Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site Newsletter

Volume 22. Issue 3.

Teaching Tolerance and Embracing Diversity

Picture Books, Novels, Nonfiction, and Classroom Activities for Preschool through Grade Nine

There are two articles in this newsletter. The first is a guest article by our long-time advertiser Time4Learning. It's filled with ideas for homeschoolers on assessing your children and yourself as the holidays approach.

The second article is a collection of resources from our site which can be used for teaching tolerance, empathy, respect, and a historical perspective on diversity. Here you'll find books for the classroom which explore race, prejudice, civil rights, justice, genocide, sexism, bullying, classism, discrimination and LGBT issues. Many of these topics also have discussion starter and activity ideas.

Teaching Tolerance and Embracing Diversity with Books for Children and Teens

Here, in one place, are links to various articles from our site, which address discrimination, prejudice, justice, human rights, social change, multiculturalism, and inclusion. We recommend books for preschool through ninth grade covering racism, genocide, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, class issues, and bullying.

Now, more than ever, we need to come together, to understand each other, to respect our differences and to find common ground. Research has repeatedly shown that reading increases students' empathy, which can go a long way in reducing bullying between students. Empathy is also a central factor in increasing children's ability to work and socialize with diverse populations when they grow up.

So, if reading in general increases empathy, then reading some of the books we recommend in the articles below will also increase students' ability to understand what it's like to be a member of some of these groups, now and in the past. In addition, books that feature characters similar to the reader can provide priceless mirroring and role modeling.

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Tips for Homeschoolers as the Holidays Approach

As a homeschooler, you might be coming up on your mid-year transition period. November offers you the opportunity to assess your homeschooling progress and review your curriculum choices.

Times are busy during the holiday season. But that shouldn’t stop you from setting some time aside to gauge where things are at. Are your children progressing at an acceptable rate? Is the schedule you’re using helping with the learning process? Is the curriculum they’re using matching their learning styles?

And don’t forget about assessing your performance. Make certain you’re providing the support your children require. Evaluate your mental and physical condition. Many parents suffer from homeschooling burnout, although no fault of their own. To eliminate fatigue, you can make small changes such as changing your schedule or teaching methods.

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That's it for this issue.

Happy reading!

- Rebecca Otis

You can read back issues of this newsletter in our archives at:
http://www.carolhurst.com/newsletters/newsletters.html