“Geography has made us neighbors, history has made us friends, economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies.”
-John F. Kennedy
Social studies is an umbrella subject for history, geography, sociology, anthropology, economics, civics, and government. It covers a lot. In Georgia, we are required to teach it alongside with four other subjects. However, how we teach it is completely up to us.
If you have been following me, you know that I DIY my curriculum. This allows me to customize it to our needs, abilities, and interests. My goal is to expose my children to as much as I can in a way that I foster their love for learning. I try to balance exposure, interest based learning, and the “must know” content.
Below is a very, VERY generalized overview on how I plan out our social studies. I wanted to give you a peep at how curriculum can look outside of a box curriculum.
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Social Studies in Early Elementary (K-2)
For early elementary, I focus more on community helpers. Some of the community helpers we have discussed are:
- firefighters
- police
- doctors
- teachers
- letter carriers
- emts
- librarians
- veterinarians
- etc
I try to schedule field trips to different locations so my children can meet these people and learn about what they do. The firefighters and police officers are very important because you do not want the first time your child to meet them is during an emergency. The fire station visits are one of my favorites. The firefighters usually slowly put on their uniform so kids can see them transform from a regular person to a firefighter. They also give a lot of great information!
Another focus for this age is very basic geography. I love doing a “Me on the Map” activity. This activity could easily be done yearly. It focuses on learning the basics of where you are in your home, where your home is on the street, what city your street is in, what state your city is in, your country, and your world.
I also enjoy doing a lot of literature based history for elementary ages. The Magic Tree House series is my go-to for K-2! Historical fiction is a great way to introduce history to children. You could pair the books with unit studies if you wanted to go a little deeper into the subject matter. There are also so many beautiful historical fiction picture books!
Social Studies in Upper Elementary (3-5/6)
For upper elementary, I like to start really digging into the many wonderful historical fiction books that we have. I feel like historical fiction or fiction with historical elements is what is really needed in elementary school. Here are some of my absolute favorites for this age:
- I Survive series (boy protagonist)
- Girl Survive series (girl protagonist)
- Number The Stars- World War II
- The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963- Segregation
- The Little House series
- The Secret Garden
- One and Only Ivan
- Merlin Missions- The Magic Tree House sequel series
- Who Was/Is, Where Is, What Was/Is, etc series
You can also check out other books here.
In addition to these books, we watch movies with historical elements. These are not necessarily “based on true stories”- rather, they are meant to give my kids more of the time period. Some of our favorites are:
- The Sound of Music *Based on a true story
- Singing in the Rain
- Night at the Museum
- The Greatest Showman *Based on a real person
- Heidi
- The Little Princess
- The Secret Garden
- Polyanna
- Old Disney movies with real people
- Mulan
- Prince of Egypt
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With all the books and movies, we discuss things such as the time period, what outside events were going, where they lived, etc. Having discussions and exposing them to these various places and time periods allows them to get a good grasp on the history and geography before diving deep into the subject matter with dates, wars, people, etc. Pairing that with some gentle geography such as learning the continents, some countries, oceans, etc rounds everything out nicely.
Social Studies in Middle School (6/7-8)
For middle school, I add another layer on. I assign my children a monthly research project which is interest based but must be something that is historical, about a place, or about a person/group of people. Allowing them to research what they want gives them the opportunity to learn more about something that they find interesting.
This research project is added on top of reading and movies.
With the suggestions below, you need to do your research prior as it may be some things you may not deem appropriate yet. I also add in dystopian novels into the mix:
- The Outsiders
- Where the Red Fern Grows
- Out of the Dust
- Nathan Hale Graphic Novels
- Hunger Games Trilogy
- The Giver
- The Maze Runner Series
Why dystopian novels? They give you a glimpse into what can happen with government overreach and what a totalitarian society looks like. These are good things to keep in mind when you dive into learning more about our government, the branches of government, checks and balances, and elections.
Here are some movies that we have enjoyed that either have historical elements or are dystopian. Once again- Make sure you check into these to see if they are the right fit for your child and your family.
- War Horse
- Gods and Generals
- Gettysburg
- The Mummy series
- Little Women
- Titanic
- Pearl Harbor
- Pride and Prejudice- BBC version
- Hidden Figures- Segregation
- Book Thief- World War II
- The Hunger Games movies
- The Divergent series** I have let my kids watch the movies but they aren’t allowed to read the books yet due to some adult feelings from the main character.
- The Giver
- Where the Red Fern Grows
In addition to these movies, books, and research projects- I try to do interest based unit studies. For example, my children really enjoyed The Mummy movies. I decided that it was time for us to learn about Ancient Egypt.
Also, I feel like this is a great age range to learning more about the geography our country, the regions, the states, the capitals, the land features, etc. While this can definitely be taught in the upper elementary age range, I feel like the attention that is required to learn these things come more naturally in the middle school range. Remember- I said we did gentle introductions to these concepts in upper elementary. This would be more like “You need to learn this, and there will be a test.”
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Social Studies in High School (9-12)
I am currently preparing to start high school with my oldest next year (2027). My plan for high school is to adhere to what requirements are needed for community college admittance or trade-school. I want to ensure that my children are ready for whatever they need to support them and their post-school plans.
This is where we will hunker down and really learn and be tested on our history, geography, government, etc. My goal is that our whole education journey will have prepared us for this. When we go to learn about George Washington and the Revolutionary War we will have already have some background knowledge because we read about it in The Magic Tree House series. When we learn more about the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr., we can draw off the book about The Watons Go to Birmingham- 1963 and envision how people felt at that time.
On top of the necessary coursework that my children will have to do to satisfy requirements for their post-graduation plans, we will continue on with the books and movies. The only book series that I plan to have them read during high school will be the Divergent series. I’m sure their high school coursework will have more than enough to read.
I do plan to continue on with the movies. Here are some I am planning to show my children once I feel like they are mature enough to handle it:
- The Help
- Les’ Miserables
- Band of Brothers
- The King’s Speech
- Lincoln
- Hairspray
Other things to consider…
Map reading: anytime we go anywhere new (park, museum, zoo, city, etc) I have my kids read the map and try to figure out where we are and where we need to go. This makes map reading a real skill. My older kids help me with the GPS sometimes because you cannot always trust it.
Family style learning: most homeschool families are teaching multiple kids. I have four. I try to group my kids as much as possible. When it comes to assigned books or movies and I am grouping my kids, I always gear it towards the younger child. However, there are times that we will watch or read something just with my oldest because it may not be appropriate for my other children and he is wanting to watch it.
When it comes to unit studies, I try to include everyone… even the youngest. I just differentiate the work. Circling back to that Ancient Egypt unit study, my youngest was 5 and she colored some Egyptian pictures and worked with hieroglyphics.
Learn more about Family Style Learning.
Field trips and exploration: We try to visit as many historical places or events as we can. One of our favorites is a local Civil War reenactment. Museums are a great way to learn about our history. Check with your local state park department. There are probably a lot of local history right in your backyard!
Podcasts and documentaries: These are a another fantastic way to learn more about history! We are just now starting to dive into documentaries because I like focusing moreso on historical fiction when the kids are younger. However, we do enjoy listening to the Who, When, Wow! podcast occasionally. I’ll be honest- I like the older episodes.
Final Thoughts…
Social studies is such a massive amount of information to learn. My ultimate goal is to raise children who are critical thinkers who love to learn. I do not want them to think that learning stops once they graduate high school.
I take a gentle approach to social studies because I do not believe in teaching to the test. I feel like if I give my children a lot of exposure to all the components that make up social studies, then I am setting them up for success for high school and beyond. We are questioning what happened and looking at different points of view. Remember- there are always 2 sides to a story and the truth lies in the middle.
There are so many amazing books and movies! What am I missing off my list? What should I add? Let me know below.
