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| | Just as our Nation's founders started with a prayer, so do we. Prayer clears out the noise in our minds. We are looking for knowledge and inspiration here, and that comes from God. In most countries parents do not have the freedom even to have a class like this. The main reason we have freedoms is because America was established on principles of liberty, and religious devotion in America remains among the strongest in the world today, as it was 250 years ago. | | Just as our Nation's founders started with a prayer, so do we. Prayer clears out the noise in our minds. We are looking for knowledge and inspiration here, and that comes from God. In most countries parents do not have the freedom even to have a class like this. The main reason we have freedoms is because America was established on principles of liberty, and religious devotion in America remains among the strongest in the world today, as it was 250 years ago. |
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| − | Today is a critical time in our nation's history, and this class may be as important to the future as the Mayflower voyage was. Let's begin.
| + | Now is a critical time in our nation's history, and this class may be as important to the future as the Mayflower voyage was. Let's begin. |
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| | == What Students Find Challenging About History == | | == What Students Find Challenging About History == |
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| | == Why America? == | | == Why America? == |
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| − | Maybe we could write most of American history just by predicting what would probably happen. Imagine a big chunk of land in between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. There are people who live on the land. Ask yourself: why would Europeans want to go there? What reasons can you think of?
| + | Using common sense and your imagination can serve you very well in mastering American history. Pause for a moment and predict would likely happen to a nice chunk of fertile land, possibly containing riches like gold, located between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Would some Europeans want to go there? Which ones would want to go there, and why? |
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| − | Search for gold. Convert the natives to Christianity. Conquer the natives. Obtain freedom. Why do your parents homeschool? For some of the same reasons. Go there for the same reason people climb a mountain: because it is there! Escape where you are. Set up a special religious community. Meet new people and make new friends. Trade goods with the people. Learn from the people. Have adventures and then write about them.
| + | One reason is to convert the natives to Christianity, just as homeschool families today often go on missionary trips to distant lands. Another reason is to search for gold and other riches. A third reason is to obtain freedom. Another reason is for thee same reason people climb mountains: because they are there! Some want to escape where they are. Others want to set up a new community, perhaps a new religious environment. Others hope to meet new people and make new friends, engage in the trade of goods (give them something you goods with the people. Another motivation is to learn from the new people, or have adventures and then write about them. |
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| | What is likely to happen if a bunch of Europeans go this land? Conflicts with the natives. Conflicts with other European countries. Conflicts with the mother country that sent the settlers. New opportunities for improvements, for new products, for new businesses, for new religions, for new systems of government. | | What is likely to happen if a bunch of Europeans go this land? Conflicts with the natives. Conflicts with other European countries. Conflicts with the mother country that sent the settlers. New opportunities for improvements, for new products, for new businesses, for new religions, for new systems of government. |