How to Start a Homeschool Group: Part 2: How to Organize Field Trips, Classes, and Co-Ops

Have you dreamed of building your own homeschool co-op but don’t know where to start? In the second of a three-part series, guest columnist Melissa Robb walks you through the first steps for adding classes and activities to your group.

Previously, I covered the basics of how to start a homeschool group. Once you are established, it’s time to add the fun! Have you decided to keep your group small? Or are you going big? Either way, you can expect to have some or all of these types of activities: field trips, classes, and co-ops. Here are some how-to points that can help you with organizing these activities.

FIELD TRIPS

Field trips are perhaps the simplest activity to arrange. Many venues have information on their websites about school or group visits. Usually, there’s an option will fit the needs of your homeschool group, but sometimes, you’ll need to ask the venue to tailor a program or create something from scratch. Education departments, at museums or elsewhere, may be new to the idea of a homeschool group. They may need encouragement to go outside their usual form—for instance, grade levels. If a site has a menu of field trip offerings arranged by grade, you can ask them to expand that. So if a program is for 3rd and 4th grades, you can ask them to expand that to include 2nd and 5th grades. I have often talked a museum into welcoming all ages, from infants to teens or tailoring a program to meet our group’s needs. It’s worth asking. Follow these steps to set up a successful group field trip:

1 :: Choose your destination. Museums, factory tours, nature centers—the options are plentiful.

2 :: Make arrangements with the venue. Be wary of places that require an upfront deposit; aim for a location that allows you to pay in full about two weeks ahead of time. Gather information from the venue, including:

• the name and location (note whether it’s different from the venue’s street address);

• contact info for the venue, including your contact’s name, email, and phone;

• what forms of payment the venue accepts;

• a detailed description of field trip;

• cost per student and cost per adult—per person costs are much easier to work with than a group flat fee, which can get messy;

• recommended age range (and whether that age range is flexible or set in stone);

• any minimum or maximum numbers required for attendance;

• expected start and end time; stroller- and carrier- friendliness;

• date for final head count (if you can choose, I recommend two weeks before the field trip date);

• lunch or snack details;

• and parking information.

3 :: Share details with the group, and start collecting payments with a clear due date.

4 :: After your sign-up deadline, contact the venue with the final headcount and pay.

5 :: Final confirmation with venue should be one or two days before the field trip. Be sure you know how the venue will contact you if there they need to make an emergency change the day of the field trip.

CLASSES

Arranging a class is usually going to be more involved than a field trip. To put together a class, you’ll need to add these items to your to-do list, in addition to the field trip steps in the previous section:

1 :: Find and secure a teacher—be sure to get a teacher bio to add to the class description.

2 :: Find and secure a venue—a free venue is best, especially if your group is new.

3 :: Arrange for at least two parents to stay in the classroom with teacher and students.

4 :: If the class is a drop-off, be sure one of the parents staying for the class has all the phone numbers for parents or guardians who will not be sticking around.

CO-OPS

Co-ops (co-operatives) can be big or small. They can be casual or highly organized. A co-op, generally, refers to a set of classes/ activities led by parents who do not get paid. Every adult is expected to do something to participate, though everyone doesn’t necessarily have to teach. A group doesn’t have to have a co-op—and a co-op doesn’t have to be part of a group.

• Co-ops should be organized so that the workload is spread out and information is clear and easy to access:

• The schedule should reflect who is teaching what, plus any relevant details about the teacher and class.

• People should know their roles ahead of time—teacher, hall monitor, second adult in classroom, clean up crew, etc.

• Don’t forget behind-the-scenes jobs, like collecting money, posting the schedule, monitoring communications, etc.

• Finding a location may be challenging for this many people. Consider

• social halls (you’d need some sort of real or imaginary partitions between classes)

• church buildings or libraries—many have classrooms available for use or rent

• restaurants or supermarkets with community rooms

• parks (though you’ll need a bad weather plan in place)

There are two basic co-op models, and each has its pros and cons:

SMALL CO-OP AMONG FRIENDS (2 to 6-ish families)

• Location can change week to week or stay in one place

• Simple communication (email may be enough)

• Share the workload (take turns teaching, cleaning, providing a venue)

• Cost of supplies can be easily shared

• A strong sense of commitment to the other families will emerge

MEDIUM TO LARGE CO-OP (More than 20 kids) 

• Can grow to 100+ kids

• Lots of different skills and personality types

• Need an official central communication (email is not enough)

• Insurance may be necessary depending on your venue (more on this in a future column)

You’ll also need to decide whether teachers will get paid for the classes they teach, get reimbursed for supply costs, or simply volunteer their time. Co-ops most commonly don’t pay parent-teachers, but a benefit of a large co-op can be a pool of parents with a wide variety of teaching skills. 

TIP: Don't give surveys too much weight. Surveys seem like a good idea but they aren’t as helpful as you’d expect. If you ask homeschoolers what activities they want to do, they will want to do everything. Everything sounds wonderful, and they will tell you so enthusiastically (and mean it).

Based on that enthusiasm you arrange activities, and fewer than expected sign up. When the day of the activity arrives, only a portion of those who signed up will actually attend.

Do not take this personally. Expect it.

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MELISSA ROBB has seven years of experience homeschooling her now-12-year-old. Since 2010 she has held a variety of positions in her favorite homeschool group (which has blossomed to 320+ member families).

Sponsored Post: Learning and the Natural World with Oak Meadow

Through May 29, save 20% in the Oak Meadow bookstore and 10% on Oak Meadow enrollment. It's not always easy to find totally secular homeschool materials, and Oak Meadow's materials aren't just secular—they're also hands-on, engaging, and fun to use with your kids. 

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Spending time in nature can lead to some of the most enjoyable and profound learning experiences. Nature-based learning touches on and connects every academic discipline imaginable while enlivening the senses and invigorating the body. It encourages curiosity and inquiry, exploration and experimentation, while the mind catalogs, analyzes, and compares. Homeschoolers are in a unique position to take full advantage of the learning opportunities that present themselves right outside the door. Families who discover Oak Meadow homeschooling curriculum find curriculum materials that actively support and encourage a close connection with nature.

The lessons that nature has to teach us are never ending. Being immersed in the natural flow of plant and animal life cycles, weather patterns, seasons, and the intricate dance connecting everything helps us find our own balance in the flow of life.

It’s not surprising that children who play outside are healthier mentally, emotionally, and physically. Human beings have spent nearly the entirety of our existence outside. Our connection to the natural world is so profound that when we are deprived of it, it’s no surprise that we don’t fare well. More and more adults are recognizing the importance of outdoor play for children, and the value of unstructured nature-based explorations. In addition to this shift to include nature-based activity or “green exercise,” teachers and parents, environmentalists, and policy-makers have realized that outdoor play and nature-based learning leads children toward a sense of environmental stewardship. Simply put, connecting with nature means appreciating nature and wanting to take care of it.

Getting children back to nature is easy, fun, and beneficial in every way. And it seems

the simpler the outdoor play, the better. Letting children loose with nothing more than a stick and a pile of dirt is about the nicest thing we can do for them.

Getting Back to Nature, Plain and Simple

Simple is almost always better when children play outdoors. The most elaborate playground or climbing structure can pale in comparison to a stream in the woods. Going to the beach with a bucket and shovel (and sometimes not even that much!) can provide hours of absolute absorption in play for children of all ages. But what if you don’t have time or access to the forest or beach? No worries—just stepping out your back door can be the start of an outdoor adventure. A small crack in the sidewalk can be a fascinating study of the industry of an ant colony and the tenacity of a weed. You don’t need to be a scientific expert to point out insects, bees, spider webs, and dandelions, or to discuss the difference between a pine tree and an oak. Collecting acorns and pinecones can reveal all sorts of interesting shapes, smells, and textures, and lead to endless explorations.

Photo courtesy of Oak Meadow

Hands-on outdoor learning is inquiry-based and self-directed, and nurtures a child’s curiosity, creativity and sense of wonder. As long as children are provided with time for unstructured play in a natural setting, meaningful learning will take place. Sharing your love and enthusiasm for the outdoors is the best way to bring nature learning into the lives of your children.

If your child hasn’t spent much time outdoors, be prepared to start small. The crack in the sidewalk is always a good place to start. Collecting sticks and building a little teepee is another simple way to get a child who is timid outdoors to start getting his hands dirty. Collecting rocks, shells, nuts, or just about anything will appeal to most children, and it’s just a small step from there to building and decorating a tiny, magical fairy house or woodland dwelling.

Here a few more tips for bringing the outdoors into your day.

• Go outside early in the day (and often!)
• Eat snacks or meals outside
• Devote a section of your yard to dirt or sand play
• Plant a bean teepee large enough to play inside
• Make a living fort by trimming the bottom branches from bushes to make a crawl space
• Make a row or circle of stumps (burying them in the ground partway makes them more stable)
• Make a mud pit and enjoy the slippery, oozy possibilities
• Create sculptures from natural materials (with a little imagination, a cluster of rock towers can look like a wise council of elders)

Child-Led Discovery

Sometimes it is tempting to become a bit too involved in a child’s outdoor play. There is something irresistibly appealing about a sand pile or a fairy house. However, it is important to allow children the time and space to explore on their own. This self-directed, unstructured play often yields the richest rewards. So try to resist the urge to get your children interested in your idea. Let them make their own discoveries, and allow them to make their own mistakes. Just because they aren’t doing something in the most efficient manner doesn’t mean it’s not right. We all learn from experience, and faster is not always better.

Be playful and curious, be interested and excited, but above all, respect the rich inner life of the child’s play. There is something very peaceful about creating a nature scene or just exploring the natural environment. Don’t force conversation. Sometimes it isn’t necessary to talk about a creative experience. Connecting with nature can be a very personal experience, and one that builds intricate and complex ways of understanding the world. By attuning to your child’s attitude, you will probably be able to easily feel when it is right to just let her be.

While educators (homeschooling parents and professionals alike) are perpetually open to the teachable moment, unstructured outdoor play is often a good time to let the teachable moment pass without comment. Trust that the learning process is in full sail without your guidance. There will be another time to give suggestions, instructions, information and advice. For now, just enjoy the beauty of nature’s classroom.

This post is excerpted from The Heart of Learning, written by Lawrence Williams, Oak Meadow’s founder, president, and a pioneer in homeschooling and distance learning. Its timeless lessons have informed homeschooling families for four decades.

Topics in History: Investigating Watergate

The scandal that made the -gate suffix a political standby saw its last legal headlines more than 40 years ago, when former U.S. Attorney General, John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were each sentenced to 2.5 to 8 years in prison for conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Now’s the perfect time to dig into the historic cover-up that permanently altered our perception of politicians.

Read

All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein :: Developed from the series of articles Woodward and Bernstein wrote for the Washington Post during the Watergate years, All the President’s Men was published just a few months before Nixon’s resignation and was instrumental in turning public opinion against the president. 

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Watergate by Fred Emery :: Emery was the Washington bureau chief for the London Times during the Watergate scandal. In this exhaustive book, Emery gives a blow-by-blow account of the scandal, drawing mainly on the Nixon tapes. 

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The Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat by Max Holland :: Max Holland makes the case that Woodward and Bernstein’s source did not feed them information out of a sense of conscience but rather out of resentment that he had been passed over by Nixon for the top position at the FBI. 

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The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House by H.R. Haldeman :: H.R Haldeman was Nixon’s Chief of Staff and kept these detailed diaries between 1969 and 1973,when he was forced to resign amid Watergate controversy. 

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Watch

All the President’s Men (1976) :: Journalism has probably never looked as glamorous as it does in this film, based on the book of the same name, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein. 

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Frost/Nixon (2008) :: Nixon’s mannerisms and prickly personality have been parodied many times, but Frank Langella lends a humanity and pathos to the role of the shifty president. Based on the series of interviews David Frost conducted with an at times unsettlingly candid Nixon in 1977, Frost/Nixon reveals the paranoia which was to be so central to the Watergate scandal.  

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Listen

NixonTapes.org
Between 1971 and 1973, Nixon secretly recorded 3,700 hours of conversation in the White House. The tapes, which eventually helped lead to his resignation, give rare insight into the workings of power and Nixon’s complicated motives for covering up the scandal.

This post is excerpted from an article originally published in the winter 2015 issue of home/school/life. 

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Jeremy Harris writes about books, music, and travel. He grew up in new Zealand but feels at home in the States.

Sponsored Post: Adjusting to Homeschooling Mid-Year with Oak Meadow

Making the decision to switch gears and begin homeschooling partway through the school year takes courage and faith. Whatever you were doing before wasn’t working, and whatever you are beginning hasn’t had time to feel routine yet. Here are ten suggestions to ease the way, whether you’re homeschooling independently or enrolling in Oak Meadow’s distance-learning program:

1. Different philosophy; different approach. Students who have been in school have likely become accustomed to an institutional approach where work is prescribed to the class as a whole and the teacher’s attention is divided among many students. Shifting to a creative thinking approach can be challenging for a student who just spent last semester trying very hard to figure out how to succeed in an institutional setting. In contrast, Oak Meadow’s approach is flexible and creative, and homeschooling can often allow for one-on-one support between parent and child. Switching gears to this degree is quite an adjustment and might bring stress or frustration. Be understanding and acknowledge those differences as needed.

2. Commit to riding out the transition. There is a progression in learning as your child adjusts, but it may take a few weeks or more to be able to look back and clearly see the progression. Don’t expect to see results right away. Trust the process and really commit fully to seeing it through for six weeks or so before you assess whether it is working for your child. Learning really does take place, even if it might not feel that way in the moment, and a few weeks’ perspective can make all the difference in understanding.

3. Go easy on yourself and your child. You’ve just left behind an educational environment that wasn’t working for some reason, and now you’ve switched to an entirely different approach. During this adjustment phase, don’t get too caught up in whether every single item was done properly in each lesson. What’s the main concept or what are the key skills being addressed? What is most important for your child to grasp before moving on to the next lesson? Make that your focus, and give everyone points for effort as you navigate this new way of learning. Students beginning mid-year may need to go back to previous lessons if they aren’t understanding something in the current lesson.

4. Consider downshifting or deschooling. Your child might need to ease into the new model slowly, and some children, particularly those who experienced trauma in their previous school experience, will benefit from a period of “deschooling.” This can be like an extended vacation from school, with plenty of nourishing rest, time to daydream, healthy activities of the child’s choosing, and supported emotional processing. It can be very helpful for some students to have a buffer like this between leaving their old school and beginning homeschooling. Often they will let you know when they are ready to jump back in again.

5. Keep good boundaries with those in your life who resist the idea of homeschooling. Even well-meaning loved ones can undermine confidence by demanding evidence or reassurance that your new educational plan is “working.” It is fine to say things are going well without elaborating. Let your child know that you will be keeping his or her educational details private. This allows your child to relax and focus on learning without worrying about what the relatives or neighbors might be thinking.

6. Structure and support are key. Set up a solid daily and weekly routine as a starting point. You may need to adjust it many times, but begin with a strong plan. It is easy to get sidetracked, so do your best to stick to the plan. Set aside focused time each day for academic work. Find a good place to work with your child where you can both be comfortable. If you are feeling overwhelmed, consider consulting with one of Oak Meadow’s experienced teachers, enrolling in our distance-learning program, using a tutor, or asking an experienced friend for help.

7. Be resourceful and independent. Reach out to others. Make friends with your local librarian; it’s a great way to find out what resources are available and connect with other homeschooling families or groups in the area. Explore online resources. Oak Meadow’s social media offerings are a good place to start. Our Pinterest boards offer many inspiring hands-on ideas, and Facebook is a great place to connect with other homeschooling parents and find validation for this journey. There are many online groups for homeschooling parents. Seek support from like-minded people wherever you find it.

8. Go outside! Oak Meadow’s organic approach to learning encourages families to learn out in the world. This means spending plenty of time outside in nature and interacting with others in your local neighborhood or community. Fresh air and the soothing sights and sounds of nature are a good antidote for stress of any kind, including the positive stress of the important transition from school to homeschool. Schools tend to be very social places, and you will want to be mindful of how your child’s needs for social interaction are met while homeschooling. You might find this benefits you as well as your child.

9. Be patient. It takes a few weeks or more to settle in. It will be a little while before you get your bearings and find a good rhythm for your homeschooling days and weeks. Don’t panic! It’s okay if things aren’t perfect. There is a lot to be learned from trial and error. Have fun with the process!

10. Trust yourself. Remember that you are the expert on your own child. The decision to begin homeschooling was made in response to something your child or family needed enough to warrant such a significant change. Why did you choose homeschooling? Remind yourself of these reasons often. Continue to nurture your connection with your child, especially during this vulnerable time when he or she is weathering such a big transition. And remember to take good care of yourself as you adapt to your role as home teacher.

Oak Meadow’s winter sale is on now! From today through 2/28, save 20% on everything in the bookstore and 10% on new enrollment!

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This post is sponsored by Oak Meadow. Thanks for supporting the companies that support home/school/life. Amanda Witman is a lifelong learner and an enthusiastic homeschooling mother of four. She enjoys writing, playing fiddle, tending her garden, organizing community events, learning new things, having family adventures, and connecting with other homeschoolers. She manages social media at Oak Meadow.

Writing Your Next Chapter: Figuring Out Your Life After Homeschool

As homeschoolers, we spend a huge chunk of time preparing our kids to be independent, competent people setting off on their own adventures. But what happens to us when our homeschool days are behind us? With a little forethought and some strategic dreaming, we can plan a next chapter for ourselves as exciting as the one we’re busy preparing for our offspring. Here’s how.

IT SHOULDN'T COME AS a shock, but often, it does: After years of learning at home with our kids, they’re ready to head off on their own to their next adventure, and we’re left not totally sure what to do with ourselves now that this all-encompassing period of life is finished.

Homeschooling defines our kids’ educational experience, but it also defines us and our sense of who we are. We spend a lot of time thinking about our child’s educational and social development, but the truth is that homeschooling changes us as much as it changes our kids. When we sign off on that last high school transcript and see our child off to college or work or whatever next step he’s chosen for his life, we are not the same people we were when we first Googled “benefits of homeschooling.” 

“When we started homeschooling, I was this shy, anxious person with a degree in computer science,” says Laura*, whose son left for college in 2010 after a decade of homeschooling. “When we finished, I had started and organized three homeschool groups, ran a local homeschool blog, and discovered that I liked history a lot more than computer science.”

Laura, who went back to college for her M.A. at the same time her son started his sophomore year, now teaches history at a private school. “It’s my dream job, but I never would have known that if I hadn’t homeschooled,” she says. “I loved being a homeschool mom, but I love this new chapter of my life, too.”

Letting go of our lives as homeschool parents is a major transition, and it’s fine to mourn those halcyon days of readalouds and backyard science experiments. But the transition from homeschooling doesn’t have to mean losing yourself—in fact, as Laura and other graduated homeschool parents have discovered, your post-homeschool life can be about finding yourself again. 

“It’s my dream job, but I never would have known that if I hadn’t homeschooled.”

“For nearly two decades, homeschooling was all I thought about—all my goals were goals for my kids not for myself,” says Janet*, who sent the last of four always-homeschooled children off to college in 1999. 

Deci, who started yoga classes when her youngest was in high school, went on to become a trained yoga instructor and now teaches yoga at her own studio. “I thought my life was over when my youngest moved out, but it was really just another beginning.”

TO MAKE THIS TRANSITION as graceful and gradual as possible, start laying the groundwork for your future adventures now. These simple exercises will help you point a path toward your future, whether you’re in your first weeks of kindergarten or prepping college applications.

Give yourself room to explore. Jump in now to join your kids in constructing salt-dough maps of the world or learning how to crochet or studying astronomy. You’ll never have a more welcoming environment for your intellectual curiosity than your homeschool days, so don’t miss the opportunity to flex your own learning muscles now. The happiest and most successful second-lifers are the ones who are willing to invest in their own skills and education—something that homeschool parents may be uniquely positioned to do, says Pamela Mitchell, a reinvention coach. If you’re not sure where to start, try a little bit of everything, and keep a journal to write down your emotional reactions to your efforts. Over time, you’ll start to recognize patterns that identify your interests.

Don’t be afraid to think small. A lot of people hang onto the idea that transitions don’t count unless they are dramatic, but you don’t have to backpack across Asia or become a YouTube celebrity to have a satisfying post-homeschool life. Something as simple as a part-time job at your favorite bookstore or signing up for a watercolor class can be a great first step toward redefining yourself, says life coach Marc Astwell. “Imagining a whole new life can feel really intimidating, but a new life is just a series of small steps,” he says. Your great new adventure can look a lot like your homeschool life did—just shift the focus to yourself and your interests rather than keeping your energies focused on your kids.

Keep a dream board. Whether it’s a real-life cork board or a private Pinterest board, start a collection of images, quotes, ideas, and other inspiration for your life after homeschool. Maybe you’ll find your board filling up with books you want to read or home improvement projects you want to try; maybe you’ll accumulate novel writing tips or travel destinations. Don’t be persnickety about what goes on your board—if something inspires you, add it to the mix. Later, you may want to look for patterns and cull your board to reflect your plans, but for now, let your mind run wild. You may discover that your board changes over time—that’s perfectly fine. You can remove items if they no longer speak to your interests, but treat this board like a visual brain dump where lots of different possibilities can exist together.

Be a quitter. Many people hang onto volunteer positions long after our passion for a project has faded into a sense of obligations, but this is a sure-fire way to close yourself off to other opportunities, says Mitchell. This doesn’t mean you have to drop volunteer projects that make your kids’ lives better (like coordinating the weekly park day they love even though it’s not your favorite thing on your to-do list), but it does mean that you should start thinking about transition plans for letting go of these projects as your kids outgrow them. “It’s tough because sometimes there’s no one to pick up your slack,” says Laura*, who was sad to see one of the homeschool groups she founded fold when she stepped away from her leadership role. “But at some point you have to drop the rope—and the earlier you start laying the groundwork for that, the fewer stresses and hurt feelings you’ll have to deal with.” Mitchell recommends making a list of your volunteer commitments every fall and circling the ones that you absolutely love. “Look for ways to cut back the time you spend on the ones that don’t feed your soul,” she says. 

“Look for ways to cut back the time you spend on the things that don’t feed your soul.”

Look back. For many people, mid-life transformation isn’t as much about discovering a new passion as it is about rediscovering an old one. “Think about the things that you loved in childhood or adolescence, the ones that you put aside for a more practical career,” says Astwell. “For many people, those early passions are still the ones that make us come alive.” So if your garage is full of short stories you wrote before you decided to study accounting or you used to spend every spare minute in the woods behind yourself, a clue to your future passion may lie in your past. “I wanted to be an actress growing up, but I wasn’t a great actress, and my parents convinced me I’d be better off putting my acting skills to work in business,” says Gwen*, who homeschooled her two daughters for nine years. “When my youngest got involved in community theater in high school, so did I—and I still act and work behind the scenes for our local troupe all these years later.” 

Give yourself permission to fall apart—for a little while. However you prepare, the actuality of life after homeschooling can hit you hard. You've been extreme parenting for years, using every ounce of your time and energy in a specific direction. To have that pulled away from you, even for the happy reason that your child is now your adult, can be emotionally wrenching, says Jett Parriss, an Oakland, Calif., therapist. You may suddenly notice lots of things you’ve been too busy to pay attention to: health problems, work dissatisfaction, life imbalances. It can be scary and overwhelming, so let yourself be scared and overwhelmed for a short time. In the long run, falling apart and putting yourself back together will serve you better than pretending you’ve got it all under control.   

* We use first names only when we reprint articles on the website to protect the privacy of the people nice enough to share their stories with us. 

This is a portion of an article originally published in the winter 2016 issue of home/school/life.

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Some of Our Favorite Holiday Posts

’Tis the season to share some of our favorite holiday posts from years past, from tips to celebrate the winter solstice on short notice to ideas for a no-stuff holiday season. So whether you're looking for a last-minute gift to make with the kids (the chai tea mix mentioned here is a favorite of ours) or just in need of a quick unit study to round out the year, you'll want to check out these flashback posts.

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You may also enjoy . . .

Take a Peek at Our Fall Class Schedule!

Oh, my gosh, you guys, I am so excited about the fall classes we’re offering through home/school/life! I think about what these kinds of classes would have meant to me as a slightly-too-well-read teenager longing to connect with other people who shared my obsessions, and I feel so incredibly fortunate to be able to play a role in creating that kind of learning experience for homeschoolers. Our fall class lineup is full of nerdy goodness, from creating your own apocalypse to discovering the meaning of life to giving stink-eye to fairy tale conventions to making sense of Doctor Who’s ethics and more! Here’s your sneak peek at what’s coming this fall. (Classes start after Labor Day and continue through December 5, with a break for Thanksgiving.)

(A note: We describe these classes as “academically rigorous” because we do expect students to complete weekly reading and viewing assignments and to participate in class discussions. These are Socratic classes that run on student engagement and participation. They are definitely not traditional classroom classes nor should the workload be stressful or overwhelming.)

Online Class Spotlight: Wildcrafting

We’re so excited about our new online classes, and we thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek at what’s on the lineup for this summer. Today, Rebecca shares her plan for the Art of Wildcrafting—a really cool class that will let kids get hands on with identifying and using herbs.

What Is Your Class About?

Wildcrafting is the term used to describe the harvesting of wild plants for culinary or medicinal purposes. The main focus of this course is on identifying, harvesting and using herbs found in natural settings.

What Will Students Learn?

This class will be highly interactive with weekly opportunities to practice new skills through home-based projects. Students will be encouraged to share their results with the class. Together we will:

• explore the history of wildcrafting and the work of contemporary wildcrafters.
• discuss elementary botanical terms and concepts.
• use a plant identification book.
• consider sustainable methods used to harvest and process herbs. 
• practice storing herbs.
• cook with herbs.
• prepare herbal infusions and decoctions.
• consider plant conservation.

What Is Your Favorite Thing About Teaching This Class? 

Wildcrafting is such a fun and meaningful way to connect with the natural world. It’s exciting to discover that our humble backyard weeds actually have medicinal properties or taste great in soup! I love watching students’ excitement as their understanding of nature’s resources grows deeper. 

Why Did You Decide To Teach This Class? 

Summer is the perfect time to experience nature in important new ways. Wildcrafting gets us outdoors, slows us down and helps us to look more carefully at our surroundings. In doing so, young people gain an understanding of their place in the natural world and are more likely to become stewards of the environment. It’s a privilege to help introduce young people to the joy and rewards of wildcrafting. 

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Behind the New $20: What You Should Know about Harriet Tubman

It’s official: Harriet Tubman is taking Andrew Jackson’s place on the $20 bill, becoming the first woman to appear on U.S. paper money. Most of us have a general idea about Harriet Tubman’s life, but the specifics are worth digging into.

Harriet Tubman is one of the most important and interesting people to be involved in the American Civil War. Born in March of 1822, Tubman’s early life dominated by slavery. Her entire family—her mother, father, four brothers, three sisters, and grandmother—were all enslaved in the state of Maryland. She spent much of her youth listening to Bible stories told by her mother, which inspired a sort of religious duty in her that would last through the entirety of her life.

Tubman was frequently hired out by her owner, Edward Brodess. Tubman worked as a maid, tasked with looking after young children. She was sent into the nearby marshes to check muskrat traps. She was even given the jobs of driving oxen, hauling logs, and plowing fields. And that was all while she was still a child. Whenever she would fail at these jobs or even if something out of her control went wrong, she would receive a harsh whipping – something that the young girl wouldn’t take lying down. She’d often times fight back against her owner and the people he’d hired her out to. Of course, her willingness to fight for herself only earned her more trouble in the end.

One afternoon, while Tubman was still a young girl, she was sent out to a market to buy supplies for her owner. As she arrived, Tubman encountered a slave owned by a different family, who had left the fields without his owner’s permission. The slave’s overseer had tracked him down and demanded that Tubman assist him in restraining the slave. She refused, and as the slave began to run off, the Overseer threw a two-pound weight at the slave. He missed and hit Tubman instead. The weight hit Tubman square in the headand caused her a terrible head injury. While she survived and made a moderate recovery, she suffered form dizziness and headaches, and was prone to pass out on occasion. After the incident, Edward Brodess tried, unsuccessfully, to sell Tubman to another owner.

At the age of 22, in the year 1844, Tubman married a free African American named John Tubman. In Maryland at the time, it wasn’t all that uncommon for African families to be part free and part enslaved. Only five years later, Tubman became extremely ill, and once again Brodess tried to sell her—but died before he could find a buyer. While Tubman was saved from being immediately broken apart from her family, Brodess’ death made it all the more likely that the entire family would be sold, and sure enough, Edward’s widow, Eliza Brodess, began trying to sell the family’s slaves. As Tubman recovered, she made a bold decision. Against her husband’s advice, Tubman, along with her brothers Ben and Henry, escaped from slavery in the September of 1849. However, just weeks after they escaped, both Ben and Henry decided to return to the Brodess farm, and Tubman went along with them.

Tubman didn’t remain on the farm for long. Within weeks she made her escape yet again. This time, she used the network known as the “Underground Railroad” to help in her escape. Moving from safehouse to safehouse, Tubman was helped by dozens of families as she pushed further north—always traveling under the cover of night, and in fear of slave catchers. It didn’t take long for her to cross into Pennsylvania, where Tubman was essentially a free woman.

Her destination was Philadelphia, which she arrived at shortly after crossing the state line. She didn’t stay long, however, as her mind wandered to thoughts of her family. Determined not to be the only one of her kin to be free, she worked odd jobs, saving up money until, in 1850, Tubman worked her way back along the railroad with a goal in mind. She had been informed that her niece Kessiah and her two children were going to be sold in Cambridge. Tubman made her way down to Baltimore where she met up with her niece, her niece’s husband, and their children. From there, Tubman led the way back to Philadelphia—and this wouldn’t be the last time she helped slaves escape. 

Over the next few years, Tubman worked her way down into Maryland and then back up into Pennsylvania many, many times. Each trip she’d come back with more slaves eager to cross the border into the free state. 

“Over the next few years, Tubman worked her way down into Maryland and then back up into Pennsylvania many, many times. Each trip she’d come back with more slaves eager to cross the border into the free state. ”

In 1858, Tubman met John Brown, a northern abolitionist who believed that violence was the best way to end slavery in America. Brown and Tubman were both extremely religious people, and Tubman claimed to have had a prophetic vision of their meeting beforehand. John took quite well to Tubman, and the two began planning what would become John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. The two recruited freed slaves, discussed plans for the assault, and imagined what would come after the raid. However when it came time for the raid to commence, Tubman couldn’t be contacted, most likely because she was ill with a fever. John Brown’s raid failed, and after a massive standoff with the U.S. Marine Corp and members of Virginia’s militia, Brown was apprehended and executed for treason.

Not long after that, the U.S. Civil War broke out in 1861. Tubman recognized that a Union victory would be a massive step towards abolition and set about looking for ways to help the North. Tubman served as a nurse in Port Royal, South Carolina, and ended up meeting Union General David Hunter, who shared her abolitionist views. (Even before the Emancipation Proclamation was declared, Hunter was personally going around trying to find freed slaves to form black regiments in his army.) When emancipation was declared law in 1853, Tubman took a more active role in the war, becoming a scout in the Union army. The swamps and rivers of South Carolina were similar to the marshes of Virgina, and Tubman was able to use her keen insight in the terrain to assist the Union in planning out its movements. Later that year, Tubman became the first woman to lead an armed assault during the Civil War. When Colonel James Montgomery and his troopers began conducting raids on a group of plantations along the Combahee River, Tubman served as an adviser and accompanied the troopers in the assault. Tubman led three steamboats through Confederate waters up along the river and disembarked with the troops, who then set fire to the plantations and stole thousands of dollars in food and supplies. As the commotion was going on, hundreds of slaves from the plantations began rushing out into the open towards the steamboats, where they were brought aboard. More than seven hundred and fifty slaves were rescued in that raid on the plantations. Newspapers called Tubman a hero, and for the next two years she’d continue to work with Union forces as a scout and nurse, and she helped recently liberated slaves acclimate to their life in freedom. Despite all her service, Tubman didn’t receive compensation from the Government until 1899–mostly due to the strange and oftentimes unofficial nature in which she operated within the Union army. 

After the war, Tubman settled down with her family in Auburn, Alabama. She worked many odd jobs to make ends meet and regularly took in borders for extra money. One border she took in was another veteran of the civil war named Nelson Davis. He was in Auburn to stay, and although he was twenty-two years younger than Tubman, the two quickly fell in love. On March 18, 1869, Tubman and Nelson married, and in 1874, they adopted a baby girl named Gertie. From that point on, Tubman’s life was mostly calm and quiet. She had lived a long, full life and was content to live out the rest of her years with her loving family, with freedom that they had won with their very own hands.

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Recommended Reading

In Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony Inspired by Historical Facts, Nikki Grimes imagines two of the best-known women in U.S. history sharing their stories with each other. It’s an ambitious project, but it works—and the storytelling brings both women to life for elementary students. 

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Also a good readaloud, Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman focuses on Tubman’s early life, illuminating both her strength of will and her yearning for freedom.

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For middle grade readers, Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free Blacks Spied for the Union during the Civil War reads like an adventure novel, full of secret codes and bold escapades—all of which are solidly grounded in well-researched historical facts.

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Harriet Tubman: The Road To Freedom by Catherine Clinton makes a great read for teens. Clinton helps contextualize Tubman’s life so that she’s a real, complicated human being rather than a mythic figure.

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For a primary source record of the Underground Railroad, pick up William Still’s The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts. Still, himself the son of slaves, recorded the stories of Underground Railroad escapees, and this account is definitely an example of truth being as exciting as fiction. (One of the escapees actually turns out to be Still’s brother.)

Kane Taylor is a homeschool graduate and an avid history buff.

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Related Posts

Sponsored Post: 10 Reasons Why Oak Meadow May Be the Perfect Fit for You

How can you tell if Oak Meadow will be a good fit for your family? Choosing a homeschool curriculum or a distance learning school may feel like a very big decision. There are many options available, and it can feel challenging to sort through to find the best fit. 

What are you looking for in a home learning program? Would Oak Meadow be a good match for your family? See if any of the following points resonate with you.

1. Being actively involved in your child’s learning feels right to you. You appreciate your child as an individual and enjoy spending time with them. You value the deep connection between you and your child, and you trust that because you are a loving parent, you are naturally well suited to be your child’s home teacher.

An Oak Meadow education means that you, the parent, are your child’s primary teacher. As an Oak Meadow parent, you remain closely involved in every step of your child’s learning. When they need help conquering a challenge, you are right there to help them in way that honors their unique personality. Your loving connection to your child qualifies you as the best expert on their needs.

2. Your child is keen to engage in creative, hands-on learning - and you like it, too. Learning by doing comes naturally to them, and you enjoy supporting their curiosity and efforts. 

Oak Meadow encourages students to learn experientially through real-world experiences. Take math skills out into the garden for a carpentry project, visit local historic sites, or go hiking with a sketchbook in hand. The small scale of home learning allows for one-on-one assistance with a wide range of projects. Experiments and creations can be spread out and returned to over and over. Depending on your child’s needs, you can be closely involved, or step back and allow their creativity to bloom with support as needed. The world is your classroom!

3. Your mind is open to a range of effective ways to approach education. You are eager to figure out how to help your child thrive, even if the solution is unconventional.

Perhaps traditional school hasn’t worked out as well as you had hoped, or maybe you just have an intuitive sense that it won’t be a good fit for your unconventional learner. Homeschooling and distance learning can be very helpful options for students who learn outside of the box, and Oak Meadow is easily adaptable for learning differences.

4. You believe nature should be a central theme in children’s learning. The natural world provides a multitude of catalysts for learning and growing, and it also provides a healthy environment for playing and living. 

Oak Meadow’s curriculum encourages students to keenly observe and develop a relationship with the natural world. Frequent outdoor play and exploration are encouraged and valued. The relationship between nature and the student is so important that it is a key theme throughout Oak Meadow’s curriculum.

5. You appreciate having the flexibility to adapt lessons to your child’s unique learning needs and interests. If something isn’t working for you or your child, you will modify it. You use curriculum as a starting point, then let your child’s passions guide your choices within and beyond the given material.

We know that every child is unique, and that’s why Oak Meadow’s curriculum is full of various possibilities for all kinds of learners. It’s up to you (and your child’s teacher, if you enroll in distance learning) to pick and choose from the options presented in the lessons. You might need to try different things to figure out what works, but in time, you and your child will both have a better understanding of how they learn best.

6. You believe that learning is a lifestyle that best involves the whole family. You recognize that the needs of all family members are interwoven, and you choose to create a home life that supports healthy learning and growth for everyone in the family.

Students who learn at home have the benefit of a holistic lifestyle where living and learning are totally intertwined. Siblings learn with and from each other, and the bond between family members of all ages is developed and strengthened. 

7. You feel that education should address the whole child, not just academic growth. You honor the importance of your child’s passions, talents, strengths, weaknesses, and insecurities and honor the role those things play in your child’s learning.

Many educational programs focus on academics without acknowledging the many other important facets of a child’s being. Oak Meadow’s philosophy is all about nurturing learning in a comprehensive way, weaving together the many different kinds of growth and development in a balanced, holistic approach. 

8. You have a good sense of when to ask for support, either through enrollment or through our homeschooling support service. You are willing and able to reach out to others in your community and beyond to widen your child's learning support system and make use of helpful resources. 

You know that nobody has all the answers. You trust that you’ll learn what you need to know along the way. The most successful Oak Meadow families are proactive and persistent in reaching out to those who can help them out in various ways on their homeschooling journey. 

9. You appreciate the idea of a secular (non-religious) academic curriculum. If your family opts for religious education, you supplement with faith-based religious curriculum or design your own course of religious instruction that honors your family’s beliefs.

Oak Meadow is one of few providers of complete secular homeschooling curriculum. Many families come to us because they are looking for an alternative to the many faith-based programs that are available. Some families choose to supplement our materials with faith-based lessons in order to incorporate spiritual education into their homeschooling experience. Oak Meadow supports the freedom of parents to choose the best way to support their child’s religious and spiritual education.

10. Whether you are looking for a comprehensive homeschooling curriculum or an accredited distance learning school, you value the wisdom Oak Meadow offers from over 40 years of experience in supporting home learners. 

Oak Meadow’s founder, Lawrence Williams, began with a thoughtful vision for home education that remains an inspiration to all of us at Oak Meadow. Our teachers and counselors are carefully chosen to support Oak Meadow’s philosophy. Many of us have used Oak Meadow materials and services with our own children. We hold ourselves to the same standards we would demand for our own families. Through the years, our program has gone through countless revisions to provide families with the best possible homeschooling and distance learning experiences, and we continue to revise and update our materials on an ongoing basis.

Is Oak Meadow a good fit for your family’s needs? Hopefully you’ve already begun to gain some insights into the possibility. Our website offers comprehensive information about our company, our philosophy, our homeschooling curriculum, and our distance learning program. The educational counselors in our office are available online or by phone at 802-251-7250 to answer your questions. Contact us and let us help you find your family’s unique path to organic learning!

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This is a sponsored post submitted and created by Oak Meadow. We only accept sponsored posts from secular homeschool resources that we believe to be a good fit for our readers, usually based on our own positive experiences with the company in question. Thanks for supporting the companies that support home/school/life.

Joy Should Be a Priority in Our Homeschool Lives

I’m so happy to introduce you to Cate Olson, the newest blogger to join the home | school | life team. Cate will be writing about her experiences homeschooling her four kids, the oldest of whom is now in high school and the youngest of whom is 6. I bet you’re going to love getting to know her as much as I have!

If you happen upon these words after the sort of day in which each and every last excruciating diphthong and consonant blend had to be coaxed out of your emerging reader or the sort of day in which your young teen spent the better part of his day dawdling through an impossibly short lesson on multiplying exponents, demanding unnecessary hand-holding, I have something radical to say: 

Homeschooling is not supposed to be like this.

Please, indulge me a moment. Think back to when you first made the decision to homeschool. Remind yourself of how you might have naïvely imagined every day spent under the warm sun, plopped on a picnic blanket atop lush green grass with attentive, well-groomed children itching to read the works of Aristotle by age five and with a functioning understanding of trigonometry by grade six.

Well, okay, homeschooling isn’t supposed to be exactly like that either, but behind our wide-eyed, simple daydreams were two kernels of truth: First, we understood that the learning process itself could— and should!— be extraordinary, and, second, we wanted to experience those almost transcendent moments of comprehension and understanding alongside our children. We guessed what we now know to be true, that learning something new is an astonishing feeling, and practically the only other feeling that comes close to beating it is being the curator of that moment for your child.

Now, of course we are going to have bad days, even no good, very bad days where we have online enrollment forms filled out for local schools and we are one mere whine, catastrophe or dropped pencil away from clicking submit. Being imperfect beings, these days are inevitable, but in my experience, they happen with diminished frequency when we focus less on the nuts-and-bolts of how we homeschool and give ourselves more freedom to daydream boldly and recapture whatever it was that initially inspired us to homeschool.

“We guessed what we now know to be true, that learning something new is an astonishing feeling, and practically the only other feeling that comes close to beating it is being the curator of that moment for your child.”

Example. The sun is out and the temperature is above fifty. You live in the Midwest where, if you are lucky, you might string together two spring-like days in a row before the next blizzard rolls in. It’s late morning and you’ve spent the past thirty minutes (has it really been only thirty minutes!?) on the cusp of a mental breakdown while your child continues to struggle to sound out the word d-o-g for the eight hundred and seventy-fifth time of the day, a word she read fluidly just yesterday, and you have already started wondering if lunchtime is too early to crack open the Merlot that you were saving for cocktail hour.

This is the moment where you need to harken back to your doe-eyed homeschooling daydreams and just quit for the day already. Do you see the sun out your grimy, fingerprint-covered windows? Do you hear those birds chirping over the din of the dog barking? The best cure for a bad day at the homeschool table is to put away the workbooks. Go for a hike.  Dig in the garden for some worms. Go build a snowman, or even make some tea and read a book to yourself while your children tie pillows to their stomachs and pretend to be sumo wrestlers. 

The curriculum will be there tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, and one day soon— and this is a promise— your child will have the breakthrough that you were earlier trying to force. 

Anecdotal evidence: One of my daughters was struggling to learn long division. Divide, multiply, subtract, and bring down; she could recite the process in her sleep, but she just couldn’t remember what to divide, multiply, subtract, or bring down. We let math go for a day or so, or we worked on multiplication fact worksheets when we did do math. As she seemed receptive, we practiced a long division problem together here and there.  She can do long division now with the best of them, and all this was achieved with no tears or fighting, and, most importantly, she does not hate long division.

I think that the farther away we get from our homeschool daydreams of yesteryear the easier it is to forget that learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Children don’t learn math because they finish the math text; they learn math because they understood the concepts the math text taught, and it’s up to us to be able to discern the difference therein. 

“The curriculum will be there tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, and one day soon— and this is a promise— your child will have the breakthrough that you were earlier trying to force. ”

Confession: Of course I do not always remember to take my own advice. Just last week I locked horns with my six-year-old over a phonics lesson that, in all likelihood, was reinforcing a concept she had already mastered. I persevered. There were raised voices, a thrown pencil, and no thoughts on my part of doing anything other than winning the battle of wills in that moment. 

Yes, I ultimately “won,” but what was gained in that episode with my six-year-old? Certainly she did not gain an increased understanding of words starting with “th” and “sh,” but she did learn that maybe she didn’t much want to see her phonics workbook for another few days.

It is precisely in these darker homeschool moments where I think we need to allow ourselves more daydreams about backyard hammocks and lazy grammar lessons going hand-in-hand. We need more stargazing and less navel gazing. We must remind ourselves that homeschooling is a way of life, and not just something we do for a few hours every day. In short, it is essential to rediscover the joy and the beauty of learning that brought our kids home in the first place. Once the joy of learning is rightly realigned at the top of our homeschool priority list, abundant, deep, and real learning will—nay, must—necessarily follow. 

I’d love to hear about it. If you’d like to reach me, I’ll be cuddled up in bed with a messy-haired, dirty-kneed, disheveled kid who is, inevitably, teaching me as they learn.

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Online Class Spotlight: Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance

We’re so excited about our new online classes, and we thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek at what’s on the lineup for this summer. Today, Jeremy explains how he plans to explore the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. (Registration is open now!)

What is your class about?

This class will introduce students to some of the major poets of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langtston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Jean Toomer. We will read and discuss a selection of these poets' work with an awareness of the complex racial and socio-cultural currents that informed the movement of which they were a part. 

What will students learn?

I hope students will leave this class with an appreciation for the complexity of the Harlem Renaissance as a cultural movement. But this is a poetry class and students will also learn how to read and discuss poetry with an awareness of tone, meter, meaning, and ambiguity.  

What is your favorite thing about teaching this class?

What's so exciting to me about the Harlem Renaissance is that it encompassed so much. It wasn't just a literary movement – those associated with the movement included musicians, dancers, playwrights, political activists, and sociologists. Though we're going to focus primarily on the poetry, I hope to encourage students to explore the other rich traditions of the Harlem Renaissance on their own. 

Why did you decide to teach the class?

We're living through a cultural moment in which African-American culture is flourishing on television, in the movies, and in music, and yet, as the 2016 Oscars showed, questions of race, culture, and the place of African-American culture within the American mainstream still cause frenzied debate and hand-wringing in this country. What interests me about the writers of the Harlem Renaissance is that they were asking the questions we are still asking almost a century later and their answers are often surprising and thought-provoking.  

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Online Class Spotlight: A Study in Sherlock

We’re so excited about our new online classes, and we thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek at what’s on the lineup for this summer. Today, Amy’s sharing the details about her high school Sherlock Holmes critical theory course: A Study in Sherlock.

What is your class about?

Over the five sessions in this class, we’ll be exploring four different imaginings of a single Sherlock Holmes narrative, beginning with the original short story “A Scandal in Bohemia” and moving on to more and less traditional adaptations of the mystery, considering similarities, differences, and questions generated by the different texts. We’ll finish by reading a critical essay about the text together.

What will students learn?

By the time this class is over, students will be annoyingly good at critically consuming media and discussing it intelligently. We’ll touch on some big picture critical perspectives, including feminism, post-colonialism, structuralism, and psychoanalysis, to give specific vocabulary to our conversations.

What is your favorite thing about teaching this class?

Geeking out over Sherlock Holmes with other people who are excited to geek out over Sherlock Holmes? That’s totally how I want to spend my summer vacation.

Who would you recommend this class for?

This is a great literature class for teens who are ready to make the leap into real critical theory.

Why did you decide to teach this class?

When I was in high school, I loved books but I found my English classes kind of frustrating. It always seemed like you were supposed to be following a specific map, stopping at specific landmarks, and arriving at a fixed destination. Books just seemed more fluid than that to me—so I was thrilled in college to discover critical theory, which is all about exploring texts from lots of different angles. (And often—gasp!—treating things like television shows or art installations as texts, too.) I thought digging into one particular story and looking at how it’s been explored across different time periods and media would make a great, meaty introduction to critical theory—and since I find the Sherlock Holmes narratives pretty irresistible and totally fangirl over the BBC’s transposed-to-modern-London adaptation, choosing Holmes as the focus of the class seemed, well, elementary.

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Topics in History: The Amazing Political Life of Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg—or, as some refer to him, Otto Von Bismarck—boasts a name that echoes in the annals of history. A man who was by all means larger than life and who single-handedly influenced and shaped the way Europe would develop even after his death, Otto was born in Schönhausen, Prussia, on April 1st 1815. Otto wouldn’t truly truly enter the spotlight until he was in his 30s, but what he accomplished between that time and his death in 1898 would forever change the European landscape.

During his life, Bismarck took on many titles and jobs. From simple foot soldier in the Prussian army, to Major-General of the same army, to lawyer, to diplomat, to elected representative, to Minister of Foreign affairs, to Chancellor of the North German Confederation. The skills he picked up in each position he worked would carry on to the next. He was a practical man and a charismatic one, too. He knew how to play the political game and would waste no time or expense in the effort to accomplish what he wanted. And what he ultimately wanted was a united Germany.

“There is, in political geography, no Germany proper to speak of. There are Kingdoms and Grand Duchies, and Duchies and Principalities, inhabited by Germans, and each separately ruled by an independent sovereign with all the machinery of State. Yet there is a natural undercurrent tending to a national feeling and toward a union of the Germans into one great nation, ruled by one common head as a national unit.”

— The New York Times, July 1, 1866.

Bismarck had a vision. At the time, Germany was split into dozens of minor states, all loosely connected by confederations and treaties. The Holy Roman Empire, which had made up most of Central Europe, had been dismantled in 1806. And the landscape of Europe was one filled with complicated boundaries, confusing borders, and a population of people who considered themselves German but had no true nation to call their own. In the west sat France, home of the French. And in the east sat Russia, land of the Russians. Bismarck saw this as a sad disparity, and in the end, made it his life goal to oversee the formation of a German homeland.

How he would go about accomplishing this was the work of a genius. Otto von Bismarck was a sly negotiator, a charismatic man who had a knack for building alliances and relationships with his contemporaries. And at the same time, he was a cold-hearted general, a man who, when placed in charge of an army, would almost always see victory, no matter the odds. With a silver tongue, he convinced the varied German duchies and kingdoms to concede to Prussian rule. And when they wouldn't peacefully bend the knee, the might of the Prussian military, a force to be reckoned with, would descend upon the holdout, easily knocking aside whatever military the minor nation states could field.

Bismarck would oversee the Second Schleswig war in 1864, in which Prussians and Austrians marched together against Denmark in an effort to keep the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg in German-speaking hands. Two years later, the two former allies would be at each other's throats as the Austro-Prussian War broke out over disputes over who should properly administrate the land that has just been jointly conquered. What followed was a conflict that affected almost all of central Europe, with Italy and the Principality of Romania even throwing their hats into the ring on Prussia's side. While Austria had for a long time exerted its influence over Central Europe, Prussia was ready to usurp the Austrian throne as the central European power. The armies were essentially matched in size, but as the Italians entered the war, things tipped amazingly in Prussia's favor. The Austrian Empire faced a brutal defeat at the hands of their northern neighbors, and Otto von Bismarck used this moment to reinforce the bond that many of the northern German states had developed over the course of the measly two-month war. As part of the peace accords, the loose federation of states that had joined Prussia in the conflict were dismantled, and in their place arose the North German Confederation.

For the first time in history, the German people at large had a place to call home. The Austrian Empire in the south had a distinct cultural identity, and was by and large a multicultural nation that didn't adhere to any one culture, religion, or language. But now with the formation of the North German Confederation, the idea of a true German nation seemed to be a reality. But before anyone could rejoice, the new country would have its trial by fire.

For years, France had made no secret of its distrust of the Germans—and the sudden rise of a unified power in central Europe rightfully turned quite a few heads. Suddenly, the French empire found itself living next-door not just a collection of minor states but to a powerful, unified kingdom. Tensions quickly escalated between the new Confederation and the French empire, but this was the perfect time for Bismarck to put his diplomatic abilities to work. Bismarck realized that adversity was something that could bring people together, and if he truly wanted the Germany nation to last, he'd have to show the Germans, who were still adjusting to unified rule, that they could not only work together to beat an intimidating foe but that they could come out of the fight stronger than when they entered it.

In 1870, the German prince Leopold of house Hohenzollern was offered the Spanish throne. (The nation had become kingless in 1868 during a revolution.) France, not wanting the Germans of the upstart state to gain any more influence, attempted to pressure Leopold into not accepting the offer. While Leopold agreed not to assume the Spanish throne, that concession wasnot enough for the French. So on the early morning of July 13, 1870, when the Prussian King William the First was walking through the Kurpark in the town of Ems, hr was stopped by the French ambassador to Prussia, Vincent Benedetti. The two had a rather casual, polite meeting in which Benedetti presented a French demand that the King prohibit any Hohenzollern prince from attempting to ascend to the Spanish throne. The king declined in a kind manner, and the two men carried on their separate ways.

“Bismarck asked the king if he would be allowed to publish an account of the events and was given permission. What followed next was Bismarck’s slyest maneuver yet.”

After the meeting, Heinrich Abeken, King William's secretary, wrote an account of the meeting which was then passed on to Otto von Bismarck in Berlin. Bismarck asked the king if he would be allowed to publish an account of the events and was given permission. What followed next was Bismarck's slyest maneuver yet.

Bismarck carefully edited the Ems account, changing the language used by both men and generally bending the events oh-so-carefully to ignite further conflict between the two nations. The new, edited account was published as the Ems Dispatch and succeeded in outraging both French and Germans as they read about the diplomatic faux pas that had occurred.  

"After the news of the renunciation of the Prince von Hohenzollern had been communicated to the Imperial French government by the Royal Spanish government, the French Ambassador in Ems made a further demand on His Majesty the King that he should authorize him to telegraph to Paris that His Majesty the King undertook for all time never again to give his assent should the Hohenzollerns once more take up their candidature.

His Majesty the King thereupon refused to receive the Ambassador again and had the latter informed by the Adjutant of the day that His Majesty had no further communication to make to the Ambassador."
-The Ems Dispatch as published by Otto von Bismarck

The French interpreted the dispatch as the Prussian King outright disrespecting the ambassador, being short and generally unprofessional with him. As for the Germans, they were enraged that the French should make any sort of demand at all. Who exactly did they think they were, coming up to the Prussian king in such a way and making such brazen demands?

The utter confusion and distrust led to a mobilization of the French army. Such supposed disrespect could only be apologized for with blood, and the Franco-Prussian war broke out—and the remaining minor German states rushed to the aid of the Northern Confederation, just as Bismarck had planned.

In the end, France was defeated by the unified German states, and the French Empire fell, to be replaced by the Third French Republic. The victorious Northern Confederation gladly snatched up the land of Alsace-Lorraine, strengthening its borders against France. The war had only lasted nine months, but it had the desired effect: A sort of camaraderie had been born in the German lands, and Bismarck acted quickly as the war came to a close, hoping to ensure German unification. All that remained was to integration the southern German states which had so gladly answered the call to war against the French, and it didn't take much to bring them into the fold in the post-victory afterglow. Wilhelm the First of Prussia was crowned Kaiser (German for emperor) of Germany on January 18, 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors in the Chateau of Vesailles. In just over eight years, Bismarck had seemingly transformed the scattered German landscape into a single state, a powerhouse in Central Europe that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the numerous great powers that surrounded it.

Alas, things would not remain that way for long. Bismarck spent the rest of his career cultivating a careful political balance in Europe, forging bonds with Austria, Italy, Russia, and Britain, and even mending wounds with France. With Germany unified, he wanted to see a time of peace for his people, but in 1888, Wilhelm of Germany died, ceding the throne to his son Friedrich III. Friedrich was suffering from incurable throat cancer and died after only holding the throne for 99 days. Wilhelm II then ascended to the throne, and this would mark the beginning of the end for the still-budding German Kaiserreich. Bismarck was 16 years older than Friedrich, and the aging statesman never thought he'd live to see Wilhelm the II take the throne. As such, he hadn't developed much of a plan when it came to dealing with the young Emperor, and as it turns out, the Emperor wasn't very interested in dealing with Otto either. He saw Bismarck's careful balance of power to be pointless and cared little for maintaining good relations with his European neighbors. The two men butted heads on more than one occasion, and in 1890, at nearly 75 years of age, Bismarck resigned from his position of chancellor at the request of Wilhelm II.

“One of the last things he told the Kaiser was this; “One day, the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.”

Thus ended Bismarck's grand career as the great unifier of Germany. He would die just eight years later, in 1898, 16years before the outbreak of World War I. Already though, he could see the deterioration of his work as Kaiser Wilhelm II dismantled the carefully woven diplomatic ties he had formed in the later years of his life. In December of 1897, Bismarck met with Wilhelm II for the last time. One of the last things he told the Kaiser was this; "One day, the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.”

If only Bismarck knew just how right he was.

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Recommended Reading

Bismarck: A Life

By Jonathan Steinberg

Great Leaders, Great Tyrants?: Contemporary Views of World Rulers Who Made History

Bismarck: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg
A larger-than-life biography of a larger-than-life man, this history of Iron Chancellor is deeply researched, hard-core history and incredibly readable—not an easy combination to pull off.

Great Leaders, Great Tyrants?: Contemporary Views of World Rulers Who Made History by Arnold Blumberg
One of the first chapters in this thoughtful history resource takes a thorough look at Bismarck’s political achievements. (This is a nice title for your history bookshelf: Among the other 51 leaders profiled are Napoleon I, Akhenaton, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Oliver Cromwell.)

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KANE TAYLOR is home/school/life's Tech Talk columnist and an avid history buff.

Beast Academy: A Fun Math Curriculum for Kids Who Like Math

Math has never been my thing. In school I went to ridiculous lengths to avoid the subject and since then my attitude hasn’t much improved. Six years ago, when I began homeschooling my oldest son, I vowed he would never feel that same dread for any subject that he studied—especially math! 

From the start I was stunned by my little boy’s enthusiasm and desire to go deeper into the world of numbers, tables, formulas, and graphs. Finding a math curriculum to satisfy his curiosity was difficult. Frankly, the first few years were a disaster, and, despite my best intentions, my son began to share my dread of math. Thankfully, I discovered Beast Academy—a curriculum that could both excite and satiate my math-loving son.

The moment we opened up the new math books we knew that we’d stumbled onto something special. Full of colorful comic book-style pages, the Beast Academy Guides tell the story of four lovable “beasts”—Lizzie, Alex, Grogg, and Winnie. Loaded with appealing kid-humor, the Guides follow the four young beasts as they attend math classes and attempt to solve challenging equations, puzzles, and games.

Replacing the textbooks found in most traditional math curriculums, the soft-cover Guides are divided into three long chapters, with each chapter further divided into shorter sections. The Guides rely on lots of visual representation to explore concepts and to inspire analytical thinking.

Corresponding black-and-white Practice books accompany the Guides. Though not nearly as colorful as the Guides, the beasts make plenty of appearances here as well, and the text is pleasing and easy to follow. These Practice books contain more than one hundred problems to solve. Each page presents questions ranging from easier to double-starred and triple-starred problems requiring multiple steps.

My son enjoyed the fact that each practice page contained far fewer problems than he was accustomed to in his old math workbooks.  Rather than repetitive drills, Beast Academy provides fewer but more complex problems requiring the application of the newly acquired skills. “Mathy” kids are likely to view these exercises as games and will find them far more rewarding than repetitive drills.

Beast Academy’s curriculum does not come with a teacher’s guide, but I was (very) relieved to find that both the Guide and the Practice books provide some support for parents. At the front of each Practice book appears a recommended sequence briefly explaining how to use the Guides and the Practice books intermittently. The Practice books include an answer key at the back of the book and I won’t lie—I refer to it constantly!  Hints are also provided at the back of Practice books to help get kids started on the trickier starred and double-starred challenge problems.

“‘I have more tools now, mom,’ he told me the other day. ‘I have more ways to think about numbers and more ways to solve problems.’”

Beast Academy’s materials are eye-catching and fun, but this is also an accelerated, ambitious math program. Among the things my son has appreciated most about this curriculum is that he is learning to approach math in new ways.  “I have more tools now, mom,” he told me the other day.  “I have more ways to think about numbers and more ways to solve problems.”

Subject matter is covered earlier here than in other math programs. While working through a different curriculum, my son was using a program several years ahead of his actual grade level and was quite bored. When it came time to take the free assessment test provided on Beast Academy’s website, he came out at grade level. Although he did wind up reviewing skills he’d already acquired, we were both pleased to see all of the new ways that he learned to approach these familiar concepts.

Beast Academy is a comprehensive program and does not require any supplementation. The company accurately states that “Beast Academy is loosely based on the Common Core standards. However, it covers the key grade-level standards but in greater depth and with more opportunities for problem-solving and logical thinking than other curricula.” 

Beast Academy is for enthusiastic math students. It is for children who are sailing through traditional math courses and yearn to go deeper. It will reengage students who have grown frustrated and bored with repetitive drills.

Aside from being familiar with the concepts being studied, very little preparation is required from parents. Just be aware that the problems on the bottom of the workbook pages are far more complex than those at the beginning. I find that sitting beside my son helps him to stay focused and to maintain patience as the problems grow more difficult.

If I had one suggestion for Beast Academy’s publishers, it would be to develop a teacher’s guide.  I am fortunate in that my oldest son prefers working independently on math and, for the most part, is able to do so. If my son needed more help from me, a teacher’s guide would be very handy and almost essential as the teaching methods used by Beast Academy are so different than those most of us grew up with.

A fairly new curriculum, Beast Academy is not yet completed. Eventually the program will cover grades 2 to 5 with four guides and four practice books per level. For now grades three and four are available and a portion of the fifth grade set is completed as well. The rest of the fifth grade books should be available by the winter of 2016/17 and the full curriculum will be available by fall of 2018.  A complete year-long curriculum containing four guide books and four practice books sells for $108. Each book can be purchased separately as well.

I highly recommend the Beast Academy program for children with a fondness for math and the antics of funny furry beasts. I can tell you from personal experience that even the most math-phobic parents among us will find much to enjoy in this unique resource.

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Topics in History: The Russo-Japanese War

by Kane Taylor

The Russo-Japanese war is something we never hear about, and yet, is a war of extreme interest to me. In the confusing web of alliances, disagreements, and events which resulted in World War I, the civil strife that led to the rise of the Soviet Union, and Imperial Japan's policy of total Far Eastern supremacy, I feel this war often gets overlooked by modern historians—which is a shame.

Following the First Sino-Japanese War (from 1849-1895) and Japan's aggressive expansion into the Korean peninsula, Tsarist Russia made several moves to consolidate its influence in the region. It was no secret that Japan saw itself on the same footing as the Western countries of the world, with Great Britain being major inspiration to them. So in an effort to ward off any Japanese encroachment, the Russians brokered a deal with the Chinese government to lease land in the Liaoning peninsula, north of Korea.

It was there, in the port city of Dalian, that the Russians constructed the fortress Port Arthur. This port served to fill a role that the Russians desperately sought after. At the time, the only operational harbor in the Far East was Vladivostok—which, due to its location, could only hold boats during the summer and warmer months of spring. Dalian was a warm water port, though, and so it became the home of Russia's Pacific Fleet.

Unfortunately, this did little to help Russia in the long run. While fears of Japanese imperialism were present in the minds of the Russians at the time, the Japanese had the same concerns about Russian imperialism. Of major note was Russia's influence in the Manchurian region and Sakhalin island which is located directly north of the north most Japanese islands. Tsarist Russia's influence and expansion into Siberia and Manchuria evoked an image of unbridled imperialism in the mind of the Japanese—to them, it was merely a question of how long it would be until Russia came for them.

Initially, diplomacy seemed to be an option. Japan suggested that Korea and Manchuria act as a buffer zone between Japan and the Russian-owned Siberia. Back-and-forth negotiations ensued. For nearly a year, proposals and counter-proposals were met with disdain by both parties, and by early 1904, the Japanese government decided that Russia had no plans of settling the matter diplomatically. On February 6, 1904, Japan severed diplomatic ties with Russia.

Two nights later, on February 8, Japan declared war. Three hours before the declaration reached Moscow, however, the Imperial Japanese Navy began its first action of the war—the assault on Port Arthur. In the middle of a cloudy night, Admiral Heiharchiro Togo led his ships towards the harbor and ordered the fleet to break into two formations to commence attack. The Russians were caught completely unprepared, as most of the Naval Officers including Admiral Stark, were off partying as the attack began. The naval assault raged late into the night and into the early morning of February 9. By the end of it, the fortress of Port Arthur had taken considerable damage, and the Russian Pacific Fleet were down seven ships from its original twelve.

With the Russian Pacific fleet in disarray, Japan began to conduct its land invasion, pushing up north to the Sakhalin island. With Russia's far eastern troops barely holding the line, and in some places collapsing under the Japanese assault, the Russian military decided to send the entire Baltic fleet around the globe to help relieve the Pacific fleet, and hopefully break the blockade of Port Arthur before the fortress was overrun.

““In the end, the Russians not only ended up firing on some of their own boats, but it also turned out that the group of boats they had initially fired on were British fishing ships.””

And now things turn almost comical. The Baltic fleet set out at once, making its way towards the Sinai peninsula to pass through the Suez Canal. For whatever reason, as the Russian fleet pulled into the Dogger Bank off the coast of England. Against all logic, the admiral ordered the fleet to fire upon any ships that even came close to the fleet. Late at night, on October 21, the supply ship Kamchatka radioed that it was under attack. The war ships at the front of the line flashed their searchlights and spotted several dozen boats. They began to fire immediately, causing the other ships in the line to go on high alert. As the other ships in the fleet began to open fire, chaos spread, since no one was quite sure what was happening. In the end, the Russians not only ended up firing on some of their own boats, but it also turned out that the group of boats they had initially fired on were British fishing ships. And to top it off, the ship that sent the Kamchatka on alert in the first place was simply a Swedish trawler.

Several British and Russian citizens died in the incident, and it nearly caused Great Britain to declare war on Russia. While conflict was averted, the British disallowed the Russian navy from using the Suez Canal. So now the Baltic fleet would have to travel all the way around the entirety of Africa if they hoped to reach the Far East.

This trip was marred with disaster for the Baltic Fleet. As the ironclad vessels traveled farther than such ships were ever meant to go, the engines began to break down. Damage to the hulls accumulated. And to make matters worse, disease was starting to spread amongst the crews.

As the ships pulled into a port of French-controlled Madagascar, the admiral realized just how dire things were. Deciding that the best way to raise the men's spirits would be to run a quick war games, he set about preparing for it. Targets were laid out in the open water, and the fleet began to advance towards them, ready to put their canons to the test.

But before even a shot could be fired, one of the vessels burst into flame from yet another engine malfunction and had to be evacuated. As such, the war games were canceled and the fleet continued on its way.

By the time the fleet reached the far east, news came to them that Port Arthur had fallen to the Japanese. Realizing now that the only other port they could reach was Vladivostok and that they would need to resupply before they could engage the Japanese, the remaining officers of the navy had to weigh what few options they had. The path to Vladivostok put the fleet right between the Japanese isles and Korea. but to go around Japan would take far too long. So they decided to try their luck, and traveled under the cover of night.

As the remains of the Baltic fleet passed by the Japanese islands, the admiral ordered that all the lights on the boats be snuffed out. But due to the rules of war, the hospital vessels had to keep its lights on at all times so it wouldn't be fired upon. This of course, allowed Japanese sentries to spot them right away, and within the hour the Imperial Japanese Navy was on the move, ready to engage the battered Russians.

The battle of Tsushima, as it would become known, was absolutely humiliating for the Russian Empire. Eighty-nine Japanese vessels went up against 38 Russian ships, and through the entire engagement only three of those Japanese vessels were sunk while 21 Russian ships met a watery grave. Seven Russian ships ended up captured, and six more were damaged beyond fighting capacity. This naval engagement practically marked the end of the Russo-Japanese War as the Japanese now had complete control the seas, and the Russians could barely hold back the tide of soldiers pouring onto land.

“The war was so bad for the Russians, that the U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt stepped in to help broker a peace in an attempt to at least help the Russians save a little face.”

Tsar Nicholas II was absolutely humiliated by the defeat, as the largest nation on Earth lost to what seemed a fledgling Empire. The war was so bad for the Russians, that the U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt stepped in to help broker a peace in an attempt to at least help the Russians save a little face. In the end, the Japanese managed to push Russian influence out of Asia and set the stage for their conquests of Korea, China, and Manchuria in the lead-up to World War II.

The Russo-Japanese war also marks the first time that an Asian country ever won a war against a Western power and no doubt helped fuel the Imperialistic fever that burnt brightly in Japan at the time. It built confidence in their navy and in the country as a whole and no doubt eased some of the national skepticism as the Emperor and his confidents considered war with the British, and the United states.

The startling defeat also helped plant confidence in the generals of Austria-Hungary and Germany, who considered Russia to not even be a threat as they declared war on Serbia, and World War I began in earnest. Of course, things wouldn't quite go their way in the end.

Reading (and Watching) Recommendations

Battleship Potemkin (Restored Kino Edition)

Starring Grigori Aleksandrov, Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Ivan Bobrov

The Tide at Sunrise: A History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905

By Denis Warner, Peggy Warner

Clouds above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War, Volume 1

By Shiba Ryōtarō

Battleship Potemkin (1925), a silent movie about a 1905 mutiny on a Russian battleship, which ends up on almost every list of best films ever made, really illustrates what a toll the Russian defeat took on that country’s military morale.

If you’re ready to really dig into what can arguably be considered the first modern war, pick up Denis Ashton Warner’s thorough and deeply researchedThe Tide at Sunrise: A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905. It’s heavy going but worth it if you want to really immerse yourself in the subject. (I'm linking to the book, but borrow it from the library or get it used—the price is nuts!)

Another scholarly read, Clouds above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War—one of Japan’s best-selling novels—has been translated into English and offers a really interesting look at the Japanese perspective on the conflict and its national importance.

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Kane Taylor is home/school/life's Tech Talk columnist and an avid history buff.

Critical Thinking Curriculum: The Examined Life

Over steaming pots of tea, my oldest son and I have had great fun working through David A. White’s book Philosophy for Kids: 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder About Everything. (See my review in the winter issue of home/school/life.). So much fun, in fact, that I just had to check out the author’s sequel, The Examined Life: Advanced Philosophy for Kids.

Anyone lucky enough to spend their days among children knows that young people are inquisitive and imaginative bold thinkers. Kids are natural born philosophers. For this reason, experts encourage the practice of exposing students to philosophy early on. Even an introductory understanding of the subject helps cultivate important skills used in developing critical thinking, appreciating cultural differences, considering other viewpoints, and growing one’s self-awareness.

White, a professor of philosophy with loads of teaching experience, breathes life into the ideas of some of history’s greatest thinkers. If you are already familiar with White’s popular work, Philosophy for Kids, you’ll notice the format in The Examined Life differs dramatically. This is a teacher’s guide. It is written for educators and is not intended to be used by students independently. Prior experience with Philosophy for Kids, while complementary, is certainly not necessary.

In this follow-up work, the author digs deeper encouraging readers to consider some of life’s most meaningful, as well as abstract, questions. Feminism, social justice, technology, freedom, and society are among the topics he explores.

The Examined Life is divided into three parts. “Kids and Philosophy,” the book’s first section, contains a collection of 10 readings—a series of passages from primary source selections, which are followed by questions, discussion, commentary, and analysis. Based on his own experience teaching this material, White anticipates and shares the questions students are most likely to raise as they delve deep into discussion. In most cases, links are provided so that those motivated to do so can read the philosophers’ complete texts online. An especially useful feature of this section is its suggestions for integrating the presented topics with lessons in science, social studies, and language arts courses.

“Education as Applied Philosophy,” part two of the book, is where this resource sparkles most. This portion of White’s book is likely to appeal to homeschoolers who have an inherent love of hands-on engagement and real life application of information.

Four discussions intended to enhance student’ abilities in critical thinking, drawing, language acquisition, and music are accompanied by innovative, sophisticated project ideas that bring the book’s material to life.

Examined Life: Advanced Philosophy for Kids

By David White Ph.D.

“Anyone lucky enough to spend their days among children knows that young people are inquisitive and imaginative bold thinkers. Kids are natural born philosophers.”

Part three, “A Philosophical Postlude” is a series of theoretical discussions that are presented in order to understand the relationship between educational theory and instruction. Here, special emphasis is placed on teaching gifted learners.

Although not specifically written for homeschoolers, The Examined Life could be easily adapted to suit the needs of one student or many and would also work well with older children in a co-op setting. To fully utilize this resource, advanced preparation on the part of the parent is necessary. The Examined Life is intended for Grades 6 to 12 and was written with gifted learners in mind. However, this is not a book exclusively for gifted children. Success using this material will rely largely on a student’s level of interest in the subject matter along with their ability to handle abstract materials.

If you used Philosophy for Kids with a younger child and it went well, you will want to get your hands on a copy of The Examined Life at some point too. However, as there is a significant difference in approach and style in this second book, it may be helpful to let some time pass to ensure that your younger child is ready for the level of materials found in The Examined Life.

The Examined Life is a unique resource designed to develop students’ critical thinking. The lessons it contains are likely to ignite curiosity and lead to lively discussions in your homeschool. I can’t wait to get started on this with my son!

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Unit Study: The Harlem Renaissance

Celebrate the Harlem Renaissance, a flourishing of African-American culture that lit up the creative landscape of the 1920s with its epicenter firmly located in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood.

See Aaron Douglas’s art (including this 1936 oil painting “Aspiration” and other work by Harlem Renaissance artists at the Archive for Virtual Harlem website.

by Jeremy Harris

Black History Month is the perfect excuse to celebrate the Harlem Renaissance, a flourishing of African-American culture that lit up the creative landscape of the 1920s with its epicenter firmly located in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. 

Read

The Souls of Black Folk

By W.E.B. Du Bois

Cane (New Edition)

By Jean Toomer

Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois

The sociologist and activist W.E.B DuBois was in many ways the father of the Harlem Renaissance, and in this, his most important work, DuBois made a claim for the re-thinking of African-American identity that was to resonate with a generation of African-Americans. DuBois was himself a remarkable figure—the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University, he wrote many books, founded the Niagara movement, which opposed Booker T. Washington’s policies of conciliation and fought for the rights of African-Americans to vote and enjoy the same privileges as other Americans,  Souls of Black Folk memorably and movingly describes DuBois’ dawning awareness of his “double consciousness” as an African-American, “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”

“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” by Langston Hughes

One of the central debates of the Harlem Renaissance was over the question of what art, specifically African-American art, was meant to do. Should the concern of black artists be to counter white stereotypes or simply to portray black life as realistically and authentically as possible? While DuBois thought the former, a younger, more militant generation of black artists, most prominent among them the poet and novelist Langston Hughes, aimed to show all of black life in their art. In this essay, published in the Nation magazine in 1921, Hughes criticizes those middle-class blacks who are ashamed of their race and calls on African-Americans to embrace their own heritage and “indigenous” art forms, such as jazz.

Cane by Jean Toomer

Blending poetry with sketches of black life in the South and North, Toomer’s Cane is one of the literary masterpieces of the Harlem Renaissance. Toomer was a racially mixed man who could pass as white and, according to Henry Louis Gates and Rudolph P. Byrd, often chose to.

Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales From the Gulf States by Zora Neale Hurston

Though best-known for the classic (and staple of high school English curricula) Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston began her career carrying out anthropological field work in the South. This collection of her sketches from her travels in Florida, Alabama, and New Orleans show how central the African-American experience in all parts of the United States, not just in Harlem, were to members of the Harlem Renaissance.

Look

Carl Van Vechten  

Van Vechten was one of the most unusual figures of the Harlem Renaissance. A prototype of what Norman Mailer would later call the “White Negro,” Van Vechten saw himself as a champion of African-American culture, and though his involvement in the movement was controversial, he was instrumental in bringing the work of African-American writers and artists to a wider public. A novelist, dance critic, and Gertrude Stein’s literary executor, he also photographed many of the Harlem Renaissance’s prominent figures, including DuBois and Zora Neale Hurston.

Aaron Douglas 

The visual arts were central to the Harlem Renaissance, and Douglas’s African-influenced modernist murals caught the attention of the leading intellectuals of the movement like Alain Locke and W.E.B DuBois. Douglas’s best-known work were the illustrations he created for James Weldon Johnson’s books of poetic sermons, God’s Trombones.

Listen

“T’aint Nobody’s Business if I Do” by Bessie Smith

More than any other singer, Bessie Smith embodied the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance – its emphasis on race pride,  its uncompromising view of the value of African-American lives.

“Black and Blue” by Louis Armstrong

Originally written by Fats Waller for the musical Hot Chocolates, “Black and Blue” became, in Louis Armstrong’s hands, a defiant statement on what it was like to be black in America (Ralph Ellison riffs poetically on the song in his great novel Invisible Man.)

Watch

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross

By Henry Louis Gates Jr., Yacovone

Against the Odds: The Artists of the Harlem Renaissance

Starring .

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross 

Henry Louis Gates’ sweeping survey of African-American history provides a good general background to the movement and his section on black popular arts and film of the 1920s is particularly helpful.

Against the Odds: Artists of the Harlem Renaissance 

Focusing mainly on the visual arts, this documentary shows how art and politics were inextricably linked for members of the Harlem Renaissance. Interweaving still photographs and archival material, the documentary traces the history of the movement from the 1919 race riots through the 1920s and 1930s.

Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” 

Jazz cadences and rhythms can be found throughout the poetry of Langston Hughes and in this spoken reading, Hughes reads his own poetry to jazz accompaniment, from a broadcast of “The 7 O’Clock Show”, 1958.

This article originally appeared in the winter 2015 issue of home/school/life magazine. 

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Sponsored Post: Take the Stress Out of High School with Oak Meadow

The prospect of high school can freak out even the most experienced homeschooler—as I’m learning now that we’re preparing for (gulp!) my daughter’s first year of high school next year. The stakes feel higher, the work feels harder, and the paperwork is, frankly, a little terrifying to contemplate. One of the great things about editing home/school/life is that I know I’m not alone—we get email every week from moms who are panicking about high school just as much as I am. So when the nice folks at Oak Meadow offered to help with some of the most frequently asked questions about homeschooling high school, I had no trouble coming up with a list. Now I can turn my panic to other scary things, like learners’ permits.

• How do you grade a high school essay?

First, you must know what the aims of the essay/paper/thesis were. With assessment one must initially consider if the young writer completed the mission—what is the assignment? what does this paper aim to do? address/compare/prove/suggest/question/explore? Is it a persuasive essay, a personal narrative, an explication? So many types of essays, so little time!

Second, all good, powerful writing has three elements: 1. honesty 2. economy 3. voice. Students should understand all three before writing.

Third, cogent writing is grounded in sound mechanics and evidence of the writing process. Is there an organization to the paragraphs and sentences? Are all grammar conventions met? Spelling attended to?

A good style guide can help. At OM, we use Strunk and White's Elements of of Style and Write it Right, our high school writing manual. —Michelle Simpson-Siegel, OM Executive Director/teacher

• Do we need to do standardized test prep?

We tend to associate standardized test prep with expensive classes, but SAT prep need not be pricey. The first step is to have students sign up for the SAT Question of the Day through the College Board website. Kids will get a sample question delivered to the email box daily; it is a great way to familiarize oneself with the content and types of questions you’ll see on tests. There are also practice books; then, if you feel like you need more prep, you can look at courses at a tutoring site, such as Kaplan or the Princeton Review. —Michelle Simpson-Siegel, OM Executive Director/teacher

• How do you keep records?

Record keeping can be done in a variety of ways. The key is to set up a system that you can easily keep up with, creating a comprehensive homeschooling portfolio of work as you go. For instance, you might choose one exemplary piece of work each week (or every two weeks) from each subject and put it in a file folder. You might keep a running chart that shows at-a-glance what is in each folder, and maybe you can add a few notes about each piece. For instance you might note, "Essay on Harriet Tubman shows thesis statement, topic sentences, and good paragraph organization." Many parents use photos to document student work, particularly work that goes beyond the written response.

In addition to subject files, you can have a file for any extra documentation. If your student takes any organized lessons, courses, art or music classes, or other activity, this can be documented once per semester with a simple statement of the approximate number of hours and basic skills/experiences that were covered. You can have your child's instructor sign this documentation, but you don't have to. If you choose to have your child take standardized tests, the test scores also go into the file.

Ask around among homeschoolers you know or on homeschooling chat forums to get more ideas. The goal is to find a record-keeping system that isn't overwhelming (you don't have to keep every single thing your child produces!) but that provides you with ample evidence of your student's progress and accomplishments.   —DeeDee Hughes, OM Director of Curriculum Development

• How do I know if my kid is covering everything s/he needs to graduate?

The fear of missing some crucial bit of learning can keep homeschooling parents up at night. It seems that no one is immune to this anxiety, but the good news is that there are ways to check your progress and make sure that your student is on the right track. One way is to use your state standards to make sure you have all the bases covered for each year. You can spend some time at the beginning of the year going over the general topics that are covered in your state (or in the Common Core, if your state has adopted those standards) and make a basic outline of what you want to address over the course of the year. Creating a simple checklist that you can mark off as skills and content are covered helps you feel you are making progress and gives you a clear picture of what's ahead.

Another way to feel confident you are covering all the bases is to use a list of graduation requirements from a school. Oak Meadow's scope and sequence for K-8 and high school graduation requirements offer independent homeschoolers a road map for their education. Rather than focusing on specific skills, you look at the broad scope of courses that students are required to take at an accredited school. Again, talking to other homeschoolers in your area can lead to more information and ideas.   —DeeDee Hughes, OM Director of Curriculum Development​

• How do I handle science labs?

Field science is super valuable! Get involved in programs such as river watch, birding clubs, outing clubs, recycling programs, and gardening. This is wonderful, productive time, and very educational.

Oak Meadow offers Biology with Lab and Chemistry with Lab courses and supplementary lab kits. Any materials that are not in the lab kits are often easily found in the home. Any supplies that aren't found in the home or at a craft store can be found in an online science supply source or even Amazon (for independent users)

We at Oak Meadow don't use microscopes in our labs, as that is not available to many homeschoolers, but some families choose to have their own and do additional investigations. A very cool brand new product is the microbescope, where you can use your smartphone to see microscopic organisms!— Julie West and Sarah Boggia, OM high school science teachers

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Find out more about Oak Meadow’s curriculum and resources for high school students. (And do it now, because you can score 15% off everything in the Oak Meadow Bookstore from Feb. 1-14! I am planning to snag a copy of the new Student Planner for my daughter to use as we start plotting out her freshman year. (Thanks for supporting the companies that support home/school/life!)

Life After Homeschooling: Online Tests to Guide Your Way

An online quiz may not be the bedrock to base all your life choices on—but these five tests can be surprisingly revealing when it comes to illuminating your post-homeschool life. (And hey, quizzes are fun, right?)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator :: The MBTI can tell you all kinds of cool things about yourself: how you like to learn, where you get your energy, how you make decisions, what kind of structure you prefer. (The detailed feedback in the official online version may be worth the $50 price tag, but this free online version is a good option, too.)

Career Strengths Test :: The Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation developed this series of tests for Oprah to measure specific skills, including inductive reasoning and foresight.

Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator :: A friend’s mom swears by this personality test, which tells you whether you’re a reformer, helper, achiever, individualist, investigator, loyalist, enthusiast, challenger, or peacemaker.

Pymetrics :: Play a series of games to test your cognitive and social know-how, and get a summary of your strengths and weaknesses. (The results may surprise you in a good way.)

My Next Move o-net Interest Profiler :: This U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored tool helps you identify possible career paths and clues you into opportunities along those paths that match your level of experience.

Read the rest of our "Writing Your Next Chapter" feature in the winter issue of home/school/life.

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