Continents and Cultures Study: Overview
We have successfully arrived at the end of our American History
trail, and find ourselves quite satisfied with the results our
collaborative efforts have yielded in our homes. The joy of
Serendipity for all of us is that it really is a virtual co-op, where
we share both the fun conversations and the chores of planning, the
inspirations and creativity that bring gentleness and beauty to our
homes' learning rooms, and the end results of students happily engaged
in the joy of learning. Since two of us welcomed babies a little
earlier than anticipated this year and three of us will welcome new
little ones before summer's end, we kicked into planning mode a bit
early. It is a great joy for our moms who are just hitting their
stride again to start fresh with a new perspective, and a great relief
for those of us knowing we'll spend our summers focused on caring for
newborns to have a vision, a plan, and a direction already mapped out.
The focus of our learning will be a tour of continents and
cultures. We'll take all our elementary-aged students globe-trotting,
with a focus on geography, cultures, and missionary activity. There
will be some science, history, and fine arts involved in each study as
well. We have gathered the best of our combined ideas and experience
to fill each continent's study with a hands-on Montessori component,
lists of living books Charlotte Mason herself would have loved and
narration strategies to keep the learning room abuzz, plus ideas for
creating main lesson books and using the loveliest of supplies to
create, beautify, and enhance the children's experience. We are
looking forward to a inspiring learning with our families and hope you,
too, will find some inspiration in the ideas we share.
Here is a brief overview of how we'll travel through our studies:
Learning blocks: Each continent's study will be outlined as
a learning block, usually around six weeks long. We will provide
suggestions for how and when to space out the recommended resources,
but encourage each family to find the pace and organizing strategy that
works best for them and adapt the resources to it. By providing all
the resources and ideas in one post, each of us can forge ahead, slow
down, or pause to follow a child-led rabbit trail as we desire without
feeling we are waiting on someone else to catch up, falling behind, or
stuck on the path with no opportunity for side trips. We encourage you
to let each block take its own shape in your home and then enjoy the
process. And to leave a comment and share your
thoughts, ideas, and questions.
Continent boxes: We'll incorporate a Montessori component
to each continent block by creating continent boxes. These boxes will
be filled with engaging, self-directed learning tools that will keep
little minds and hands working and learning outside of read-aloud and
narration times. We will provide specific materials suggestions for
each box, but a general notion of each continent box's contents is:
-
an outline map of the continent on the box's top
- a wooden continent puzzle
- a small informational book about the continent
-
a set of animal figures from the continent
- collections of Montessori three-part cards pertaining to the geography and culture of the continent and lots of other items.
-
additional items could include: small flags from that continent's nations, fabric representative of the continent's cultures, jars of spices used in typical cultural cuisine, artisan crafts, toys, or instruments created on that continent
Book lists and narration ideas:
We'll stick to the CM-inspired reading lists and narration process
that have worked so well for us for so many years. For each continent
block we'll provide book suggestions for the lower and upper elementary
levels as well as family read-alouds and spine texts. We'll do our
best to organize these into unified groups that can be divided over the
course of the block in some organized fashion. We hope to produce a
number of different types of narrations for each block. Of course,
written or keyboarded narrations will be included, but in addition, we
suggest you gather the following supplies to enhance the narration
process in your home:
-
beeswax crayons and lyra pencils for illustrated narrations
-
liquid watercolors and watercolor paper for painted narrations
-
modeling beeswax for creating characters and important elements and retelling the story
-
a variety of wooden figures and building materials for recreating story scenes
-
a variety of play silks and fabrics for dramatic retellings
- wool felt for creating feltboard flags (these won't be
permanent creations--we'll take photographs to store in main lesson
books)
Main Lesson Book Plans:
It is our hope that each of our students will produce one or more
quality main lesson books that record in their own style and hand their
efforts, discoveries, and ideas as they learn. We will offer specific
suggestions for main lesson book assignments in each continent block,
but a beginning idea of each level's work includes:
-
Middle School and Junior High Students: These students' main academic work will be recorded in a lesson book with a missionary-based geography focus. Each block will include suggestions for map work, written narrations of the lives of saints and missionaries, discussions of cultural considerations necessary to be aware of when bringing the Good News to the peoples of that place, and a Scripture reflection. These students will also work on creating a main lesson book that details archeological finds and artifacts from each continent and their pertinence to learning about the cultures of that region of the world.
-
Lower Elementary Students: These students will do much of their academic work in the form of hands-on Montessori activities and family-style narrations as detailed above, but they will work throughout the year on two main lesson books. One will focus on the animals and their habitats unique to each continent, and the other will entail learning more about the various titles of Our Lady that are specific to the cultures we study in each block, inspired by Kathryn's Marian posts. We will provide suggestions and links in each block for the map work, art work, and research that will comprise each of these books.
-
Kindergarteners: Our youngest students will enjoy using beautiful art supplies to illustrate their own book of folk tales. Each continent block will include a list of folk tales to be shared and enjoyed, and our youngest will illustrate and narrate those stories to create a compiled book of folk tales all their own.
Family Style Notebooking:
Many of you are familiar with the Book of Centuries concept we
used to keep a record of our family's learning through the years.
Since the focus of these particular blocks is not really chronological
history, we will instead compile a family notebook for each continent.
This binder will provide a place to file narrations that do not pertain
to a specific main lesson book assignment, photos of narrations done in
media other than the written form, copywork assignments, recipes, art
projects, and other products of your family's learning experience.
Family Geography Work:
Two additional components to our study will be the recreation of
each continent's national flags out of wool felt and the creation of a
large map of each continent. The flags can be displayed on a felt
board throughout the study and then photographed for inclusion in a
student's main lesson book or the family notebook. Students can create
narrations about the countries the flags represent to include with the
photos. The large map project will begin with students tracing wooden
continent puzzle pieces onto large paper to create an outline map of
the continent. Additional ideas for creating a family map worthy of
display will accompany each block.
If you're excited to be heading off on our grand adventure with
us, why not start packing now? Fill your suitcase with these titles
that will provide a great overview for the year and can be referred to
again when we arrive at each of our destinations:
- A Child's Geography
- P is for Passport: A World Alphabet
- Material World: A Global Family Portrait
- Children Just Like Me
- How People Live
- Houses and Homes (Around the World Series)
- What the World Eats
- Whoever You Are (Mem Fox)
- All the Colors of the Earth
- Somewhere in the World Right Now
Now that we are all packed and ready to go, here's an idea of our travel itinerary:
- Africa
- Eastern Asia
- India and the Middle East
- Australia and Oceania
- South America and the Caribbean
- Antarctica
- Eastern Europe
- Western Europe
- Mexico and Canada: Our North American Neighbors
- America: The Great Melting Pot (with a focus on immigrant culture in the United States)
