Give Your Child the World (and how we do homeschool history)

June 15, 2016

Once upon a time before homeschool co-op and drama productions, before part-time jobs and working out at the gym with Dad, before essays and research assignments, before pick-up soccer and youth rallies, before a big screen TV and the PS4, we lived in the land of love of learning.

And in the land of love of learning nearly every weekday morning, after the table was cleared from breakfast, the kids and I would grab books from the large library stack, we'd sit on the couch and I would read to them. This was the most consistent practice in our school routine, and many, many days this alone was our "school routine".

Sometimes we did math and handwriting practice, especially in early fall and at the New Year, when I was gung-ho about such things. We went for walks, went to the library, attended community concerts and events. We went to the farm every week. But mostly we stayed home and the kids learned how to work around the house, they crafted (and made a holy mess of hot glue, cardboard, feathers, glitter and fabric), built couch forts and fairy gardens, read their own books, studied slugs and played together.

I love the independence of my teens. I love our conversations. I love that they can cook and clean and I can be gone for the day and life goes on at home without me. But, oh my goodness, do ever miss the pace of the love of learning years. In this moment, tired as I am from all the teenaged goodness that goes on in our house, I am completely nostalgic for the relaxed, easy pace of the early homeschooling years.

I digress.

My point is, over the years I've read a lot of books to the kids. Reading stories was my predominant method to this madness (smile) called homeschooling. And it was the chief springboard for learning history, geography, and world cultures, the three of which grouped together I called world study.

My goal was to introduce the kids to the wide world through "classics"; chapter books and picture books, both fiction and non-fiction, that are worth reading over and over again because you glean something new every time. (It should be noted, early childhood bedtime books aside, that rarely did we re-read books, especially chapter books, over and over again because there were so many other books I wanted to read. But great books are the stories you hate to see end and wish you could read over.)

My work then was to find these great books. As a homeschooling mother, I have never "lesson planned" but I have spent countless hours sourcing good books. Finding titles, reserving at the library, picking up from the library. And in more recent years, installing book apps on devices, searching digital databases and downloading.

In the early years, I used Honey For a Child's Heart, subscribed to the Sonlight catalogue, searched Yahoo homeschooling forums, asked the librarians, and used a new thing called "blogs", to find great books to read to the kids. It was a lot of effort, but reading good books mattered to me.

What I would have given to have owned Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids Once Book at a Time by Jamie Martin.

It would have saved me so much work!

As much as I love reading and place a high importance on reading in our homeschool we don't own a lot of books, at least not hardcopy ones. We use the library and have a growing collection of digital titles. But this is a book I would own, happily adding it to my most-used homeschool reference materials (other books about books, and books about learning).

I've had the privilege of knowing Jamie for years now. She was the one who directed my attention to Leadership Education, the homeschool philosophy and methodology I most resonate with.

Jamie's own book Give Your Child the World has just been published. And it is an excellent resource for homeschooling, or parenting in general.

Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids Once Book at a Time is a book of "inspiring stories, practical suggestions, and carefully curated reading lists of the best children’s literature for each area of the globe, arranged geographically and by reading level".

The curated reading lists, for ages 4 through 12, are the part of the book that would have saved me so much work back in the day when I was trying to source good books to read to the kids (or have them read themselves) about the different areas of the world.

This is how I would use Give Your Child the World

Interest-led learning scenario:

Kid: "Mom, I'm interested in giraffes."

Mom: "Let's get a book about giraffes this week on our library visit."

Mom thinks to herself, "hum... giraffes are found in Africa. It would be great to springboard off this interest and read a good book (or two, or three) about Africa. Thank goodness Jamie's book has an annotated Africa book list. I'll start my search there."

Parent-directed curriculum resource:

Another way I would use Give Your Child the World is to help me find books that I want to read to the kids as part of the overarching curriculum for the year.

My kids' interests were always the starting point for their early years world study. But as our children got older I would plan a theme, or a focus, for the school year or that school term. I would choose an area of the globe, or periods of history that had been neglected in the children's own interest-led learning paths. And then I looked for ways to incorporate that focus into our learning and life routine.

I don't think the kids were necessarily even aware of "the plan". I didn't sit them down and say, "this month we're learning about Mexico". I would just read more books about Mexico, for example, and find other resources - videos, community involvement, etc. to augment those stories. Or sometimes it was the other way around. The community involvement (museums, cultural events) came first and then the stories.

Give Your Child the World is a fabulous addition to the interest-led model of education, as well as a more parent-directed approach.

Is your child interested in a particular area of the world? You can find age-appropriate engaging books (many books), to support that.

Are you interested in teaching your child about a particular area of the world through stories? You can find a book (many books) to help you.

Give Your Child the World is a book about books. A book to help you share the world with your child.

This is not a homeschooling book, though I've explained how I would use it in our homeschool because homeschool is our life. And because I consider everything we read as part of the kids' education.

You don't have to homeschool to use this book, this is a book for parents who want to share the world with their children (or grandchildren), through the wonderful world of story.

Stories about the unique beauty in different cultures. Stories about our common humanity. Stories to help you go places without having to literally go there. Stories that share, with age appropriate language and details the struggle and suffering of being human, no matter where you live, but the hope and healing we find in friendship, families, communities, and faith. This is the story of the world.

I love books. I love reading. I love learning about the world, different cultures and world views through reading.

I love this book.

Thank you Jamie for all your effort and labor of love in putting together such an excellent resource for families.

Just as I was about to publish this post I popped over to The Art of Simple. I was seeking a distraction actually for the tedium of editing. My bad, or good, in this case because I discovered that Jamie has put together a summer book club, together with Sarah Mackenzie (from Read-Aloud Revival - another great resource for good books). If you have young children and want to read them good books this summer you might want to check that out.

Also, you have a chance to win Jamie's book by leaving a comment on that post. Bonus.

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