Homeschool
Programs for the 2023–2024 School Year
Learn more about the state you love! The New Hampshire Historical Society offers several engaging programs for Granite State homeschoolers each year. Designed specifically for homeschool learners, these programs combine hands-on learning opportunities with access to the museum objects, documents, and photographs in the Society’s collections. Space is limited and advance registration is required.
Civics for Homeschoolers
Join the New Hampshire Historical Society for a four-part program where we dive into civics at the national, state, and local levels. We will explore the fundamental ideas that shaped the formation of government in the United States and examine the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Learners will participate in hands-on activities, examine primary sources, and create a citizen project to improve their local community. This program will help fulfill the new half-credit civics requirement for middle-grade learners and the existing half-credit civics requirement for high school.
“Civics for Homeschoolers” is offered in separate classes for middle grade and high school learners. Winter and spring sessions are available.
The registration fee is $80 per child for the first child in a family, with a $10 sibling discount. Advance registration is required.
Middle Grade Learners
Dates for Winter Session: Mondays, January 22 and 29 and February 5 and 12, 2024.
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 noon
Registration deadline: Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Dates for Spring Session: Mondays, March 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2024.
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 noon
Registration deadline: Monday, February 26, 2024
High School Learners
Dates for Winter Session: Thursdays, January 25 and February 1, 8, and 15, 2024.
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 noon
Registration deadline: Thursday, January 18, 2024
Dates for Spring Session: Thursdays, March 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2024.
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 noon
Registration deadline: Thursday, February 29, 2024
Exploring New Hampshire: Granite State History for Homeschoolers
Recommended for ages 7 to 12
Dates: One Tuesday a month—September 12, October 10, November 14, and December 12, 2023, and January 16, February 13, March 12, and April 9, 2024.
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Our flagship “Exploring New Hampshire” program introduces homeschool learners to state history through a unit-study approach. With a small group of learners, participants will explore the Granite State’s history through stories, images, maps, crafts, games, and primary resources drawn from the Society’s collection of objects, manuscripts, photographs, and books. Each session will feature a welcome activity, a lesson on the theme, and a craft, game, or other hands-on activity for kids to apply what they’ve learned. We will also explore tie-ins to objects on display in the museum exhibitions. Takeaways include a curated list of resources about each topic and suggestions for extension activities. At the end of the program, children will have produced a portfolio of projects on New Hampshire history.
This program is recommended for children ages 7 to 12, although younger children are welcome to participate with their older siblings. Many activities include reading and writing. All children ages 5 and older must register and pay the registration fee. The registration fee is $150 per child for the first child in a family, with a $25 sibling discount.
Redcoats & Rebels: Pick Your Path
Recommended for ages 8 to 13
Dates for fall session: One Friday a month—September 15, October 13, November 17, and December 15, 2023.
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Join us at the New Hampshire Historical Society in this history class with a twist! Learners will pick their path through four New Hampshire events of the American Revolution, discovering from a first-person point of view why it wasn’t always so easy to choose sides in the journey from colony to country.
In this four-month class, learners will create their own characters and make a series of choices as they immerse themselves in New Hampshire’s fight for independence from Britain. Each in-person two-hour session focuses on a different event in New Hampshire during the period just before the outbreak of war. Weekly emails will provide learners with resources to help them conduct independent research and create primary resources to add to their character’s backstory.
This program is recommended for children ages 8 to 13. The registration fee is $80 per child for the first child in a family, with a $10 sibling discount.
Pages of History: A Book & Film Club for Homeschool Learners
Recommended for ages 12 to 16
Dates: One Wednesday a month—September 13, October 11, November 15, and December 13, 2023.
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Can a fictional story teach us about history? Is a graphic novel a window into the past? Does a play educate as well as entertain? The answer to all these questions is an enthusiastic yes! Join us as we explore New Hampshire’s history through a selection of novels, plays, and more. Each month will highlight a different genre and time period of New Hampshire history, and learners will explore the ways in which literature and film can enhance what we read in the history books and even teach us things we can’t learn elsewhere. Learners in this program will build critical thinking skills, practice gathering and using evidence, compare and contrast primary and secondary sources, and learn how to analyze texts, visual sources, and artifacts in the New Hampshire Historical Society’s collections.
Each session of “Pages of History” will begin with a welcome activity that will tie together the content and genre of the material, and include a robust discussion of the reading selection as well as a creative brainstorming exercise. We will also visit the Society’s library and Discovering New Hampshire exhibition to view objects that relate to the month’s theme. Learners will explore the use of evidence in literature and film, compare how different genres, such as historical fiction, nonfiction, and drama depict historical events, and practice their narrative and argumentative writing skills. Learners must provide their own texts or borrow from a library. The readings are Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates, The Portsmouth Alarm by Terri DeMitchell, The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby: 1862: A New Hampshire Teacher Goes to War by Marek Bennett, and Our Town by Thornton Wilder (script and 1940 film).
This program is recommended for children ages 12 to 16. Participants are expected to prepare before each session by completing the reading and/or viewing the film, completing the scavenger hunt related to the materials, and reviewing the discussion questions. The registration fee is $80 per child for the first child in a family, with a $10 sibling discount.
How to Register
Full, nonrefundable payment must be made at the time of registration to secure your child’s place. Registrations will be processed in the order in which they are received.
Please note that the New Hampshire Historical Society is an approved provider for the State of New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Accounts program, but does not accept ClassWallet as a form of payment. Families should pay out of pocket and will then be provided with an itemized receipt, which they can use to apply for reimbursement from the Children’s Scholarship Fund New Hampshire.
For more information or to register, contact Visitor Services Coordinator Laura Paryl.
Contact
Laura Paryl
Visitor Services Coordinator
603-228-6688
lparyl@nhhistory.org
Contact