As I mentioned before, I had planned on doing a unit on Africa. I went ahead and ordered a few books from Amazon:
Eyewitness: Africa
Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton
Africa for Kids: Exploring a Vibrant Continent, 19 Activities (For Kids series)
The Kids Multicultural Craft Book: 35 Crafts from Around the World (Williamson Multicultural Kids Can! Book
Africa Evan-Moor Workbook
Material World: A Global Family Portrait
My plan was to look through all the books, check our resources on the shelf, check the library and put together a unit study.
Thomas saw the books. He has already read Facing the Lion, which he proclaimed is his new favorite book. (He says that after every book he finishes--almost.) I am reading it too--a short book, but very good. He has also read Africa for Kids and Eyewitness Africa.
How on earth am I to put together a unit study if the kid pulls the books from under my nose and beats me to it? Huh? lol I guess I won't. We'll do the Evan-Moor workbook, study the countries of Africa and try to memorize them, and check out some more library books.
I love all the books we bought but for ... The Kids Multicultural Craft Book. It's okay. It would be great for a class setting. We looked through the Africa projects and some looked okay, but I don't know how many we'll do. I guess it's nice to have on the shelf. Would be better for a younger family, though.
6 comments:
You have struck pay dirt! When you can't plan because the homeschooled kid is beating you to it, you have succeeded beyond measure. You go, girl!
Yes, indeed I have!
He read all the books yesterday and today and actually got MAD as the dickens at me because I wanted to move on to science, spelling or math!
He got is way. When a child is loving learning, you don't interrupt that. We just postponed math until later in the day.
It was one of those rare things in our homeschool where the subject matter clicked with him and he had DESIRE -- intense DESIRE.
I now wish I could find more books like Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton for him to read.
And I wish I had more money to spend on books. lol
I think this is what they call delight directed learning? Trust me, having been on the other side occasionally (where getting them to read the books is like pulling teeth) Thomas's enthusiasm is refreshing!
Not sure how he might react to it, but "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah is very good. Beah grew up in Sierra Leone, was forced to become a child soldier, but was later rehabilitated and now lives in New York. It does not gloss over the horrors of war, though. I'd recommend you check it out from the library and read it first. It may be a good talking point for the two of you about the ongoing wars ravaging the continent..
I was just checking my library catalogue. :-) Here are a couple more books to look into (read them for yourself first, perhaps):
God Grew Tired of Us, by John Bul Dau (an account from one of Sudan's Lost Boys).
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, by ALexandra Fuller (a childhood memoir of a white African girl).
I have some African money well actually its Eritrean money if you'd like to take a look at it. I found the music of Africa to be wonderful there are a few cd's that we have too. I'm one for tying in music wherever I can.
Let me know if you'd like me to send you a few bills and a mix cd for fun!
I'm looking forward to when the boys have that spark of interest and thirst for knowledge!
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