I may have asked this before but I don't remember...if your kids are of school age, do you look at their text books? Specifically, their history books? On Youtube, somebody had posted Holocaust footage that Alfred Hitchcock had edited together, and I asked this on there because everybody's going on about 'if only we could learn from this, if only people would learn'...and I pointed out when I was in the 6th grade, I was 10 and learned about Anne Frank and the Jews being turned into dog food and dish soap, and then 3 grades later, the history books didn't even touch on any of that. And the kids today, it's a coin toss if they even HAVE history books, EVERYBODY must have their own laptop but the text books must get the rotation treatment among students. AND, as it turns out, HERE they tell the kids not to even read the chapters, just the notes, but THEN the kids don't know why they can't answer the questions on their homework.

Somebody replied saying their four kids were teenagers before they ever learned about black history and apparently they didn't get it out of the text books, but from home after they rented To Kill a Mockingbird and that sparked a conversation between the kids and the parents.

Some of my daughter's books are online, so they don't have to lug around the print copies, but I generally don't browse through them, since she's the type of person that spills everything about her day and everyone else's, at dinner, so I'm well informed.

I dont have kids, but have a really interesting book called "Lies My Teacher Told Me" that I know you would be interested in. It compares the nations most common textbooks and shows how some historical topics and events are edited out, while other books explore on it. REALLY interesting stuff.

When i was in school, "black history month" lasted for most of the year and we were taught more about MLK, civil rights, and slavery than we were other social/historical aspects. If felt like they were trying to shame us for being white. But it seemed to be soooo freakin repetitive... they taught the same stuff over and over.

when i was an adult, one of my black friends was taking a black history course and asked me if i knew the first black american author... when i said no he was like "see, schools are racist". I replied, "No, I dont know the first white american author either" LOL

wants2laugh wrote:

I dont have kids, but have a really interesting book called "Lies My Teacher Told Me" that I know you would be interested in. It compares the nations most common textbooks and shows how some historical topics and events are edited out, while other books explore on it. REALLY interesting stuff.

When i was in school, "black history month" lasted for most of the year and we were taught more about MLK, civil rights, and slavery than we were other social/historical aspects. If felt like they were trying to shame us for being white. But it seemed to be soooo freakin repetitive... they taught the same stuff over and over.

when i was an adult, one of my black friends was taking a black history course and asked me if i knew the first black american author... when i said no he was like "see, schools are racist". I replied, "No, I dont know the first white american author either" LOL

It's a good point. I honestly don't remember if the history classes I had ever taught about the first authors, I didn't really pay too good attention to the material until it came to the timeline for slavery, and from there into the 20th century but anything before that I never paid much attention to. Good thing about homeschooling, it's expensive because you BUY your own books so when the grade is over, you still have them. Someday I'll have to unpack them and go over the history courses again to see what all they did cover.

Wow, my mom was the first person in NJ to homeschool and they lent her the books, did not have to buy them. They gave her the cirriculum and books and my bro had to pass a test at the end of each year.

Thanks for the info shale! I totally agree with you

wants2laugh wrote:

Wow, my mom was the first person in NJ to homeschool and they lent her the books, did not have to buy them. They gave her the cirriculum and books and my bro had to pass a test at the end of each year.

When was that?

I think we were the first or one of the first families around here to do it and it was not popular and in fact people were trying to outlaw it and SRS workers were trying to get into the homes to speak to the children but would not tell the parents why because 'it's a secret', and when they were asked what their probable cause for wanting to see the children was, all they could say was 'what?' Scary to know these were the people who decided when children needed to be removed from their homes.

hmm... i think my bro was in about 7th grade... so i would say 1987ish... i remember that she had to go to trenton and have some hearing before the BOE would allow her to homeschool... the state needed to give permission before the local could. there was no media fanfare because she was teh first and had to do what she had to do. my bro was anti social and would have panic attacks if he went to school... so home schooling was the only option

Nystyle709 wrote:

wants2laugh wrote:

When i was in school, "black history month" lasted for most of the year and we were taught more about MLK, civil rights, and slavery than we were other social/historical aspects. If felt like they were trying to shame us for being white. But it seemed to be soooo freakin repetitive... they taught the same stuff over and over.

LOL, really? I find that hard to believe. The fact that MLK and slavery are about the ONLY thing that gets taught where it concerns black history, when the real fact of the matter is there needs to be a curriculum that encompass more than MLK and slavery. Black history can't be taught in one month. And most of the things that I've learned about history didn't come from school.

Ain't that the truth? I read more about history now than I ever did when I was in school, and the selection's a lot better these days as well.

I have before, but it was usually if I was helping her with her homework; I'd skim through the book just to see how different it read compared to when I was her age and taking those kinds of classes.