Social Studies

Now what exactly is social studies? I know what history is. I know what geography is. I even know what language and math are. But what the heck is social studies. I know Dakota had some social studies last year. But it wasn't very much and he was finished with it by December. Now that we are back to school full time, one of the classes he has is social studies. According to our curriculum, social studies includes history and geography. Okay so we will study history and we will study geography. But why can't they just call it that. According to Wikapedia, "Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the National Council for the Social Studies". So it's includes sociology, geography, history, anthropology, and a few other subjects.

I'm still not really sure what social studies is supposed to be. But right now Dakota is learning about the Vikings. He has certainly learned a lot of new vocabulary words like pillage and plunder. He has learned where the Vikings come from and where they traveled. Ah Geography. He has learned about the period of time in which they lived and plundered. So we have history. He has learned why they left their homelands. Wow, a bit of sociology and economics. I guess he is learning an "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities." I think he just likes the Vikings and their cool clothes and the boats the traveled in.

We are also doing a bit of history of the United States. Dakota got a set of flashcards about the Presidents for his birthday. (Check out the $1.00 section at Target.) He has been asking lots of questions about the presidents. He knows a few of them, but he wants to learn more. We have been playing online games to help him learn more about the presidents, when they lived, and what they were like. There is even a game about nicknames for the presidents. And no, President PoopyHead and Bubba are not on the list. Do you know who "His Obstinacy" is? I guess you'll have to play the President Nicknames game to find out.

Every day I'm learning more on this homeschool journey. I never realized when we started how much I would learn from it.