Another topic I want to cover next year and could use some brainstorming help on:
How ALL People are Different, which makes us ALL the same.
I want to discuss different handicaps, body abilities, mental capacities, etc. I want to talk about languages, religion, ethnicity, etc. I want the kids to get a better picture of what it means to be "different." I hope that this will reinforce my mantra of "Everyone has something different about them. Some of us have our differences on the inside and some on the outside."
Any ideas for field trips/projects/good books/topics will be greatly appreciated!
Oh yeah.... I forgot I had a homeschool blog!
11 years ago
For religion you could see if there are any "churches" for religions different than yours who would allow you to visit in some way, synagogues or mosques or something.
ReplyDeleteFor handicaps, my county has a place called Living Opportunities (http://www.livingopps.org/) that helps people with developmental disabilities be contributing members of society. You could see if there is something similar in your area, explain what it is you are wanting to do, and they may let you shadow someone or see what they do in one of their facilities.
Also, in an age where people (in general) have less respect for the elderly, maybe visiting an assisted living facility would be good, too.
Great idea!
ReplyDeleteTo add to Shannon's points, for different races and ethnicities, some cities have different "towns" eg Chinatown but sometimes other areas where certain cultures congregate. How about foreign penpals? I haven't looked into it but surely it's different these days, maybe with video feeds? (If it isn't it should be!).Our city has an international festival once a year, maybe you could look out for something like that. Otherwise I am sure a quick search of the internet should turn up some video of kids talking about their culture and customs. BTW, I think this is much better than books which tend to talk in generalizations and seem to touch on differences more than similarities. Similarities are important too.