Inspiration from Modern History

As I am preparing schedules, assignments and projects for our upcoming year, I am reminded of how many great and inspiring people we could and will study as we look at Modern World History.  I find that often this era of history is glossed over or ignored as people spend much, much more time in the Ancients or Early American history.  These are fascinating and fun periods of time, no doubt about it, and we love those cycles of study, but I also love this final year in the cycle, Modernity.

It can be easy to shy away from this time because we begin to see it as little more that wars and world conflicts, sadness and strife.  There is plenty of that, but there was plenty of that in our earlier years as well.  This cycle has the potential to broaden your students awareness of the world, help them understand more and more of current day events, and inspire them in their faith and dreams as they study many who have given greatly of their own lives.

We will study wars, and they are important-World War 1, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War to name the biggies.  But in all of these wars we learn of dedication, sacrifice, selflessness, suffering, and more.  These are life-changing ideas!

We will also study many people-famous and not-so-famous, leaders, inventors and innovators, war heroes, missionaries, artists, adults and children who stood up for what is right, adults and children who served God even when it was harder than we can imagine.

When I first started planning this year, I was rather lost and overwhelmed by the sheer number of events that we could study, worried that all would look bleak and hopeless if we got stuck in the tough times that we know so well in Modernity.  And that is all the more reason to remember that there are many, many wonderful and hopeful things that God has done, all throughout history, from the beginning of time all the way to today.  In our study of history, we all have the opportunity as a group, from the youngest in CFT to the oldest, to be reminded together of God's great acts.

This is going to be a great year, and I am getting more and more excited as the days go by.  I encourage you to start now to talk about, read about, match movies, and listen to audios that will encourage you and your children in their faith.

I'll be posting some ideas resources beyond our booklist and course of study, and if you have ideas or resources, I encourage you to post them here!