Today’s chat is about history curriculum, and you’re in for a treat so keep reading by scrolling down, and be sure to listen to the podcast (click on the play button above.)
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Diversity in history curriculum?
What does this mean exactly? For those interested- why is it important to include multiculturalism and diversity in our history curriculum? And for those of us in the U.S.- American History?
I was honored to speak with Belinda Bullard of A Blessed Heritage Educational Resources on today’s podcast. I hope you’ll enjoy this interview as much as I enjoyed this chat with Belinda.
Who is Belinda Bullard?
Belinda Bullard is a homeschool mom of three and married to her best friend. She has a degree in chemical engineering and is also a writer and a college instructor. Belinda runs her own homeschool publishing company called A Blessed Heritage Educational Resources, an inclusive history curriculum for families of all ethnicities.
Belinda and her husband have raised three children: a 22-year-old who has graduated from college and is working in the adult world now, a 19-year-old who is in his second year of college, and a 14-year-old daughter, her last student at home.
What inspired her to write an inclusive history curriculum?
Blessed Heritage offers a series of living-books-based products and offers a series of history products that feature the African American experience.
By inclusive, Belinda means that it is not strictly an African American history curriculum. It is a diverse portrayal of American history.
Upon realizing the lack of the non-traditional narrative for the African American experience present in history curriculum, she moved forward to carry out a new vision. She decided to create a curriculum that would focus not only on the African American narrative but incorporate the traditional stories of the Latino and Asian sector in American history.
What is the worldview of Blessed Heritage?
Blessed Heritage comes from a strongly Christian worldview. Belinda believes that all history is God’s story and it is all controlled and destined according to His will and purpose.
What Blessed Heritage is NOT
- It is not Afro-centered history or African history.
- It is not a place for retaliation for social injustices.
Belinda’s goal is to equip children to influence through their words and understanding of history.
What it means to give a holistic education
Being home with your kids gives you more time to invest in your kids and promote communication amongst one another, as opposed to disconnecting and disengaging through social media.
We are blessed because homeschooling gives our children more time to develop their passions and their callings.
We can speak to our children in terms of their academic growth but also pour into helping them develop into who they will become. We have a major part to play in shaping our children’s development by tapping into their callings.
Check out the Blessed Heritage curriculum
Primary Level: Our History, HIS-Story: Using Literature to Weave the African-American Presence Into the Fabric of Early American History
Primary Volume 1: hard copy
Primary Volume 2: hard copy
Middle School Level: This Far by Faith: A Literature-Based History featuring African-American Presence and Contribution
Middle School Volume 1: hard copy
Middle School Volume 2: hard copy
High School Level: When I Was a Child
High School Volume 1: hard copy
High School Volume 2: hard copy
Click here for more information on supplemental material (Harlem Renaissance, history podcasts, and Nurturing Christian Character through the Black Experience)
Coming soon: A Heart for the Nations series focusing on Guatemala and Haiti!
Tips for using the history curriculum program with younger kids
Don’t over-expect and take away from the fun of learning. Try to make things enjoyable.
Be sure you understand your child: watch them and be a student of your child. Get to know their learning styles (kinesthetic, audio, visual).
You may not need to require narrations every day. Tweak instructions according to your child’s needs, and just make the process fun! Belinda’s Primary levels give lots of opportunities to read various book selections not typically encountered and try new things like activities and cultural recipes.
Tips for teaching history curriculum to older kids
At the middle school level, students are moving into grammar correction and writing fundamentals. This is when we can begin more dialogue and Socratic teaching asking the question “why”.
At the high school level, we may cover perspectives and biases and have kids learn these critical skills in becoming articulate themselves through written form (essays) and spoken form, as well as determining peer-reviewed or credible resources as opposed to fake news.
Advice to moms who experience burnout
Quotes by Belinda:
Homeschooling is a marathon, not a sprint.
and
School becomes the off-shoot of what’s happening in the home.
- Minimize the workload
- Change up methodology
- Use older siblings to help with the younger ones
- Take a break when you need one. Your home is not the public school system.
- Set priorities of learning. Instead of looking at every subject for child,
- Remember self-care: get rest, stay healthy
Advice to moms who want to start a curriculum publishing company
Learn pedagogy basics and the art of teaching children, for starters. Starting a curriculum business or publishing company takes a bit more than motivation: you’ll need knowledge of how kids learn and how to reach them.
Secondly, understand the nature of business (customer service, etc.). Learning business skills will prove beneficial in helping you run your company.
Remember that sometimes we are building our businesses for our children, to help pass on knowledge of entrepreneurship to our kids.
And, most of all, if this is something you really desire to do, there is nothing you can’t accomplish!
Ways to reach out to Belinda
Find out more about what Belinda offers:
Yes! Thank you so much for doing this episode. I am a white mom of three kids and we are just beginnining to homeschool. Our oldest is 5 so history will not feature super heavily this year, but the issue of teaching history from a balanced viewpoint and the necessity of talking about white supremacy and unjust systems of power early on (and the lack of that discussion in many curriculums both homeschool and traditional) has been stressing me out. I had been dissappointed with the curriculums I had reviewed thus far. I have been building a list of living books to balance our viewpoints in history and had purchased Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson. But this curriculum seems like it will remove a lot of that leg work. Will definitely check this curriculum out. Thank you!
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast, Maggie! I really appreciate your response. We really love Heart and Soul- that is a wonderful book with many truths from a perspective that isn’t often enough seen in our typical history texts. And yes, I think you’ll glean much from Belinda’s material since it takes the guesswork out of getting started in the direction of an inclusive and balanced history curriculum. I like that it is super simple and to the point- no fluff. Lots of activities for the younger kids too. Thanks again for taking time to respond! Have a blessed week 🙂