Earlier this year, I purchased a new history curriculum that I had read about and researched online as well as heard the praises of in forum that I follow. The children were really excited when we started the book (Story of the World). It reads in a story-like format and follows up with various activities. I liked the fact that the book followed chronological order and thought this was a plus since it seems logical to study what happened in the past in order! However, I noticed from the beginning that the lessons seemed to be very shallow and left out a great deal of historical information.
The main topics in the book only cover the most basic of information. I knew from the beginning that I would need to find supplemental information, but I did not realize just how much extra would be needed. I also begin finding some ideas in the text that did not line up with what I was finding in other books and online. For example, while studying Egypt, I found some name discrepancies when comparing the Story of the World text with another text that we were using to supplement out studies. I was a little cautious after I found this, but I continued with the book. However, after completing our study on Egypt (which my children thoroughly enjoyed), I discovered that some of the lessons that followed were not historically accurate. In an effort to make the book take on the story form, I felt that the author took a lot of liberties in adding information that was unnecessary and did not correspond with what I believed (the stories were of a Biblical nature). At this point, I could not ignore my leeriness of the book any longer.
We have since discontinued our Story of the World history text. I still would very much like the kids to study history in chronological order. While I have been diligently searching, I have been unable to find a written curriculum book that will fit our need. I do want to continue to teach the history as a
"group" lesson rather than having them learn separate topics on their own. Needless to say, I began my history lesson research today. I have created an outline of study that we will work through over the next however many months it takes to bring us to present day "history." I will be using various sites that I have found online as well as documentaries from the library and YouTube.com. I hope to start our independent history study next week.
On a side note, for the next week, we will be using the Scholastic site found here. It is a part of the Black History month activities that they have put together. It is a great lesson/online tour/story activity that you can follow to learn about the lives of slaves and their use of the Underground Railroad. We have already completed part of the site. Not only have my children enjoyed it, I have too. It is really fun to learn new things right along with my children! If you are a home schooler and have not joined the Scholastic Teacher's Site, I would highly recommend it. At Thanksgiving, they had another activity site up that followed the Pilgrims and even had a Live Virtual Tour/Interview that we were able to watch Live online. It was very interesting. Here is some more information on the Scholastic Teacher's site.
Showing posts with label Story of the World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Story of the World. Show all posts
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Monday, October 4, 2010
Egypt continues...The First Writing
The Egyptians are known to have the first form of writing called hieroglyphics. Not only did the writing consist of various pictures (which would be very difficult for someone like me who can't draw well), they "wrote" on stone. It would take weeks to complete a message. Not only was the process slow, it produced a very large, heavy missive that had to be stored and/or transported.
The Sumerians also had a style of writing that is considered one of the first to be used - cuneiform. It was a series of dashes, lines, and triangles that stood for various letters. The cuneiform was a little bit easier to do because it was written on a clay tablet. If you messed up, it would be a lot easier to fix it. After the writing was complete, the tablet was baked until it was hard.
Both of the above forms of writing have been preserved largely in effect because of what they were written on. We have hieroglyphic writing that can be studied left from the Egyptians because stone (when protected from the elements) will last for a long time. The same goes with the cuneiform. Stone and hardened clay stand a better chance of lasting through rain, fire, etc. Archeologists and historians can use these preserved writings to learn about the life of ancient people.
Later, the Egyptians came up with a form of paper called papyrus. It was made of smashed reeds. This papyrus was much more conducive to sending messages and recording the history of the people. However, while the Pharaohs were very interested in passing down all that they had done from generation to generation, the papyrus, unlike stone, did not last as long. Many of the writings from the time they started using papyrus have been destroyed. So, we do not have as much written evidence of the life of the Egyptians once the papyrus was used.
Anyway, that is just a brief history of what we have been studying. We had a lot of fun learning about the first writings. We wrote our names in hieroglyphics, and I had the kids write a message in cuneiform to one another. They had to decipher what the other said and respond. We also got out the play dough and practiced writing our names in cuneiform on our clay tablets.
The Sumerians also had a style of writing that is considered one of the first to be used - cuneiform. It was a series of dashes, lines, and triangles that stood for various letters. The cuneiform was a little bit easier to do because it was written on a clay tablet. If you messed up, it would be a lot easier to fix it. After the writing was complete, the tablet was baked until it was hard.
Both of the above forms of writing have been preserved largely in effect because of what they were written on. We have hieroglyphic writing that can be studied left from the Egyptians because stone (when protected from the elements) will last for a long time. The same goes with the cuneiform. Stone and hardened clay stand a better chance of lasting through rain, fire, etc. Archeologists and historians can use these preserved writings to learn about the life of ancient people.
Later, the Egyptians came up with a form of paper called papyrus. It was made of smashed reeds. This papyrus was much more conducive to sending messages and recording the history of the people. However, while the Pharaohs were very interested in passing down all that they had done from generation to generation, the papyrus, unlike stone, did not last as long. Many of the writings from the time they started using papyrus have been destroyed. So, we do not have as much written evidence of the life of the Egyptians once the papyrus was used.
Anyway, that is just a brief history of what we have been studying. We had a lot of fun learning about the first writings. We wrote our names in hieroglyphics, and I had the kids write a message in cuneiform to one another. They had to decipher what the other said and respond. We also got out the play dough and practiced writing our names in cuneiform on our clay tablets.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Story of the World - The Egyptians
In our Story of the World, we are studying the early Egyptians. It has been a very exciting study so far. To think about the building of the pyramids and the overall complexity of the Egyptian culture is amazing. Take for instance their architecture...they built these HUGE pyramids without any of the equipment that we use today. Of course, it took a lot more time and human effort to build these great wonders, but their tools, while much more primitive than ours today, accomplished these pyramids with intricate tunnels equip with "traps" to try to protect the Pharaoh's stash.
One of the activities that we did this week was the carving of an amulet. We carved the scarab beetle, kehper,which was a sacred symbol to the Egyptian people. You can read more about the myth of the scarab beetle here. We also read a book from the library entitled The Scarab's Secret by Nick Would. (Find the Book here)
For our activity, we took a bar of white soap and first drew the picture of a scarab on the top. The pencil did not actually leave a pencil marked drawing, rather it left an indented path. We then used a steak knife to carve around the beetle to make is stand out on the top half of the soap. Tip: We used the cheap Jergens soap. It worked really well because it was soft enough to carve yet firm enough to hold up to the carving.
Here are our results:
One of the activities that we did this week was the carving of an amulet. We carved the scarab beetle, kehper,which was a sacred symbol to the Egyptian people. You can read more about the myth of the scarab beetle here. We also read a book from the library entitled The Scarab's Secret by Nick Would. (Find the Book here)
For our activity, we took a bar of white soap and first drew the picture of a scarab on the top. The pencil did not actually leave a pencil marked drawing, rather it left an indented path. We then used a steak knife to carve around the beetle to make is stand out on the top half of the soap. Tip: We used the cheap Jergens soap. It worked really well because it was soft enough to carve yet firm enough to hold up to the carving.
Here are our results:
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