It was philosopher George Santayana who gave us the quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In today's world perhaps a good addendum to this would be "Those who are not taught the past can be duped into believing anything." When modern textbooks spend ink to cover Madonna rather than Washington's Farewell Address, it's no wonder people can be fooled into thinking government is more capable of running their lives than they themselves.
The American Heritage Education Foundation is trying to remedy this lack of education by providing FREE curriculum to anyone who visits their website. These excerpts from the Foreward to the Elementary material expresses their purpose more elequently than I could:
In only a little more than 200 years, our ancestors transformed this country from a wilderness into a great nation. This nation demonstrates what can be accomplished by free people who create a government limited to serving the people rather than being their master.
The moral and ethical basis of good conduct was derived from the faith that built America. That faith grew from the common belief that each individual is endowed with basic rights and responsibilities by our Creator.
The character of society is determined by how well it transmits true and time-honored values from generation to generation. These values are not an add-on or supplement to national values but rather determine the charecter and essence of the country itself.
For the elementary level lessons include:
The Declaration of Independence
George Washington
Thanksgiving
The United States Flag
The Star-Spangled Banner
The Pledge of Allegiance
The American Bald Eagle
Most of these lessons have a K-W-L chart for the students to complete (What I Know, What I Want to learn, What I have Learned). There may be quizzes or crossword puzzles for those who like worksheets. Some lessons could go very quickly and be done easily as a family--like Thanksgiving. Others would take a very large group and several lessons to complete--like the Colonial America activity.
It's all available as a FREE download. So read through it, use the ideas you like with know guilt that you aren't getting your money's worth.
I recently received a free CD-ROM from American Heritage Education Foundation to use in creating this review. I received no other compensation.
No comments:
Post a Comment