{photo by Sebastien Gabriel}
“The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead.”
~ Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Yes, ahead! Onward and upward! Welcome, new and returning SLOCA families… are you ready for fresh adventures? We are embarking on another captivating year of learning together – in families, and in community. As you think about the year before you, know that you’re not alone in this undertaking. You belong to a unique group of dedicated, enthusiastic, lifelong learners (who also happen to be pretty terrific people). And Down Home is excited to be a part of your educational adventures this year as we explore American history and more!
If you're new to SLOCA, here are a few things to know about our school blog:
Down Home’s special mission is to encourage, inspire, support, and strengthen your role as an involved parent in your child’s classical education. Whether you’re the home educator, reading and learning side-by-side with your child on home days, or coaching an older student who is more independent, we hope Down Home will become a useful resource for you. We post content five days a week, and you’ll see a variety of topics here… for instance, on most Mondays we have a series called “Monday Mix-ins,” which are videos, links and resources you can use at home to enrich and expand on what we are currently studying in history and literature (and occasionally science). We’ll give you a taste of those below, and stay tuned each day this week to hear about what else you can expect to find on the blog.
We also want to support each other, so please get involved and comment on the posts you see, share your own tips and resources, or email your questions and submissions to us at [email protected]. Let’s build community and share great ideas here!
The easiest way to keep current with the blog is to subscribe to Down Home via email, which allows you to receive a message in your inbox each time new content is posted. Click here to subscribe. (This link is also found in the left column above the Categories menu.)
I’ll introduce myself briefly: my name is Jenny Bischoff and this will be my fifth year as the Down Home Blog Curator. My husband Paul, our three kids and I are beginning our 11th year at SLOCA. We are on Track A with a son in Intermediate, a daughter in Upper Middle School, and another daughter who is a junior here at SLO Classical Academy High School (sloCAHS). Educating this way has been an incredible journey and one of the best choices we’ve ever made for our family. I hope you will love learning SLOCA-style as much as we have.
Now… here’s a taste of Monday Mix-ins. These weekly supplemental links are always completely optional, and believe me, we totally get that Less is More, so feel no pressure to use these. But we know that some families love them, and that even if you don't use them every week, we hope you will find them interesting and helpful from time to time. We do try to choose resources that are family friendly and age appropriate, and will indicate ratings when available, or when something is recommended for older kids only, but as with any video or website, use your own parental discretion when choosing material for your children. Enjoy!
VIDEOS:
Learn about the 13 American Colonies – An overview from About.com.
Early Settlers of New England – A “vintage” video from Have Fun with History.
What is a Colony? – A brief explanation using examples from the Phoenicians, Greeks, and British:
And here’s a heads-up on a great series for kids that is available on Youtube or you can purchase an inexpensive DVD containing the entire series – Liberty’s Kids:
The first episode is about the Boston Tea Party, so we will post a link to that on the blog when we get there, but we wanted to tell you about this DVD early in case you want to purchase it now and own the whole series.
WEBSITES:
Colonial Days Online Coloring Pages
Treasure Trek – an online Colonial scavenger hunt from history.org.
We invite you to stop by the blog often, and have a great first week of school!
We welcome your feedback – if you have any questions, comments, stories, photos, or suggestions to share, you can contact us at [email protected], or leave a comment on any blog post. We’d love to hear from you!
