Curriculum Alternatives
Resources
Social Studies and History
Are you uncomfortable with the curriculum or lesson plans that your child is learning in school? You’re not alone. There are thousands of parents around the country who are in the exact same boat.
Concerns that have been raised with the 1619 Curriculum & BLM at School:
- I Helped Fact-Check the 1619 Project. The Times Ignored Me, Politico
- A Divisive, Historically Dubious Curriculum, City Journal
- The New York Times’ Correction To The 1619 Project Proves It Is Not Fit For Schools, The Federalist
- Curriculum based on New York Times’ wildly wrong ‘1619 Project’ would be educational malpractice, New York Post
- The ‘1619 Project’ Gets Schooled, Wall Street Journal
- What Happens When a Slogan Becomes the Curriculum, The Atlantic
- Black Lives Matter Comes to the Classroom, City Journal
Below are some options that you might consider presenting to your school as alternative curriculum or programming – widely considered to be more comprehensive and less divisive than what many schools have adopted.
American Birthright, The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 Social Studies Standards
American Birthright teaches students to identify the ideals, institutions, and individual examples of human liberty, individualism, religious freedom, and republican self-government; assess the extent to which civilizations have fulfilled these ideals; and describe how the evolution of these ideals in different times and places has contributed to the formation of modern American ideals.
1776 Unites, the Woodson Center
The 1776 Unites curriculum offers authentic, inspiring stories from American history that show what is best in our national character and what our freedom makes possible even in the most difficult circumstances. 1776 Unites maintains a special focus on stories that celebrate black excellence, reject victimhood culture, and showcase African-Americans who have prospered by embracing America’s founding ideals.
Teaching American History, the Ashbrook Center
Teaching American History helps teachers bring the documents and debates of America’s past into the present through document based seminars, document collections, a web based document library, and other resources.
Curricula, the Bill of Rights Institute
The Bill of Rights Institute provides quality, primary-source based resources to civics educators for U.S. history, civics, and government teachers. All resources are free of charge.
Izzit.org, Free to Choose Network
We offer no-cost, high-quality educational materials to educators: teachers, homeschoolers, parents, grandparents, scout troop leaders – to anyone interested in learning/teaching! Our entertaining & educational videos come with tons of additional resources – Teachers’ Guides, activities, quizzes, and much more! We also offer Current Events lessons – two each school day with vocabulary words and discussion questions.
1776 Curriculum, Hillsdale College
The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum determines what students should learn in history and civics based on the answers to a single question: What ideas, words, and deeds have most significantly formed the world into which students were born? Studying the answers to this question provides students the fullest understanding of the world in which they will live their lives.
What So Proudly We Hail, The Great Hearts Institute
Created by distinguished teacher-scholars Amy Kass and Leon Kass, the What So Proudly We Hail literary-based e-curriculum is a rich source of materials compiled to aid in the classroom instruction of American history, civics, social studies, and language arts. This collection of classic American stories, speeches, and songs is based on the Kasses’ critically acclaimed anthology of the same name. It seeks to educate both hearts and minds about American ideals, American identity and national character, and the virtues and aspirations of our civic life.
Mr. Reusch’s U.S. History Class, Mr. William Reusch
Are you a homeschooling/unschooling parent, alternative education advocate, or classroom teacher searching for an engaging and inclusive US History curriculum? Look no further! Mr. Reusch’s curriculum offers a unique approach that promotes heterodoxy, critical thinking, bipartisan analysis, historical accuracy, and viewpoint diversity. No ideology is pushed! In this curriculum, students will explore the rich tapestry of American history from its early beginnings to the present day.
The History of Communism Educator Seminars, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
The 24-hour professional development program is free to middle and high school educators interested in teaching about the history of communism and its collectivist legacy.
Communism: A History of Repression, Violence, and Victims, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
A curricular resource of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, VOC’s curriculum offers a comprehensive course on communism, and the chapters can be used as needed for specific lessons on important topics, theories, and events throughout communism’s history.
Ethnic Studies
Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies
A diverse, nonpartisan coalition working to remove narrow ideological agendas from Ethnic Studies, enabling curricula that inspire mutual respect, fight racism, and celebrate ethnic accomplishments.
Diversity, Inclusion and the Free Exchange of Ideas
Diversity Without Division—Empowering students to hear, not fear, different perspectives
Moral Courage ED provides a unifying alternative to “intersectionality” and related models of anti-racism. The no-shaming practice allows students to grow beyond cancel culture.
Moral Courage ED supports middle and high school teachers, student cohorts, parent groups, and entire educational districts. Its offerings include LIVE virtual workshops, faculty book studies, and professional certification through Oxford University. In addition, the organization will soon be launching an online course for educators called “Diversity Without Division.”
Looking for an antiracism program that actually fights bigotry instead of spreading it? You’ve come to the right place. We teach love and compassion. Let us train your team. Theory of Enchantment is really trying to get people to exit the demonization/deification mindset and grapple with complexity, the complexity of their own lives, the complexity of their relationships with others, and the complexity of the societies in which they live.
Founder Chloe Valdary believes that racism and “supremacist ways of thinking” are the products of overcompensating for deep seated insecurities. To address this core issue of insecurity, her program takes a holistic approach utilizing music, literature, philosophy, and art to promote a complex understanding of other individuals, society, and oneself. Valdary states:
[O]ur theory of change is that once you’re able to perceive your own complexity, you will be able to perceive the complexity of others and will be less likely to stereotype or caricature or reduce others to one single thing.
K-12 Free Speech Curriculum, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
FIRE’s curriculum draws on our 20 years of experience in actively defending free speech in academia, as well as our legal expertise and extensive scholar/educator network. These First Amendment resources for teachers equip educators to foster appreciation and respect among students for freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the free exchange of diverse ideas.
There are black conservatives and liberals, socialists and free-marketeers, traditionalists and radicals, theists and atheists, everything in between, and more besides. FREE BLACK THOUGHT seeks to represent the rich diversity of black thought beyond the relatively narrow spectrum of views promoted by mainstream outlets as defining “the black perspective.” You’ll find the thinkers represented here to be frequently non-conforming, often provocative, sometimes contrarian, but always enriching.
Social Emotional Learning
EmpowerED Pathways is a 501(c)(3) organization principled in human-centered solutions. Established in 2017 to provide educators, students, and communities a framework for life, leadership, and learning. Our framework, Empowered Humanity Theory focuses on fortifying the individual and increasing societal cooperation by centering a value-centered identity, human dignity, disrupting mindsets of fear/judgment with inquiry and compassion, and intentionally engaging in 3 Pathways of Practice:
- Practices that build awareness and equanimity
- Practices that build kindness and compassion towards self and others
- Practices that celebrate common humanity, and break the walls of indignity
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