[Nurturing Mama]

Has anybody here tried to re-educate themselves to make up for what you may have missed in school? If so, how did you go about it?

I know so little about history and geography (basically, about the world) and I want to learn more. When I think about my son's school-age years (he's 2.5 now), I want to be able to answer his questions within a historical frame of reference. Right now, I have no frame of reference. Is anybody else dealing with this problem? Is it a problem? Do you learn alongside your children?

I didn't begin learning history until 6th grade, and then it was introduced randomly, where I learned a lot of names, dates, and battles that happened in Georgia, where I lived at the time. I don't want to introduce history randomly when I teach my son. The problem is that I don't know how to best approach the subject because I don't know the material myself.

Also, any book recommendations regarding history or geography would be wonderful!

Thanks,
Carrie

 

[Patchfire]

This may sound slightly odd, but I've been reading Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World series. :LOL Yes, they're written to be read aloud to and/or read by elementary school students, but they do have a lot of content, they are in chronological order, and they have a list of dates at the back of each book. Only Volumes I-III are available currently; IV (the last) should be out in another couple of months. I mean, I had what I think was a good history education - we covered ancient history in 6th grade as well as civics, world geography in 7th, Am. history in 8th & 11th, world history in 10th, and '20th Century' history in 12th, and one of those was an AP course - but I still like this series for 'integrating' what I already knew. I was in high school before I realised that the American Revolution had been just a few years before the French Revolution! Whereas you would think it would have been covered that one influenced the other. Oy.

HTH

 

[terrarose]

'm readng and enjoying "The Story of the World", too. Ths s our 3rd year usng it and I, at least, have got a lot out of t! Hstory was random events in my mind, the chronilogical order is great! We're not Christian so I edit a bit but still an excellent resource!

 

[SagMom]

I've been reading Joy Hakim's book-- The History of US. Also, we subscribe to the magazine, "Learning Through History" which focuses on one period in history for each issue. Aside from the articles themselves, the mags have book suggestions for further reading, and some internet links concerning each topic. We also have a history encyclopedia, which is great for placing things in their proper time frame.

My own history education was sparse--mostly, it was "social studies" which was interesting for the cultural aspects, but historically nothing was in perspective for me. I do do a lot of learning alongside the kids though too.

 

[Linda KS]

There is another thread on this board about A Book Of the Centuries. You could make one for yourself! They are so much fun and I'm kinda wishing that I had made one for me when I made them for the kids. (I might do it now)

I really like "Don't Know Much about History" by Davis and "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by Loewen. They are both about American history. I also love to read biographies.

For geography, I like to find places on a map or globe whenever they come up -- if they are mentioned in a book, on the news, etc.