Posted in Our Curriculum
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This is our third year using Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. My kids and I love the story format. This subject is what led to my decision to (loosely) follow the Classical model for education. The way I was taught history was in bits and pieces, very disjointed, and not at all chronologically. I am learning so much for the first time as I read to them. My daughter's first grade year we learned ancient history. Her second grade was the middle ages, and this year is early modern times. My son has tagged along for our journey. He's done very well considering he's two years younger. This week we will be studying the end of the slave trade. By God's provision, not coincidence, we went to rent a movie for family night on Saturday and my husband found Amazing Grace. What a great movie! It was released last year, but we rarely pay movie theater prices. For those who, like us, haven't seen it yet, it is the story of William Wilberforce. He was a British believer who in the late 1700's into the early 1800's worked tirelessly to end the slave trade in Great Britain. It fits perfectly with our lesson for this Tuesday! It offers a gentle introduction to slavery and I didn't find it too much for my children (age 6 & 8) to handle (note it is rated PG for language and other issues; Dove reviews recommend this movie for 12 and older). My children didn't pick up on some objectionable words and didn't know the meaning of them so it went over their heads for now. It has a bit about John Newton's influence on Wilberforce's life. Listening to the song "Amazing Grace", now that I know more about John Newton and his previous involvement with the slave trade makes the song much more powerful. (My next post will be about our music curriculum.) In addition to reading the Story of the World, I usually get library books Susan recommends at the end of each chapter of the Activity book. When I can find them, I also get movies related to our weekly chapter. The Activity book also includes color pages, questions for narration (I just learned that a person retains 80% if they repeat or narrate what they just learned), and crafts, dress up and re-enactment ideas, and games. I am hoping to use SOTW next year to complete the series, but have been told it takes quite a jump in difficulty. I'll be looking at other curriculum for 4th grade modern history just in case...
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