Hi all, well im finally stumped on somthing Here in Texas we are required to teach Good Citizenship a,d with jacob going in 4th Im finding it tought to even know where to begain, can anyone please help b4 i lose my mind lol
ROFL Deep Breath...geez we seem to be saying that a lot around here eh? Ok Good citizenship just sounds fancy. For the older kids they can get more involved but...for the younger kids...it is usually more a social studies thing BUT...it doesn't have to be dry and boring. It can simply be real world. In public school they get civics their senior year. So....basically if the kid understands that we have presidents and how long a president is in office (for 4th grade level) I'd say you are covered. :wink: BTW the information that I am passing along is from my reading of the THSC handbook p. 2-14 & 2-15 What is Good Citizenship? Teach the kid "in this country citizens have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Does that help? If not I can scan the two pages and email it to you.
Hi S, ok, well jacob Looves to read about the prez and do worksheets and color sheets , anything History jacob loves.
op forgot he loves anything about history he loves watching the History channel. and he knows alot of the states now,
I think they mean Texas History LOL I went to Texas Public Schools and I always thought it was strange that EVERY year in elementary school we had Texas history. REMEMBER THE ALAMO! Seriously though, That good Citizenship requirement seems really vague. If I was in texas I'd probably teach things about voting and the government for that. A friend of mine there actually calls her Bible curriculum "Good Citizenship" cause it teaches morals, the golden rules etc.
you could go to a retirement home and see if they need people to read to the people there, or do a craft project with them. you could serve at a food kitchen or do a food drive (perhaps at your church). you could clean up at a park or beach. you could have him write the mayor and ask "what is a good citizen"--then pick something to highlight from that. you could collect blankets, or clothes or things for the needy (again something to set up at church or local grocery store--or go to a craft store and ask if they can put up a sign for those that knit or crochet to donate blanekets) collect toys and kid related things for christmas time and give it to a women & childrens recovery center.
Aball, I was thinking of the senior citizen home, i was also thinking of letting jacob adopt a grandparent Since my paremts do not have alot to do with him
ABall those are all really good ideas. I can't remember if I have to teach citizenship here in Oklahoma, I think I'm supposed to. I'm going to check the state's laws again & if I do, I'll use a couple of your ideas. I remember when I was homeschooled for 6th grade in Ohio, I had to do something on local commerce (I think it was for Social Studies) so I wrote to the City Chamber of Commerce for an info packet & used it to write up a mock 'tour guide' for my town. My mom thought it was really good, and when we had to take examples of my work to the School District, one of the teachers that reveiwed my work said that none of the ps students would have even thought to do that.
The Boy Scouts also have great guides for Citizenship. I found an old one and used it when I taught a unit on the presidential election.
I would look up "citizenship curriculum" in google and see what comes up. In the mean time I think that teaching some manners and civics is a good plan. It would seem that this could be totally "unschool". Talking about waiting in line nicely, holding doors open for people with packages, children, or just because, walking to the right on stair cases, and in hallways. Discussions about paying taxes, voting, volunteering, charity, obeying the laws, etc would all fit into this subject area.
My 6YO son consistently opens the car door for me. I will sit and wait for him to do it. My DH started doing that on our first anniversary, so Phillip comes by it through example. I'm trying to get him to open it for his sisters now.
That's a great idea Jackie! My dad always opened the door for my mom---always! I expected that my dh would too. But he didn't grow up with that and doesn't think about it. And that's fine. BUT, I like the idea still.....maybe I'll try instituting it in my family! Is there somewhere I can go that I can print out some manners guides or something?
