Of These My Children: Celebrate the 4th of July All Month Long Talking to Kids About Social Studies

Posted by Hildra Tague Jul 22, 2009

The Fourth of July always reminds us of how important it is to pass the flame to our children so they can grow up to be good citizens. I am reminded of some of my fondest memories of teaching children about their heritage.

A study of Social Studies begins with American history. We studied the charters the British king gave the colonists and a child asked if that was anything like clam chowder. Then we went on to study the farmers of the Constitution.

No wonder the early settlers wanted to come to America. We learned that people in England were put into debtor's prisons for owning money. They named places after their old hometowns like New York and New Hamsterdam. An inquisitive student mused, "They must have liked hamsters a lot."

One student read that they elected the First Condescending Congress. (I didn't realize Congress started being so elitist way back then.) Then the early Americans wrote the Circles of Confederation. My teacher's guide said Articles, so maybe I'd better look again. An astute boy noticed, "I read that the President has his own cupboard." You'll have to admit it's on the same shelf of the brain as cabinet.

Music helps with learning history. There's that song about the twilight's last yawning. Yawning does seem to be an appropriate thing to do at twilight. Another day when we were singing, a gal asked what the V stood for in My Country is a V. Before I could open my mouth another brilliant student assured her it meant Victory!

Then there's the Confessional Library where you can go on vacation to learn about our past. A girl observed that they have displays on everything, even the Women's Moment. (Her mother must have told her briefly about the women's movement.) One of the guys piped up to inform us that they even have stuff there about The Orange Trail. A more informed history scholar got closer to Oregon by saying it was really called The Organ Trail.

One gal added, "My great great grandfather came over in a cupboard wagon." I guess they had to put their dishes somewhere. I just hope they covered them.

As you travel through New York you may see the Yuckee Stadium. I didn't think the Yankees played that badly. The next day you could be in Cancer City and get a chance to ask them why they called it that. A student of geography surmised, "It's probably in the Tropic of Cancer." You may notice Indian Penance on the map. I never even knew the Indians in Indiana were Catholic.

Speaking of religion, I find myself remembering to give thanks for the opportunity to teach children -- our greatest natural resource. Even though I know health care is an important issue worldwide, I am thankful to have a husband and several friends who are still dealing successfully with cancer. I am inspired in my life to continue my love of music by a friend who is an 85 year old singing star.

Next year I will head back to class and continue teaching students to respect themselves and others as well as exposing them to more American history and multicultural literature from various places, even Afghanistan. My biggest hope for the next generation is they are able to make good choices. We can all work together to make that happen.