Karen's History Project

History with Postal Stamps

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:42:00 +0000

Katelyn emailed me last month in an effort to get the word out to homeschoolers about their educational resources. She sent me a copy of this year’s calendar which was huge and colorful with lots of interesting stamp info on it. She is very open to feedback about how to make their website more homeschool friendly. It is always nice when folks consider us in their efforts. Please feel free to pass this along wherever appropriate.

~Karen

PS There is a cool “stamp template” at the website.

May 11^th, 2011

Greetings! My name is Katelyn Lahr, and I represent an educational initiative founded by the US Postal Service called USPS Community Connection. We were conceived to help schools across the country, from private to public to in-home, in their quest for curriculum improvement and student achievement.

Our mission is to support your elementary-level social studies curriculum through the dynamic archive of Postage Stamp imagery. As colorful primary resources, stamps reflect the tone of the times and the attitudes of this nation across its history. They celebrate the people, places, icons and events that we as Americans value. We use stamp imagery and its connotations as a springboard in lessons on American history, geography, civics, and culture.

We admire the work that you do as a home educator, and we understand that you rely upon your community to supplement and support the tools necessary for student improvement. With the resources of 39,000 area post offices, the nation’s most extraordinary archive of American history and culture, and specially designed curriculum enhancements, we offer extensive and significant tools to benefit educators, their students and their students’ families. Within our portfolio you will find:

· School Days & American Ways: an oversized curriculum-connected calendar designed around monthly themes that have been researched, written and designed to correspond with early elementary social studies curricula; the calendar is accompanied by a 24-page coordinated Teaching Guide;

· Support for local fieldtrips and class speakers throughout North Carolina;

· New, complimentary educational material offered 24/7/365 on our website and social networking pages;

· Subject specific teaching tools, currently in development, in the instruction of space exploration and the Civil War

I invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting our homepage, www.USPSConnection.com, or emailing me directly at Katelyn@USPSConnection.com. Thank you, and I hope to see you in your classroom!

Sincerely,

Katelyn Lahr

Coordinator, USPS Community Connection

Ted Talks History

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:26:00 +0000

I don't know about you but I absolutely LOVE Ted Talks!

Recently I was sent this wonderful post over on Online College dot org which lists and summarizes 15 Ted Talks for history buffs. What a great idea! Bookmarking for summer for myself to listen and enjoy.

All Things Samuel Adams

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Everything you ever wanted to know about
Samuel Adams and more at
Samuel Adams Heritage Society!

Read all about his early life and his involvement in key events of the American Revolution. There is a page for his famous quotes as well as his documents and speeches.If you like to use primary sources in your history study, this is a page to book mark. The photo section includes both historical portraits as well as current portrayals in movies and mini-series. Excellent, well organized site to include within early American history studies.

Amazing Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:25:00 +0000

You just have to see this:

Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel

I don't have a pic to go with this. Nothing would really do it justice anyway. It takes a bit of practice to manipulate the mouse around the image. You can change the way the mouse operates in the lower left corner.

You probably get a better look than you would in person as I hear that this structure is always full of tourists!

History Games for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Hop over to the Kid's Past site for history resources including low tech but fun games.

KidPast.com is the fun way to explore our history. We are who we are today, because of those who have gone before us.
Brought to you by the KidsKnowIt Network, The Totally Free Learning Network, KidsPast.com is packed with articles from early man, to recent historical events.

I played Hopping Through History. The first level had questions where you could often guess the answer. I am not sure how hard it would see to a child but it is easy to check out - no downloading or anything.

There are world history topics that you can click through with illustrations (secular worldview). You do have to read around the google boxes but the pages are fairly consistent so it is not too difficult. There is also a section with a long list of quotes from historical figures. You click on a name and it gives one or two of their famous quotes.

Science in History - WWII

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:48:00 +0000

Way cool website that explores the science of World War II. The Darkroom includes loads of primary resources. There is an interactive timeline of The Road to the Atomic Bomb. An activities section includes a quiz, coded messages and more. Everything about this website is top notch, interactive, colorful, informative and fun. Highly recommended as an adjunct to studying WWII or simply exploring this subject.

Constitution Day!

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:55:00 +0000

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.

Find a lot of great links at the Incredible Constitution Day page.

You will find more resources for Constitution Day at C-Span including a live interview at 9:15am ET today. Joe Karb, a middle school teacher from Springville, New York, will be interviewed for a few minutes during C-SPAN's Washington Journal. He will explain how you can use C-Span's Constitution Clips in your classroom. You will need to register and log in to access the Constitution Clips page. Once you do, you can also view the U.S. Constitution Vignette.

C-Span Classroom revisited!

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Here is an update on this post:

http://www.karenshistoryproject.com/2010/06/special-offer-from-c-span.html

First of all, this timeline is HUGE and wonderful!
And it is still available.

C-Span really seems to like homeschoolers and they include home schools in their offerings. I participated in a contest at their C-Span Classroom and I won a Flip camera! I was very excited of course and went back and forth with the nice lady who emailed me about it and she was excited about the surge in homeschool participation. Lovely to be not just allowed but actually welcomed!

If you haven't checked out the C-Span Classroom website, definitely put it on your Take A Look list.

100 Historical Sites Every American Should See

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:26:00 +0000

I have been swamped trying to get some workshops ready for a local conference but I really want you to see this handy site:

100 Historical Sites Every American Should See

The descriptions are short and sweet and each one is linked to a website about the site which makes it convenient. It is divided into sections like Natural Wonders and Memorials. Definitely something to bookmark and use for inspiration!

The Renaissance Connection

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:12:00 +0000

From the introduction:

Welcome to The Renaissance Connection, the Allentown Art Museum's interactive educational web site. With the simple click of a mouse button, travel 500 years into the past to discover many Renaissance innovations revealed through the Allentown Art Museum's Samuel H. Kress Collection of European art.

There is a cool flash intro. If your cannot play flash, you can skip it. The website itself has several sections. The Art Explorer is an interactive timeline with all kinds of details of Renaissance life in chronological order. You can access it as a timeline, a map or an alphabetical list.

The Time Telescope focuses on innovations. You can slide the time dial to see how various innovations built on each other. For example, Libraries and Web goes back to Textbooks (1800), First American College (1600), and then to the Renaissance connection and the printing press in the 1400s.

Be a Patron of the Arts is an entertaining interactive "game" that demonstrates the how and why of the money flow. You make choices as you go along that results in a specific piece of artwork created. This website gets an A+ on packing information into a fun format.

There is also an interesting section on The Artist's Life and Lesson Plans to help you utilize the site. This website can be accessed as a plain html site as well. It is still colorful and informative, it just doesn't have all the bells and whistles and interaction that the flash version does. I highly recommend accessing it as a flash if you have that capacity.

A Brief (and brutal) History of Education

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:33:00 +0000

From the Psychology Today website, a piece by Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College...

A Brief History of Education

Mr. Gray opens with a statement that presents a viewpoint that I come into constant contact with in my interactions as a homeschooler with the general public...

When we see that children everywhere are required by law to go to school, that almost all schools are structured in the same way, and that our society goes to a great deal of trouble and expense to provide such schools, we tend naturally to assume that there must be some good, logical reason for all this.

He goes on to outline why schools being what they are is a direct result of the historical origins of "school." Not the end result of a logical, rational inquiry into how children learn best.One point that Dr. Gray brings out is that play is the natural way that children learn and that school, as it came about historically, does not mix well with play at all. Learning has become the work of children and not something that happens through spontaneous play. And we wonder why so many students quickly lose their love of learning and any internal motivation to apply themselves to study?

The Great Chicago Fire

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:23:00 +0000

The Great Chicago Fire and The Web of Memory

This website was created to mark the 125th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire. The introduction is a great place to start as it describes how the website is organized and the parts of each section. There is a conscious effort to describe how historical accounts come to be and to what uses such a collection can be put. This event is particularly useful in this sense as Chicago was in the world's focal point at a time of great change. Reading through the impressive collection of primary sources is fascinating and is made simpler by the uncluttered layout.

From the site:

This exhibit attempts to make its own contribution to the memory of the conflagration by offering for scrutiny some of the major ways in which the Great Chicago Fire has been remembered. And perhaps its own mode of presentation, through wires and processors and monitors, is particularly appropriate, for it reminds us of the extent to which our sense of the past is always mediated.

Check out the panorama of 1858 found at the bottom of the Great Chicago Fire page. Truly there is page after page of accounts and pictures from before and after the fire. I had to make myself stop reading and clicking and get on with posting it for you.

4th of July - A Different Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 23:29:00 +0000

In our home school, the study of history has been enlivened by reading from a variety of perspectives. When confronted by information and opinions and interpretations that contradict our current take on the matter, we are forced to research, evaluate, and either defend our own status quo or allow it to be shaped by new information or even supplanted if the new evidence proves itself strong enough. Our view becomes stronger or it comes closer to the truth or both.

So I find contrarian articles like this one to be an interesting challenge. Now in this particular case, I happen to believe that the author has some valid points. But my post today is not to argue for celebrating Happy Secession Day rather than 4th of July - it is simply to encourage other parents not to be afraid of opposing viewpoints. Students will encounter them sooner or later - to my mind, doing so under my tutelage is preferred. History by its very nature always comes presented through a worldview lens once you get past the bare facts...and sometimes even the facts are influenced by the perspective of the reporter.

By the by, here is a wonderful website for examining the Declaration of Independence in close detail.

Special Offer from C-Span!

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Get this huge Presidential Timeline from C-Span - free to teachers and yes, they are including homeschoolers!

This is the C-Span Classroom that offers free primary resources to social studies teachers. Under one tab is a list of subjects like Campaigns and Elections, Civil Liberties, Economics, Rule of Law and World History. When you click on a subject, you get a long list of videos relating to that subject. Right now I am listening to Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition, where the author of a current book of that title, Dan Okrent, is addressing a group at the Chicago History Museum. It is very interesting so far, in the nature of a lecture. I am browsing through other topic areas and I am seeing a range of videos across the political spectrum. This could be an amazing resource especially for those with jr high and high school students.

There is a pdf on how to use the C-Span video library that details:

The C-SPAN Video Library is a unique, free, and searchable public service that lets you watch C-SPAN programs whenever you want. It records, indexes, and archives all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational, media, research, and archival uses. Every C-SPAN program aired since 1987 is contained in the C-SPAN Video Library and is immediately accessible through the database and electronic archival systems developed and maintained by C-SPAN.

Can I just say, WOW? I had no idea that this existed in this form so readily accessible! The pdf goes on to explain exactly how to use clips or parts of clips and how to find specific programs. There are lesson plans and handouts at the C-Span Classroom. These will be designed for classroom use obviously, but you can often get good ideas from plans like these and the handouts could be very useful. Here is one about the Bill of Rights which is essentially just a one page listing of the rights. Here is an interesting one about the Role of the President that includes current events questions.

This website also includes a Congressional Chronicle:

The C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle is an index to the C-SPAN video recordings of the House and Senate floor proceedings. The video recordings are matched with the text of the Congressional Record as soon as the Record is available. It only includes members who appeared on the floor to deliver or insert their remarks. The text included here is what the member submitted. Each appearance has a video link where users can watch and listen to the actual remarks.

Last, but not least, is a listing of quite a few other C-Span website including American Presidents: Life Portraits. This was created as a companion to their 20th Anniversary program and so provides links to those programs. This would be a nice adjunct to the free timeline offer.

American History Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:09:00 +0000

From American History Calendar:

This site is devoted to showing American history in a unique way: through a user-friendly web calendar. Birthdays of people in American history as well as events in American history can be viewed using these AJAX enabled calendars. Events can be downloaded and loaded into your iCal compliant calendar program (click on the subscribe link at the bottom of the calendar). There is a print button on the calendar that allows you to create a printer friendly calendar. RSS feeds are also available that display the week's birthdays and events.

The site adds new people and events regularly. There is a History Browser that shows a week with color coded entries. You can scroll weeks forward or back. A map shows related places when appropriate. You can subscribe to the feed, search the site and use their calendar on your computer! Definitely worth a bookmark any year you are studying American History.

BBC's Primary History

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 18:51:00 +0000

Very nicely organized and colorful website for primary history from BBC. Yes, it will have a British slant to it! Never hurts to explore a different perspective, you might learn something!

There are six categories:

Ancient Greeks
Romans
Anglo-Saxons
Vikings
Children of Victorian Britain
Children of World War II

Each includes a neat timeline and various places to explore. These areas could be great resources in other areas of studies. For example, in Children of World War II, there is an area about Evacuation that would be quite helpful in a study of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. There is an interesting interactive activity on that page about rationing which starts with a shopping list and helps show what was and wasn't available and what was rationed and a potential sample meal.

Teaching Jane Austen

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:29:00 +0000

The Complete Guide to Teaching Jane Austen is a colorful, informative and well organized treasure trove of suggestions for studying Jane Austen using both books and movies. While it was originally written in conjunction with the 2008 BBC Masterpiece series, it can be used with other Austen adaptations as well.

Here are the Table of Contents:
About This Guide
Why Jane? Why Now?
Austen in the Classroom
Jane Austen’s Life
Miss Austen Regrets
Novel to Film
The Art of Adaptation
Self-Discovery
Persuasion
Sense and Sensibility
Society and the Self
Emma
Pride and Prejudice
Satire and Irony
Northanger Abbey
Mansfield Park
Selected Resources

There is enough here to provide a springboard for a semester of study at least. And what a fun time that would be!! Here is a little reminder from the Guide as to why study Jane:

Jane Austen ﬁrst made her way onto standard U.S. high school and college reading lists because she is a great novelist. She remains there because she has proven herself to be a timeless one. Each generation, including the one that you are now teaching, “rediscovers” Austen.

All this from a Portrait?

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 30 May 2010 22:25:00 +0000

This website takes the famous portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart and examines the symbolic, the biographic and the artistic elements in an interactive fashion that is fascinating. It is at once a historic and artistic study that will leave you in awe of the sheer mastery of this iconic symbol of our Founding Father. There is a strip under the portrait that acts as a magnifying window. Or you can click on various elements to enlarge and go to specific information.

Loads of Free History lessons and Resources

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:34:00 +0000

Free Activities and lesson plans abound at mrdonn dot org for Ancient, World and American histories. The worldview is secular evolutionary.There are presentations in power point format that are full of graphics, pictures, maps and even a little humor (for example, at the end of a Viking PP, there is a modern day photo of the football team). Here is an example of a map from that same PP.

There are many links to other resources. From the Vikings page, I was directed to the BBC page for Vikings which is also loaded with information. In addition, mrdonn pointed me to the Viking Quest game also on the BBC which was fantastic! Can't wait to show it to my young right brainer. I started playing and couldn't stop until I completed a game - interactive, informative and fun. Further down on the Viking page, I found a link that sent me back to BBC, this time to their Primary History and found another game more geared to the younger set - Thorkel and the Trading Voyage.

You really have to explore this website! I found so much on just a cursory trip around one page.

Early British Kingdoms

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:03:00 +0000

Looking for information on Early British Kingdoms from about 400 to 1000 AD? You will find a wealth of information at http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/. There are six main sections:

Kingdoms
Royalty
Arthur
Archaeology
Saints
Adversaries

Under Kingdoms, you will find Chronologies, Lists of various kinds (mostly kings) and some amazing Maps. Royalty hosts background information on assorted kings, queens, princesses and princes. The Arthur section needs a post all to itself, there is so much information there. Archaeology includes information on many historically signifcant site. For example, this page on South Cadbury Castle, one popular candidate for the location of Camelot, contains a photo and a map as well as interesting detaiils on the tradition, the dig and possible interpretations. Saints contains background on an exhaustive list of saints in the EBK. And Adversaries gives additional information on the Saxons.

Definitely a site to bookmark when you plan to cover this very interesting period of European history.

The Story of American Agriculture

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 16 May 2010 18:23:00 +0000

In their own words, Growing a Nation...

tells the story of American agriculture and its influence on important events and issues in American history. Using techniques of digital story telling, the program brings the history of agriculture to life and shows learners that the history of America is much more than just wars battles. The program is filled with a wealth of original historical documents and media resources. A wide array of lesson plans and classroom activities makes the program especially useful as a curriculum resource for teachers.

You can download an entire program or launch it in Flash Player. The narrative of our agricultural heritage is bound up with all of our history. This literally starts at the beginning of our colonial period and goes right up to now. I have not previewed the whole program. The spots that I viewed were generally pro-agriculture. As someone who grew up doing 4-H and FFA, I can relate. It did appear that there were sections discussing ideas like sustainable agriculture in the modern section. As a concerned mom, I have become educated on the "other side" of food issues as an adult. I doubt this program will raise questions like those found in Food, Inc. It may be interesting to do both. I see both sides. I believe that in many ways, America has "fed the world." I am also aware that we have some serious challenges in our agricultural industry that need to find solutions.And I do think it is important for children to understand that food is not made at the grocery store!!

Test Your News IQ

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:03:00 +0000

This is an interactive and updated quiz testing your current events knowledge. I tend to keep up in a general sense but obviously I could do better. From a few minutes ago:

Here's Your Score: You correctly answered 7 out of the 12 possible questions, which means you did better on the quiz than 66% of the general public.

The correct answer was my second choice on 3 of the ones that i got wrong.

This was posted on the Conservative High School to College list (for homeschoolers).

There is a lot of interesting current information on this website as well as other interactive quizzes. I did better on the science quiz, actually getting all the answers correct.

The Pew Research Center describes itself this way:

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take positions on policy issues.

Colonial Williamsburg

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:40:00 +0000

The Colonial Williamsburg website is a great source whether you are thinking about taking a trip or simply studying about that time period and area. For information and teaching resources, check the History tab under History and Education. There are biographies, essays and articles. You can read a historical newspaper called in the section Today in the1770's. Or check out the anatomy of a gown. And much more.

You will also want to check the Multimedia tab for lots of videos that take you to historic Williamsburg.

Another Give-away

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:07:00 +0000

Looking for Lapbook/Unit Studies in history? Hearts at Homes Discount Curriculum is giving away several items from the Time Travelers History Study series.Check out the instructions for entering at their Lapbook Lessons member blog. If you are reading this too late, you may still want to check out the series - looks interesting if you are into unit studies or lapbooking.

Free Lectures at The Teaching Company

noreply@blogger.com (~Karen) — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:48:00 +0000

The Teaching Company is one of our favorite sources for interesting history lectures. We have purchased courses and borrowed courses. We have taken advantage of their lifetime satisfaction guarantee. Here is an opportunity to hear a sample of two of their history professors.

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/GreatLeaderslecture.aspx?ai

There are two choices, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Use them as stand alone supplements or to get a sense of what the lecturer is like before investing in a whole course.