World Cultures/World Geography (secular)?

[lisabees]

Ds11 is coming home (from ps) in January. I'd like to do a World Cultures/World Geography/Human Geography kinda thing. Is there something out there that is secular and hands-on? He is obsessed with different cultures and would love it if there is! It cannot be dumbed down. He wants to go deep.

[swimmermom3]

Oh yes there is!:D:D:D

 

Letting the suspense build...

 

Is there an evil face on here?

[mo2]

Oh yes there is!:D:D:D

 

Letting the suspense build...

 

Is there an evil face on here?

 

 

Well, are you going tell us??? :bigear:

[lisabees]

Oh yes there is!:D:D:D

 

Letting the suspense build...

 

Is there an evil face on here?

 

I should have known...:lol:

[swimmermom3]

Here is your spine possibility: World Cultures and Geography: Eastern Hemisphere. This is the complete book online, but the text itself is cheap, cheap, cheap. There are numerous activities and skills to pull from here.

 

Then I will email you a secular version of Sonlight's Eastern Hemisphere core. The woman who put it together did a great job. We found this to be much more to our liking. There is a world focus instead of a Christian mission focus. You can get many of the books from the library or put your requests into Paperback Swap and begin collecting for next year.

 

Everybody is either in the water or about to be in the water, so I'll get back to you after I do the rounds.

[JaniceO]

I would be interested in a course like this as well.

[Irishmommy]

I'd love to see this as well. It's not that I don't like the mission stories, I just didn't want that to be our focus for the year. I had already decided to omit Core 5, but my son has already worked through SOTW, so I wasn't sure about going to Core 6 either. I tried to pm you swimmermom, but your pm box is full.:)

[Irishmommy]

Do you know what level the text book is?

[TrixieB]

Do you know what level the text book is?

It is middle school level.

[Lori D.]

Just jot down what countries you want to cover, with an estimate of how long you want to spend on each; then look through your local library's card catalog for books of fiction, non-fiction, picture books/myths on those countries, plus DVDs of travelogues, documentaries and feature films. Fill the list into your schedule, and about 1-2 weeks in advance, hit the library, and away you go!

 

We used a lot of books from Sonlight 5, but also ransacked the local library for:

- travel videos on different countries

- documentaries on different countries

- feature films set in different countries/times

- books on food, games from different cultures (and then we made/ate the food, played the games)

- picture books on myths from different cultures (the illustrations are usually in the art style of the culture)

- non-fiction on various countries/cultures (the "Science of the Past" was a fun series, for example -- China, India, Egypt, etc.)

 

We also did a comparative religions segment to our year of world culture/world geography and really enjoyed the Milliken publishers' (secular) The World's Great Religions series (http://www.rainbowresource.com): Inside Hinduism, Inside Buddhism, Inside Judaism, Inside Islam, Inside Christianity. We used John Bowker's World Religions (secular) as a general resource, reading bits and pieces, but certainly not the whole book.

 

We made our own atlas pages (about 3 a week) using free printable maps from at National Geographic's Xpeditions website (click on the Atlas Maps heading) -- but there are also other great teaching resources there, too. The kids marked the map, read about the country and wrote a paragraph on it from info from either the great OOP pictorial atlas "Circling the Globe" or the World Book encyclopedia CD/online. They added a sticker of the country's flag, and also jotted down the capital, population, key language(s), key religion(s), major resources.

 

They also did the Maps Charts and Graphs geography workbook, level G: The World, and learned all the countries/capitals playing the free online geography games at Sheppard Software.

 

It was a fantastic year, and I wish we could have taken TWO years to truly cover the whole world; it has proved to be a very valuable background in middle school to prepare to better understand history/culture when you hit high school.

 

Enjoy your jaunt around the world! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited November 17, 2010 by Lori D.

[lisabees]

Wow Lori D! Fantabulous ideas! :D It sure does seem simple enough - find all the resources you can get about the countries in which you're most interested. Thank you for the links, as always. Sounds like this could be a great year.

 

And Lisa, I am looking forward to your email. The text looks great. I'll have to check it out on Amazon. ;)

 

Thanks all.

[Irishmommy]

It sounds like you could also use those Children Like Me books for your younger. My older (9) son still likes those kinds of books.

[lisabees]

It sounds like you could also use those Children Like Me books for your younger. My older (9) son still likes those kinds of books.

 

:iagree: That's a book that is currently hanging out in the bathroom book basket. I'll have to rescue it for the course!! :lol:

[swimmermom3]

Just jot down what countries you want to cover, with an estimate of how long you want to spend on each; then look through your local library's card catalog for books of fiction, non-fiction, picture books/myths on those countries, plus DVDs of travelogues, documentaries and feature films. Fill the list into your schedule, and about 1-2 weeks in advance, hit the library, and away you go!

 

We used a lot of books from Sonlight 5, but also ransacked the local library for:

- travel videos on different countries

- documentaries on different countries

- feature films set in different countries/times

- books on food, games from different cultures (and then we made/ate the food, played the games)

- picture books on myths from different cultures (the illustrations are usually in the art style of the culture)

- non-fiction on various countries/cultures (the "Science of the Past" was a fun series, for example -- China, India, Egypt, etc.)

 

We also did a comparative religions segment to our year of world culture/world geography and really enjoyed the Milliken publishers' (secular) The World's Great Religions series (www.rainbowresource.com): Inside Hinduism, Inside Buddhism, Inside Judaism, Inside Islam, Inside Christianity. We used John Bowker's World Religions (secular) as a general resource, reading bits and pieces, but certainly not the whole book.

 

We made our own atlas pages (about 3 a week) using free printable maps from at National Geographic's Xpeditions website (click on the Atlas Maps heading) -- but there are also other great teaching resources there, too. The kids marked the map, read about the country and wrote a paragraph on it from info from either the great OOP pictorial atlas "Circling the Globe" or the World Book encyclopedia CD/online. They added a sticker of the country's flag, and also jotted down the capital, population, key language(s), key religion(s), major resources.

 

They also did the Maps Charts and Graphs geography workbook, level G: The World, and learned all the countries/capitals playing the free online geography games at Sheppard Software.

 

It was a fantastic year, and I wish we could have taken TWO years to truly cover the whole world; it has proved to be a very valuable background in middle school to prepare to better understand history/culture when you hit high school.

 

Enjoy your jaunt around the world! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

What we did is similar to what Lori has written above. For those of you who want to plan your own curriculum, the key would be to utilize resources that Lori has mentioned in the form of a template. This makes planning easy. Your template might look something like this:

 

1. Textbook reading - not our usual course of action, but I really like the text. Student gets background information on history, culture, and modern status of region studied. Economics and politics are briefly covered. For academic work, I utilized the graphic organizers and the main idea questions as writing prompts. Nearly every section has a geography skill builder activity that goes well with the work in Trail Guide to World Geography. You can also invest in The Complete National Geographic for research materials. Honestly, it comes in handy no matter what you are teaching for history.

 

2. Mapping - we used the maps and the questions from the Trail Guide to World Geography (one question a day, mapping done on first day of new region or country) We also read in the DK Geography book.

 

3. Literature - choose 1-2 really good books that depict the culture or a specific time. Don't forget the biographies.

 

4. Art - I consider Geography Through Art to be an indispensable resource. These projects are quick and satisfying especially if you do not have time to do a major project for the area of study.

 

5. Film - be sure to include travelogues like Lori mentioned. Something similar to Rick Steeve's in Iran (though he's usually in Europe). Movies that explore major issues are great: Rabbit-Proof Fence for Australia. We went through a ton of movies. Thank goodness we had a good library.

 

6. Culture - We also read in Material World: A Global Family Portrait and Hungary Planet.

 

 

7. Food - we tried to cook at least one item that was popular in the area we were studying. Be sure to take a picture of the chef and their product.

 

8. Major project - this is something that Sonlight has the student do in their Core 5. I would leave it open depending on your time. You can make collages, origami, model buildings and so on.

 

Be sure to make a scapbook, like a travel diary. Let your student get creative. Include photos, maps, covers of favorite books with brief summaries, pictures of art projects and ethnic meals. You could include a CD with samples of world music. Include their charts and paragraphs discussing how a country's geography affects its culture and economics.

 

Note: I used a DK book for world religions, but I have since acquired The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions: Internet-Linked (World Cultures), which we really like. Goddesses, Heroes, and Shamans is handy and a used copy is inexpensive.

 

There are ways to tie the study into science so that you are doing your literature, history, and science all together.

 

Have fun!

 

 

[Irishmommy]

Wow, I'm really excited about this. This might give us a break from going right back into ancients. I wanted to wait until 7th to dive back into that. Since we took 2 years to do SOTW 1, I feel like we just did it.

[swimmermom3]

It is really a challenging and fun course to do and you can tailor it to your child's interests. You can add in assignments from Great Science Adventures (Earth Forms) or GEMs' Plate Tectonics, River Cutters, or Only One Ocean to incorporate science. Usually, the area that you are studying will have something to study that stands out like volcanoes or inhabitants of the rain forest.

[KarenNC]

This all looks great. We are doing an overview this year (5th) along with ancient history, but I'd like to go more indepth next year. If the secular core differs from what has already been posted, I would love to have a copy as well.

 

Thanks!

[TKDmom]

Awww, you guys have me drooling! :drool5: We're supposed to go back to Ancient History next year, but I'd really rather study Eastern Hemisphere. I have been drooling over SL core 5, but it's probably too advanced for my dc, and too hard for me to secularize. I was just going to content myself with an EH unit study over the summer, but now I want to spend all year on your plans! Remind me that most of my kids are too young, and I should just file this away to do in 3 or 4 years....

[zookeeperof3]

I'd love to have a copy as well. We are ditching WP because it's too much. This sounds great for us.

Kim

[lisabees]

It is really a challenging and fun course to do and you can tailor it to your child's interests. You can add in assignments from Great Science Adventures (Earth Forms) or GEMs' Plate Tectonics, River Cutters, or Only One Ocean to incorporate science. Usually, the area that you are studying will have something to study that stands out like volcanoes or inhabitants of the rain forest.

 

The more I read Lisa and Lori's ideas, the more excited I become. We were already planning to do earth/space science using GEMS, so it should be a good fit!

 

I really like the make your own atlas/scrapbook idea. I guess one could also make his own passport.

 

DS wants to create a blog of his "travels". :)

[Irishmommy]

lisabees, sounds like you've got a good plan! I am seriously thinking of doing this for ds' 6th grade year. I've wanted to do a "geography" year with my kiddos and I think that 6th and 2nd will be the year! Thanks to swimmermom and others for all the great ideas!:001_smile: