Thanks to Christina for posting this one on Facebook. This is *exactly* what I need for my girls who are studying history via art history!!!  I'm posting it here so I don't lose it but also in case it is just the ticket for anyone else. 

http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/educators.php?subPage=edu_guide&lang=english

javascript:mox();

I have been getting a lot of questions about timelines lately so I thought it quite timely to learn that the Classical Home Education online store has updated one of their timelines. I have the original version and I use it quite a bit when planning out our history units. They help me quickly see where civilizations overlap when trying to determine what historical sequencing I want to use with the kids. 

Looks like this new update is intended to line up with History Odyssey for those who use that history program. As far as I can tell CHE is no longer carrying any other timelines. 

Drakon has decided that Trisms is not a good fit for him. I have to agree that it is only an ok fit and I am having to supplement a fair amount. So we are making a change that I think is a perfect match for Drakon's interests and learning preferences. He is going to keep using the same spines for world history (Roberts, Harman) since I had let him chose his own spines in place of the ones recommended in Trisms. He will keep doing Story of Art with the family, which is the girls' history spine. The main difference is that he wants to go with more of a pure literature based history so we are adding in History of World Literature from the Teaching Company. We will also be drawing readings from this list javascript:mox(); . Also from the Teaching Company, we will be adding in the Great Religions series as needed. As you can see my son really likes the Teaching Company lectures. Learning to take notes to these will be good practice for college. 

javascript:mox(); Roberts

javascript:mox(); Harman

 javascript:mox(); Story of Art

javascript:mox(); History of World Literature (I ended up getting the set as it was considerably cheaper than just the one course)

javascript:mox(); Great World Religions series ( I wanted the series but only Judaism and Buddhism were on sale)

And that is the new plan for High School World History

Here is a post about the handmade journals that we made last month, including my basic photo tutorial and a link to a more detailed tutorial.  The recent Childlight article about the Book of Centuries made me think of another use for these journals besides nature studies and notes.  With larger paper, these would make a nice Book of Centuries too.  It is a couple of hours worth of work, but our student is excited about them AND excited about books.  ~Cori

http://wonderinthewoods.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/handmade-journal-stitch-bound/

Here is a great post about the Book of Centuries which clarifies what Charlotte Mason intended for this often misunderstood technique.  Every modern interpretation I've read does not explain it like this.  It is much simpler, and more FUN than I ever imagined.  Now I understand exactly how and why this can be the child's own creation.   Hope this helps and best wishes to those of you beginning your school year soon.  ~ Cori

http://childlightusa.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/the-book-of-centuries-revisited-by-laurie-bestvater/

Cedar trees are simply amazing.  I blogged about making fire with the inner bark. Far more interesting is what else can be done with parts of this tree.  Included in my blog post is a book called "Cedar" by Hilary Stewart.

"Cedar is a significant book that inspires awe not only for the versatility of the tree but also for the resourcefulness of the people." —Rotunda magazine, Royal Ontario Museum

http://wonderinthewoods.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/cedar-bark-fire/

http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?products_id=993

If you live in the Pacific Northwest you can visit The Leeloska Museum in Ariel, Wa. 

http://www.lelooska.org/

Chief Lelooska wrote "Spirit of the Cedar People" and "Echoes of the Elders."  Each book includes a CD of Chief Lelooska telling the stories. He is an incredible storyteller.

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Cedar-People-Chief-Lelooska/dp/0789425718

http://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Elders-Stories-Paintings-Lelooska/dp/078942455X/ref=pd_sim_b_1 

I am a big fan of Eva Tappan's books. Even though they are old fashioned and not politically correct I find the conversational tone of her books to be quite appealing and suspect that she will be a better match for my girls than the more scholarly books I used with my son. The girls are not history buffs but I think this author will give them the glimpse into history and culture that I want them to have. I have also discovered that all/most of her books are available online for those times when money is tight. If you prefer hard copy you can find them at Lulu, Amazon and some used book stores. Honestly, I do not understand why we do not see her books on CM reading lists more often as they are a good alternative for kids who do not like the more often recommended Marshall books. I also think that the Tappan books appeal to a wider age range than the Marshall books (I do love Marshall, but my girls surely do not). 

Here is a link for the free online versions:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=eva%20tappan%20march%20AND%20collection:americana

As I was proofreading my son's homework for his history class I realized that he is writing his essays in CM narration form. The key components of this style of narration is that:

1. there is some summarizing information (but not a straight-up summary) given

2. the learner's opinion

3. an example or statement from the chapter/class discussion supporting why the learner has that opinion. 

This is a narrative response for chapter 8 in A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz.   If you are using your narrations for teaching writing mechanics be sure to do it on a separate day than the day you had them write it as a history lesson. For example, I will be saving this and I will use it to show how he needs to have stronger paragraph structure; specifically a topic sentence, body and concluding sentence since those are inconsistent or nonexistent in this assignment. After discussing these factors he will rewrite the narration with a focus on having better paragraph structure. 

Chapter 8 Response

This is the first chapter where I felt the personal anecdotes added to the book by getting the opinions of people he meets. For example; the part about the modern southerner reaction to someone effectively telling them that the history they learned was wrong. I find that the author was making such comparisons between new Colombia vs. old Colombia in a previous chapter. I am unsure what prompted this revelation, as there are far less parallels to the old south than the new south.

In the chapter itself, the author finds a nice balance between his own retelling of his trip to the south and the historical tale he was telling. The only exception to this is the time he spent telling us how uncomfortable conquistador armor is. It was distracting and takes up too much space when he comments on the discomfort of it. Other than this single infraction I cannot think of a noticeable, off-topic tangent in this chapter.

I also found his treatment of De Soto pleasantly balanced. Despite the author showing more of his un-knightly deeds he also gives time to show that De Soto was not a mindless butcher, merely a ruthless conquistador. I myself find this very refreshing in an increasingly polarized media atmosphere. If one's argument cannot stand on its own then it should not be made, or at least it should be better constructed. Far too many historical interpretations are tainted by horribly slanted viewpoints limiting one aspect of a man's character and mentioning the bare minimum of anything else. It is important that authors remain balanced when they give a portrayal of a person when retelling a historical event.

After reading this chapter I found myself thinking about the justifications used by advanced nations to exploit more primitive groups. To demonstrate my thoughts on the subject, in a hypothetical scenario when one group is more technologically advanced than the first and requires a resource that the more primitive group controls in order to survive, the primitive group has to retain enough control of the resources to maintain their group. Often, the more technologically advanced group decides to take the resource, by violent or non-violent means, and thus deprive the primitive group of the resource. The primitives, for whatever hypothetical reason, cannot make any meaningful attempt to take the resource back. The advanced group lives long enough to establish a community and survive. The primitive group dies out with a number of members joining the advanced group. The surviving primitives are assimilated into the advanced group and loose their traditions to time.

In the end, the advanced and primitive groups join together to survive and will likely be larger than either group was at the start. The primitive survivors have access to the resources of the advanced group and may share native skills with the advanced group. The primitives will also have to adapt to an alien environment and will be a minority while losing their cultural identity. As far as I can tell, this is the least racist way to rationalize the subjugation of a primitive culture.