AHEF’s resource site, americanheritage.org, has been nominated by the home school community and listed in Homeschool Base’s Top 10 Best Educational Websites of 2017.

Homeschool Base says, “Our Top 10 Educational Websites are all recommended by multiple teachers, home educators, and homeschool parents through various feedback channels.  All sites have received our Purple Stamp of Approval that honors exemplary websites/apps that offer quality, innovative, unique, cost-effective, or significant value to teachers, educators, and homeschooling families.  None of these websites paid to be on this list.”

Homeschool Base further says of AHEF, “The [americanheritage.org] website is recommended by home educators, in part because they provide original, free K-college level patriotic Social Studies, History, and Western Civilization supplemental lesson plans and textbooks.”

Homeschool Base is a community-run resource for homeschoolers.  It is the largest volunteer-driven website for homeschooling.

AHEF would like to thank the homeschool and educational communities for your support.  We are honored to be able to serve you with our site and resources!

This January 27-28, AHEF will kick off its first American History & Western Civilization Challenge Bowl (AHWCCB)™!

This college competition will feature four Texas university student teams–from Texas State University, Sam Houston State University, Texas Southern University, and Houston Baptist University–who will compete in their knowledge and understanding of American history, government, and philosophy and of Western Civilization. Qualifying and winning teams will receive prize money.

January 27 – 5 pm – TSU vs Sam Houston State
January 27 – 7 pm – Texas State vs HBU
January 28 – 3 pm – Finals

Doubletree Hilton Hotel – Greenway Plaza (lower level, Bluebonnet Room)
6 Greenway Plaza East, Houston, TX 77046 (at Edloe and Southwest Freeway)
Hotel phone: 713.629.1200

Honoring Four Academic Team Competitors:
Texas State University – Coach, Dr. Rodolfo Hernandez
Sam Houston State University – Coach, Dr. Brian Domitrovic
Texas Southern University – Coaches, Dr. Jesse Esparza and Dr. Julie Quesada
Houston Baptist University – Coach, Dr. Gary Hartenburg

Free admission.

More Info – AHWWCB™ Program
AHWWCB™ Flyer

The HBU-AHEF Professional Development Teacher & Citizen Workshop will be held on Saturday, October 22, 2016, in Houston, TX! Register now!

Hosted by Houston Baptist University’s Center for Law & Liberty (HBU-CLL), HBU School of Education, and the American Heritage Education Foundation (AHEF).

The topic will be “The History & Foundation of Religious Freedom in America.” Subtopics include the origins of religious tolerance in America, religious freedom as a natural right, the First Amendment and the Founders, and the relationship between church and state.

Breakfast coffee and refreshments. Lunch provided. Attendees receive 3.0 CPU credit hours of professional development from HBU School of Education. Attendees receive a complimentary copy of The Miracle of America book and materials packet.

Open to K-College public and private educators, homeschoolers, and interested citizens.

Presenters:
Dr. John Tyler, Professor of Law, Houston Baptist University
Lesley Clinton, Master Educator and Curriculum Writer
Angela Kamrath, President of AHEF and author of The Miracle of America
Carol Delac, Certified Educator and Team Lead Teacher
Dr. Chris Hammons, Director, Center for Law and Liberty, and Professor of Government, Houston Baptist University

For more information and to register, go to HBU-AHEF Teacher Workshop 2016.
Teacher Workshop Flyer 2016

On Tuesday, July 7, 12 noon ET, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) and the American Historical Association (AHA) will co-host a “Google Hangout” to discuss the implications of the 2014 Nation’s Report Card results on U. S. History and the importance of history education in helping students to become engaged, informed, and productive citizens. The discussion will include a panel of history and education leaders. Sign up to watch and ask questions: http://www.nagb.org/newsroom/naep-releases/2015-us-history-google-hangout.html. The discussion may be viewable after the event as well, so check it out when you can.

Yours Truly,
AHEF Team

Before the founding of the United States, “Ruler’s Law,” not Rule of Law, was prevalent throughout the world. Ruler’s Law meant that all power and decision-making rested in one central, authoritarian person or group. In other words, the ruler was the law. Whatever the ruler wanted or decided arbitrarily became the law. For about 5,000 years, nations of the world were ruled by Ruler’s Law through monarchs, dictators, or oligarchs. The people had no rights to property or the fruits of their labor since rulers could simply take them away at will. Power was exercised over the people by compulsion or force.

Ruler’s Law left the common man with excessive taxation, perpetual poverty and hunger, and no chance to improve his life. Freedom of the people was unheard of, and domination/suppression of the people by their ruler(s) was a permanent way of life. Slavery of people of all races and creeds was widespread and ongoing.

How did Ruler’s Law and enslavement of the masses begin to change?

To find out more, see the From Oppression to Freedom essay (starting on page 9) in the introduction from America’s Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty:
AHEF_National_Elementary_Extraction_08_1_Introduction.pdf

More exciting news! …. AHEF is now offering its new, free resource for middle & high school teachers and homeschoolers titled America’s Heritage: An Experiment in Self-Government. Experiment is a supplemental teacher unit resource developed to support and strengthen 6th-12^th grade social studies, history, government, and civic education on the founding documents and principles of the United States of America.

America’s Heritage: An Experiment in Self-Government (“Experiment”) is a sequel to AHEF’s first resource titled America’s Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty (“Adventure”), an award-winning K-12 supplemental lesson plan resource which has been well-received and widely-used by teachers in all 50 states. The new sequel volume, Experiment, provides new content and activities to help teachers and students focus on and analyze the purpose and meaning of America’s key founding documents and governing principles. Experiment is very user-friendly and can easily supplement any teacher’s curriculum and instruction.

For more information about Experiment, see the program page. To access Experiment in downloadable PDF, sign up to be an AHEF member educator (no cost or obligation). As a member, you can log in to access our Member Resources. The printed binder format of the resource is available for purchase at our bookstore.

We’re excited to announce that AHEF is now offering The Miracle of America High School Teacher Course Guide which serves as a framework for a semester-long, secondary-level course on the governing principles of the United States or for supplemental units in existing Social Studies/Humanities courses such as U. S. Government, U. S. history, Philosophy, Western Civilization, and/or Biblical Studies.

The Miracle of America course allows teachers and students to objectively study the ideas and principles that shaped the founding of the United States as a nation and that appear in our founding documents. It explores the influence of the Bible and Judeo-Christian thought on America’s founding philosophy and history. It examines important historical events and original documents including the Bible, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, U. S. Constitution, and U. S. Bill of Rights.

The course guide complements and may be used with the sourcebook/text titled The Miracle of America: The Influence of the Bible on the Founding History and Principles of the United States of America for a People of Every Belief, Second Edition, by Angela E. Kamrath (American Heritage Education Foundation, 2015).

For more information about The Miracle of America, see our Miracle of America program page. To access AHEF’s Miracle of America course guide (in downloadable PDF) and other free educational resources/lesson plans, sign up to be an AHEF member educator (no cost or obligation). As a member, you can log in to access our Member Resources. The printed binder format of the course guide is now available for purchase at our bookstore.

Yours Truly,
AHEF Team

Enjoy a family evening with General George Washington who will speak on “The Long Road Home” for the George Washington Lecture Series. Featuring attorney Wesley E. Wright as Washington.

When: Thursday, February 18, 7-8:30pm
Where: Round Top Family Library, 206 West Mill Street, Round Top, Texas 78954

The Revolutionary War was closing.
The Paris Peace Treaty was being negotiated.
Washington was headed home to Mount Vernon.

Encourage reading and learning!
Learn historical facts you may never have heard before!

Did you know that the Pilgrims were among the first Americans to demonstrate the value of property (one’s labor, skills, possessions, etc.)? In Plymouth Colony, food and supplies were initially shared and allocated among colonists in a communal system of farming and food distribution, which resulted in a lack of incentive to work and less overall productivity. With the colony on the verge of starvation, Governor William Bradford let the Pilgrims farm their own land, for their own families. This system led to increased farming. (A similar system had been applied successfully in Jamestown, Virginia.) This shift to an individualized, family-focused economic system increased productivity and benefited the colony. Bradford describes this early economic shift in Plymouth in his Journal, History of Plymouth Settlement. He writes:

“The failure of this experiment in communal service, which was tried for several years, and by good and honest men, proves the emptiness of the theory of Plato and other ancients, applauded by some of later times, –that the taking away of private property, and the possession of it in community, by a commonwealth, would make a state happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For in this instance, community of property (so far as it went) was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment which would have been to the general benefit and comfort. … Let none argue that this is due to human failing, rather than to this communistic plan of life in itself. I answer, seeing that all men have this failing in them, that God in His wisdom saw another plan of life was fitter for them.”

Source: Kamrath, Angela E. The Miracle of America: The Influence of the Bible on the Founding History and Principles of the United Sates of America for a People of Every Belief, Second Edition. Houston, TX: American Heritage Education Foundation, 2014, 2015.

Yours Truly,
AHEF TEam

americanheritage.org has been listed on the “Top 100 Educational Websites of 2016” by homeschool.com!

Check out www.homeschool.com/articles/top100_2016/ to see all the recommended resources.

Thank you for your support and for standing up for America’s founding principles!

AHEF Team