Category Archives: History

Family History

History, Learning, Our journey

We have been exploring our family history.

An important part of discovering your family history is asking questions.
I have created some profile sheets to be used to pull together some basic facts about family members.
These can form the basis of a family history file – with a form for each known member of the family. Find out the answers by asking the person, or if they aren’t available or are deceased, then ask other family members to help fill out the forms.

Familyhistoryform_Page_1Familyhistoryform_Page_3

Familyhistoryform_Page_2

Part 1:
Includes basic information about a person,and their relationships.

Part 2:
Comes in two versions. One is a simply a sheet to start writing interesting stories about the person. The second version is for deceased family members, and includes space for religion and details of their death.

I created two versions so parents can use the simpler one if their children are concerned about family members dying.

British Iron Age / Celts – Children’s Historical Fiction

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , , , ,

There is very little historical fiction on the Iron Age before the coming of the Romans.

  • sunhorsemoonhorseSun Horse, Moon Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff
    Unusually this is set in Iron Age before the Romans. Although the story is concerned with inter-tribal warfare, the drama comes less from this, and more from the tension between the practical world of the warrior and and the spiritual world of the artist.
    Lubrin Dhu is the third son of the chief, and sees the world differently to others, through artist’s eyes. This is a bittersweet, story of friendship, duty and sacrifice in a tribal culture devoted to the horse.
    It is written in Rosemary Sutcliff’s signature poetic style. It is a shorter story than many of her books, and as a result makes a good introduction to Rosemary Sutcliff’s work for those unused to her style – descriptive language and long sentences.

 

 

More children’s historical fiction set in the bronze age (we haven’t read these yet)

Many of the stories from this period are viewed through Irish and Welsh mythology – the surviving tales written down in medieval times.

The Ulster Cycle:

Cornish Mythology:

 

Ottoman Empire resources

History, History Books, ,

Here I’ve gathered a few links to resources on the Ottoman Empire

Online Resources

Books

Factual

Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul (Cities through time), by Robert Bator (Author), Chris Rothero (Illustrator)

There isn’t much available on Ottomans and Istanbul, but this is a great book. It is packed with information charting the history of the city Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul.
It is aimed at older children, and confident readers, but we found it an informative reference for adults, and accessible enough to read parts out to younger children, for whom the whole book would have been too much. It has sections of fairly dense text, but this is balanced out by large, beautiful illustrations. Includes a timeline.
It is comprehensive, with recounting key events in the city’s history, and with lots of details of daily life.

Fiction

Children’s Historical Fiction – Ottoman Empire 

Leyla: The Black Tulip

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , ,

LeylaBlackTulip

Leyla: The Black Tulip (Girls of Many Lands)

By Alev Lytle Croutier

Set in 1720’s this charts the story of a young girl tricked into slavery and taken to the Sultan’s palace in Istanbul, the heart of the Ottoman Empire.
We really enjoyed the way the book balances the hardships of slavery with the security and opportunity of the harem. Leyla is desperately poor and the harem provides her with a living, but at the price of her freedom and family. It manages to avoid the harem cliché of women competing for the sultans’s favours and focuses on the ordinary everyday life of women in harem. It glosses over the reality of the eunuchs, but with enough details to make it realistic enough for those with some understanding – a cleverly balanced line that allows for further examination of these issues, or not, depending on your own judgement.  The authors’ expertise on the harem shines through. The focus on the gardens and the tulip provide another layer of historical interest that gives the book an additional flavour.
See on Amazon

 

History research

History, ,

I am increasingly finding that our history journey is taking us places that I have never been before.

So here are some thoughts on how our approach to history is working out this year.
Our history group structure and my eldest’s interests are combining to challenge me. It is an interesting journey.
I want to provide my daughter (now 10) with accessible, interesting information to fuel her love of history – but we are definitely stepping outside my own knowledge, and the realm of easily available resources. So thought it would be interesting to chart a bit about how my preparation for history is meeting the challenge.

As a bit of background we are basically autonomous home educators. Two of us have an interest in history and we run a small history group.

2014 so far:

January – Europe

We were looking at a topic for Europe between 1450-1750ish and my daughter decides on Germany. Germany! What do I know about Germany? Turns out that between Roman period and World Wars – not a lot. Though that has now been rectified to some extent, with a concise history of Germany from the library, a copy of a friend’s Readers Digest Illustrated History of the World Discovery and Religious Crisis 1492 to 1648 and some Internet searching. We didn’t , unsurprisingly find any children’s books on this time and place, though our World History reference, History of the World came up trumps.

I cobble together a timeline of Germany history between 1450 and 1750. Makes me very aware of how little European history we study in England since we had never heard of one of the worst wars on European soil – the Thirty Years War.

Unfortunately it doesn’t grab either of us – except that it starts with some guys being thrown out of a window.
So now if feels like I have some idea of how to approach the research for a topic, but have yet to find a really good way of presenting information in a way that appeals to my daughter.

February – Islamic Empires

This choice is fairly easy – my daughter has been interested in Byzantine Empire, and Constantinople in turn, and something about the Ottomans has caught her attention.
Now as with Germany there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of readily available resources suitable for a 10 year old. So this month I’m planning to have a go at producing our own.
But there does appear to be lots more potentially appealing information, that I can use to create something.
E has an interest in the stories of people, the more powerful and female the better. And we find a couple of Ottoman Empire historical fiction gems.

I start with general searches –  and with much history I find wikipedia to be a great starting place – the images are Creative Commons so can be used without worrying about copyright if and when I get around to sharing them online. And for rulers there is a nice box out with many of the details needed to make sense of their lives in the context of a dynasty – parents, spouses, and children. E.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_the_Magnificent

 

 

 

North American Native American Factual Books

Children's books, History, History Books, , , ,

We have been exploring some of the cultures across North America before the arrival of Europeans in sixteenth century. Here are some the factual books we have found:

MegaBitesNativeAmericans

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DK MegaBites Native Americans: An inside look at the tribes and traditions By Laura Buller

One of our favourite factual book on the subject.

Although pocket size it covered pretty much everything we needed to get a good over view of the diversity of Native North Americas, and how environments across the continent shaped the cultures that lived and continue to live there. It strikes a nice balance between the generalisations needed to start to gain an understanding of a subject and showing the diversity of the continent and people.

The first few chapters look at themes – beliefs, daily life, crafts etc. Each of the cultural regions are then tackled in turn. We would have preferred to see Subarctic as a region in itself rather than combined with Arctic, but that is just nit-picking. Each starts with setting the scene for the region. Then goes on the discuss the way of life, and a bit about the impact of the coming of the Europeans (and the horse).  Taken together these regions show a wide range of environments, ways of life and the different ways European arrival affected the people of North America.

The book also has handy links to websites, a timeline, regional tribe list and glossary.

americanindianswolfson

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American Indians (My First Book of…) By Evelyn Wolfson

This is a really easy to read, very accessible book. It starts with a nice big colour map of the different cultural regions and highlights the diversity of cultures and the link between environment and ways of life. The second spread talks about the lives of children. Then it looks at the lives and traditions of four tribes – the Iroquois, the Cherokee, the Sioux and the Hopi.

The book is very simplified. It would make a good first book on the subject. But for our purposes it lacked the breadth and historical detail (the Sioux are only discussed after the coming of the horse). It also shows Native Americans in the modern world.

DKEyewitnessNorthAmericanIndian

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North American Indian (DK Eyewitness Books) By David Hamilton Murdoch

Like the other books in this series North American Indian has great photography, in particular of artefacts – of the things created and used by different people across the continent.

The focus is very much on the past – the traditional ways of life, with only a single page on modern, and relatively brief information on post-European contact history.

It is divided into cultural regions – with one or more spreads devoted to a region, or aspect of a region. Read about the Eyewitness Guides Series

Native Americans (Build it Yourself) By Kim Kavin (Nomad Press)

This feels quite differnt to the other books reviewed here – monochrome, and makes great use of different fonts to highlight keywords, prompt questions and pull out interesting facts. It starts with chapters on the first Americans, and the early Archaic period. Then covers different cultural regions in six chapters, and finishes up with a chapter on the what happened when the Europeans arrived. Includes projects with things to make and do. Aimed at ages 9-12.

More children’s books on native Americans:

Catlin Painting

North American Native American History Activity

History, Home education, Learning, Local community events, , ,

We have been exploring the people and cultures of North America before the arrival of the Europeans in the sixteenth century. We have been finding out about the different cultural regions and getting a flavour of some of the cultures.

We created an activity to do to explore different cultural regions and the diversity of cultures:

North America is a vast continent. Before Europeans arrived in what they called the “New World” North America was already full of people. The vast continent covers many different cultures, shaped by the different environments.

There were small families, big tribes and leagues of tribes. The homes and clothes varied according to climate and the available resources.

Long before Europeans arrived cultures developed, changed, people migrated from one area to another.

There were no domesticated animals, apart from the dog, so through out the continent people hunted for game, and fished. Some people were nomadic hunter-gatherers, others were settled hunter-gatherers and some were farmers. Whilst people grew many different crops maize, beans and squash were commonly grown.

This is an activity for a simplified look at the different regions of North America, giving a flavour of some of the cultures.

Preparation:

Native American People Intro_Page_11. Print out the introduction and the ten regional pdf files, each of which has four pages – an answer sheet, an information sheet, a board and a set of pictures to cut out.
2. Mix up the pictures and lay them out.
3. Keep the answer
sheets to one side.

To play:

1. Choose a board for one of the regions.
2. Read the accompanying information sheet.
3. Pick the six pictures that match up with the information on that region
4. Check your answers with the answer sheet.

Ideas for discussion:

How does the environment affect way of life –  homes, food and clothing?

World History Reference

Books and Magazines, Children's books, History, History Books, Learning, ,

It took ages to choose a world history reference book, and am really pleased with the one we have. And it turns out it is a less well known book, rather than one of the big publishers.

A good reference book forms the backbone for studying history, not only do they provide information but they also provide a starting point from which to branch out in search of other books, Youtube videos, documentaries and crafts.

History of the World

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Our favourite World History reference book is:

History of the World: 4 Million Years to the Present Day

Published by Bounty Books

What drew me to this book in the first place was the apparent coverage and the layout. We were doing ancient history and having trouble finding anything on the Phoenicians, despite their importance to the development of the ancient Mediterranean world. But here we found a good half page covering the basics. Over time most of what we have chosen to look at (we tend to explore the less travelled path) has been covered to some degree by the book – whether it be a small box-out on Great Zimbabwe or a double spread on the Thirty Year’s war, and Suleiman the Magnificent.

The illustrations are attractive, and full of people. The timeline on most pages helps to fill in details, and place events in time. I really like the way the pages make use of illustrations, captions and boxouts. Some pages are thematic, and revisited through the book as time progresses. The text is quite accessible, and not too complex for my daughter, but with enough details to be a good starting point for further research.

You might also try:

I would really love to hear about your favourite World History reference book.
Which one do you use and what do you like about it?

Timelines

History, Learning, Making things, ,

Timeline thumbnail

Simple Timeline

Here’s a simple timeline to print out and write on.

Covering 1050-2040.
Add your own notes and pictures above and below the timeline.
Use horizontally or vertically.
Cut along dashed line and stick to the next sheet for one continuous timeline, or print individual pages to cover a shorter period.
This one covers 100 years per A4 sheet.
Turn of the century in the middle – handy for English history from just before the Norman conquest to today.

Download - Timeline1050-2040.pdf

Monarch timeline 1050-2040_Page_07Monarchs and family tree Timeline

Covering 1050-2040.
Includes each English Monarch in the form of a family tree.
Add your own notes and pictures below the timeline.
Use horizontally or vertically.
Cut along dashed line and stick to the next sheet for one continuous timeline, or print individual pages to cover a shorter period.
This one covers 100 years per A4 sheet.
Turn of the century in the middle – handy for English history from just before the Norman conquest to today.

Download - Monarch timeline 1050-2040.pdf

 

 

Abraham Hannibal

Children's books, Children's fiction, History, History Books, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Abraham Hannibal and the Raiders of the Sands 

by Frances Mary Somers Cocks

Abraham Hannibal and the Battle for the Throne

by Frances Mary Somers Cocks

“My name is Abraham, and my father is a noble lord of Africa”
Based on a true story, these two books tell the adventures of a young boy’s travels in the 1700s.
Aimed somewhere between the Sparks and My Story series reading level, the straightforward, accessible style belies the depth of detail, and geographically breadth. It is well written and very different to anything else we have come across – with plenty to keep adults enthralled too.
Uniquely covering people and places seldom touched upon in literature.
Accompanied by intricate black and white illustrations, the vivid descriptions give fascinating glimpses of a multitude of people, cultures and faiths, all bound up in an exciting, and touching adventure story.
A story of mixed fortunes, loss, bravery, slavery and determination.
Raiders of the Sands
Follows Abraham’s journey from Christian Ethiopia, to Arabia and the Mediterranean, inspired by tales of tribal Africa and the French court of the Sun King.
Battle for the Throne
Abraham continues his journey to the palace of the Ottoman Sultan and beyond, on to the cold north of Peter the Great’s Russia and war with Sweden.