English
Physical and Political Geography Credit
(2008-2011)

I started my Physical and Political Geography credit by attending a class where we followed a curriculum designed by Heifer International, a humanitarian aid group which works all over the world. The first curriculum took us into a lot of detail about South America, specifically Ecuador. We learned a lot about the people of Ecuador, and, among other things, took a field trip to see alpacas, a native species to Ecuador. The next January, we worked on the next level of the curriculum, this time on the things we, in America, consume, how they are grown and how they get to us. Along the way, we got to learn the shady story of the banana republics and how to be a consumer reporter, among other things. We also made a visit to a fair trade store in Hackettstown called 'What in the World'. After I had finished these two projects, I read through Collapse by Jared Diamond, a book about how and why societies collapse, to finish my credit.

Here are some highlights from my Physical and Political Geography Credit! 

United States History Credit
(2009-2011)

I started out by attending an American History class at Shippen Manor, where my mentor, Andy Drysdale, took us through many periods of American history, from the settlement of this country by Europeans to the Civil War. In the class, we discussed different events and characters from the history of the United States. I watched movies and Lecturepoints, and read documents, books and websites to gather information for my reports. I also wrote reports on various people and events from United States history. It was really scary to see just how brutal all sides in early American conflicts could be. The major piece of knowledge I took away from this credit was that history, if you really look at the underlying cause for everything, is all about economics.

Here are some highlights from my United States History Credit! 

American Government Credit
(2010-2011)

In my American Government Credit, I attended an American Government class, where a small group of homeschoolers and I got together to study the government and history of the United States. We used Hippocampus mostly, which has an excellent United States Government curriculum. To begin with, we looked at the Magna Carta, Common Sense by Thomas Paine, the Declaration of Independence and other documents leading up to the Constitution. In October, we studied the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as the different books on how the powers in our government work. We took a field trip to Philadelphia to see the Constitution Center and other attractions. We then went on a trip to Washington DC, and got to tour many of the places we had read about. After the trip, we studied voting on Hippocampus, and then went to Trenton, where we met with our assemblymen and senator and toured the statehouse, among other things. As well as working on the Hippocampus lessons, we began listening to episodes of the Diane Rehm show on the Constitution. We also went to see our state governor, Chris Christie, speak and asked him some questions. We looked at the three different powers, executive, legislative and judicial, as well as researching the national debt. We finished up by looking at our county, municipal and town government as well as researching civil rights.

Here are some highlights from my American Government Credit!