Online Social Studies Curriculum
No online curriculum is complete without a comprehensive social studies component. A well-designed social studies curriculum can enhance a student’s understanding of the complexities in our world, and help them feel connected to the communities around them. It can also instill critical-thinking skills and encourage civic engagement. Read on for some tips on what to look for in a strong social studies curriculum.
Why do we need to learn social studies?
Students need social studies to help them make connections between their personal experiences and the social systems influencing our world. Exposure to other cultures and historical events allows students to identify patterns and make connections within their lives. Learning about social studies allows students to develop civic competence – an ability to combine knowledge, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills in a variety of social contexts.
Effective social studies lessons help to build the foundations of civic competence one piece at a time. This leads to confident, young leaders who have the ability and expertise to affect their local, state, national, and global communities.
What does your child learn in social studies?
A complete social studies curriculum consists of a variety of topics that can be adapted for any age. Some examples include:
United States History – Students gain awareness of how historic events led to America’s position in the world today. Includes state names, state capitals, Native American history, European colonization, wars, slavery, technological growth, and democratic ideals.
World History – Learning world history helps students see how countries and cultures relate to each other. Includes cultural exploration, ancient civilizations, historical innovations, and precursors to current systems of government.
Geography – Children begin with foundational lessons that lead to advanced discussions on how geography influences culture and regional relationships. Includes continents and oceans, weather patterns, natural resources, and population changes over time.
Government – In these lessons, students learn the intricacies of how government affects the lives of people around the world every day. Includes local, state, and federal governments, the passage of laws, branches of government, constitutions, democracies, monarchies, and authoritarian governments.
Economics – Children gain an increasingly complex understanding of market fluctuations that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Includes supply and demand, production, consumption, labor, and economic systems.
Religion – World religions have shaped the cultural and political identities of populations everywhere. Studying them allows children to have a complete view of the many influences that impact our societies. Includes discussions of various religions, religious diaspora, and religious persecution.
Anthropology – Students can compare differences and similarities regarding their experiences with communities outside of their own. Includes an exploration of cultures around the globe, their languages, and their lifestyles.
Civics – A strong education in civics provides the tools for children to be the leaders of the next generation. Includes lessons on citizenship, rights and responsibilities, and community involvement.
Social Studies Curriculum Overview
Just like in every other area of a child’s development, gaining competence in social studies is a cumulative process. For example, high school students can more easily analyze the causes and effects for World War II when they’ve had gradually increasing exposure to the elements that surround it. This includes geography, culture, and government (among many other variables) that they accumulate earlier in their elementary and middle school education.
In the same way that learning the alphabet eventually leads to reading Shakespeare, curriculum is best when each step is appropriate to the child’s age and ability. Since social studies knowledge builds from one concept to the next, it is important to begin with these lessons early. We’ve compiled a list below that can help you make informed decisions about your online social studies curriculum.
Early Elementary Social Studies
Building interest and a wide breadth of knowledge early on can have a tremendous impact on civic competence later in life. In Miacademy’s early elementary grades, students learn about neighborhoods, continents and oceans, and the importance of good citizenship.
Upper Elementary Social Studies
As students move into their intermediate grades, they are ready to take on increasingly complex information about these topics. This builds toward exposure to types of government, the geography, laws and economics of various places, and U.S. history.
Middle School Social Studies
Middle school social studies curriculum leans on the increased understanding students have about the world around them. To meet this need, Miacademy students continue their education with our ancient world history, world geography and governments, basic geopolitical relationships, and advanced United States history lesson plans.
High School Social Studies
Social studies instruction in high school applies students’ prior learning to encourage a deeper understanding of world affairs. For example, students using MiaPrep, our high school curriculum, learn about:
- Population growth and movement
- World geography
- Various economic systems
- Production and consumption of resources
- Diverse societies around the world
- Ideologies of governance.
A strong social studies curriculum should provide students with the tools they need to apply their education to their own communities.
Because states have various requirements for social studies curriculum, our content offers you complete yet flexible lessons to meet your needs. Our focus has been to create grade-level appropriate content, helping you homeschool directly from our materials. Our social studies curriculum:
- Provides comprehensive social studies lessons
- Offers an adaptable curriculum to which you can add your own experiences, state’s history, child’s interests and more.
- Generates confidence by having comfortable transitions as you move through elementary, middle school, and high school lesson plans
Homeschool requirements can vary dramatically for each state, including the requirements for social studies curriculum. Check out the HSLDA to find your state’s homeschooling guidelines.
Why Choose Our Social Studies Curriculum?
The curricula from Miacademy and MiaPrep is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Schools – Western Association for Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC). Our accredited K-12 courses are designated as a Supplementary Education Program, indicating that they meet the high standards for educational quality in a homeschool or distance-learning program.
Some reasons families love our curriculum:
- Our social studies curriculum offers a complete series of lessons to meet the needs of parents and students wherever they are.
- Parents can easily manage their child’s learning path, adding or removing lessons as they see fit.
- We regularly send out extra resources for families, many of which fit perfectly into your social studies lessons. Recent resources have included Women’s History, Black History, and Earth Day celebrations
- Children can practice building a community by chatting on the site with other homeschoolers in a moderated, safe environment
- Students can enhance their flourishing comprehension of economics by setting up their own digital store within our website
- Many lessons include a helpful PDF that can reach learners of different ages and needs. These documents provide vocabulary, worksheets, guided notes, multi-sensory activities and more, with more being added all the time!
To get started, try some of these lessons:
- Let’s Take a Journey: Australia (early elementary school)
- Branches of Government (upper elementary school)
- The Seven Wonders (middle school)
- Constitutional Government: Types of Democracy (high school)
Social Studies Homeschool Resources
Here are some other social studies resources that could benefit your family, or would go wonderfully alongside our curriculum:
- News for Kids – A continually updated website with articles about current events, but written with language and background information that makes them more accessible for children.
- National Geographic Kids – A vast resource of videos, articles, and games that offer information on topics such as geography, civics, and natural resources.
- Google Earth – An interactive map where students can view the earth from space, identify continents, countries, and oceans, and make connections about the social and political relationships of societies based on their geography.
The old adage says that we should learn history in order to avoid repeating our mistakes, but a strong social studies curriculum will show that history is just a single piece of a much larger puzzle. Miacademy’s expertise and social studies curriculum can help you gain all the pieces you need to create a full learning experience for your child.