Home Rule, Home School

Hawina is out for the week so i am doing far more Willow homeschooling time than i normally do.  What i normally do is a fantasy role playing game with Willow (11), Kaya (9), Evan (13) and Rowan (17).  It is a cross between Dungeons and Dragons and Trivial Pursuits.  Except the questions are Significa instead of Trivia.  We do geography, math, history, as well as some limited biology and other topics – with occasional Mensa questions thrown in for good measure.  The game is called Heroes and largely they design their own characters and i build the world around them with riddles and tricks and traps and puzzles and as much pedagogic value as i can squeeze into it and still have it be something they are excited to do.

boston-tea-party-1773-granger

In addition, this week, Willow and i have had other educational times together, just the two of us.  We have read some, but mostly we have been watching these brilliant educational videos, The Skeptics Guide to American History.  The guy who does it is a really good lecturer, despite being very “no frills” in his presentation and dressed in a suit and tie.  We learned the American Revolution was neither American nor a Revolution in its inception.  Stuff i did not know:

  • In 1763, the colonists saw themselves not as Americans but as proud members of the British Empire.
  • Radicals in the First Continental Congress argued that Parliament had no rights in the
    colonies, but moderates disagreed.  And the moderates overwhelmingly controlled Congress.
  • Even after the fighting began in Lexington and Concord the moderates sent an Olive Branch Petition to the King of England who rejected it, basically forcing the colonies into war.

It is not the Peoples History of the United States, but Willow and i have been enjoying our conversations and bringing history to life.

Revolutionaries dont ask

Revolutionaries don’t ask

[Edited by Judy Youngquest]