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Alternative to "Material World" for the "Visits to…" Books
- This topic has 28 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 2 months ago by
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I would like to start by saying that we have and are loving the new SCM Matthew through Acts and Ancient Rome book and Visits to Europe books for History/Geography/Bible. Love, love, love. And I don’t even mind having to track down the extra books like Hungry Planet and Material World – they are beautiful books. One thing that’s nagging me, though, is the copyright date on Material World. 1994. When you consider production/lead time on the book, the pictures and stories of the people in the books, not to mention the demographic and economic information in the margins, are more than 20 years old now. Is there a more updated version of this book, or an alternative that can be used?
I don’t know of an updated version. The value of the book lies in the stories, the photos, the reality of how people live around the world. THOSE are still relevant, I believe. There has been much progress around the world, but still, while some of the stuff we have has changed, I still think the stories are relevant. The demographic data may no longer be accurate. That is a small problem, however, as we never emphasized this point. You can simply look up more up to date data online–perhaps using the CIA Factbook or some similar source.
Agreeing w/ Bookworm. I have never felt these resources to be out of date. We don’t even look at the demographic info on the sides, as that is not what the real story is.
It’s funny you mention that though. At the SCM JAX Conference earlier this month, we were discussing how geography can be a living subject, and not just a memorization of facts and locations on a map. Sonya was pointing out several things that really don’t matter in geography, and I jokingly added, “Gross domestic product?”, to which the entire room began laughing. It’s true that some of the info we were all forced to memorize in school, such as GDP or population, is just ridiculous. Who cares what the GDP of Bhutan is?! What I do care about is that my children are in a sense “meeting” a Bhutanese family through the text and beautiful photography of books like Material World. I would not discount it as a gem of a resource simply because it was printed 20 years ago. Also, I don’t think SCM would be recommending it if there was a better option.
Even Bhutan doesn’t care what the GDP of Bhutan is! LOL Until very recently, the government there stressed “Gross National Happiness” instead. 🙂
Indeed, Bookworm! We watched the documentary Happy a few weeks ago. It made me want to move to Denmark!
Sonya addressed this not to long ago on another thread and basically said the same thing as Bookworm and LindseyD.
It still doesn’t sit right with me to use material that outdated, even for the story. If you read a story about me from 20 years ago it would not accurately reflect who I am today. If your children were attending an outside educational institution (public or private) with 20-year-old text books, would you not seek more up-to-date supplemental material?
You know, I regularly read books with my children that are over a HUNDRED YEARS OLD!!! By your definition, Jane Austen is outdated. So is Little House on the Prairie. And just forget Robinson Crusoe!!!!
This is not a “text book.” This is a living book. Living books LIVE. They do not die. Charlotte Mason wrote a geography book in the 1800s. By many standards, it is WILDLY outdated. It is still, to this day, a joy and a delight and anyone, child or adult, can learn from it.
These books are good. While there has been some change and some progress in many places, Americans still live in big houses with too much stuff. Refugees in refugee camps still live in tents with almost no stuff. Traditional societies in Bhutan still live in multigenerational setttings in many cases. Some live in apartment blocks, but many still live in traditional homes. Even if there HAD been some change (a marked case would be the great growth in resources available to many Chinese) then these portraits would still be valuable as marking a place, a time, the tradition from which the Chinese we know today came.
Actually, in many cases, if my kids were attending an outside institution, I would PREFER older textbooks. Maybe not in physics 🙂 but definitely in grammar, in history, in nature study, in inducing wonder and awe and delight in learning—the older stuff kicks the new stuff out of the park.
1) Fiction is a completely different genre. And using your interpretation makes it seem as though I find the Bible outdated (which I do not), and that’s a bit harsh of a judgment.
2) I know my student, and he needs more than Material World can offer. I want to fill the gap between where Material World leaves off and today. A lot has happened.
3) The only thing I needed were book suggestions, but instead I feel lectured. Does no one have any other recent living books for geography that they have loved/enjoyed and would recommend?
Your best bet is just to skip these books – there’s nothing recent that compares and contrasts that I’m aware of. I haven’t seen the revised edition, but these books were not assigned and you really can just leave them out as the point of them is not really to teach geography. They are eye-opening and helpful, but if your main concern is up-to-date just skip them –
….OR you could have your students get the voice of the martyrs child’s magazine or World vision’s monthly publication and that would give you some similar contrasts between countries with the religious freedom we enjoy and properity we enjoy. It’s not a start contrast like what you see on the pages of material world, but it could get a similar point across (personally – I think the religious freedom point is MORE important than the prosperity one, but I have my very young children reading about martyrs – modern and historic – all the time so it’s not something we shy away from.)
Here are some lists of living geography books, some more modern than others. None are similar in scope to Material World, instead focusing on one country/state at at time. I’m not sure of the age of your child(ren) so some of these may not be applicable.
http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/p/living-books-for-geography.html
http://myfamilyiseternal.blogspot.com/2010/07/literature-based-geography.html
http://www.pennygardner.com/geography.html
http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/411164-what-is-your-favorite-living-book-for-geography/
There are some blogs, written by families, that travel around the world and share their experiences:
http://worldschooladventures.com/other-traveling-families/
Also, I don’t really know what you’re looking for but there are a lot of great travel videos that might be useful.
In 2010, the same author did another world title:
What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets by Peter Menzel.
@OHmomIO – No one is lecturing you at all, but rather making an attempt at helping you understand what living books and a living education are – they live and grow as Bookworm said. This book standard applies to geography as well! We have read Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels and while some info is out of date and we google modern color photos, the book is FABULOUS! I would hate to miss it because it’s old. Same for many of our favorite books fiction or non-fiction.
I research books for fun and am busy building a personal library to eventually become a lending library. There are over 5000 books in my personal library, including Material World and Hungry Planet. I loan books, I lead a CM co-op that uses living books. I say all that to say, I have never seen books like these elsewhere. Like the other ladies mentioned, they stand alone at the current time. If it’s simply more current facts you want, use google. For the story and looking inside a family, you’re going to be hard pressed to find something more current that the Menzel books.
Re. your #2 – Of course you know your own student, but what more exactly is it that he needs? The facts are easily come by. The stories are there and still very relavent. Having traveled to quite a few places in the world, these are a good snapshot even today.
As a side note, many of us have been at this homeschooling CM style for a lot of years now and simply share with you from our experience. You’re free to take or leave what you choose of suggestions offered, but here on the SCM forum people share in kindness. Don’t mistake someone’s forthrightness about a book for a lecture.
Warmly,
Christie
To clarify, again, I’m not skipping Material World. I have the book in my possession, and it’s beautiful. Just looking to add more. That is all. Thank you to those who have posted titles.
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