 |
| Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, but just imagine it's the Sahara |
Mater Amabilis™ beta high school plans, available in the high school Facebook group and linked from the Mater Amabilis™ website (scroll down to Levels 5 and 6).
Today I'm going to share what I've planned for next year in tenth grade: Africa.
I did find an alternate book that at least attempted to cover the entire continent: Africa by John Reader. (He has two books with the same name. This one is the companion to the PBS series published by National Geographic.) This book is lavishly illustrated, of course. It divides Africa into chapters based on environment: Savanna, Desert, Rain Forest, Mountains, Sahel, Great Lakes, Coast, and Southern Africa. It covers not just the ecological regions, but history, economics, and current events. Published in 2001, it includes quite a lot on the HIV crisis, the Rwanda genocide, and the end of apartheid in South Africa. All of these lend themselves to updated information using something like the curated articles I gathered for our study of Asia. With only eight sections, even if a student only read half a chapter each week, the study would be a little short. Finally, the writing is just what you might expect from a National Geographic magazine: often quite good but not universally lovely.
So I decided to use Charlotte Mason's Geographical Reader again, but this time I created a study guide that includes excerpts of the text I found most interesting and least offensive. (There's still plenty of room for discussions of parochialism and racism.) There are some marvelous first person accounts of exploration in the first few chapters. If you are following the recommended course of study for Level 5 Year 2 in British History (the second half of Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples), the last few weeks of the year will create an interesting conjunction of the British involvement in South Africa from Churchill and Mason at slightly different points in time.
Because there are only sixteen chapters on Africa in the Mason text and I'm a little crazy, I decided we could use both books.
The study guide I created for Mason's book includes a list of places and locations to mark on maps I printed from D-Maps.com. (Someone posted about this site in our Facebook group; it's a fantastic source for maps.) There are a few notes, then the text of her book (the parts I liked) with annotations on place names, people mentioned, and other things I wanted to qualify. These readings will be narrated. For those that are interested, I have shared this study guide in the Mater Amabilis™ high school Facebook group.
After reading from Mason's book, my son will go to the list of curated articles in his Google drive. I've tried to be very selective, but there are often quite a few required ones as the Mason text is usually shorter. For each required article or site, I've asked him to write a sentence or two in his geography notebook. Then he should select one of them for a more substantial narration (oral or written, his preference). Again, I've shared this list with the Mater Amabilis™ high school Facebook group and will continue to edit and add to it for the next eight years (until my youngest finishes tenth grade).
The study guide I wrote for Reader's book includes a similar mapping activity for each chapter. In addition, I've included definitions for quite a few words I thought might be unfamiliar to a high school student (at least my tenth grader). To integrate this book with Mason, we'll be reading the chapters out of order. I think you could skip some of them, too. Because these chapters are substantially longer, I have not assigned any curated articles on these weeks. I did include some in appropriate places that cover topics surfaced by this book like HIV and De Beers mining activities. This book will be narrated, but we'll see how it goes. Each chapter covers quite a lot of material and it might work best to focus on just one part for a narration. I will share this study guide in the Facebook group as well.
When labeling maps, my son will use our atlas, which is an older version of the National Geographic Concise Atlas of the World.
I also intend to have First Son read a travel/adventure book on Africa once each week. I'm still deciding what that will be.
Finally, First Son will choose one book each term to read as supplemental African geography. These will not be narrated, merely enjoyed. There might be some conversations about them arising naturally, but no exams or anything. For the most part, these are pulled from the optional list included in the Mater Amabilis™ beta high school plans and rely heavily on books I already owned or could get easily.
I think if you were looking to simplify, you could use either Mason's text or Reader's text. With either one, I'd encourage including map work and contemporary articles. The chapters in Reader's book could easily be divided in half to spread the study out a bit. We're doing this year of study in tenth grade, but there's no reason it couldn't also be done in one of the other high school years. There are some topics best for mature readers like genocide, horrors of the slave trade, terrorism, and HIV.
Just in case anyone is interested in following our schedule, I'm including it below.
Week 1
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Introduction (Mason Study Guide) and Introduction (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Introduction
Week 2
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Africa
Week 3
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Dr. Livingstone’s Discoveries in South Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Dr. Livingstone’s Discoveries in South Africa
Week 4
Reading Assignment (narrate) - African Village Life (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - African Village Life
Week 5
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Dr. Livingstone on the Condition of South Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Dr. Livingstone on the Condition of South Africa
Week 6
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Discoveries of Captains Burton, Speke, Grant &c. (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - off week
Week 7
Reading Assignment (narrate) - off week
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Discoveries of Captains Burton, Speke, Grant &c.
Week 8
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Abyssinia (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Abyssinia
Week 9
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Mountain (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 10
Selections from Christian History issue 105 (linked in the Mater Amabilis™ plans). Write a brief paragraph on two. Choose one for a longer written narration.
- A tour of ancient Africa pp 9-13
- From Abba Salama to King Lalibela pp 18-21
- See how these Christians love one another pp 29-33
Week 11
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Savanna (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
quiz next week on what you've covered so far: Mason (through Abyssinia), Reader (Mountain, Savanna), Christian History articles
Week 12
Quiz #1:
- Mason: Introduction, Africa, Dr. Livingstone's Discoveries, African Village Life, Condition of South Africa, Discoveries of Captains Burton etc., Abyssinia (and related curated articles)
- Reader: Moutain, Savanna
- Christian History articles
Week 13
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Egypt Part I (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Egypt Part I
Week 14
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Egypt Part II and Egypt Part III (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Egypt Part II and Egypt Part III
Week 15
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Up the Nile (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Up the Nile
Week 16
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Soudan (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Soudan
Week 17
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Soudan (continued) (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Soudan (continued)
Week 18
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Sahel (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 19
Letters from Niger (These are prayer letters written by friends of ours who are missionaries in Niger. If you're not lucky enough to know these amazing people or others serving God in Africa, just skip it.)
You don’t have to read every letter, but read a handful from different times and consider what life is like in southern Niger. Tell what you've learned (oral or written narration).
Week 20
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Rainforest (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 21
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Sahara (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Sahara
Week 22
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Desert (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 23
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Barbary States (Mason Study Guide
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - off week
Week 24
Reading Assignment (narrate) - off week
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Barbary States
Quiz next week on Mason (Egypt through Barbary States), Reader (Sahel, Rainforest, Desert), and Christians in Niger
Week 25
Quiz #2:
- Mason: Egypt Parts I, II, and III, Up the Nile, The Soudan, Sahara, Barbary Statess (and related curated articles)
- Reader: Sahel, Rainforest, Desert
- Christians in Niger (prayer letters)
Week 26
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Great Lakes (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 27
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Coast (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 28
Reading Assignment (narrate) - South Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - South Africa
Week 29
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Cape Colony (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Cape Colony
Week 30
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Southern Africa (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 31
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Islands Round Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Islands Round Africa
Quiz next week: Mason (South Africa through Islands Round Africa), Reader (Great Lakes, Coast, Southern Africa)
Week 32
Quiz #3:
- Mason: South Africa, Cape Colony, The Islands Round Africa (and related curated articles)
- Reader: Great Lakes, Coast, Southern Africa
This post contains my own opinions. I have received nothing in exchange for writing it. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.
So I decided to use Charlotte Mason's Geographical Reader again, but this time I created a study guide that includes excerpts of the text I found most interesting and least offensive. (There's still plenty of room for discussions of parochialism and racism.) There are some marvelous first person accounts of exploration in the first few chapters. If you are following the recommended course of study for Level 5 Year 2 in British History (the second half of Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples), the last few weeks of the year will create an interesting conjunction of the British involvement in South Africa from Churchill and Mason at slightly different points in time.Because there are only sixteen chapters on Africa in the Mason text and I'm a little crazy, I decided we could use both books.
The study guide I created for Mason's book includes a list of places and locations to mark on maps I printed from D-Maps.com. (Someone posted about this site in our Facebook group; it's a fantastic source for maps.) There are a few notes, then the text of her book (the parts I liked) with annotations on place names, people mentioned, and other things I wanted to qualify. These readings will be narrated. For those that are interested, I have shared this study guide in the Mater Amabilis™ high school Facebook group.
After reading from Mason's book, my son will go to the list of curated articles in his Google drive. I've tried to be very selective, but there are often quite a few required ones as the Mason text is usually shorter. For each required article or site, I've asked him to write a sentence or two in his geography notebook. Then he should select one of them for a more substantial narration (oral or written, his preference). Again, I've shared this list with the Mater Amabilis™ high school Facebook group and will continue to edit and add to it for the next eight years (until my youngest finishes tenth grade).
The study guide I wrote for Reader's book includes a similar mapping activity for each chapter. In addition, I've included definitions for quite a few words I thought might be unfamiliar to a high school student (at least my tenth grader). To integrate this book with Mason, we'll be reading the chapters out of order. I think you could skip some of them, too. Because these chapters are substantially longer, I have not assigned any curated articles on these weeks. I did include some in appropriate places that cover topics surfaced by this book like HIV and De Beers mining activities. This book will be narrated, but we'll see how it goes. Each chapter covers quite a lot of material and it might work best to focus on just one part for a narration. I will share this study guide in the Facebook group as well.
When labeling maps, my son will use our atlas, which is an older version of the National Geographic Concise Atlas of the World.
I also intend to have First Son read a travel/adventure book on Africa once each week. I'm still deciding what that will be.
Finally, First Son will choose one book each term to read as supplemental African geography. These will not be narrated, merely enjoyed. There might be some conversations about them arising naturally, but no exams or anything. For the most part, these are pulled from the optional list included in the Mater Amabilis™ beta high school plans and rely heavily on books I already owned or could get easily.
I think if you were looking to simplify, you could use either Mason's text or Reader's text. With either one, I'd encourage including map work and contemporary articles. The chapters in Reader's book could easily be divided in half to spread the study out a bit. We're doing this year of study in tenth grade, but there's no reason it couldn't also be done in one of the other high school years. There are some topics best for mature readers like genocide, horrors of the slave trade, terrorism, and HIV.
Just in case anyone is interested in following our schedule, I'm including it below.
Week 1
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Introduction (Mason Study Guide) and Introduction (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Introduction
Week 2
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Africa
Week 3
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Dr. Livingstone’s Discoveries in South Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Dr. Livingstone’s Discoveries in South Africa
Week 4
Reading Assignment (narrate) - African Village Life (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - African Village Life
Week 5
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Dr. Livingstone on the Condition of South Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Dr. Livingstone on the Condition of South Africa
Week 6
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Discoveries of Captains Burton, Speke, Grant &c. (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - off week
Week 7
Reading Assignment (narrate) - off week
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Discoveries of Captains Burton, Speke, Grant &c.
Week 8
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Abyssinia (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Abyssinia
Week 9
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Mountain (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 10
Selections from Christian History issue 105 (linked in the Mater Amabilis™ plans). Write a brief paragraph on two. Choose one for a longer written narration.
- A tour of ancient Africa pp 9-13
- From Abba Salama to King Lalibela pp 18-21
- See how these Christians love one another pp 29-33
Week 11
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Savanna (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
quiz next week on what you've covered so far: Mason (through Abyssinia), Reader (Mountain, Savanna), Christian History articles
Week 12
Quiz #1:
- Mason: Introduction, Africa, Dr. Livingstone's Discoveries, African Village Life, Condition of South Africa, Discoveries of Captains Burton etc., Abyssinia (and related curated articles)
- Reader: Moutain, Savanna
- Christian History articles
Week 13
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Egypt Part I (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Egypt Part I
Week 14
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Egypt Part II and Egypt Part III (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Egypt Part II and Egypt Part III
Week 15
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Up the Nile (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Up the Nile
Week 16
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Soudan (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Soudan
Week 17
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Soudan (continued) (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Soudan (continued)
Week 18
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Sahel (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 19
Letters from Niger (These are prayer letters written by friends of ours who are missionaries in Niger. If you're not lucky enough to know these amazing people or others serving God in Africa, just skip it.)
You don’t have to read every letter, but read a handful from different times and consider what life is like in southern Niger. Tell what you've learned (oral or written narration).
Week 20
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Rainforest (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 21
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Sahara (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Sahara
Week 22
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Desert (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 23
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Barbary States (Mason Study Guide
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - off week
Week 24
Reading Assignment (narrate) - off week
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Barbary States
Quiz next week on Mason (Egypt through Barbary States), Reader (Sahel, Rainforest, Desert), and Christians in Niger
Week 25
Quiz #2:
- Mason: Egypt Parts I, II, and III, Up the Nile, The Soudan, Sahara, Barbary Statess (and related curated articles)
- Reader: Sahel, Rainforest, Desert
- Christians in Niger (prayer letters)
Week 26
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Great Lakes (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 27
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Coast (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 28
Reading Assignment (narrate) - South Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - South Africa
Week 29
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Cape Colony (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - Cape Colony
Week 30
Reading Assignment (narrate) - Southern Africa (John Reader's Africa Study Guide)
Week 31
Reading Assignment (narrate) - The Islands Round Africa (Mason Study Guide)
Curated Articles (write 1-2 sentences for each link; choose one for a narration) - The Islands Round Africa
Quiz next week: Mason (South Africa through Islands Round Africa), Reader (Great Lakes, Coast, Southern Africa)
Week 32
Quiz #3:
- Mason: South Africa, Cape Colony, The Islands Round Africa (and related curated articles)
- Reader: Great Lakes, Coast, Southern Africa
This post contains my own opinions. I have received nothing in exchange for writing it. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.
