Topics not covered in SOTW

[ereks mom]

I've decided that I want to do some mini-units as we do SOTW (Volume 3 in the upcoming school year) so we can include some topics that SOTW 3 doesn't cover. So far, I've come up with the Salem Witch Trials and Pirates (especially female pirates). Can someone help me add a few more topics not included in SOTW 3 that would be of interest to teenage girls?   The time period would be roughly 1600-1850.

Edited July 8, 2016 by ereks mom

[Jane Elliot]

Critical Thinking in US History has a lesson on the Salem witch trials. Other lessons that cover topics that might be of particular interest to teenage girls are: "Did Pocahontas Really Rescue captain John Smith?" "How Did Immigration to Colonial Maryland Affect the Lives of Women?" "What Arguments Were Made for and against Women's Rights?" and many, many more. The time period covered in Volumes 1 and 2 of CTUSH matches the time period covered in SOTW 3.

Edited July 8, 2016 by Jane Elliot

[Loesje22000]

Bump

as I struggle with the same era in a different area

[goldenecho]

I haven't gotten to that volume yet, so I'm not sure if it's covered in the book, but the colonization of Australia by British convicts is fascinating and happens during this period.    

 

Russia was colonizing Alaska during this period.  Real exploitation of the native population.  Maybe not kid friendly (the novel I read where I learned about this was definately not kid friendly...was about an Alaskan women who was taken from her husband to be made a wife of the leader of the Russian colony).  But studying the Alaskan culture at this period might be interesting. 

 

Extra Credits History has

, a pioneering women in medicine.  Their videos are great and appropriate for kids (my 8, 11, and 12 year old loves them...they watch them for fun, not even related to homeschool--my older two aren't homeschooled).  Another one in that time period by them is the South Sea Bubble (a British financial stock market crisis they actually manage to make interesting enough for kids to sit through 4-5 videos on it, again, by choice.   If you do this for the next volume of Story of the World, they have a lot of videos on things that happen right after that (I really suggest the series on the Zulus).

 

The Island of the Blue Dolphins is a children's novel based on the true story of Juana Maria, a Nicoleño Native Californian left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island, one of the Channel Islands off the California coast, before being discovered in 1853.   Most of her story takes place during that time period, and you could supplement by looking into the Native Americans on the California coast at that time.  (This was one of my favorite books as a child...but warning, there's some sad parts). 

 

Ever watch The Last Samurai?   Again, not kid appropriate, but a study of the last days of the Samurai might be interesting, and happened during this period.  Not sure if that would appeal to your girls.

 

The role of women and what jobs were available to them and women who broke that role are always a cool topic to look at at any time period and location.

 

Edited July 8, 2016 by goldenecho