This curriculum allows the student to learn not just the basic framework of history, but then to explore and discover aspects of history which appeal to the individual (rather than a mass appeal.)
Consider this:
Who decides what set of facts is the most important to know in history?
- In most world history curriculums, the answer is the textbook committee.
Who decides which set of historical facts the students learn each year?
- In most world history curriculums, the answer is the author of said curriculum.
Does this mean that those facts and ONLY those facts are important?
- No. It is merely a one-size-fits-all, factory style approach to learning.
So, if you prefer to offer your students an individualized, customized, tailor-made-for-their-interests curriculum rather than the above, I suggest that we can help you answer these difficult questions:
#1) How will they acquire the framework (chronological overview) of history?
#2) What will engage their interest so that they become movtivated learners?
#3) When are students allowed to ask questions and discover the answers - to explore and discover - which has been proven the most effective way to learn?
#4) When are opportunities given to practice and truly grasp what is learned in history by using music, art, creative writing, dance, etc.?
Our curriculum was designed to give these answers:
#1) We provide a chronological framework of history, giving a big picture understanding of the events and people from Creation to the Korean War, through the What in the Worlds Going On Here? Volume One and Two, as well as through the chapters in the Digging Deeper Study Guides.
#2) We provide lists of different books, different questions, and different research projects which allow students to pursue the particular people or events that most interest them. For instance, during the chapter about Napoleon, one could study Lord Nelson (sea battles), Beethoven (music), Louis Braille (blindness), or Toussaint LOuverture (slavery).
#3) We have posed questions throughout each chapter of the Study Guides in order to lead the search through history, and we encourage students to explore and discover through books, tapes, the Internet, etc. Keeping a history journal is prominently recommended in each chapter for considering and exploring the students own questions.
#4) We have carefully crafted opportunities, both to learn and to practice what has been learned, through various creative means: write a limmerick, create a mosaic, do a video presentation, become an on the spot reporter in a historic moment, put on a play, hold a feast, play a game, etc.
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