History & Geography

I'm excited to have found a great resource for teaching history and geography. It's a series by Susan Wise Bauer called "The Story of the World". And we are talking the whole story of the whole, wide world. Haven't you always wanted to get a better grasp of world history? I know I have. I was telling Mitchell that we will probably visit Vimy Ridge in France. He asked me many questions about it, including "so what started the First World War? What was everyone fighting about?" And what did I say, "umm . . . let me think . . . .I know that . . . something to do with an Austrian prince who got shot? Was that it? Ask dad". In other words, mom has no idea. Sad, very sad.

About the only aspect of history that I have a really firm handle on is the good ol' Louis Riel Rebellion of 1885 and that is mainly because I grew up in Saskatchewan and it was pounded into our heads through a variety of projects and assignments all the way through school. In addition, my parents had a farm very near Batoche, SK. We would often take visiting relatives to see the historic sites in the Batoche area - the church with bullet holes, the trenches where Gabriel Dumont and his rebel fighters took a stand against General Middleton, and the cemetary where many of these fighters now lie. My Dad loved to drive visitors around our farm proudly pointing out things like, "See that tree? Louis Riel pissed against that tree!" How do we that Louis Riel relieved himself against said tree? We don't actually but theoretically it was certainly possible, because of the location of my Dad's land, which is where history and geography intersect. Which brings me back to . . .

This series. That I'm very excited about. I was able to borrow both the books and the audio CDs from the library and I'm very impressed. As far as homeschooling goes, I have no intention of lugging a bunch of books from country to country so the fact that I can get the entire history of the world, told in a compelling narrative way suitable for kids, on CDs is a huge bonus.

The series is organized into 4 time periods:

Volume 1 - The Ancients (5000BC to 400AD)
Volume 2 - The Middle Ages (400-1600)

Volume 3 - Early Modern Times (1600-1850)

Volume 4 - The Modern Age (1850-1994)

I guess that would bring us to the post-modern age? In any case, I can see us reading these aloud, discussing them, relating the history to the places we're seeeing and, of course, writing about it. Another curriculum item I stumbled upon on Susan Wise Bauer's site had to do with teaching writing. "The Complete Writer" I think it was called. It also looked great. Somebody stop me. I think tackling the history of the world is more than enough for now.