I think when I finally committed to the decision that I would be homeschooling our kids this year, my very next thought was a celebratory one: I get to teach Black History! And I have made it my goal this whole school year to teach a history with multiple perspectives and representation. I remind my kids that every story has more than one perspective. I ask each of my kids to tell me their side of a story when I want to find out what happened. So it stands to reason that we should do the same when we study history, right?
But February is the pièce de résistance. It is when we take those heroes that we’ve been learning about in our history studies and in the literature we read and we celebrate them a little more. And even though I thought I was doing a pretty good job, two weeks into BHM and one of my kids said, “I didn’t realize Rosa Parks was Black!” Ugh. Obviously repetition is necessary!
In case you think I’m lying about how much I love BHM, I was trying to think how I could prove it to you. Here’s what I’ve got: When I was finally blessed to bring babies into this world, they were born 10 weeks early. Our closest friends all said their birthdate was perfect for two reasons:
1- they were born on Super Bowl Sunday. My husband is a football coach. He still likes to joke that it was a sign that the twins dedicated their lives to football. For the record, I do not concur.
2- they were born on February 1–the first day of Black History Month. Our friends all knew how much I already celebrated and loved BHM and knew that blessing the month to begin with my babies’ birthday was icing on the cake! Yes, I am serious.
Fast forward 12 years. Our “babies” just turned 12 and we have this magnificent opportunity to celebrate Black History Month together. I mean, really celebrate.
Want to know what we’re doing?
I know this February is already more than halfway over, but if you are looking for ideas, or if you come across this post in future years, I hope it inspires you to make your Black History Month a memorable one.
The Reading
I actually shared an in-depth list of the books we are reading this month on the Houston Moms Blog. You can see that here. We are reading three longer works and quite a few picture books. I also have a few compilation books that are full of wonderful heroes in Black History (they’re pictured below in “The Research”). We are using those as our primary research sources since some of my kids are too young to do internet research yet and I want them to learn how to research through books since this is still a relevant skill. I’ll explain how I am putting all of these books to use and I’m even including our schedule below. I also wanted to do more with writing–you’ll see more about that below.
Each week we are reading a few picture books aloud together, then one longer work. The first week, we read Kadir Nelson’s masterpiece Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Everything about this book is breathtaking. But if you really want to get the most out of this phenomenal piece of art, I highly recommend having your kids follow along as you listen together to the audiobook. Seriously. It takes it to a whole new level.
The second week, we read about Mary McLeod Bethune. I used this beautiful old book that was a part of the “Black Americans of Achievement” series because it begins with a beautiful introductory essay by Coretta Scott King which felt like its own lesson before the book even began. This book is very straightforward and is full of photographs and facts that tell about the amazing woman Mary McLeod Bethune was.
Now we are reading Zora Neale Hurston’s collection of Black folklore entitled Every Tongue Got to Confess. My kids are LOVING it!
Before we began her book, though, we read the stunning new picture book entitled Jump at the Sun: the True Life Tale of Unforgettable Storyteller Zora Neale Hurston. It just came out in January and I had pre-ordered a copy because I absolutely love Zora Neale Hurston and knew this would be a gem. It did not disappoint. Not only does this story give a wonderful account of Zora Neale Hurston’s life, it also leaves each reader inspired to “jump at the sun.” This intro really helped my kids understand what it was we were reading as we began Every Tongue Got to Confess.
Disclaimer: Obviously I am not prescribing the plan I’ve made for my family to be followed EXACTLY by every family. We are all different, with different ages of kids and different reading and writing levels, so I hope this post will help you find what will work for your family. No pressure!
The Quilt
I wanted us to make something that would incorporate the things we are learning, push my kids to do research, would be colorful, and something we could see throughout the month. So when I saw this idea on the Teachers Pay Teachers site, I knew I could use that to make it work for our family’s BHM.
We started our BHM by reading a gorgeous book by Jacqueline Woodson entitled Show Way. In the book, the narrator takes us on a journey that begins with her great-great grandmother. We travel through the generations watching the amazing women who pass their stories on through their quilts. If you are looking for a special book to help introduce Black History to a child or group of children, Show Way is perfect! If you are looking for a beautiful book that depicts families through generations while moving through history, this book is the one. I love this book!
Then I explained to the kids that each day we would add a little more to our quilt. We would research Black heroes (I came up with a list of over 100 so that each of my five kids would have someone to research each day), then complete three hexagons for that hero. I showed them the hexagons. In our family, each child has sort of an assigned color. It started because we had twins first. Blue things belonged to one boy, green to the other. And when we had our third boy 15 months later, we added orange. It just sort of stuck. So each child has a crayon in his/her color: green, blue, orange, yellow, and purple. They color their hexagons in their colors, add information about the Black heroes they were assigned to research that day, then I glue them onto a huge strip of black butcher paper I have lining our upstairs hallway.
The Research
I wanted the kids to have the opportunity to do a bit of “research” each day. So they have access to four books:
They search through the books to find their assigned hero, then they read the information provided and write birth date, full name, what the person is known for, a fun fact about the person, and the death date (if applicable). My youngest is in Pre-K this year, so for her, I assigned specific people who were already a part of the kit and I just had her cut and color.
The Writing Prompts
I also really wanted to incorporate writing into this month. I mean, I am a writer. I think I would beat myself up pretty terribly if I spent this year with my kids and never gave them any writing instruction. So I am using these prompts. We spend one day writing a response, then the next day we read our responses out loud and workshop them a little. Each Friday I have been giving writing instruction to all four boys, hoping that the more we write, the better our writing will be by the end of the month. So far, I have been very impressed with the progress my little writers have made.
If you don’t feel comfortable giving specific feedback on writing assignments, my two biggest suggestions are to continue to read, read, read with your child and at least read to see if your child’s writing is a viable response to the prompt. For example, if the question was, “What time is it?” And your child wrote about how his favorite football team is the Houston Texans, the writer needs some help. In my opinion, understanding and answering the prompt are the biggest hurdles these young writers face.
Independent Reading
During the first two weeks, I read for the first 15 minutes or so with all of the kids, then assigned them to read to a certain page on their own before we met up for the class the following day. But as we are reading Every Tongue Got to Confess right now, the words are a bit tougher to understand (think of dialect similar to Mark Twain, only even more challenging) during independent reading, so I have assigned each child to read a shorter biography book on his own during the week.
So far, I have loved hearing my kids mention little facts they they are learning about these four heroes.
Poetry Week
For our final week of Black History Month, we are going to transition from the stories of Zora Neale Hurston to the poetry of Langston Hughes, Jason Reynolds, and yes, Amanda Gorman. We will be reading poetry, of course, but also writing some as well. I am excited to see the beautiful creations each boy will make!
A Black History Month to Remember
So there you have it! Our Black History Month 2021: the Homeschool edition! I honestly have no idea what next year will look like for our family. But this year, I am so glad we had this opportunity. I have loved sharing so many awe-inspiring stories and heroes with my children. I love that they can know more about heroes like Garrett Morgan and William Still who devoted their lives to helping people and making the world a better place. I hope they can see that there are no limits to their own influences and that they can bring light into this world in their own, unique ways.
I hope this helps give you some ideas for your Black History Month celebrations or for any time–these books are phenomenal year-round! What are you doing to make BHM special? I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions!
Wow, you and your kids are amazing! This would be challenging for many adults, but you make it so enjoyable! Way to go!
Ha! They may be excited to go back to school just for the break! 😂