A is for... Around the World in 180 Days

I decided to write about this resource for "Blogging through the Alphabet" with Marcy at "Ben and Me" because it's been so well-used in our homeschool.  This school year is the fourth time we've used it as the spine for our Social Studies. It's so versatile and adaptable that I don't mind using it over and over. 



Around the World in 180 Days is sort of like a huge unit study, using a notebook approach to learning geography, history, world religions, world cultures, and current events by continent.  Several years ago, I used it with all four kids and focused mostly on history.  Then a few years later, I used it with three of the kids and looked at geography and history.  When lesson planning at the end of the 2009-2010 school year, I decided to go around the world in 360 days, and take two years to use the guide.  We had spent the previous two years on US History and I thought we should take a break from North America for awhile.  So last year, we (Landon and Kennady) studied the history and cultures of Africa, Australia and Asia.  This year we are studying Europe and the Americas.  We will only do a very brief overview of American history. 

I love this guide because it gives me a spine to build a social studies course around, and each time I can focus on different aspects, or do things a little differently so it doesn't seem like we are repeating the same information that we've covered before.  I assign different research assignments, reading, and artwork to go along with it each time.


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