One of the coolest parts of this world culture tour we're doing with our boys is that we are learning alongside them. In school, we mostly learned American and European history. No Asia. No Africa. No Australia. No South America. Actually, we didn't even get much of eastern Europe.
So, with all of our "stops" on this tour, we delve into the history of the area. We want to learn more of our world. The boys, to their credit, don't seem to think of it as "school". Rather, they seem to be enjoying it as much as us.
China has been a wellspring of interesting history. Honestly, it was an area I'd always been interested in knowing more about. Watching historical movies, I've always wondered how certain events in China's history correlated to other areas of the world. I grew up on Kung Fu movies, many of which are set in times past. When though? Do they happen the same time frame as cowboys or knights?
My boys have loved hearing about it all as well. The 7 kingdoms that narrowed down to one (around 200 BC). The one that split up into many. The many that went back down to the Three Kingdoms (220 - 280 AD). The creation of the Great Wall.
Apparently the time between the seven kingdoms and the "Three Kingdoms" was very turbulent and filled with fighting and war. Naturally, this is the stuff ripe for movies. None did these kinds of movies better than the Shaw Brothers in the 70's and 80's. With my boys, I'm watching through a number of movies I grew up with. They love them. However, I think I may be overwhelming them by sheer number of movies as opposed to other regions where we have watched far fewer.
Back to the history! If you're like me, you grew up in schools that didn't cover any of this. Maybe, you could've taken a Chinese course in college, but that's typically your only choice.
There's nothing to stop you from pulling up info on the Internet though. That's the glory of the age we live in. Even better, there are tons of well done videos on YouTube. Many are made with extensive information for adults. Also, though, many are made short, sweet, and animated to younger audiences. Many of these even throw in a touch of humor. Careful, though, some throw in some random cuss words from time to time, so if you're showing them to your kids, you may want to check them first.
Here are some of the ones we've jumped into for China:
Three Kingdoms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26EivpCPHnQ
Check these out. For your kids or for yourself. You never know what you may learn. Whoever you're doing it for, make it fun. "School" doesn't have to be something the kids don't WANT to do.
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