Eagerly Awaited Second Volume Release

I never know what I am going to find when I get to bopping around the internet. In this case, I discovered that Susan Wise Bauer's The History of the Medieval World finally officially released last week. The is the second of a 4 volume "history of the whole world." Many homeschoolers love Susan's Story of the World. It is my impression that this is an expanded and grown up version, so to speak.

The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade

Excerpt from review:

A masterful narrative of the Middle Ages, when religion became a weapon for kings all over the world. From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T’ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled.

History for Children: SNOW WEEK - Crossing the Delaware

History for Children: SNOW WEEK - Crossing the Delaware

Here is a sample post from Jill Miles blog, History for Children. It is loaded with great posts like this one - descriptive and informative summaries about living history books for children. You can search by age, period or special interest. Open this blog in one window and your library's online catalog in another and bring home a nice stack of books for your current area of interest!

Homeschool All-Stars

I just ordered my copy of Homeschool All-Stars - a brand new hardcover comix by Bentley Boyd, author of popular Chester Comix history series.

It is being offered this week at a discount by the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op, one of my favorite places for cool homeschool stuff. It is free to join so check it out!

Back to the book, it features one page biographies of famous homeschoolers such as Beatrix Potter, Abraham Lincoln, Ansel Adams, and George Washington Carver. There is a wide range of personalities and contributions in the people selected for the book. I think the comix presentation will be particularly appealing to my very right brained youngest.

I will be back to write a review once we have a chance to read it!

Wonderful WWII Picture Book

I think I picked this book up at the library solely on the basis of the lovely and engaging cover art. My 8 year old is currently fascinated with money so I thought this was a good bet on some level. What I didn't expect was a child friendly snapshot of life during World War II. Colorful watercolors depict the rag man, the milk man and the garbage wagon. Since this is before my time, too, I think I was as intrigued as my son. We enjoyed the story as well. I even managed to get through the letter at the end without totally choking. Definitely a great example of a living history book.

Best of History Websites

Best of History Web Sites is an award-winning portal that contains annotated links to over 1200 history web sites as well as links to hundreds of quality K-12 history lesson plans, history teacher guides, history activities, history games, history quizzes, and more.

This is an EdTechTeacher.org resource. The site is a well organized treasure trove for teachers and students of history at all levels. New links are marked and you can follow the site on Twitter. There is a section called History Today to keep up with current events. The latest post there as of today is The Haitian Crisis. Many resources are marked with a grade level. Definitely a site to bookmark!