I'm going to add a little something different to our routine this school year in the hopes that it will broaden our horizons and bases of knowledge (or at least make us really good at Trivial Pursuit).
Every day I am going to look over the annals of history and choose some event or person associated with that date to bring to everyone's awareness and spark some discussion. Actually, I'm going to make it easy on myself and let HistoryOrb and HISTORYnet help me out. The lists are huge to choose from, so there should always be something interesting and edifying to share with my family. I will likely do this during a meal so that my husband can add what he knows or thinks to the discussion, and learn something as well. My hope is that even as we make large deposits of specialized learning in the details of any one particular history unit, we'll still be putting pennies of knowledge in other areas in our banks as well. And maybe it will spur a kid's curiosity. If I can find a video clip related to this event or person, we'll watch it. If I have access to a sensory experience, for example listening to a composer's music, we'll add that, etc.
Another addition that I've mulled for a while is to observe more "national days." This includes "national months." In many ways this is just nonsense (see here at The Nibble for a brief explanation of how special observance days are determined). Still, it's fun, it mixes things up, and adds some variety and new knowledge to our lives. And ever since we observed National Popcorn Day a while ago, my kids have been begging for more. If you want to try this, check out the list for September at National Day Calendar.
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