past and different cultures. So I'd say teach him or her everything you can. And teach him or her how to find information on their own too! Somedays I am stunned by how ignorant my own classmates are about what's going on in the world today and about the past. There are days that I'm sitting in history and my jaw literally drops. And I go to a blue ribbon school... honestally, that scares me. I think just discussing current events with your child (my family is always talking about "i saw this on the news earlier..." or "did you hear about...") can make a huge difference.

Depending on where you live, it may be that there are groups of parents that also home-school their children and also have an organization where they can help each other with resources. I know that we have some groups that are very strong around where I live. The parents and children also have opportunities to go on educational outings with other families concerning various topic areas, such as history and/or social studies. It's quite a network!

If you are home-schooling your child, I would assume that you would have some sort of guidelines from officials stating what your child is to be learning in order to be up to standard in order to be home-schooled. Do you have any sort of such guidelines?

Hi Simone,
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"The Homeschool Social Studies Program
Social studies is a classification tool used by everyone to identify the study of different societies. When students are actively studying a social studies unity, they are learning about the world around them. The unit could include a study of their homes, families, communities and the world.
In an independent study of social studies, a student will learn to empathize and understand another person's needs. Many historical biological reports and biographies are considered both historical and social studies in nature. As both are historical records of people's lives, hobbies, lifestyles and ways of life, the line between history and social studies is a very thin one. Where history discusses places and times, social studies is all about the people.
A social studies unit is intended to help children see that even though people might look different or talk different, deep down we are all the same. Some areas of social studies deal with different cultures while others deal with learning about rules, regulations and responsibilities of people to one another.

Bonus tip: Social studies is a great format in which to introduce career week. Teacher and students travel to local businesses to observe how they operate their business, see different occupational possibilities and participate in a job shadow activity."
Article taken from Elementary Homeschool - Home School Tips
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I found some good links regarding this,maybe you would find them a bit of help in homeschooling.
Homeschool Curriculum For Gifted and Creative Children
Learning Social Studies thru Literature -- The HomeschoolDiner -- HomeschoolDiner.com

And I loved this article
The Link Homeschool News Network: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me...

When I was in the 7th grade,we used to have something called Newspaper in Education-
It was an extra class separate from the regular studies.We used to have different people come on different days and just pick an article and we used to have fun with it.
Sometimes it was Art,other times History or Science or Geography.

We would do collages/art related to the topic or talk/discuss about what each of us knew about the topic and the facilitator will add his/her views and help us understand the topic more.
Maybe you could pick an article from the newspaper or better yet,let him choose an article and explore it together.

Or maybe you could play a blindfold game, take the atlas or a wall map or a globe.
Blindfold and pin a place,that would the topic for the day,and you could combine geography,history and social studies in relation to the country chosen.

Good Luck with your homeschooling!:)

justcurious55, I had to spread the reputation. You gave me some great ideas. Yeah, today's education has it's scary side. I begged and pleaded with my parents to take me out of public school, but they didn't have the time or the money. But, am I doing the right thing homeschooling my daughter? Time will tell.

Get job simoneaugie, home schooling is most certainly the way to go for parents who can afford it, ( normally it means one parent does not work or works from home) and the parents have the time to do it.)

But for the person who does not get the news ? You are on the interent right, I get all my news from online, online newspapers, Yahoo news, and more. Teaching children means doing more, and if it means studying or listening to news every day, it is just what has to be done

Yeah, I think you are doing the right thing homeschooling. It's what I'd like to do if I ever have children. Even though I have been fortunate enough to have had some great teachers, I still think that overall our education system is a joke. Don't even get me started on standardized testing... especially the high school exit exam. I don't know about other states, but here in CA, as sophomores we're given a test on eighth grade level math and english that we have to pass to graduate. I think that right there should raise eyebrows. (if you only have to take eighth grade level tests to get the diploma, what is the rest of high school for?) but here's the frightening part, there are some kids that can't pass. OK, I'm done ranting for now. Haha

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Originally Posted by simoneaugie

social studies? When I was in school we learned, in school about what was on/in the news. Is that what social studies is? Is it history, or cultural differences? I have no idea.

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Not completely. Social Studies is a study of cultures past and present. It is not restricted to current events.

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We do not (nor will we ever) get cable,

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Understandable.

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so never watch the news.

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Don't read newspapers or magazines? Books of any kind?

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So, what ways should I approach teaching history/social studies? Ideas? Topics that are important? My child is 10.

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There are periodicals which target children of your child's age. There are many television programs on PBS about different cultures and about current events. You can also get these at the library on video.

Any bookstore will have a "plethora" of books for children and for adults on the all subjects including but not limited to anthropology, sociology, political science, history, economics, jurisprudence, penology, philosophy, social work. All those subjects are related to social studies.

Probably one of the best sources are encyclopedias. Just look up a country and they give you the culture, religion and entire history of that country. And don't rule out the Internet:

Canada:
About Canada

Mexico:
Mexico for Kids

I hope that helps.

Sincerely,

De Maria

I wish I could have home schooled my kids and would encourage most parents to home school.