500 Topics For Homeschooling
Several years ago I put a list down of things that I wanted my children to know.
My wife and I have homeschooled our children all the way from birth to high school graduation. (We still have two at home who will finish next year, but the plan to do our education the same way we did with their brothers isn’t likely to change.) I am very proud of who they have become and the kind of energy they pour into their own learning. One of my children is going, on his own, to a lecture tonight to hear about philosophy and Western Civilization. We didn’t need to prompt him to go, he decided that it was something he wanted to see and is making the effort himself. My wife and I will someday talk more about our adventure. Not because we did it perfectly, but because the important aspect of raising a child is to make them the best human possible.
I used to adore the seven sacred subjects. Math, Science, Reading, etc. but what I realized through our journey of homeschooling was that making a smarter and better version of the State’s version of an educated child isn’t going to help save Western Civilization. So often in our pursuit of things, we mimic what we already know. When we started, I bought desks and chalkboards for the boys so that they could have a school experience, but just in our basement. As they matured and discovered their own voices, we found out that making them into more diligent and obedient state facsimiles was not helping them become better humans. It took a great deal of energy and discussion late at night lying beside my teary wife to get through to the other side of what the definition of education really is.
Did we want our kids to just be the version the state hoped that they could create in their industrialized machine, but just with better capabilities and without their influence? The answer for us became an unequivocal and forceful: NO!
When my boys turned 12 we started to notice that they wanted more from their learning. They wanted to whittle and build rockets. They wanted to dig in the banks of the streams and wander in the tall grasses. They would sit for a moment and do their math, but their curiosity would always get the better of them. After a frustrating couple of years where my wife and I would frustratingly, and defeatedly force them into the old State version of education at our kitchen table, we finally gave up and said to them to pursue what they wanted. The explosion in learning for them was real. We started to read books and lots of them. We read the classics: Illiad, Odyssey, and Gilgamesh. We read great poets, Whitman, Cummings, and Dickenson. Then we talked about it, chapter by chapter. I asked them what they thought, how they saw it, what they would do with the angst that the books created…and they answered me. The depth of their discussions got deeper and more philosophical. They argued with each other, with me, with my friend who was helping us decipher the texts.
We dove into “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful” by Edmond Burke as a precursor to reading Moby Dick. We leaned into dystopia with A Brave New World, The Fixed Period, and White Noise. All of it made them better learners. They wanted to find out what it all meant. Why do these themes surface in humanity over and over again? It became a pursuit rather than drudgery, and it was amazing.
Somewhere in that time, I gave them 500 topics they could explore. They didn’t have to do them all, but if they ever ran out of things to explore, they could dive into these topics. I found that list again this morning while I was cleaning up some old files. It brought back a great deal of happiness to my heart. We are nearing the end of the time when our children will be living with us. Our intense time of raising and educating our kids is nearly complete. I have my own existential wrestling to do with that - if I am completely honest, I have some heartbreak around it all. I love who they are, but I miss those early teenage years of their educational wild frontier. I loved the conversations and the depth of who my sons were becoming. That “project”, for a lack of term, is drawing to a close and I am living with a torment of both pride and sadness.
I thought you as readers might enjoy this list. Perhaps you might want to move through them yourself. Maybe your children could benefit from them? I have had more conversations about homeschooling in the last month than I have the entire time we were doing it. It seems that people are waking up to the idea that our society will not survive without a different effort and a more Socratic way of teaching. The system is designed to make factory workers, our culture and our liberty will never last with that as the highest objective.
I would love your thoughts on these topics. I believe myself to have a heart for education and teaching and if there are any of these that you think I should break down further, I would happily engage with you on it. From my heart and head to yours:
500 Topics To Explore
Topics for Exploration:
Research Edible plants
How to cook a pheasant
What is the Great Awakening
How does a car move
Who is St. George Tucker
How to use Final Cut Pro
Record an original piece of music for iTunes
Make an online store with branding and drop shipping
How to build a personal blog
How to make chocolate
How to roast coffee
Make an herbal tea from the wild
Get an article published
Start a podcast
Carpentry
Blacksmith
Welding
Silversmith
Study investments
History of the federal reserve
History of the income tax
Civil war study
Who was Andrew Jackson
Who was John Taylor of Caroline
Who was John C. Calhoun
Who was Calvin Coolidge
Who was Dwight D. Eisenhower
Memorize Eisenhower's farewell address
Memorize George Washington Farewell address
Who was James Maddison
Read a George wythe book/ biography
What was the mason dixon line
What was Dread Scott
Who was William Lloyd Garrison
Who was Henry Clay
Who was Nathanial Green
Who was Jefferson Davis
Who was Nathan Bedford Forrest
What was the compromise of 1850
Who was Daniel Webster
Who was Booker T. Washington
Who was Crazy Horse
Who was Red Cloud
Who was Sitting Bull
Who was George Custer
Who was John Tyler
Who was General Robert E. Lee
What was/is Arlington
What was the Battle of Gettysburg
What was the Emancipation Proclamation
Who was Pavlov
Who was John Dewey
Who was Margret Sanger
Who was Woodrow Wilson
Who was FDR
What is Federalism
What is Anti-Federalism
How do you make a vinyl record
How does a microphone work
How does film work
How does amplification work
What was the British Empire?
What is the Panama Canal
What is the history of Hong Kong
What happened in china that caused the American Revolution
What was the Battle of Midway
What was the Battle of the Bulge
Who was George Patton
Who was Francis Bacon
What is the enlightenment
Read Common Sense
Read the Rights of Man
Read any Jefferson biography
Who was Patrick Henry
How does a state join the union
How was the calendar developed
Why did we go to the moon
Who was Louis Armstrong
Who was Duke Ellington
Who was Hoagie Carmichael
Read Gone With the Wind
Who was John Calvin
Who was John Wesley
Who was George Whitfield
Who was Johnathan Edwards
Who was Anselm
Who was Augustine
How do you make wine
How do you make sourdough bread
How do you skin a deer
How do you make leather
Who was Stonewall Jackson
What was the Battle of the Wilderness
What was the Battle of Bunker Hill
What was the Battle of Fredericksburg
Who was Wilmer McLean
Who was Butch Cassidy
What was the California Gold Rush
What was the War of 1812
Who was Cezanne
Memorize the Declaration of Independence
Memorize the amendments to the Constitution
Read the Confederate Constitution
Who was the Marquis De Lafayette
.Who was Warren Berger
What was Plessy v. Ferguson
What was Marburry v Maddison
What was Lochner v. New York
What was Wickard v. Fillburn
Who was Sam Adams
Who was Napoleon
How do you make whiskey
What were the Articles of Confederation
Who was Josephus
Who was Abigail Adams
Who was Ben Franklin
What is the Liberty Bell
How does the telephone work
How does a cell phone work
How does a thermometer work
How are things pickled
Who is William Morris
What is the English craftsman movement
What is the American Arts and Crafts Movement
How are metals made
Who is John Hancock
Who is Paul Revere
Read the Disquisition on Government - John C. Calhoun
What was the East India Trading Company
Why is some of Canada French
Who was John A. MacDonald
Who was Mary Queen of Scotts
Read the Magna Carta
How do you process wool
What is the Boston Massacre
What is the Spanish Revolution
What is the first French Revolution
Who was Francis of Assisi
Play a Bach piece
Why was tobacco important in America
Why is cotton important to America
What is the role of the Portuguese in American History
How did the Civil War start
Who was Jefferson Davis
Who was John Quincy Adams
Who was Grover Cleveland
Who was John Brown
Who was General Mclelland
Who was W.E.B. Dubois
How does a sailship work
What is a cryptocurrency
What is fiat currency
What is hard money
What is Wall Street
What is a stock
What is a bond
What is interest
who is King Richard
Who is Gandhi
What is the role of the British in India d
Who are the Puritans
Who are the Pilgrims
Who is Squanto
Who is Washington Irving
What is a nation-state
Who is Ayn Rand
Who is Milton Freedman
Who is Ludwig Von Mises
What is the Chicago School of Economics
What is the Austrian School of Economics
Who is John Maynard Keynes
How did and 18th century family live
How did the South secede from the Union - what were their arguments for this
Who was Abraham Lincoln
Who was Steven Douglass
What was the Confederacy
Who is Samuel Clemens
Who is John Muir
Who is Ronald Reagan
What is the 7 years War
What is the 100 years War
Who was Joan of Arc
How did Texas gain independence
Who is Sam Huston
Who is Davey Crocket
Who is Daniel Boone
Who is Jim Bridger
Who is John Colter
Who is Susan B. Anthony
Who is Marie Antionette
Who is Louis the 16th
Who is Frederic Bastiat
Who is Frederic Nitzsche
Who is Jean Paul Sartre
Who is Rousseau
Who is Voltaire
Who is Hobbs
Who is Frank Lloyd Wright
Who is Victor Hugo
What is the Hudson Bay Company
Memorize the Gettysburg address
Read JFK's inaugural address
Read Ronald Reagan’s WW2 address for Normandy
What was D-Day
What was the Manhattan project
What is the Caspian Sea
Why is the Black Sea important
What is the Suez Canal
What is Breton Woods
What is Watergate
What is Fort Jefferson
What is the Colorado-Big Thompson project
Read modern visions along the Poudre Valley
Who was Mr. Avery in Fort Collins history
How does slow motion work
What is the keystone pipeline
What is the ANWR
What is the Cold War
Who was Nikita Khrushchev
Who is Fidel Castro
Who is Che Guevara
What is the Bay of Pigs
What is the Iranian Student Revolt
What is the Russian Revolution
What is the Tennessee Power Authority
What is the Hoover Dam
What is the Shenandoah Valley
What is the Battle of Shilo
Who is Colonel Chivington
What is the Sand Creek massacre
What is the Transcontinental railroad
Who is Cornelius Vanderbilt
Who is Alexander Graham Bell
Who was Thomas Edison
Who was Andrew Carnegie
Who was John D. Rockefeller
Who was JP Morgan
Who was Chief Joseph
Who are the Nez Pierce
What is the battle of Little Bighorn / Greasy Grass
Read the ant-federalist papers
Read the Federalist papers
Who is Doc Holliday
Who was Wyatt Earp
What is the shootout at the OK Corral
Who is Frederic Remmington
Who is Buffalo Bill
Who is Annie Oakley
Who is Steve Jobs
Who is Saul Alinsky
Who is Malcom X
Who is Noam Chomsky
Who is Bill Ayers
What is the Weather Underground
Read a Disney biography
What is the Black Panther Party
What was the Bull Moose party
What was the Whig party
Who was Aaron Burr
Who was Franklin Pierce
Who invented the game Monopoly
What is a monopoly
What is the Sherman anti-trust act
Read a book by Sinclair Lewis
How does a computer circuit work
Who was Charles Eames
Who is Buckminster Fuller
Who was Louis Sullivan
What was the World’s Fair
When did the modern Olympics start
Who was Eric Lydell
Who was Jesse Owens
Who was Bart Starr
Who was Johnny Unitas
Who is Babe Ruth
Who was Lou Gehrig
Who was Ty Cobb
What were the Negro Leagues
Who is Wayne Gretzky
Who was Terry Fox
Who was Oscar Peterson
Who was Samuel D. Champlain
Who Was the count DeFrontenac
Who was Arthur Currie
Who was Pierre Trudeau
Who was Sir James Douglass
What is the Canadian constitution and differences with the US
What is a parliamentary system of government
What started World War 1
Who was General Pershing
What was the Oregon trail
What was the Donner Party
What was the Santa Fe Trail
What was Fur Trapping like
What was the Louisiana Purchase
Who was Westinghouse
What is the Eerie Canal
What was the Northwest Passage
What happened at Jekyll Island in 1913
What is zoning
What are property rights
Ask Grandpa about his career
Ask Grandpa about Great Grandpa’s career
Take a tour of Fort Collins with Dad
How does wind power work
How does solar power work
How does oil work
What does oil do
What is the first law of thermodynamics
What is the second law of thermodynamics
Who was Issac Newton
Who was Ponce Deleon
Who was Cortez
Who was Magellan
Who was Sir Cook
Who was Blackbeard
What are the West Indies
What are the East Indies
What are the US territories
How does a lightbulb work
How does groundwater/ well water work
How does a siphon work
How does a pump work
What is the speed of the rotation of the earth
What is the Hubble Telescope
What is gravity
What is terminal velocity
How does a gun work
How does an airplane fly
How does a record player work
How does a spring-loaded watch work
What is momentum
What is centrifugal force
What is a centrifuge and how is it used
What is inoculation
What is pasteurization
Who was Louis Pasture
Who was Madame Currie
Who was Hellen Keller
Who were the Wright Brothers
Who was Charles Lindbergh
Who was Cecil B. Demil
Who was William Lloyd Garrison
Who was John Wooden
Who was Huey Long
Compare O Brother where art thou to the Odyssey
Read a River Runs Through It
Read the Book on Paul from the Bible
Read the book of Common Prayer
Read the Illusion of Victory
Read Ron Paul Revolution
Make a hardwood keepsake box
Make a candle
Make soap
Make butter
Repair our fence
What is 5G
How does animation work
Build a personal brand
Learn photoshop
Learn In-Design
Learn Illustrator
Learn Autocad
Sew your own shirt
Design a house on paper
Make a simple machine for a task
Make a rube-Goldberg machine
Who was Rose Wilder Lane
Who was Isabel Patterson
Read the God of the Machine
Read Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
who was Bobby Kennedy
Who was Newton Jones
Take an online class about plants
Collect 10 leaves and identify the trees using a dichotomous key
What are 5 eco-zones in Colorado
What are 3 key components to a healthy coral reef
What is a seagrass bed
What is a Parrot Fish
What is a Queen Angel Fish
What is a sponge in the ocean
What causes the tide
Who was Charlemagne
Who was Queen Isabella
Who was Christopher Columbus
Who was Hitler
Who was Stalin
Who was Pol Pot
Who was Joseph Stalin
Who was Karl Marx
Who was Vladimir Lenin
Who was Micheal Gorbachev
What was East Germany
What was Yugoslavia
Who was Phil Mahre
Who was Carl Lewis
What was the war in Bosnia
Make a pot from clay
Make a wooden bowl
What was Pan American
What was Pan Am 103
What was TWA
Who was Howard Hughes
What was the Titanic
Who was Molly Brown
Who was Calamity Jane
Who were Bonnie and Clyde
What was the Hole in the Wall
Who was Dale Earnhardt
What is NASCAR's history
What is the Empire State Building
What was 9/11
Who were the Barbary Pirates
Who was Erwin Rommel
Who was Rudolph Hess
Who was Herman Goring
Who was Henrick Himmler
What is propaganda
What was the Iron Curtain
What is checkpoint Charlie
What was Fort Sumter
What was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment
Who was Levi Strauss
Who was Robert Gould Shaw
Who is Joshua Chamberlain
What is the battle of Little Round Top
What was Pickett's Charge
What was the Battle of Bull Run
What was the era of good feelings
Who was John Marshal
Who was Thurgood Marshall
Who was George Wallace
What were the Dixicrats
Who was James Otis
What was the Battle of New Orleans
Who was Dolly Maddison
Who was James Monroe
Who was Horacio Jackson
What were the Napoleonic wars
Who was William Henry Harrison
Who was James Polk
Who was William Jennings Bryant
What was Bloody Kansas
What was Harpers Ferry
Who was Max Stirner
Who was Charles Darwin
Who was Dante
Who was Immanuel Kant
Read A Christmas Carol
Who was Ho Chi Minh
What was the Vietnam war
What was the Korean War
Who was Douglass McArthur
Who was Irving Berlin
Read Tragedy of the Korosko
Read A Diamond as Big as the Ritz
Read How to Build a Fire
Read Greenmantle
Read Time Machine
Read Journey to the Center of the Earth
Read the 39 Steps
Read the Man Who Was Thursday
Read the Machine Stops
Read the Marching Morons
Read the Scarlet Plague
Read the Fixed Period
Read Burning Daylight
Read The Overcoat
Read the Million Pound Bank Note
Read the Island of Dr. Moreau
Read A.D. 2150
Watch 12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson
Read America Alone
Read After America
Read the Great Divorce
Read the Screwtape Letters
Read Love is Now
Read An Arrow Pointing to Heaven
What was the Big Short
Who is Thomas Sowell
Who was Walter E. Williams
Read the Road To Serfdom
Read The Vision of the Anointed
Read Tyranny Unmasked
Read Economics in One Lesson
Who was Henry Hazlitt
What was the Louisiana Purchase
Who was Scott Joplin
Who was Alexis de Tocqueville
Read Democracy in America
Who was Emperor Hirohito
What is a samurai
Who was John Rutledge
Who was Charles Pinckney
Who was Edward Rutledge
Who was Thomas Heyward Jr.
What are George Lucas's contributions to the film industry
Who was John Ford
Who was John Wayne
Who was Frank Capra
Here's another. Teach them to play poker. In poker, it's not necessarily what you have that counts, it's what your opponents think you have: life lesson.
I would add "Fighting" Bob LaFollette (American progressive), Muhammed Ali, the Frankfurt School, Post Modernism, Dr. MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail and I Have a Dream, Milton Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom".
'terrific list. You and your wife did your kids a monumental favor.