It is a perennial questions in homeschool circles, whether one should read the Little House on the Prairie books with one’s kids or whether the racism in it makes those books ones that should be put aside. The books have the heroine’s mother saying “The only good Indian is a
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politics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Political Studies through Minecraft
I have reopened my Minecraft server in light of the Covid-19 restrictions and the need to have extra online social activities for children. I host events a couple of times a week on Minecraft and Zoom, and the children play on the server whenever they want in between those events.
Continue readingpolitics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: American Political Studies Resources for Highschool Student
I am a Canadian homeschooling my children, but we can’t help hearing about American politics. So, my husband and I are insisting that our children learn to understand the American political system as well as the Canadian system. Here is what we are using: The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution
Continue readingpolitics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: teaching civics with reflections on a small town council meeting
It is Saturday morning and I’m watching a video recording of a town council meeting that took place several provinces away. I’m taking notes to write the story up for my dad’s newspaper. The strange thing is, I actually find counsel meetings kind of interesting. I love the little details
Continue readingpolitics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Searching for Justice and Equality in Ancient Times
One of the classes I’m teaching these days is a secular Bible study class. I treat the Bible like a work of literature. We discuss the different historical periods and the theologies within the Bible, but I’m not trying to convert them. I use the textbooks I had from university
Continue readingpolitics – Christy's Houseful of Chaos: the day after the American election
I started blogging right after Stephen Harper was re-elected. Back then my blog was called “Another Step to Take…” I was sitting in shock, staring at election results, and feeling horrified that Canada could re-elect someone so blatantly bad. I had been out knocking on doors during the election. I
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: I homeschool with a village to help me.
There is a meme I’ve seen going around on facebook and twitter that says “I homeschool because I’ve seen the village and I don’t want it raising my child.” The meme is sad on so many levels. It is incredibly sad to think of people feeling so isolated and at
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: homeschooling, both religious and secular, and the need for accountability
In most settings I interact with people there is a presumption that a person will keep quiet about his or her religion, and not assume to know what religion the other person is. In homeschooling settings the rules are often different. Homeschoolers are often quite vocal about their religious beliefs.
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: homeschooling history
Wow. A letter to the editor in the Nanaimo Times reminds me why teaching history properly is so important. The letter has been removed but a screen shot of it is linked to above. The author of the letter lists of accomplishments he feels the natives failed to meet before
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos politics » Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Teaching history to my homeschooled kids
Wow. A letter to the editor in the Nanaimo Times reminds me why teaching history properly is so important. The letter has been removed but a screen shot of it is linked to above. The author of the letter lists of accomplishments he feels the natives failed to meet before
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: WWII and the idea that stories have a story behind them.
I found the book The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise Borden at the library, and borrowed it thinking it would be a good way of encouraging the children to think about stories as having authors and authors as having their own stories. It also opened up a way of talking
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Christmas Time Fun
So what did we do this Christmas time? We tobogganed, experimented with computer programming again, played board games and much more. Here are a few of our holiday projects. We had learned about the different types of levers earlier, including the mnemonic “ple” to remember which type of lever is
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: 5 Reasons to Make a Set of Napier’s Bones
Napier’s bones are easier than slide rules,” my seven year old announced the other day. I had found extra-wide wooden craft sticks (popsicle sticks), shown him how to write the multiplication table on them, dividing the one’s digit from the ten’s digit with a diagonal line. Each stick contained the first
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Homeschooling
Savannah of the website Hammock Tracks has included an email interview with me on her website as part of her “Who Homeschools” feature. Check it out right here and then explore other parts of her site. Speaking of homeschooling, it’s been funny recently some of the responses I’ve had when talking with
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Homeschooling Weekly Round-Up Post
This week has been a pretty decent week, homeschooling-wise. Mostly the seven year old did math and writing practice, and the four year old reading and math practice. My four year old made some pipe-cleaner letters, which were actually meant more for math practice than reading/writing practice. I wanted to
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