Resources for Very Recent History?

[wendyroo]

Next year my 3rd grader, 5th grader, and myself will be using SOTW 4.  The final event that it mentions happened in 1994; a lot has happened since then.

Do you have any favorite resources (picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, videos, documentaries, etc) for major events of the last 25 years?  It seems like the kids really should know at least a little about the World Trade Center Attack, the Space Shuttle Columbia, Hurricane Katrina, the Middle East wars...I'm sure I'm missing some big ones.

Thanks.

[Momto6inIN]

I searched Rainbow resource hen we did moderns and came up with a picture book about 9/11. It's pretty good. We read a chapter book called Behind Enemy Lines about the Middle East wars. And I think the I Survived series has one about Katrina. Since we lived through the last 25 years, a lot of it comes up just through conversation, and we cover it that way for elementary. Once they get to middle school the History of US covers up through Obama.

[Pintosrock]

Right now I'm reading History of the English Speaking People Since 1900. It's a continuation of Churchill's book. I've also got Vol 3 of America: Last Best Hope on library loan. Haven't seen the last, but you could read bits of the first aloud. It's a bit hefty for an elementary child, though. 

[goldenecho]

If you can find it there was a show called How we Got to Now a few years ago, that traced how inventions in the past affected things then and what developments are happening now.  It was a really fun watch and got up to modern history (though it ended a few years ago).

On YouTube Crash Course US History has up to Obamma, and their World History series has some more modern stuff too...and they are usually very good but I do suggest previewing as now and then (not every video - not even most videos) they have a joke that isn't quite appropriate for kids and I haven't gotten that far in their videos yet to tell you whether the modern ones have anything like that.

There's some really great podcasts out there which deal with modern history but all of the ones I love you would have to screen, because while they are mostly fine...there's some stuff occassionally that's not good for kids.  Plus some of it might be too dry for that age (the 5th grader might like some of these though).   More Perfect and Stuff You Missed in History Class are two of my faves.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by goldenecho

[goldenecho]

On Netflix I'd suggest the animated movie "The Breadwinner" is about life for a family under the Taliban in Afghanistan.   It's excellent.  Should be fine for the 5th grader but it's just on the edge for the 3rd grader (ie, I'd show it to some 3rd graders but not other based on their maturity and ability to deal with emotional stuff). 

If you browse your library, even if they don't have anything specifically about Katrina, I've noticed some recent books about hurricanes/weather have info about that (same for modern earthquakes, sunamis and such...if you can find a recent enough book about those subjects they often cover specific modern ones).  

And most libraries would have books about most of the modern presidents, and those would usually include major events that happened during their presidency, which would be another way to tackle that.

 

[goldenecho]

So, I've long planned to cover modern slavery when we cover the Civil War.   Several years ago I wrote some articles about modern slavery for an awareness event, including a chart comparing modern and historic slavery.   I decided today was as good as any to go ahead and make that into a homeschool resource...it has two versions, one for younger kids and one for middle and highschoolers.     

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19hntT-UAS8qdDfcJ_OmFW6AJedcnIbzQ3k-7BerbvTU/edit?usp=sharing

You can also find a short teacher resource at Free the Slaves....

https://www.freetheslaves.net/teachersguide-1/

[Lori D.]

20 hours ago, goldenecho said:

On Netflix I'd suggest the animated movie "The Breadwinner" is about life for a family under the Taliban in Afghanistan.   It's excellent.  Should be fine for the 5th grader but it's just on the edge for the 3rd grader (ie, I'd show it to some 3rd graders but not other based on their maturity and ability to deal with emotional stuff). 

I greatly appreciate golden echo's review/warning here. Yeowzah! I *loved* that film, it is absolutely beautifully made, but PREVIEW for kids under 11!! I thought it was very emotionally intense and frightening for children.

[Lori D.]

1990
- technology = World Wide Web comes into existence; first website put online in 1991

1991
- disaster = massive volcanic eruption at Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines lowers global temperatures

1992
- science = discovery of the Kuiper Belt in our solar system
- science = discovery of first exo-planets (planets outside of our solar system)
- disaster = hurricane Andrew
- political = Bill Clinton elected U.S. president

1994
- technology = opening of the "Chunnel" (channel tunnel under the English Channel, connecting the U.K. and France)
- sports = Norway hosts the winter Olympic Games
- political = end of Apartheid in South Africa; election of first black African president Nelson Mandela
- political/disaster = Rwandan genocide

1995
- arts = first Harry Potter book published
- disaster = Oklahoma City bombing

1996
- science = Dolly becomes the first successfully cloned sheep
- sports = Atlanta Georgia hosts the summer Olympic Games

1997
- technology = sound barrier broken on land
- political = U.K. transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to China
- person = death of princess Diana of the U.K.
- person = birth of Malala Yousafzai, activist (at age 11, began speaking for girls' rights to educations; shot in 2012, survived, continues to speak out)

1998
- technology = Google starts
- sports = Japan hosts the winter Olympic Games

1999
- world = world population reaches 6 billion
- political = Euro adapted as the currency of Europe
- disaster = Columbine high school shooting

2000
- technology = new millennium celebrated -- and fear of the YK2 computer bug
- sports = Sydney Australia hosts the summer Olympic Games
- political = George W. Bush elected U.S. president

2001
- arts = first of the trilogy of movies based on the Lord of the Rings is released
- technology = first Apple Computer I-pod (leads to development of cell phones and changes the music industry)
- technology = Wikipedia (online encyclopia) founded
- disaster = 9-1-1 attack on U.S. Trade Center buildings; almost 3,000 people die
- disaster = earthquakes in western India kill over 30,000 people

2002
- science = dwarf planet Quaoar discovered in our solar system
- sports = Salt Lake City Utah hosts the winter Olympic Games

2003
- science = human genome project completed
- science = China launches their first manned space mission
- science/disaster = space shuttle Columbia disintegrates on re-entry
- political = U.S. military invades Iraq, overthrows Saddam Hussein, triggers 8-year war

2004
- sports = Athens Greece hosts the summer Olympic Games
- technology = Facebook (social media platform) started by Mark Zuckerberg
- disaster = tsunami from an earthquake in the Indian Ocean kills 230,000 people

2005
- arts = Marvel's super hero franchise kicks off with Ironman
- technology = YouTube created
- science = dwarf planet Eris discovered (thought of as our solar system's "tenth planet" after dwarf planet Pluto)
- disaster = hurricane Katrina floods U.S. city of New Orleans
- disaster = earthquake in Kashmir kills 80,000 people

2006
- science = Pluto demoted from planet to "dwarf planet"
- technology = Twitter (social media platform) starts
- sports = Turin Italy hosts the winter Olympic Games

2007
- political = illegal immigrant total in U.S. reaches 11 million (kicks off current divide on how to address the issue)

2008
- sports = China hosts the summer Olympic Games
- political = Barak Obama elected U.S. president
- political = U.S. economic "downturn" (largest recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s)
- political = end of monarchy in Nepal

2009
- arts = Michael Jackson, "king of pop" esp. throughout the 1980s and 1990s

2010
- sports = Canada hosts the winter Olympic Games
- disaster = earthquake in Haiti kills 230,000 people

2011
- world = world population reaches 7 billion
- technology = Danyang-Kunshan, world's longest bridge completed in China
- science = end of the U.S. space shuttle program (begun in 1981, from a 1969 idea of a reusable space craft)
- political = death of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden
- disaster = earthquake and resulting tsunami kills 16,000 people in Japan

2012
- sports = London hosts the summer Olympic Games
- political = diamond jubilee (60 years as monarch) of Queen Elizabeth II (longest reigning monarch of Britain -- currently over 67 years)

2013
- disaster = Boston Marathon bombings
- religion = Pope Benedict XVI resigns; Pope Francis takes office

2014
- science = first successful probe lands on a comet
- sports = Russia hosts the Winter Olympic Games
- political = King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicates; son becomes King Felipe VI
- disaster = Ebola outbreak in West Africa kills over 11,000 people

2015
- science = probe to Pluto and its satellite Ceres
- science = liquid water found on Mars
- disaster = series of earthquakes in the Himalaya Mountains kills over 10,000 people

2016
- science = detection of gravitational waves
- technology = Gottard Base tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland, world's longest railway tunnel, is completed
- sports = Brazil hosts the summer Olympic Games
- political = Donald Trump elected U.S. president

2017
- disaster = hurricane Harvey floods the U.S. city of Houston and coastline of Texas/Louisiana
- political = in the U.S., removal of Confederate statutes (and protests)

2018
- science = Northern White Rhino declared "functionally extinct"
- sports = South Korea hosts the winter Olympic Games
- disaster = massive forest fires in California (also in 2017)