History - WWI/WWII

[fivetails]

Has anyone ever put together a study that covered either WW1 & WW2, or just the second? (being the more ..eventful? .. of the two...)

 

dd12 has expressed an interest in the wars (more so in WW2) ~ she's curious about why, what happened, where, etc. We've briefly discussed certain aspects of them before - we've talked a bit about the Holocaust, we've discussed the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima...just more or less dancing around the outskirts of various topics as they came along in normal conversations from time to time... y'know? We watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" last Spring...not specifically as part of "school" or such, more just because it looked interesting when we saw it at the library. That, naturally, led to some discussion about WW2, Nazis, etc....so, that's the sort of exposure that she's had...more incidental than anything else....

 

I had a look through various hs retailers to see if they sold any good programs, but the only one I saw was for high school and looked..well...boring as all heck. :tongue_smilie:

 

dd12 is a high energy kid, very artsy & colourful ~ if I stick her in some dry-as-mud textbooks for this, her eyes will glaze over and she'll lose interest. That's the LAST thing I want to do.

 

So ~ has anyone put this kind of thing together themselves? I thought maybe if anyone had, you might have some websites, books, or video suggestions that you could share. Did your dc do any special projects during their war study that they really enjoyed? (okay - using 'war' and 'enjoyed' in the same sentences looks so wrong. Ya know what I mean though eh?)

 

Ha, I swear I'm not trying to get yous all to do my work for me :lol: ~ I have a list running here, but it's kind hard to think of a site, book, vid, etc if I don't actually know they *exist* in the first place! It's also great to hear what someone thought about a book or vid that they've already used. Hear what their dc enjoyed, disliked, etc..

 

I'm all ears ~ or rather, eyes, for anything anyone would like to share...

 

Merci beaucoup! >^..^<

[Karenciavo]

The BBC has some great info. World War I, World War II (for schools) World War I, World War II (main site)

[Pip]

As a history person, I am appalled at the lack of attention WWI gets in history study in our schools. I assume it is because the US did not enter the war until very late in the game.

 

I was a political science major in college and got a taste of how WWI pretty much directly led to WWII and we are still feeling the repurcussions of the resolution of WWI today. Later, I was amazed at the huge number of casualties in WWI, hundreds of thousands of soldiers dying in one battle. Without studying WWI and the Treaty of Versaille, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the war in general, you cannot fully understand the rise of communism (in many ways Lenin was a dead issue until he made a deal with the Kaiser to enter Russian and start a revolution so Russia would pull out of the war and Germany could focus their war efforts elsewhere), Nazism, the United Nations and the current partitioning of Europe.

 

I would look at History Odyssey. I have not seen their entire Modern study, but I have seen some of the WWI stuff and it looks quite good.

[fivetails]

The BBC has some great info. World War I, World War II (for schools) World War I, World War II (main site)

 

Thanks! :D

[fivetails]

As a history person, I am appalled at the lack of attention WWI gets in history study in our schools. I assume it is because the US did not enter the war until very late in the game.

 

I was a political science major in college and got a taste of how WWI pretty much directly led to WWII and we are still feeling the repercussions of the resolution of WWI today. Later, I was amazed at the huge number of casualties in WWI, hundreds of thousands of soldiers dying in one battle. Without studying WWI and the Treaty of Versaille, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the war in general, you cannot fully understand the rise of communism (in many ways Lenin was a dead issue until he made a deal with the Kaiser to enter Russian and start a revolution so Russia would pull out of the war and Germany could focus their war efforts elsewhere), Nazism, the United Nations and the current partitioning of Europe.

 

I would look at History Odyssey. I have not seen their entire Modern study, but I have seen some of the WWI stuff and it looks quite good.

 

Okay ~ I'm Canadian, so there's no connection personally for us to the US-entering-late side of things ;) ....but I completely admit that I know quite a bit less about WW1 than WW2 ~ I don't know about American textbooks, but I can certainly see that WW2 gets much more 'coverage' in general. Frankly, I don't know a whole lot about either war ~ which is a bit of a shame given that I'm a former military brat :tongue_smilie:, but it's not something that I had much direct teaching about in school and was never a personal interest, so this will be a learning experience for *both* of us. {I love it when that happens!}

 

I've have a look at "History Odyssey" ~ not familiar with that, but I'm game to check out anything ~ I'm very much at the beginning of this right now...it wasn't in my plans for this year, but she's curious and I think it could come out to be something pretty good.

 

She *is* only 12 though, so I'm hoping that I can put this together for her in a way that holds her interest ~ and doesn't scare her. Like I said, she has a passing familiarity with some of the events of WW2, but in depth is another story completely. :001_huh:

[Rhonda in TX]

They are available at currclick.com. They are written for a classroom, but you can see what Tami did with the World War I study at her blog. Here's a link to the first blog post. I think there are two other posts.

[nata]

We are just finishing studying WWI with the Usborne book The World Wars (got mine on Amazon) as our spine and it has been a great resource. I second really covering WWI so you can understand what led to WWII.

 

Since we are of Polish heritage, I have been stressing some Polish history as we go and plan to use a book called The Other Victims by Ina R. Friedman. It is a compilation of first person stories of non-Jews persecuted by the Nazis. I'm not diminishing the persecution of the Jews, but rather am stressing that there were millions of non-Jews persecuted as well. We may not cover all the stories in this book, but it seems to be written in a style understandable by children.

 

In helping to teach this other side of the holocaust, I have as my personal aid the book Forgotten Holocaust by Richard C. Lukas and Norman Davies, which goes into this in depth.

 

As for films, we will watch the Hallmark movie about Irena Sendler, which is much more watchable by children than say Schindler's list or The Pianist.

 

I hope this helps...

[Jeanne in MN]

Our spine was The World Wars by Usborne. Really enjoyed that book. http://www.amazon.com/World-Wars-Paul-Dowswell/dp/0794519717/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253582334&sr=8-1

 

We also used The Century For Young People by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster http://www.amazon.com/Century-Young-People-Peter-Jennings/dp/0385327080/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253582415&sr=1-1-spell

 

and believe it or not, Welcome To Molly's World 1944:Growing Up In World War Two America. by Catherine Gourley. That was a fantastic book covering WWII from the home front. http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Mollys-World-1944-Collection/dp/1562477730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253583438&sr=1-1 There is also a video of this!

 

Books we read:

Escape From Warsaw

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

The Big Lie

The Winged Watchman

Japanese American Internment-An Interactive History Adventure by Rachel Hanel. This book was cool as the kids could choose different paths to take in the book as if they were there. Neat book.

Navajo Code Talkers

 

Good luck.

[Carol in Cal.]

The book "Hitler" by Marrin is excellent for what you want. Until I read it I had not realized myself that Hitler had been a German soldier in WWI, and that that colored everything he did later. The book covers his entire life and thus covers the European experience of the two World Wars as well as the intervening depression quite well. Marrin also wrote a biography of Stalin called "Stalin, Russia's Man of Steel" that is outstanding and fills in the details of the communists better than most other resources that I have seen.

 

For a living book taking place in Europe in an occupied nation, read "Number the Stars." That book is one of my favorite Newbury's ever--just outstanding, not to be missed.

 

"The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" is set during WWII, although that doesn't play into the story very much. For a VERY interesting perspective on the English home front, "The Screwtape Letters" (CC) talks about an appropriate Christian response to WWII tensions from the point of view of an uncle demon mentoring his nephew tempter in trying to draw a young man into despair and away from God during that period. It is hard to overstate how comical and thought-provoking that book is. It might be a nice change of pace.

 

I believe that there is a Marrin book about WWI called "The Yanks are Coming" but I have not read that one. He also has a book about the Pacific Front of WWII, but that one has many, many battleship details and I think that it is less engaging and more tedious than his biographies.

[KathyBC]

The final Anne of Green Gables book, Rilla of Ingleside, chronicles Anne's family's journey through WWI, particularly through the eyes of her youngest daughter. (And it's Canadian, of course!) It should be right at your dd's level.

 

I remember reading All Quiet On The Western Front in grade 8, I think. It told of WWI at the front from the viewpoint of a young German soldier.

 

Sending you a pm with a couple more Canadian resources.

Edited September 22, 2009 by KathyBC

[happymom]

We did a quick unit on WW2 last year (My children were 10 and 12). Below are just a few of my favorite resources. We are going to cover it again this year using Winter Promise American Culture (1860-2001) . I like the way it covers both wars and the events leading up to them.

 

Favorite resources for WW2:

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti -explains why so many young people were willing to follow Hitler and ignore or take part in the Holocaust..

 

"1940's House"- from Netflix-

Gave us a good perspective as to what things were like for average citizens living in Great Britain during the war.

 

Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig

Story of how Danish people got the Jews out of there country before the Germans could round them up. Thought provoking story (would I be willing to put myself and my family in danger in order to save others.)

 

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

My favorite read aloud from this era. So many great values and lessons taught.

 

The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

 

 

 

Also, I don't think the these wars can be taught effectively without a good understanding of Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, and Progressivism. I can't remember now the resource I used for this but it was basic and very helpful in understanding all of the events.

[Carol in Cal.]

I forgot the Hitler Youth book, above...it's a fantastic one.

 

It is so hard to cover this period just right--horrible, but not TOO horrible for middle schoolers. The suggestions you have so far are really, really good ones, well balanced like that.

[fivetails]

I'm on my way to zzzzz here, but I see all sorts of book/site/movie/etc suggestions to check out tomorrow - thanks!! Much appreciated! :D (It's nearly 11pm and I'm dog tired, or I'd be looking 'em all up right now.)

[MarthaT]

I forgot the Hitler Youth book, above...it's a fantastic one.

 

It is so hard to cover this period just right--horrible, but not TOO horrible for middle schoolers. The suggestions you have so far are really, really good ones, well balanced like that.

 

They were very good suggestions, the Hitler youth book was great

 

[Blue Ray]

Great thread. My 9 year old is very interested in WW1 and WW2. We start 4th grade history on Friday for about 17 weeks and this will probably take about 3 weeks or so.

 

I am looking for appropriate movies also but am concerned about the Holocaust and wonder how that is going to work out for us.

 

We also have the Museum of Tolerance about an hour from here and was wondering if anyone has experienced the museum with their child?

 

thanks

[MissKNG]

Do you have any places nearby where WWII vets can (want) to discuss their experiences? Do you know any? I would definitely look into that.

 

My grandpa was a WWII officer, though he never spoke about it. My dad knows everything and one of these days....soon....I'm going to sit and listen to EVERY single detail.

 

ETA: Sorry, I just saw you are from Canada...probably not too many WWII vets nearby!

[KathyBC]

 

ETA: Sorry, I just saw you are from Canada...probably not too many WWII vets nearby!

 

Huh? :confused:

[MissKNG]

Huh? :confused:

 

In one of her posts, fivetails said she was Canadian so I figured she lived in Canada. My suggestion was to find a place where WWII US vets were, to perhaps talk about their experiences....but, if she lives in Canada, there probably aren't many places to find US WWII vets.

[KathyBC]

She would probably want to talk to Canadian WWII vets, no? The ones that were there for the whole war? ;)

[ChristyH]

The Yanks are Coming by Albert Marrin would be a fantastic book for a book. The Nutcracker Men is also a great book about the time of WW1.

[MissKNG]

She would probably want to talk to Canadian WWII vets, no? The ones that were there for the whole war? ;)

 

Perhaps, but personally I think listening to German soldiers would be really interesting.

[Matryoshka]

I recently posted this list on another thread that got no other responses - at first I thought it was this thread and wondered where my response went! :tongue_smilie:

 

These were our favorite books/resources for WWI/II when we did it earlier this year - they're all girl-friendly, as I have all girls - mine are 11yo.

 

This doesn't include documentaries, but I do remember we watched a PBS show on the Blitz, and there's are a few other good PBS ones on my TiVo that I thought they should just be a tad older for.

 

Oh, and I got the Hitler Youth book others have mentioned as an Audio CD - it was great. The CD can also be popped into the computer to see pictures and other stuff.

 

WWI

 

World War I: Chronicle of America’s Wars By Feldman, Ruth.

Where Poppies Grow: A WWI Companion By Granfield, Linda (this is a picture book, but very good, and told specifically from the Canadian point of view)

Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon By Mukerji, Dhan Gopal

War Horse By Morpurgo, Michael

 

 

(these next two are in the US during WWI and the influenza epidemic)

Hattie Big Sky By Larson, Kirby

A Time of Angels by Hesse, Karen

 

 

WWII

 

World War II: Letters from the Homefront By Schomp, Virginia

The Mitchells: Five for Victory By van Stockum, Hilda

Molly’s Fire By Carey, Janet Lee

Farewell to Manzanar by Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki

Journey to Topaz By Uchida, Yoshiko

Weedflower By Kadohata, Cynthia

 

World War II - Europe: Chronicle of America’s Wars By Goldstein, Margaret

Winston Churchill by Haugen, Brenda

Mussolini by Haugen, Brenda

Stalin by Haugen, Brenda

Adolf Hitler by Haugen, Brenda

Number the Stars By Lowry, Lois

The Winged Watchman By Van Stockum, Hilda

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit By Kerr, Judith

The Winged Watchman by Van Stockum, Hilda

When the Sirens Wailed By Streatfeild, Noel

Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow By Bartoletti, Susan

The Devil’s Arithmetic by Yolen, Jane

The Endless Steppe by Hautzig, Esther

 

World War II - Pacific: Chronicle of America’s Wars By Williams, Barbara

Under the Blood Red Sun By Salisbury, Graham

Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of WWII By Bruchac, Joseph

The House of Sixty Fathers By Meindert DeJong

Year of Impossible Goodbyes By Choi, Sook Nyul

When My Name was Keoko By Park, Linda Sue

Edited January 31, 2010 by matroyshka

[Julie in MN]

We studied the world wars this year. Here's what *I* found interesting as a teacher, and as someone who knew little before our studies this year.

 

1. WWI is essential as a backdrop to WWII. SOTW covers some of the war & the decisions afterwards at the Treaty of Versailles. This set the stage for the entire country of Germany to feel justified (and depserate) in WWII. So I'd cover WWI at least a bit. I love Marrin's book about WWI and read many passages to ds. It gives a good picture of the situation for different branches of the military, new weapons and techniques used at the time, etc.

 

2. Marrin's Hitler book was suggested. It would answer questions as far as "how could Hitler end up like he did?" That wasn't a big question for us, since we've read about lots of crazy guys in SOTW, so I never finished that book, but I will.

 

3. The real question I had was "how could the German people let this happen? They started the Reformation, and then became so athiestic that they could let this happen?" To answer those questions, these things were helpful to me:

 

- Hansi, The Girl Who Loved the Swastika, By Maria Anne Hirschmann (also called Hansi, The Girl Who Left the Swastika). One of my favorite books of all times, but warning it's very faith-based. An autobiography of a poor Czech girl who was raised as a Christian, the journey of how she became a committed Nazi Youth, and then her slow return to her faith (with difficult battles to forgive, etc.). You can also listen to Hansi on Youtube, and she is very complimentary of American soldiers.

 

- Shadow of His Hand, A story based on the life of Holocaust survivor Anita Dittman. She had a Jewish mother and they became Christians but were imprisoned. She shows how the Holocaust crept into the lives of ordinary people so gradually that it didn't seem as shocking as it does in hindsight. Also shows how some folks did fight in their own ways.

 

- Documentary: Hitler's Children, 5-part series, episode #2 "Dedication." Very eye-opening as a parent to see how German parents allowed this to happen to their children.

 

- The Hiding Place, book or movie. This of course shows that some folks did work against the Nazis at the risk of their own lives.

 

Julie

[Jen+4dc]

Seconding the suggestion of the Usborne "The World Wars" book it's a great intro to both wars.

 

In Flander's Fields has been put into a fabulous picture book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Flanders-Fields-Story-Poem-McCrae/dp/155005144X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264905001&sr=8-6

 

And a huge seconding of the suggestions for Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Dutch smuggling Jews out to Sweden) all mine (ages 12-7 at the time we read it) loved it. A great intro for that age: like Anne Frank but not as graphic and raw. Totally appropriate for upper elementary.

 

We also really enjoyed The Winged Watchmen by Hilda Van Stockum

 

http://www.amazon.com/Winged-Watchman-Living-History-Library/dp/1883937078/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264905144&sr=1-1

 

Lastly, we did a lapbook on WWII from Hands of a Child. I made the mistake of trying to do all the activities for it, there are too many. If your dc like lapbook type stuff this is a great resource, just pick and choose which activities to do.

 

HTH. Have fun with it! It's a really important part of understanding today's world.

[KathyBC]

I'm completely confused so far.

 

Do you have any places nearby where WWII vets can (want) to discuss their experiences? Do you know any? I would definitely look into that.

 

My grandpa was a WWII officer, though he never spoke about it. My dad knows everything and one of these days....soon....I'm going to sit and listen to EVERY single detail.

 

ETA: Sorry, I just saw you are from Canada...probably not too many WWII vets nearby!

We have plenty of veterans here.

 

In one of her posts, fivetails said she was Canadian so I figured she lived in Canada. My suggestion was to find a place where WWII US vets were, to perhaps talk about their experiences....but, if she lives in Canada, there probably aren't many places to find US WWII vets.

 

But why do they need to be American? Wouldn't it make sense for a Canadian to talk to a Canadian veteran?

 

Perhaps, but personally I think listening to German soldiers would be really interesting.

Probably, but I'm still not following this conversation very well. I guess it doesn't really matter, just so long as there's no mistaken belief that Canadians somehow missed out on these events.

[Matryoshka]

I Probably, but I'm still not following this conversation very well. I guess it doesn't really matter, just so long as there's no mistaken belief that Canadians somehow missed out on these events.

 

Not only didn't they miss out, they entered WWI three years earlier and WWII two years earlier than the US. A Canadian can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that was because of the nature of their relationship with Britain - I think at least for WWI they were still a commonwealth of the crown?

 

When I think about it, it really is appalling how little is taught here in school about our neighbor to the north. Okay, "little" is generous - I don't remember anything at all! I have to admit that I'm not even sure when or how the aforementioned commonwealth status was finally resolved, other than that it was peaceful. A quick google search came up with the info that it became a separate country in 1897 but still had colonial status (that is confusing), but that it wasn't till 1982 that it got full control of its constitution??

 

Any Canadians want to help? Does Canada still have some obligations to the UK if some similar conflict broke out today (Isn't the queen still on the coins? Or am I remembering that from my childhood before 1982?) Oh, the depth of my ignorance is appalling... And since I graduated high school in 1982, I guess I can't blame my ignorance on that point on school... :blushing:

Edited January 31, 2010 by matroyshka

[MissKNG]

I'm completely confused so far.

 

 

 

nm - I will send a PM instead.

Edited January 31, 2010 by MissKNG

[KathyBC]

I know appallingly little about our own history, too. We still have the queen's likeness on our currency.The Commonwealth countries seem to have ties still, though I don't think we're obliged any more than to another ally (though I'm open to correction on that).

 

I'm getting quite excited to learn this part of history (again) with my kids.

 

Not only didn't they miss out, they entered WWI three years earlier and WWII two years earlier than the US. A Canadian can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that was because of the nature of their relationship with Britain - I think at least for WWI they were still a commonwealth of the crown?

 

When I think about it, it really is appalling how little is taught here in school about our neighbor to the north. Okay, "little" is generous - I don't remember anything at all! I have to admit that I'm not even sure when or how the aforementioned commonwealth status was finally resolved, other than that it was peaceful. A quick google search came up with the info that it became a separate country in 1897 but still had colonial status (that is confusing), but that it wasn't till 1982 that it got full control of its constitution??

 

Any Canadians want to help? Does Canada still have some obligations to the UK if some similar conflict broke out today (Isn't the queen still on the coins? Or am I remembering that from my childhood before 1982?) Oh, the depth of my ignorance is appalling... And since I graduated high school in 1982, I guess I can't blame my ignorance on that point on school... :blushing:

[Chris in VA]

I like all the For Kids series--here is one on WW2. (They are the company that do the More Than Moccasins and Colonial Kids books, among others.)

There are also other resources at the top of this amazon page that look pretty good, but I haven't tried them.