Woo hoo! It’s almost here! The long-awaited 3rd volume of A Child’s Geography will roll off the printing press in June!
What’s better? If you order now, you not only save money by buying at the pre-publication price, but you also get free shipping and a bonus ebook. To sweeten the deal even more, we have put the other two volumes on sale too!
Here’s a description of the book, but for more details, follow this link:
In the lively style introduced to us by Ann Voskamp, A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World will take you and your fledgling geographers on an amazing adventure through our Father’s world.
Imagine walking in the footsteps of Socrates, Alexander the Great, the Apostle Paul… See and understand ancient civilizations and great empires from what has been left behind and carefully preserved. Hear the stories passed down from generation to generation, before the advent of paper and printing presses. As we explore the Classical World, you and your family will delight in incredible, mysterious landscapes, hidden wonders and beautiful peoples – all created in God’s image. Download the first 3 chapters to read and try for yourself!
Over the course of 15 chapters, explore 12 countries situated around the Mediterranean Sea with:
* the engaging text and vivid full-color photos of a “living book”
* narration prompts to cement learning and understanding
* notebooking, timeline and mapping activities for context
* helpful pronunciations and full definitions in glossary
* activities that focus on art, music, poetry and the delicious food of each country
* optional prayer walk for each country
* 224 page full color print book
* bonus content on CD-ROM
* Pre-publication bonus!That Decisive Battle: How One Little Town Brought an End to the Great War (ebook $3.99 value)
Do you and your children desire to catch a passion for God and all of His people around this glorious globe? Come. Let’s go into all the world together.
We’ve had several parents proof read and fact checkExplore the Classical World for us. Here are just a handful of the many comments we received:
“Thanks so much for allowing me to be part of Explore the Classical World. Loved it! I’ve had volumes 1 and 2 on my shelf but hadn’t started them with my kids–planning to very soon now that I’ve enjoyed volume 3 so much!” – Jill
“Wow great job on the first five chapters. I really enjoyed them, and I know my sons will too when the final draft is finished!” – Angie
“I really enjoyed reading this! You are a gifted writer. I enjoyed the colorful local characters! … I thought it would take me longer to read through, but it was engaging and interesting that I couldn’t stop reading! Looking forward to reading the next chapters!” – Nanci
“Boy, this was fun!! And, I learned something (well, a lot) to boot!! Thank you for the opportunity.” – Renee
“Reading this has REALLY made me want to visit Greece and some of these places! I love the story line and how descriptive and fun the information is displayed or told. This is going to be an excellent book and I am very excited to use this with my son and to recommend it to others! I haven’t used the first 2 books and will now be looking into purchasing them as well! Way to go and thanks so much for making History and Geography FUN! Thank you for this opportunity!” – Lindsey in Florida
Taking Pre-Orders now! Publication date is 6/30/13. Orders will ship the first week of July.
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
The islands of Malta are located south of Sicily, Italy’s largest island. Malta, however, is not part of Italy. It is an independent nation, not subject to outside rule by any other country. Malta sits in the center of the sea, where east meets west and north meets south. Cultures meet on Malta, but they do not collide, as the islands offer a refreshing blend of African climate and European architecture, eastern tradition and western advancement.
However, currents do collide where Malta rises from the foaming waters of the sea. While there are no other names for the Mediterranean at this particular juncture of the waters of the Great Sea, the currents are certainly going in different directions where they meet at St. Thomas’ Bay. With your parents’ permission, watch the waves collide off the coast of Malta in this YouTube video:
Smashing currents and raging tempests make the Malta islands a shipwreck disaster zone when storms blow up. The turquoise waters surrounding Malta are a scuba diver’s paradise, as hundreds of pieces of shipwrecked boats have been pulled up from the tangle of seaweed just off shore. The iron crossbars of ancient Roman anchors found at 90 feet deep off the coast give evidence to Malta’s most famous shipwreck.
In October of the year AD 60, a Roman galley was caught in a terrible storm on its way to Rome. The sailors battled the storm and fought to keep the ship afloat for two weeks before spotting land. However, with the colliding sea currents and the howling winds of a nor’easter, the crew was unable to prevent the great boat from smashing into the reefs and running aground.
The Roman galley was sailing from Jerusalem to Rome, carrying a famous prisoner, the Apostle Paul. After the ship ran aground, the soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners onboard to make sure they didn’t swim to shore and escape, but the commanding officer wanted to spare them, especially Paul. Every last man jumped overboard and swam toward land or floated on the debris of the broken ship. All two hundred and seventy six men survived, dragging themselves ashore on an unknown beach, hungry, exhausted, and soaked to the bone.
Once they were safe on shore, they learned that they were on the island of Malta. The islanders were very kind and showed great hospitality to the shipwrecked men. They stayed for three months and then continued their journey to Rome on another ship that had wintered on the island. You can read the unabridged story in Acts 27 and 28.
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
Sardinia is home to a unique style of singing and music, called cantu a tenore [KAN-too ah ten-OR-eh]. It is one of the oldest forms of vocal polyphony [pol-IF-an-ee], which means to sing more than one melody at a time. As you know, we have mentioned many UNESCO World Heritage sites in this book. Well, a song cannot be a site, but UNESCO has classified this beautiful and unique singing style a world heritage intangible. Intangible means that you cannot see it or touch it, but it is still there. Thanks to UNESCO, this style of music will be protected and preserved for future generations.
Several groups of musicians are resurrecting this irresistible musical sound. The most well known is the music group known as Tenores di Bitti, because they hail from the small town of Bitti in the central mountainous region of Sardinia. You can listen to them at the following link. Listen, in particular to the low guttural sounds that are produced deep in the throat.
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
Perhaps what Sicily is best known for is its rich and unique culture, especially with regard to music and food. Sicily has been nicknamed God’s Kitchen because of the wonderfully delicious foods made and served on the island. Every region of Sicily has its own culinary specialties, such as biscotti cookies, cannoli pastry, pecorino cheese and of course, Sicilian pizza.
Let’s see how Sicilian pizza differs from the pies made in Naples:
The Sicilian pizza is quite different from the Neapolitan pizza. It is typically square instead of round and has more dough, sauce, and cheese. Sometimes it is topped with little fish called anchovies, which are caught in the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north. It seems to have more of everything, but it also feeds more people.
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
If you look north across the bay, you can see Mount Vesuvius off in the distance. Directly on the other side of the bay is the city of Naples. Now, if you look due west you can see an island on the distant horizon. That is the beautiful and mysterious Isle of Capri. Capri is home to the enchanting Blue Grotto. Have you ever heard of it? The Blue Grotto is a sea cave, famous for its glowing blue waters. Mysteriously, sunlight shines through an underwater cavity and illuminates the waters creating the blue glow. The cave is tricky to get into, but well worth the effort. This looks like the perfect place for pirate treasure, don’t you think?
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
Sardinia is world famous for its special cheeses. The two favorite local cheeses are the Pecorino Sardo and the Pecorino Romano. The name pecorino comes from the Italian word pecora, which means sheep. Yes, pecorino is made from sheep’s milk. While Pecorino Sardo, a firm but mild cheese, is made exclusively on the island of Sardinia (Sardo is the root word for Sardinia) and from a local Sardinian breed of sheep, Pecorino Romano is made in Rome and other parts of Italy as well. In truth, Pecorino Romano, a hard, salty cheese, is an old cheese variety with a long history. It was a staple in the diet of legionaries, or soldiers, of ancient Rome. Italians proudly keep their cheese-making traditions alive and are passionate about their old-world artisan craft.
Would you like to watch how Pecorino cheese is made?
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
After a peaceful night sleeping in a quiet convent run by Catholic nuns, we will check out some final sites on our way out of town. Just outside the ancient city walls on the south side of Rome are several Christian catacombs, huge aqueduct ruins and the famous Appian Way. While not as glamorous as the Colosseum or Palatine Hill, the catacombs give an insightful look into the lives of early Christians during the Roman Empire. No one was allowed to be buried within the city walls of Rome, so the Christians, who didn’t believe in cremation, dug huge underground crypts with multiple stories, long passageways and bunk-style graves carved out of the rock. These subterranean vaults tell the tragic stories of persecuted Christians, young and old, wealthy and poor, famous and obscure.
Many believers in Jesus Christ were martyred for their faith during the 1st through 3rd centuries, including a number of popes. Centuries later, the Ottoman Turks raided most of these tombs looking for buried treasure. However, the only treasures found here are the stories of brave men and women, and even young children, who lived and died for their Lord during a time of great religious upheaval.
Did you know that it is forbidden to take photos in the Sistine Chapel? Yes, it’s true, but the Khan Academy has created a simulation of the chapel so that you can get a good (and close-up) look inside. (Parental Caution: there is quite a bit of nudity in the artwork and some is shown in this video. Imagine that, nudity in chapel, LOL!)
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
A gorgeous spiral staircase, a parade of ancient Roman busts, and a magnificent statue of Caesar Augustus impress us as we walk through four miles of galleries in this maze of museums. As remarkable as the galleries are, they all pale in comparison to the lofty ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo Buonarroti spent more than four years of his life lying on his back high on scaffolding, painting these magnificent scenes from the Bible across 12,000 square feet of vaulted ceiling. The Creation of Adam and the Last Judgment are perhaps some of the most well recognized portions of the painting, but there are several more to gaze upon. Would you like to learn more about the symbolism and artwork on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? The Khan Academy has a fascinating video about it here:
For more: http://www.smarthistory.org/sistine-chapel-ceiling.html
These paintings are considered to be Michelangelo’s crowning achievement in painting, a high compliment to this great renaissance man whose art is displayed all over Italy, Europe, and the world.
One of the main functions of the Sistine Chapel is the election of a new Pope. The cardinals meet here, as they did in the spring of 2013 after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, to discuss possible candidates. Smoke is sent up the chimney to alert the awaiting crowd outside of their progress. If the smoke is black, created by burning the ballots along with wet straw and chemicals, the cardinals have dismissed a potential candidate. If the smoke is white, created by burning the ballots alone, a new Pope has been elected. A candidate must receive at least two-thirds of the majority vote to be elected as the next Pope.
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
Here is the Piazza del Campo where the race will be held later today. This main square in Siena has been covered with several inches of dirt in preparation for the race. They have blocked off the circular track so that the enthusiastic spectators do not get trampled. Let’s find a good place where we can watch the race.
While the race itself lasts less than two minutes, the Palio is steeped in history and culture, a Sienese tradition that continues year-round. Ten horses will race, each representing one of ten contrade, or districts, within the city of Siena. There are seventeen contrade in total, but seven contrade will have to wait to be represented in a future race. During the year, the jockeys are trained and ten horses are randomly selected and assigned to the town districts. The night before the race, each contrada, or district, holds a feast for its neighbors, which is celebrated on the streets of town. Then, on the morning of the event, each horse is taken to a church in its contrada to be blessed.
Before the actual race, once the piazza is packed with thousands of spectators and sealed off, the festivities begin with a colorful parade, complete with mounted police wielding swords and flag wavers dressed in medieval costumes. The flags [the Italian word for flag is palio] represent the 17 contrade of the city. As the colorful banners pass by the crowd, the loyal and excited spectators cheer loudly for their contrada. Read more…
Excerpted from A Child’s Geography: Explore the Classical World (publication date 6/30/13):
What a beautiful view! From up here at the pinnacle of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, we notice that there is plenty more to see down in the square. The Duomo is the main cathedral and the baptistry is located in the front of the cathedral. For many centuries, baptisms were not held at the small local churches in Italy. Every infant was baptized in the large baptistry or at the duomo itself. Many people do not realize that these two buildings lean too, but because they are shorter and wider, their tilts are not as noticeable or precarious.
Scientists have recently discovered that the acoustics in this particular baptistry are remarkable. Individuals and groups will test this for themselves by singing a few lines of a song or by clapping their hands. For this reason, concerts were probably held here as well. Listen to this! The singer is able to harmonize with himself because the notes are reverberated around the building’s dome for such a long time—a full 10 seconds.
Woo hoo! It’s almost here! The long-awaited 3rd volume of A Child’s Geography will roll off the printing press in June!
