Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Anti-Social Studies

Okay, here's something that's been bothering me, and I need some input. For as long as I can remember, I have felt a strong dislike ("hate" is overstating it) for the term "social studies". I'm really not sure why, to tell you the truth. I can usually get to the bottom of a feeling like that, given enough time and thought, but this time I'm stumped. (Does that ever happen to you--reacting negatively to a word for no reason, I mean--or is it just me?)

We've been doing things that fall into the category of "social studies" all along, but I'm to the point where I want to create a weekly workbox for N and K based on a more cohesive curriculum (which I'm currently putting together). This means it will need a title, but I'm really rebelling against calling it our "social studies" box! Am I just being ridiculous?

I took a look at Wikipedia's article on the topic, and I especially like the idea of the subject encompassing "human behavior and interactions" (though I personally believe and teach my children that God is an important part of the equation as well). Unfortunately, I just can't envision us calling it our "human behavior and interactions" box, either. Maybe an acronym? Any ideas?

4 comments:

Alyssa said...

people projects?

where people live, what they do, how they interact...I didn't read the wikipedia article, so I don't know if that covers it, though.

Tarasine (pronounced Tara-seena, in case you were wondering) said...

Thanks for the idea, Alyssa!

My husband came up with "World Box", which I think I will go with. It's still not perfect (because EVERYTHING we study could fit under that title, don't you think?), but it is short and catchy (a plus for my kids), and fits well with what I'm envisioning for the focus and direction of our curriculum.

Emily said...

F.B.I. Box! Folk Behavior and Interactions! ;-) ("Folk" was the only "f" synonym in the thesaurus.) FBI agents are always looking into human behavior as well. You probably won't use it, but hopefully you'll laugh. :-)

Tarasine (pronounced Tara-seena, in case you were wondering) said...

That's awesome, Emily! I did laugh, for sure. Thanks for sharing your fun idea. My final decision is "World Investigations", which we'll probably end up calling our "World Box" for short.

I had no idea that you and Tony read my homeschooling blog! Good to know I'm among friends. :)

Speaking of friendship, thanks for your patience with me! I think I'm FINALLY ready to set an appointment with you for the tree mural. Sorry for taking so long! Let me know when you might be available.