Reminder -- The Presidents test is due next week.
Highlights:
Technology advantages (steel, boats, etc.) allowed Europeans to hold a position in the New World.
Eli Whitney's cotton gin made slavery profitable, then his invention of interchangeable parts allowed for much more massive slaughter in the Civil War.
While transportation technology allowed Americans to take up more space, industrialization compressed the population into smaller and smaller areas.
America's technological and industrial might made them a deciding factor in both World Wars.
The Cold War was in a lot of ways a battle of technology -- Space Race, RAND corporation.
The advent of the Internet allows America to be an even smaller country even as more and more people fill up the available space.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
EXTRA CREDIT ALERT!!!
Go to historybee.com for details on entering the National History Bee. The regionals are in Nashville in January. There will also be an event in Owensboro, date TBD.
If enough folks want to go, we can even enter a team. Let me know if you're interested.
If enough folks want to go, we can even enter a team. Let me know if you're interested.
The Five Big Stories
Link to class audio here
EXPLORATION
Christopher Columbus
Lewis & Clark
Manifest Destiny
Apollo Program
LIBERTY
Pilgrims & Puritans (vs. Roger Williams)
Declaration of Independence & First Amendment
States Rights
Fascism, Nazism, and Communism
Culture Wars & the Supreme Court, 1960-2000
God, faith, and country in the 21st Century
EQUALITY
America vs. the rest of the world
Jacksonian Democracy
Black equality (Slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Post-WW2, King, & Obama)
Immigrant Assimilation
PROSPERITY
European explorers
Jamestown, Georgia, New Amsterdam
Alexander Hamilton (Bank of the US, Western empire)
Gold Rush
Gilded Age
Great Depression & Dust Bowl
“Great Society” & the Welfare State
TECHNOLOGY
Education as means to virtue
Agricultural inventions (cotton gin, reapers, tractors)
Transportation inventions (steamboat, railroad, cars, airplanes, spacecraft)
Communication inventions (telegraph, telephone, radio, TV, computers, Internet)
Medical & quality of life inventions (vaccination, refrigeration, electric lights, scanners, DNA & the human genome)
Questions for Discussion:
Choose one of the five big stories and answer one of these questions about it:
Who (not a President) did the most to advance the story?
Which story had the biggest effect on a President's legacy?
What event shows the most overlap between multiple stories?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Presidents, Part 2
The Link to the audio from today's class is here in MP3 format.
Theodore Roosevelt 25th president (1901-1909)
Next Week:
The five big stories: Exploration, Equality, Liberty, Technology, & Prosperity
In Two Weeks: Ben will be out of town, so Laura will be talking about historically-significant books.
Theodore Roosevelt 25th president (1901-1909)
- Tried to run for a third term (Bull Moose)
- Established national parks
- Trust-busting
- Nobel Peace Prize & Medal of Honor
- Decisive factor in WW1
- League of Nations/14 Points/Treaty of Versailles
- Wilsonian Idealism
- Four elections
- Great Depression/New Deal
- “Arsenal of Democracy”
- World War II
- Space Race
- Cuba (missiles, Bay of Pigs, Castro)
- Changed the objective of the Cold War
- Televised Presidency
- Finished what Kennedy started (Cold War)
- Rebuilt Republican party after Watergate
- “Patron Saint” of present-day conservatives
- Economy-based campaigning
- First black President
- Global campaign
Next Week:
The five big stories: Exploration, Equality, Liberty, Technology, & Prosperity
In Two Weeks: Ben will be out of town, so Laura will be talking about historically-significant books.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Presidents, Part 1
What we covered today
Top Ten US Presidents
LCHE Homeschool Co-Op US History
Top Ten US Presidents
George Washington -- First President (1789-1797)
Thomas Jefferson -- Third President (1801-1809)
Andrew Jackson -- Seventh President (1829-1837)
Abraham Lincoln -- Sixteenth President (1861-1865)
NEXT WEEK: Presidents 5-10. Also, read the Constitution.
Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama.
IN TWO WEEKS: The five most historically-significant storylines running through US History.
Exploration, Equality, Liberty, Technology, & Prosperity
Discussion Questions (open for two weeks):
Top Ten US Presidents
LCHE Homeschool Co-Op US History
Top Ten US Presidents
- Based on historical significance
- Not an evaluation of their quality
- In the order they served, not a ranked list
George Washington -- First President (1789-1797)
- First President
- Established two-term tradition
- Warned about entangling alliances
- Established the “civilian Presidency.”
Thomas Jefferson -- Third President (1801-1809)
- Peaceful Transition from Adams
- Louisiana Purchase/Lewis & Clark expedition
- Strict constructionism vs. Opportunity
- Got two successors elected.
Andrew Jackson -- Seventh President (1829-1837)
- Federal government as defender of liberty
- Veto, veto, veto . . .
- First President not from MA or VA
- “Jacksonian democracy”
Abraham Lincoln -- Sixteenth President (1861-1865)
- Civil War
- Emancipation of slaves
- “National Union” Party
- First national-level Republican
NEXT WEEK: Presidents 5-10. Also, read the Constitution.
Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama.
IN TWO WEEKS: The five most historically-significant storylines running through US History.
Exploration, Equality, Liberty, Technology, & Prosperity
Discussion Questions (open for two weeks):
- Who is on the list who doesn't belong there, and who would you replace him with? Why?
- Is the significance of a Presidency defined more by circumstances or by the person?
- Can a President make a historically-significant contribution in only one term?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Notes from History Class -- September 14
We didn't cover much history today, just some basic "learning theory" material that will help make the rest of the class make sense.
Here's the link to the Presidents song:
The first quiz of the year will be the lyrics to this song. I'll provide everything but the names. You fill in the blanks. You have until Tuesday, October 19 to complete this quiz for full credit.
If you like the learning theory material, read Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris. Some of the scenes may not be suitable for little brothers and sisters, but that's what makes them so memorable, right?
For parents checking in, here's a rundown of what we did today:
The Trebekistan Method
Becoming Smarter Than You Ever Thought Possible In Eight Easy Steps
Step One:
Pay Attention to the Obvious.
If something comes up over and over again, it's probably important.
Step Two:
Let your feelings help you.
Learning is, at its core, an emotional process. We are emotional beings. Use that fact to your advantage.
Step Three:
Create a setting for remembering.
Re-creating the environment in which you will eventually have to remember will help you recall the information when you need to.
Step Four:
Better to do nothing than to do something dumb.
Consider the circumstance in which you've been asked to remember something. Know the price of being wrong.
Step Five:
Remember how little you really know.
Much of memory hinges on confidence. It's not enough just to know, but to know you know.
Step Six:
Everything connects to everything else.
Learning how the puzzle is framed helps you fill in the details.
Step Seven:
You can only see what you think you'll see.
No matter how hard we try, we can only see the world from our own point of view.
Step Eight:
Answer one question at a time.
Take learning and remembering one moment at a time. You can only do what's right in front of you, right now. The more you worry about what you can't control, the less control you'll have over what you can.
BONUS FOR WEBSITE VIEWERS: Embrace your inner weirdo.
One of my mentors growing up was a man we called Mr. Nick. He was the guy at church who always had candy in his pocket for the kids. One day I was wondering about being a preacher because I wasn't one of the popular kids. I made the comment that if the church was going to grow it needed somebody less weird representing it in the world of normal people.
I'll never forget what he told me. He said, "Ben, weird can be good." He went on to tell me that he saw a lot of his son in me, and instead of hiding my weirdness I should embrace it.
Turns out Mr. Nick knew a thing or two about cultivating weirdos into successful adults. Mr. Nick's only child was named Al.
You guessed it. Yankovic.
So let your freak flag fly, people. By the end of this class, we'll have enough freakiness for a parade.
Here's the link to the Presidents song:
The first quiz of the year will be the lyrics to this song. I'll provide everything but the names. You fill in the blanks. You have until Tuesday, October 19 to complete this quiz for full credit.
If you like the learning theory material, read Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris. Some of the scenes may not be suitable for little brothers and sisters, but that's what makes them so memorable, right?
For parents checking in, here's a rundown of what we did today:
The Trebekistan Method
Becoming Smarter Than You Ever Thought Possible In Eight Easy Steps
Step One:
Pay Attention to the Obvious.
If something comes up over and over again, it's probably important.
Step Two:
Let your feelings help you.
Learning is, at its core, an emotional process. We are emotional beings. Use that fact to your advantage.
Step Three:
Create a setting for remembering.
Re-creating the environment in which you will eventually have to remember will help you recall the information when you need to.
Step Four:
Better to do nothing than to do something dumb.
Consider the circumstance in which you've been asked to remember something. Know the price of being wrong.
Step Five:
Remember how little you really know.
Much of memory hinges on confidence. It's not enough just to know, but to know you know.
Step Six:
Everything connects to everything else.
Learning how the puzzle is framed helps you fill in the details.
Step Seven:
You can only see what you think you'll see.
No matter how hard we try, we can only see the world from our own point of view.
Step Eight:
Answer one question at a time.
Take learning and remembering one moment at a time. You can only do what's right in front of you, right now. The more you worry about what you can't control, the less control you'll have over what you can.
BONUS FOR WEBSITE VIEWERS: Embrace your inner weirdo.
One of my mentors growing up was a man we called Mr. Nick. He was the guy at church who always had candy in his pocket for the kids. One day I was wondering about being a preacher because I wasn't one of the popular kids. I made the comment that if the church was going to grow it needed somebody less weird representing it in the world of normal people.
I'll never forget what he told me. He said, "Ben, weird can be good." He went on to tell me that he saw a lot of his son in me, and instead of hiding my weirdness I should embrace it.
Turns out Mr. Nick knew a thing or two about cultivating weirdos into successful adults. Mr. Nick's only child was named Al.
You guessed it. Yankovic.
So let your freak flag fly, people. By the end of this class, we'll have enough freakiness for a parade.
Monday, September 13, 2010
LCHE US History -- Here's How We're Going to Do This
If you're in LCHE US History, you've come to the right place.
Every week I will post my notes on this blog, then open it up for comments. I will also try to embed as many links as I can in the notes if you want to read further on any given topic.
At the end of the notes there will be three discussion questions to be discussed in the comments section.
What I expect of you:
1. Answer at least one of the DQ's each week. Answers should be at least 100 words, but no longer than the capacity of the comment box to hold.
2. If your comment generates a response or a question (from me or anybody else), post a response.
Three rules on this: 1 -- The original post should be the longest post in the discussion. 2 -- The original poster gets the last word. 3 -- Disagree without being disagreeable. Anybody who has seen cable news knows that meanness is the last refuge of the wrong-headed. Play nice, and don't stab.
OK, 3a. -- Don't freak out if you find out you hold a minority position. Disagreeing with me will get you bonus points, provided you can make a coherent case.
3. Post at least one response to something somebody else says. Indicate who you are addressing with an @ sign followed by the person's name, as in @JabbatheHut07. Keep your responses to a sentence or two, and phrase them in the form of a question the original poster can answer.
Your grade in the class will be 1/3 what we cover in class, and 2/3 what happens online. If you want extra credit, talk to me privately.
Every week I will post my notes on this blog, then open it up for comments. I will also try to embed as many links as I can in the notes if you want to read further on any given topic.
At the end of the notes there will be three discussion questions to be discussed in the comments section.
What I expect of you:
1. Answer at least one of the DQ's each week. Answers should be at least 100 words, but no longer than the capacity of the comment box to hold.
2. If your comment generates a response or a question (from me or anybody else), post a response.
Three rules on this: 1 -- The original post should be the longest post in the discussion. 2 -- The original poster gets the last word. 3 -- Disagree without being disagreeable. Anybody who has seen cable news knows that meanness is the last refuge of the wrong-headed. Play nice, and don't stab.
OK, 3a. -- Don't freak out if you find out you hold a minority position. Disagreeing with me will get you bonus points, provided you can make a coherent case.
3. Post at least one response to something somebody else says. Indicate who you are addressing with an @ sign followed by the person's name, as in @JabbatheHut07. Keep your responses to a sentence or two, and phrase them in the form of a question the original poster can answer.
Your grade in the class will be 1/3 what we cover in class, and 2/3 what happens online. If you want extra credit, talk to me privately.
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