Inclusive Homeschool

I’m still on a high from yesterday’s inauguration – the long sustaining high that comes from inspiration and commitment. Not just the temporary sugar high of excitement, although, I confess, at this moment I feel that, too!

At 12:01 P.M., right after President Obama became our 44th president, his new website went up at whitehouse.gov.

Its interactive and it’s phenomenal. What a fantastic resource to keep engaged and knowledgeable as a citizen, and what a wonderful, real time way for students to learn about and participate in their government.

One of the features I love is the ability to review and comment on non-emergency legislation for five days before the President signs it. I see no age restriction here. My eleven year old can put in her two cents worth just as I can.

To keep up to date on what’s happening, you can sign up for email notices or subscribe to their rss feed. There will, also, be weekly videos starting Saturday, by the President.

You can read more in depth about these features here on The White House Blog.

URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/

The educational section is wonderful. Learn about the White House, the history of it, fun facts, time lines and slide shows.

URL:http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/white_house_101/

For a study on government, federal, state, judicial, and resources, this link is fabulous.

URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/our_government/

It’s a work in progress, but worth keeping up with. What better way to learn about our government, but to engage directly with it?

This is one way, that may inspire you and your student to become engaged in ways that are right for you in your own community.

Tags: Free Resources, fun facts, Government, history, interactive, obama, presidents, Social Studies, timeline, white house

This blog is currently going through some major changes. Inclusive Homeschool will be mainly a resources and reviews blog with a focus on inclusive curriculum.

When we are ready, Brhiannon and I will create another blog for our personal homeschooling adventure. We’ll announce it here when it’s up.

NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program.

This started November 1st. It’s the youth part of the National Novel Writing Month for adults, and runs from November 1st through the 30th, 2008.

Even if your child doesn’t participate in the event, and set a word count goal, they should at least sign up to receive the wonderful pep talks, emails, from various authors. There are, also, three e-workbooks you can download for free on creative writing.

I downloaded the elementary one, and it looks like a pretty helpful resource. Click on the highlighted corresponding words for the middle school and high school workbooks. Better yet, just go to the website and check it out for yourself, visit the forums, get ideas, inspiration and support. The website, itself, is wonderful with writing helps and prompts.

Brhiannon, who is a VERY reluctant writer has started on her novel. I frankly don’t care how far she gets with her word count. What matters is that this site inspired her to try something she normally wouldn’t.