mom of 2 boys Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Hello! I am planning to start a very light introduction to different cultures around the world to my son next year, when he starts first grade. Can anyone recommend any books or resources that would be appropriate for a young child? Also, I am coming across some different books on the different ways that children go to school around the world, and I think that something like that would be great, but I don't want my son to walk away from it feeling like EVERY single child on this planet goes to some sort of school except for him. Does anyone happen to know of a book like this that includes some form of homeschooling? I think that it would be wonderful for him to see ALL of the different ways in which children are educated, including him. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fralala Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Well, there's Jonathan Bean's great picture book This is My Home, This is My School, although I don't know of any books featuring non-American homeschoolers. You may already be referring to one of the books in this series (A School Like Mine), but our hands-down favorite books about the lives of kids in a variety of different cultures are the DK series: A Life Like Mine, Children Just Like Me, and the other books in the series that focus on holidays and such. (And lest he walk away from A School Like Mine feeling that every child in the world except him goes to school, you could remind him that in many of the countries covered, school is not universal, even where it is mandatory on paper. Then again, if he's only six or so, maybe you don't want to go there.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymomtime Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 A good book for resources of books for multiple age levels is "Give Your Child the World; Raising Globally Minded Children One Book at a Time" by Jamie Martin I have enjoyed the selection of books from her lists. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom of 2 boys Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 Well, there's Jonathan Bean's great picture book This is My Home, This is My School, although I don't know of any books featuring non-American homeschoolers. You may already be referring to one of the books in this series (A School Like Mine), but our hands-down favorite books about the lives of kids in a variety of different cultures are the DK series: A Life Like Mine, Children Just Like Me, and the other books in the series that focus on holidays and such. (And lest he walk away from A School Like Mine feeling that every child in the world except him goes to school, you could remind him that in many of the countries covered, school is not universal, even where it is mandatory on paper. Then again, if he's only six or so, maybe you don't want to go there.) Thank you!!! I have never heard of "This is My Home, This is My School" before. Turns out our local library has not one, but TEN copies of this book! I honestly didn't expect them to have it at all. So, I went ahead and put that on hold to read now just for fun :) I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed those DK books, they are on my list! I'm not sure how much he would understand as far as schools go. I really like the idea of showing him that there are all different kinds of schools out there (especially since homeschooling isn't exactly typical), but I also feel like it could easily backfire if it's not the exact right book. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom of 2 boys Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 (edited) A good book for resources of books for multiple age levels is "Give Your Child the World; Raising Globally Minded Children One Book at a Time" by Jamie Martin I have enjoyed the selection of books from her lists. Oh, thank you!! This is exactly what I need. Here I am searching high and low for resources while someone has already done all of the work for me - perfect! Looks like my library has this one too! Edited March 15, 2017 by mom of 2 boys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 I love the If You Were Me and Lived In (fill in the blank). I also use the Give Your Child the World book as mentioned above, and then Amazon and our library (which isn't too awesome). Get a good kids' atlas too. I like the National Geographic one, but there are a slew of others. There are even free ones for your kindle. I've done something similar to what you're planning with my 4&5 year old this year and they've really enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Here are some links you might find helpful. Hopefully they work. :) If you were me and lived in...... I couldn't get a search link with a list as above, but if you look up R is for Russia or B is for Bagpipes on Amazon it will show you some other series by country. I had more luck with some of these with my kids at their ages than some of the books on Give Your Child the World. They're called World Alphabet or something, but I can't get a search to pull them all up. National Geographic Countries of the World - these are adult level books, but I've found I can read brief descriptions and my kids love the pictures. You can look at the Famous Children series and see if any composers/artists line up with what you're studying and then play them the pieces or show them the art. This lovely lady has hands down the most amazing blog for country and history studies I've ever seen. You can get a million ideas off of her site. AngelicScalliwags Country specific fairy tales are always a great add in too. I started off with Sonlight A last fall and ended up switching over to this method instead. I still use some of their books, but this has grabbed my kids attention better. We switch between studying ancients and studying present day cultures. If I think of anything else I will add in. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 School days around the world by Margaret Ruiirs is a good one. It has an American homeschooling family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 I did a whole year on Africa, South America and North America (Canada, mexico, central america) and will pick up again next year, this year we are doing just USA geography. I found lots of cool picture books and then used the DK books listed above. Several books I got mentioned travelling teachers or village schools or the lack of schools. My twins listened when they were in Kg and still remember a lot. Next year will be Europe, Oceania and Asia. I spent a lot of time on Amazon looking up "kids books in _______ ". Some countries were harder than others to find :lol: . If you want any particular country, just let me know. I don't think I have a list typed up, but I will check. I packed most away in storage boxes by continent to make shelf room for the USA books. For a read aloud about homeschooling you could do the "wright on time" series. Each one is set in a state in the USA and has a mystery and they RV school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom of 2 boys Posted March 17, 2017 Author Share Posted March 17, 2017 School days around the world by Margaret Ruiirs is a good one. It has an American homeschooling family. This is exactly what I am looking for, thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom of 2 boys Posted March 17, 2017 Author Share Posted March 17, 2017 I love the If You Were Me and Lived In (fill in the blank). I also use the Give Your Child the World book as mentioned above, and then Amazon and our library (which isn't too awesome). Get a good kids' atlas too. I like the National Geographic one, but there are a slew of others. There are even free ones for your kindle. I've done something similar to what you're planning with my 4&5 year old this year and they've really enjoyed it. Thank you!! I am having a lot of trouble choosing an atlas. They're all starting to look the same to me :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Thank you!! I am having a lot of trouble choosing an atlas. They're all starting to look the same to me :huh: Yeah they do that. I just picked the one with the coolest pictures in the sample because my youngest is a sucker for awesome animal pictures. Highly scientific method I used there. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom of 2 boys Posted March 17, 2017 Author Share Posted March 17, 2017 I did a whole year on Africa, South America and North America (Canada, mexico, central america) and will pick up again next year, this year we are doing just USA geography. I found lots of cool picture books and then used the DK books listed above. Several books I got mentioned travelling teachers or village schools or the lack of schools. My twins listened when they were in Kg and still remember a lot. Next year will be Europe, Oceania and Asia. I spent a lot of time on Amazon looking up "kids books in _______ ". Some countries were harder than others to find :lol: . If you want any particular country, just let me know. I don't think I have a list typed up, but I will check. I packed most away in storage boxes by continent to make shelf room for the USA books. For a read aloud about homeschooling you could do the "wright on time" series. Each one is set in a state in the USA and has a mystery and they RV school. Thank you! That "Wright on time" series looks great! It's going to make us all want an RV though lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenecho Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 (edited) I've read parts of "Children Just Like Me" (they had free excerpts in Chick-Fil-e, so we've just read those, not the whole thing...so I can't say if any of the children featured in it are homeschooled. The ones I've read are not, not even the Bedouin family :(. But it is still a sweet book, and the schooling is only a minor focus, not the main focus. They talk about each child's family, food they eat, language they speak (showing also how they write their name) and various other things. It's copyright 1995 though so some of the clothes are a little dated. Edited March 20, 2017 by goldenecho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CuriculumMom Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Nim's Island is a book that features a homeschooler as the main character. It is next on my readaloud list, but I have heard great things about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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