design your homeschool: putting components together (social studies)

What is social studies? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_studies Wikipedia has a great definition. Considering the reality that social studies encompasses so many discplines it is the greatest place to start when creating a curriculum. 

[social studies is the integrated study of multiple fields of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, including history, economics, geography and political science. The term was first coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as a catch-all for these subjects, as well as others which did not fit into the helps the models of lower education in the United States, such as philosophy and psychology] except from Wikipedia link above. 

I did all of this when thinking about creating a well rounded curriculum from the start I had no idea it was social studies until I started searching for my resources to teach my children. 

History, being story based was a great place to start. 

story time with history through story of the world is fun. I love expanding on historical events  with different fiction stories. My apartment is too small to hold all the books I have read over the years to take pictures. Some of the books are on Kindle.

when we read about a place it is important to know where it is on a map. In recent years dealing with Google maps. SMH my children needed to know how to read a map and know where they are in relation to the rest of the world. My oldest loves coding and even he learned at an early age that tech isn't perfect. I already talked about philosophy and DK publishing books used to supplement. But I needed a book to help bridge Eastern and western philosophy.

it is impossible to teach a well rounded education if you only focus on one region of the world. Through my own journey it has become clear to me that the only real difference between philosophy is regional based on culture. Modesty verse hedonism if you will. Focus on self improvement verse community improvement.  Inward verse outward, but taking care in all you do is the focus of both. Then I discovered the middle path. The balanced path of improving yourself to be more efficient and effective in contributing to the whole. We all live on one planet and our actions impact everyone. But you can't give from an empty cup. Without working on oneself what is there to give. 

after you learn about how people think, why they think, you have to think about what always bring people together; FOOD! Thursdays were dedicated to trying a new food from a different country. Sitting down they way they would as a family in that country I even bought a Japanese dinning set. 1) because it was compact in my small apartment. 2) it was on sale for like $100 3) it came with dishes and utensils. Amazon is freaking awesome sometimes. 

art is fundament when it comes to communication in prehistory. Before we had language we had art. Art history intrigued me in middle school because it gave me the concrete I needed to appreciate the abstract  of it all. Why colors would be chosen how the colors were made. What regions of the world created walhat colors from which plants or minerals.  I don't have a book on music but that is where I went with my lessons after art. We studied musicians from each region, genres, and why that genre started. 

dk publishing books are by far my favorite  when it comes to touching all the fields of humanities and social studies. 

these are the books in my room my older boys have the others in the series in their rooms. They are being quiet right now and I don't want to bother them to get a picture. Do has every topic covered.