Posts Tagged ‘history’
The Titanic’s Maiden Voyage
When the Titanic began her first voyage at 12:00 noon on April 10, 1912, there were 2227 men, women and children aboard. Many of the passengers were rich and famous but there was also over 700 immigrants traveling to a new land. On April 14, the Titanic was traveling full steam ahead in the North Atlantic. The weather was clear and cool however the wireless operator began to receive messages warning of icebergs ahead. Over the next few hours, a total of six messages came for other ships. The captain of the Titanic, E.J. Smith received some of these messages, but not all. There was no set system for passing messages from the operator to the crew and to the captain so, no one person saw all of the messages. The captain asked the men on lookout to watch for icebergs, but these men had no binoculars with them so they could only scan the waters with their eyes.Sneak Peek: History of Fashion Through Textiles
History of Fashion Through Textiles is a 4 module unit study covering cotton, silk, wool and flax. It describes the process from raw material to cloth, including the history of the use of the cloth. Activities within the unit study include math, history, science, art and more making it a cross-curricular unit of study.
Here is a sneak peek:
Module 3: Cotton
Here is a small sample of what the new Herbology unit study has to offer!
All over the world ancient peoples have dug up, dried out, chewed, crushed, rubbed and brewed plants, and through trial and error, discovered their healing powers.It is this knowledge that we use today for our herbal healing remedies.
Over 5, 000 years ago the Sumerians of Western Asia discovered medicinal uses for such plants as laurel, caraway, and thyme. From there medicinal knowledge developed into Egypt where many herbs were used in the mummification process. They also used onion and garlic to strengthen the body and mint for stomach upset. In fact, he world’s oldest surviving medical text, discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Tombs in 1874, listed 876 herbal formulas made from more than 500 plants.
Sometimes, herbal healers could be as much of a killer than the healer. Herbal remedies could also be poisons, especially during the hostile time of the Roman Empire.The study of poisons though could also bring about antidotes against the poisons. This was the type of herbal knowledge gained by the Romans.
After the fall of Rome, European medicine became a focus of the Catholic Church. Officially, the church viewed sickness as punishment from God that could only be healed with prayer and penance. In the monasteries however, the monks were copying the ancient herbal texts. The Benedictine monks adopted the Arab practice of transferring the healing powers of herbs to alcohol and flavoured wines with herbs.
From 1300 to 1650 C.E.the view of the healer changed drastically. People (specifically women) who practiced herbal medicine and made herbal remedies were deemed witches and often burned at the stake. These witch-hunts were made worse when bad doses of herbal remedy caused poisonings and deaths among the patients. Although herbalism was not wiped out during these witch-hunts, much of the knowledge became secretive.
When Europeans came to the New World, they met healthy and strong Natives. Many that experienced native herbal healing were impressed with how quick and flawless they were. Even some early American doctors apprenticed to native herbalists. Native healers, called Shaman, relied on the energies of the herbs mixed with the powers of the spirits to guide them with healing.
Colonists, armed with the knowledge of the native healing herbs, would often grow both medicinal and culinary herbs in their own gardens. Many pioneer gardens were filled with vegetables as well as herbs for cooking, healing and even dying clothing. Along with herbal remedies, pioneers were offered special elixirs that “cure” everything from arthritis to headaches. Charlatans (tricksters) would offer snake oil, magic elixirs and liniments to cure what ailed you. Usually they had so much alcohol in them that a ‘cure’ seemed to happen, or at least you felt better for a while. These “fake” doctors became known as quacks because usually what they sold had no medicinal value.
Create an advertisement for your cure-all medicine.
For the complete unit study go to www.homeeducationresourceemporium.com/unit-studies
The Winter Olympics offers a great opportunity to bring current events into the lesson plan. From the history of the Olympics, to modern day sports there are many great topics to teach about!
This is a great time for a geography lesson on world countries since children will be able to link the countries with the athletes. Math lessons can also be incorporated because each event deals with speed times, first, second, third and percentages. How much faster was the first place winner, what percentage of the athletes for that country competed in that event and more. Obviously sports lessons would work with this theme as well. The rules of the sports, the safety involved, the history of the sport – plenty of lessons could apply. For older students even a lesson on drug awareness can be brought in by discussing steroids and other enhancing drugs, why they are banned, what they would do to an athlete’s body and what has happened to athletes that have been caught using them.
By bringing current events into the lesson plan, children can associate what they are learning with the world in general, and can understand better when they see the event on television or in the paper.
For some great downloadable resources on the Winter Olympics click here.
History can be a subject that is overwhelming to learn. So many names, dates and events, it can cause children to shut down and not want to learn. It is important to make subjects like this come alive so that kids can enjoy studying them!
Plan a project on a favorite topic and combine historic elements into it. For example learning about horses can encompass many eras of history including medieval times and Native American culture. Field trips are also helpful for bringing history alive. Many historic sites have costumed interpreters that help kids understand how it was back then. Some places even have programs where children can dress up and “live” in history too! Art, poetry and music contain historic references that can be developed into a further project. And don’t forget unit studies, history can be followed in a unique way through a unit study. For example, early History of Canada can be followed through forts – this would take you through the fur trade, the War of 1812 and the North West Mounted Police encompassing all of the country!