Model Diplomacy: A Hands-On Government Activity for Teens

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Model Diplomacy with Natalie Mack.

Model Diplomacy with Natalie Mack

One of the blessings of homeschooling high school is the ability to give our teens some outstanding extracurricular experiences. Model Diplomacy is one of those marvelous opportunities. Our friend and Cousin, Natalie Mack, teaches Model Diplomacy. She agreed to tell us about it!

Model Diplomacy is a gift we can give our homeschool high schoolers to help them be better prepared for life and good citizenship.

About Natalie Mack

Natalie’s family has been homeschooling a for over twenty-three years. She and her husband (a retired Navy chaplain) have five children. Four of them have now finished college and one just graduated from homeschooling high school. (You will love her son Nathaniel’s interview on the podcast. He shared about his experiences with a Virginia Conservation District’s student project program.)

In her other hats (and Natalie has LOTS of other hats), she serves as:

• a homeschool educational consultant
• helps with a Military Homeschool Association
• works part-time for Homeschool Legal Defense Association, aiding military homeschool families
• a frequent conference speaker
• Retro Report ambassador

You can find Natalie all over the place, even on Tedx (where she talked about homeschooling). You could say that Natalie Mack is a diplomat for homeschooling families!

About Model Diplomacy

When Natalie was working on her degrees at Spelman College, she was a double major in Political Science and Spanish. Her plan had been to go on to graduate school and study International Affairs. In graduate school Natalie ended up switching her major to Counseling. (So she and Vicki are both counselors.) She worked as a counselor in private practice and as a drug and alcohol therapist. Then came homeschooling for more than two decades!

Whether it was counseling or International Affairs, Natalie has always been drawn to is the study of people and culture. As a homeschool mom, Natalie has been teaching Civics to local homeschool high schoolers so that they could earn their required credit while learning about government and how to be a good citizen in a nonpartisan manner.

After a while, Natalie was contacted by the Council for Foreign Relations, known as CFR. They mentioned a Model Diplomacy educational resources. She was excited. She began teaching Model Diplomacy in-person the military homeschoolers in her area. Then, as the word got out, more teens wanted her classes, so she added some of her own resources and moved to Google Classroom.

Just a few of the topics and resources from CFR that Natalie has used include:

There are resources and discussion material for teachers and students for these topics and more.

• The United States, Russia, and China and the fight for who governs and controls the Arctic
• Explosion of the USS Maine in 1898
• Cuban immigration in 1980
• What are asylum seekers?
• Climate migrants, people who are devastated by natural disasters and weather phenomenon
• The Zimmerman Telegram.
• Who owns space?
• The Oregon boundary dispute in 1845
• How do nations interact?
• What makes a good citizen?

So, teens are learning current events and past events that were current events at that time. They learn perspective-taking, how governments work, and how to be a good citizen.

Teens learn better with examples. That’s why the lessons are example based. Through the examples, they see and discuss the ways things actually interacted in the past and in the present, rather than just reading a textbook.

Model Diplomacy Popup

Natalie calls her class the Model Diplomacy Popup because the individually segmented events popup in time.

Each lesson includes:

• new vocabulary
• historical background information
• understanding different perspectives and positions on the topic
• the event/topic of the lesson
• application-to-diplomacy discussions
• homework: a question to research and develop a stance on

If Model Diplomacy looks interesting for your homeschool high schoolers, contactNatalieMack@gmail.com and mention Model Diplomacy classes.

You can also find Natalie Mack at:

• Homeschool Natalie Mack on Facebook and Instagram.
• Natalie has LOTS of information about homeschooling high school at NatalieMack.com
• You will be blessed by these discussions with Natalie on Homeschool Highschool Podcast:
  • Helping Teens Handle Depression
  • Stress Management for the Holidays
  • Emotionally Preparing Teens for College
  • Tips for Homeschooling High School
  • How to Get Started Starting Things

Join Vicki and Natalie for a delightful discussion on Model Diplomacy.

Thank you, Seth Tillman for editing.

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our Apple Podcasts page.
2. OR take this IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in “…your favorite podcast source”
3. This will take you to Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast source and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

1. Tap the purple Podcast icon on your phone
2. Tap the search icon on the bottom-right of your screen
3. In the search bar type: Homeschool Highschool Podcast
4. Tap the Homeschool Highschool Podcast icon
5. Tap *Subscribe*
6. Please tap *Ratings and Review*