Inca, Aztec and Maya

I am adding these in next year too.  I am always trying to find books – really, just something sometimes 😉 –  that we can use.  I do not have the All Through the Ages, I guess I need to get it.  Very grateful for Heritage History.  There are lots of cool books there.

I would really like to hear about other’s plans.  I was wondering if I was the only one adding them in  =)  I will look through my books and see what I actually have and share if they fit.

So far, this year, I bumped up the Mods 1-3 into one year (so I can add the other cultures and still have my kids on track) so we are doing Bible with Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome each in a 12 week term.  I am using the modules, I just picked up the pace a bit because – the Bible is a book that my children will always be studying – and added some of the other books we have at home.  Then next year I plan one 12 week term of Ancient China and then a 24 week study of the Ancient Americas.  The key now is the books…hahaha.  =)  I have several textbooks that I thought I would use to find important topics that I want to cover from each civilization.  If I use the list I got from the Oxford/SCM list, I would have a pretty good idea of the topics to introduce and cover for the China/America module.

We will visit all these modules again in another rotation, so my kids should have a pretty solid idea of these addtional cultures (well, that’s the plan anyway) as well as the ones covered in the Modules. 

P.S. – There are some DVDs called “Journey of Faith” and “The New World” that follow a family from Ancient Jerusalem to the New World in a documentary format.  Very neat to add to the Ancient America studies.  =)

I sat down with each Module and a page for each 12 weeks of the term I plan to cover.  I simply wrote the topic of the Oxford chapter on the history part, and listed the Bible chapters that went with the topic to that point.  So we will read two Bible stories a day, and then I will use the books that I gave in the house to help cover the topic from the Oxford book.  We will still do geography and map drill once a week.  For our read alouds, I will read Boy of the Pyramid and another awesome one that I found.  We will listen to the other literature selections (like Black Beauty and Robin Hood) from Librivox as we do handicrafts, dishes, and some artwork.

I was going to say that I am not writhing my own Module, but maybe I am…I plan on adding the Bible (and since I am LDS, the Book of Mormon) to the Ancient Americas and China just like Sonya did to the other Ancient cultures by getting the corresponding dates from the scriptures and putting it in the history timeframes.  The Book of Mormon is about the Ancient American people that believed in Christ, so it will work very well.  We will even add to the time line figures.  This sounds very time consuming, but our church has very beautiful timelines of the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon and our Church History for .50 a piece that show the scriptures lined out together since they correspond.  The other day it occured to me that we could put one in everyone’e notebook and add the other world figures as we go…save me tons of time. 

I figured that if I used the same type of topics we used from Oxford (like houses, governments, food and clothing, etc) I could have a pretty cool study for the cultures.  =)

However, if you are not LDS, it still would be fairly simple to look at your timeline or Book of Centuries and line up the Ancient Civilizations using the dates from those.  The SCM dates are so easy to find, you could create a general timeline to follow in just a few minutes and add the Bible stories that are in that timeframe.  I don’t think that it will be that hard.  Also, it might be a good time to throw in the Bible studies from here like the Jesus is Better, Wisdom for Life, GOAL Bible study, etc. since you wouldn’t necessarily be reading the Bible chapter by chapter.  All this is just off the top of my head, I haven’t really started to find my “spines” yet.   We shall see.  Rachel is always streets ahead of me in this stuff, so I am anxious to see what she is doing.  LOL  Maybe I’ll just copy her.

I hope that made sense. =) What are you thinking of doing? 

I have my computer back now, but am taking hubby to the doctor. I’m pulling together the books that would apply to this discussion. Hopefully in the doctor’s office, I’ll hae time to write them down in an organized fashion.

I’m feeling like you sheraz-not wanting to do a thing. Late summer blahs…I’m so behind; plus my husband’s meds. have changed and that always affects him negatively and messes with the entire mood and movement of the house.

You have such sweet words sheraz…

Looking forward to bringing what I can to the table. Next year I am doing two time periods; Ancient Egypt (including the Asian countries then) and finishing the Middle Ages till 1800 (including a deeper latin American study then).

Checkl in later! Isn’t it funt o build off of each other?

Gotta go…

Rachel

Free ancient China lapbook, booklist at bottom:

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ancient_china_lapbook.php

Hello everybody! I put together a listing of books, that’s what took me so long. Also, I would say to get rid of the worksheets and maybe add in notebooking instead or just pure oral and/or written narrations, as well as studying historical maps and mapping the people groups and explorers; keep a timeline, too (also having pre-made timeline to look at helps, too).

Also, don’t overlook the value of documentaries. Just throwng out some ideas. I like to do parallel history, too and I’ve found that the children have no problem making the connections. I haven’t laid down my specific paln for enxt year yet, but I usually just have books and plug them in, adding in maps and timelines. I try to have a balance of Lit., facts only books (my son likes those, they are usually easy independant books) bios and culture books to get a full picture of the time period adn people.

I only have Gr. 4-6 (with a couple of exceptions); if you need me to look up any for olders, let me know.

Books about Asia from Heritage History to browse through to determine time frames :

http://www.heritage-history.com/www/heritage.php?Dir=civ&MenuItem=asian  

ANCIENT CHINA

All Ages:

The Seventy Wonders of China – Jonathan Fenby

The Great Wall – Micheal Yamashita 

    Gr. 4-6:

Eyewitness Books – Ancient China

Ancient China – Judith Simpson

Great Wall – Elizabeth Mann

Made in China: Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China – Suzanne Williams

The Ancient Chinese – Virginia Schomp

Life in Ancient China – Paul Challen – ages 8-14

China: A History to 1949 – Valjean McLenighan

See Inside an Ancient Chinese Town – Penelope Hughes Stanton

Ancient Chinese Art: Art in History – Jane Shuter

Shen of the Sea: Chinese Stories for Children – Arthur Chrisman (Fairy tales and folk tales)

The Ch’itin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories – Linda Fang (10 stoires from 770-221 BC) 

Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng – Xin Xu (gr. 6+ 1100+)

 JAPAN AND SE ASIA 

Gr. 4-6

Illustrated History of Japan – Shigeo Nishmura

Tales from Japan – Helen, William Mc Alpine (16 traditional legends, epics, fairy and folk tales)

Tales of a Korean Grandmother – Frances Carpenter (32 traditional tales from Korea)

Haiku – Patricia Donegan (how to write)

Tea Ceremony – Shozo Sato (Japenese traditoin of sharing tea; how to do it, what it means)

Art of Japan- Shurley Glubok (good intro. To historical periods and types of art) 

Gr. 7-9

A Traveller’s History of Japan – Richard Tames

A Traveller’s History of SE Asia – J.M. Barwise 

   INDIA 

 Gr. 4-6

Ancient India – Virginia Schomp

Buddha – Demi (bio**caution required)

The Jungle Book – R. Kipling

Just So Stories – R. Kipling

Science of Ancient India – Melissa Stewart

CENTRAL AMERICA

Heritage History: http://www.heritage-history.com/www/heritage.php?Dir=civ&MenuItem=hispanic 

All ages:

Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient America – Marion Wood 

Gr. 4-6

Overview:

First Book of Central America and Panama – Patricia Markum

Incans, Aztecs and Mayans – John Holzmann (history of three civilizations from a Biblical perspective)

First Book of the Ancient Maya – Barbera Beck

Latin American Folktales – John Bierhorst

MEXICO 

Overview:

Mexico – R. Conrad Stein

History of Mexico – Amy Hunter 

    Gr. 4-6

You Wouldn’t Want to be an Aztec Sacrifice – Fiona Macdonald (pre-columbian Mexico)

The Ancient Aztecs – Liz Sonneborn

Cortes of Mexico – Ronald Syme

By Right of Conquest – G. A. Henty (Aztecs-1519-1521)

Walk the World’s Rim – Betty Baker (1528-1537)

Nacar the White Deer – Elizabeth de Trovino (1876)

Horse Hooves and chicken feet: Mexican folktales – Neil Philip(12 traditional tales, Catholic heritage)

Francis Coronado and the Seven cities of Gold – Ronald Syme (gr. 4-12)

Conquista! – Clyde Bulla (time of Coronado)

SOUTH AMERICA 

Gr. 4-6

Enchantment of the World Series has a book on each country.

First Book of the Incas – Barbera Beck

Machu Pichu – Elizabeth Mann (story of the religious city sacred to the Incas)

You Wouldn’t Want o be an Inca Mummy – Colin Hynson (lighthearted)

Man Who Discovered the Amazon – Ronald Syme ( 1538-1541)

Balboa: Swordsman and Conquistador – Felix Reisenburg

Francisco Pizarro – Sandra Kachurek

Treasure of the Incas – G.A. Henty (1475-1519)

With Cochrane the Dauntless – G.A. Henty (1820)

Out on the Pampas – G.A. Henty ( Argentina 1871 )

Secret of the Andes – Ann Nolan Clark (Inca boy growing up)

Life in Ancient S. America – Hazel Richardson

The Ancient Inca – Patricia Calvert

HTH, Rachel

Oh yes, I need to put together a list for Africa.

I’m glad you like the list.

Rachel