The Nazca People

Today we read about the Nazca people and the amazing Nazca lines in Peru.  We of course, wanted to see better pictures than are offered in Story of the World so we went online of course.  I found two great online sites about these amazing geoglyphs as they are called.

National Geographic has a great interactive picture showing how the lines might have been built.  http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/nasca/nasca-animation.

We also watched a quick clip from how stuff works that had some flyover shots and interesting info.  Unfortunately, the narrators chose to make a slightly inappropriate remark at the end about there not being any "dirty" pictures included in the lines.  You could stop the clip at the last few seconds or simply hope your kids don't get it as mine certainly didn't.

http://shows.howstuffworks.com/40459-the-coolest-stuff-on-the-planet-the-nazca-lines-video.htm

Tomorrow we are going to create a Nazca line drawing in chalk on the driveway.  I told B, she will have to try to draw a picture with a single stroke to see how difficult it is.   Of course our driveway is nowhere near the size of the glyphs but it's better than the activities suggested in SOTW.

After reading this section of SOTW, I am feeling even more like I want to create my own history curriculum.  I simply don't like the treatment of non-western peoples.   For example, Bauer says that creating the lines was like drawing with your eyes closed.  This is obviously not the case.  Even my child understands that you can plan out a large drawing using a small drawing.  You could pace it out or measure it.  I'm not saying it was easy to do the glyphs but something about the chapter rubbed me the wrong way.  I would have preferred her to include some of the other great info that I found online.

Do it yourself history

While we have enjoyed the Story of the World with activity guide, I am suddenly feeling the desire to create my own history curriculum instead.  I have concerns that SOTW is overly focused on the wars of history and B has started to notice and complain.  There is simply not enough of the fun stuff.  Also, I would like to finish up a chronological history study by the end of the fourth grade (2 more years) so that we can begin anew in the fifth grade logic stage.  At 40 chapters per book, there is no way I can cover three more volumes of SOTW.  We aren't even going to make it through the first one until October at best.  Also, while I like the structure provided by SOTW and the activity guide, I think I'd like the freedom to go it on my own as well.  I will be able to dwell more on things of interest and better fulfill my true homeschooling ideals.

I have the idea to use the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia as my spine and build a curriculum using living books around those sections.  I started by making a spreadsheet listing out all chapters for Medieval and Modern history from the UILE.   By my count there are 102.  This of course seems like a lot for two years at first glance but many of them will be able to be combined.  My next step is to look to see exactly which can be combined and make myself a rough outline for our study of each section.  Ideally I'd like some wiggle room so I'm hoping I'll be able to combine  the sections into about 60 units to cover over two years.  This will allow extra time to dwell on something of interest without holding up the schedule.  We shall see how this can be accomplished as I get further in my planning.  I may have to cut out some sections.   I am thinking it is better to miss some things in favor of having a really rich study of the major events and themes.

Another benefit of ditching SOTW is that I can save about $35 by not buying it.  I already own the UILE and hope to get nearly everything else at the library including activity books.    I've found that the activities in the activity guide aren't amazing anyway.   Maybe I'll buy another reference type book or set of maps and timeline.  The internet is of course another excellent source of ideas for activities.

So here is my plan as of now:
Step 1: divide the book into about 60 units and list in excel
Step 2: looking at each section, research available books both fiction and non-fiction as well as possible tie-ins to other subjects and add to my list in a separate column or columns.
Step 3: If I have time, create a single page guide for each unit listing out the books to get from my home library and which will need to be ordered in advance through inter library loan, the activities I plan to do and/or activity guides I plan to use.

This is probably too much planning to do all in advance but if I can get step1 done all at once and get a good start on steps 2 and 3, I think it will be doable to continue doing steps 2 and 3 as I go.   Ideally, I will complete all steps for the first 10 units or so over the summer which will take me through Christmas at which point, I can evaluate what I am doing and move on with planning for the rest of the year.