Respecting Differences: A Homeschool Lesson on Sitting Bull

Sometimes homeschooling makes me physically ill. 

Reading about Sitting Bull and Native Americans, etc. to my teen son Joel. And I have lots of comments but compare it to this:

It's like my neighbor Dave comes into my house and just decides he wants it and takes it and moves in and locks my fridge so my family can't eat our own food. And then he tells me to just go somewhere else, to this little stick fort he built for me out back, and that he totally won't mess with my family; he promises!!!! Then we start fighting because THAT IS MY HOUSE and then we all die. HORRIBLE! 

And I'm not sure what the Native Americans were supposed to do with CASH MONEY for selling the Black Hills (gold!) ... head down to the Sam's Club and buy some junk like white people do? (I also don't get why Grant was dying to know about gold and then word got out and he was like, "Oops, better get those miners out of there and guard them with US soldiers who might give them a hand slap!")

Talk about not respecting differences. I mean, just because the NAs were more peaceful and used their resources better and didn't worship God and Jesus, let's mess with them and wipe them out. We came here for RELIGIOUS FREEDOM and, boy, did that get twisted.

No, it's not so bad these days here, but it's more subtle. So many of us are so intolerant of someone who is not exactly like us ... let us all ponder this during Lent, religious or not, shall we?

Homeschool More Than One Subject/Kid at Once for Free ... The Who Was What Was Book Series

Check out the books we have right now in our home: art, authors, architecture, faith, Black history, science, geography and events. That's a lot of cool FREE learning on my floor there :-)

I had my 15-year-old son Joel compose a list of the Who Was/Is books from Penguin because we are finding them to be so awesome. We do love Story of the World as well, for history for multiple ages, but it's fun to stop and read a quick biography of a person we find out about in Story of the World or just pick one up to read anytime.

I like to read these to all five kids at once and call it English and History. I like to homeschool multiple kids at a time to SAVE time and also do multiple subjects to save time ... this is how we can be more laid-back and have more time for playing outside, meeting friends at the park, etc. You can read a chapter a day or easily blow through one in a day. We normally do a chapter or two a day.

There's even a Mad Libs so you can beef up your kids' parts of speech knowledge while having fun at the same time!

If the thought of finding time to read to the kids right now freaks you out, you can assign a book to a kid to read and then have them tell the family about it orally or have them practice their report-writing skills. It's all up to you! And these are at the library so you can also homeschool for free using these resources.

Here's the list in alphabetical order by first name. I'll do another post for the "What Was" series or just add them here ... I haven't decided yet ... you let me know what you prefer :-)

Abigail Adams

Abraham Lincoln

Albert Einstein

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander the Great

Alfred Hitchcock

Amelia Earhart

Andrew Jackson

Andy Warhol

Anne Frank

Annie Oakley

Babe Ruth

Barack Obama

Beatrix Potter

Beecher Stowe

Ben Franklin

Betsy Ross

Bill Gates

Blackbeard

Bob Dylan

Bob Marley

Bruce Lee

Bruce Springsteen

Cesar Chavez

Charles Darwin

Charles Dickens

Charlie Chaplin

Christopher Columbus

Clara Barton

Claude Monet

Daniel Boone

Davy Crockett

Derek Jeter

Dolly Parton

Dr. Seuss

Earnest Shackleton

Edgar Allan Poe

Eleanor Roosevelt

Elton John

Elvis Presley

Ferdinand Magellan

Fidel Castro

Frank Lloyd Wright

Franklin Roosevelt

Frederick Douglas

Frida Kahlo

Galileo

Gandhi

Genghis Khan

George Lucas

George Washington Carver

George Washington

Gloria Steinem

Hail to the Chiefs

Harriet Tubman

Harry Houdini

Helen Keller

Henry Ford

Hillary Clinton

Isaac Newton

J.K. Rowling

J.R.R. Tolkien

Jackie Kennedy

Jackie Robinson

Jacques Cousteau

Jane Goodall

Jeff Kinney

Jesse Owens

Jesus

Jim Henson

Joan of Arc

John F. Kennedy

Johnny Appleseed

Jules Verne

Julia Child

Julius Caesar

King Tut

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Leonardo Da Vinci

Lewis Carroll

Louis Armstrong

Louis Braille

Lucille Ball

Malala Yousafzai

Marci Polo

Maria Talchief

Marie Antoinette

Marie Curie

Mark Twain

Martin Luther King. Jr.

Maurice Sendak

Maya Angelou

Michael Jackson

Michelle Obama

Milton Bradley

Milton Hershey

Mother Theresa

Muhammad Ali

Neil Armstrong

Nelson Mandela

Pablo Picasso

Paul Revere

Pete Seeger

Pope Francis

Princess Diana

Queen Elizabeth

Queen Victoria

Rachel Carson

Ralph Lauren (coming soon)

Richard Branson

Roald Dahl

Robert E. Lee

Robert Ripley

Roberto Clemente

Ronald Reagan

Rosa Parks

Sacagewea

Sally Ride

Seabiscuit

Sitting Bull

Sojourner Truth

Sonia Sotamayor

Stan Lee

Steve Erwin

Steve Jobs

Steven Spielberg

Stevie Wonder (coming soon)

Susan B. Anthony

The Beatles

The Brothers Grimm

The Rolling Stones

The Three Stooges (coming soon)

The Wright Brothers

Theodore Roosevelt

Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Jefferson

Ulysses S. Grant

Venus and Serena Williams

Walt Disney

Wayne Gretzky

Who was Activity Book

Who was Mad Libs

William Shakespeare

Winston Churchill

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Woodrow Wilson Want more laid-back homeschool? Come on over and give me a like here on Facebook!