Homa Tavangar sent me her book, Growing Up Global, about a month ago. It's taken me some time to work my way through it. It's kind of like Conscious Kids, only on steroids. And I mean that in a good way! The book is an extremely thorough resource for families looking to expand their horizons whether or not they fill their passports with stamps. What I really enjoyed about her treatment of the subject of helping kids to develop a global perspective is that she focuses a good amount of thought and instruction on what's happening internally with kids. There are fun ideas for activities such as learning how to eat with chopsticks, host a foreign film festival, or learning to say hello in the top ten languages. But she doesn't lose sight of the why. In fact, the first chapter, titled "Be a Friend," is an in-depth treatise on why being globally-minded is important. The common themes running throughout the book are courtesy, curiosity and compassion.
Because I plan on home schooling, I naturally viewed the book as a potential resource and admit that it will likely find a prominent place in our home school library. Rather than a textbook, I imagine it will serve well as an inspiration book. I can imagine our family working our way through the book in about a year, with a few activities each week. The activities she suggests are fun, interesting and really easy to implement. A few of my favorites are experiencing the world through soccer and the Olympics, hosting a world meal (the average meal eaten by most people on the planet), trying food remedies made by grandmothers everywhere, initiating meaningful life-cycle (birth, coming-of-age, etc.) celebrations from around the globe, and becoming acquainted with global versions of Cinderella and other favorite stories. Each chapter is a treasure house of even more resources. If you can't find exactly the right idea for a project or activity in this book, I'm pretty sure you'll find it in the myriad books, movies, websites and organizations she directs you to. Oh, and the movie list! That was another thing that got me really excited. Next time we rent a movie I'm totally turning to this book for a recommendation. She has lists of movies for little kids to big kids and they all look SO good! Let me tell you just a few: The Cave of the Yellow Dog, Lagaan, Children of Heaven, Winged Migration, Veer-Zaara, Romantico, The Children of Noisy Village. I could go on and on, that list only scratches the surface of all the great titles she recommends. And each is accompanied by an explanation and interesting tidbits about the film, as well as suggestions for appropriate ages.
I'm really excited to try some of her activities and suggestions with Sam. We're lucky to live in a city where he gets to meet people from different cultures right here in our neighborhood. I love seeing him greet our Nepali neighbor with hands together and a cheery "Namaste!" I hope my kids always retain their enthusiasm and appreciation for other cultures. I think using a book like this is a great way to not let yourself get complacent and lost in the minutia of our day-to-day, insular lives, but to remember that we are, in fact, part of a great, big, beautiful, exciting world.
Here's a great video about the book, and make sure to check out the website too; it's chock-full of good stuff!
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Homa Tavangar sent me her book, Growing Up Global, about a month ago. It's taken me some time to work my way through it. It's kind of like Conscious Kids, only on steroids. And I mean that in a good way! The book is an extremely thorough resource for families looking to expand their horizons whether or not they fill their passports with stamps. What I really enjoyed about her treatment of the subject of helping kids to develop a global perspective is that she focuses a good amount of thought and instruction on what's happening internally with kids. There are fun ideas for activities such as learning how to eat with chopsticks, host a foreign film festival, or learning to say hello in the top ten languages. But she doesn't lose sight of the why. In fact, the first chapter, titled "Be a Friend," is an in-depth treatise on why being globally-minded is important. The common themes running throughout the book are courtesy, curiosity and compassion.
Because I plan on home schooling, I naturally viewed the book as a potential resource and admit that it will likely find a prominent place in our home school library. Rather than a textbook, I imagine it will serve well as an inspiration book. I can imagine our family working our way through the book in about a year, with a few activities each week. The activities she suggests are fun, interesting and really easy to implement. A few of my favorites are experiencing the world through soccer and the Olympics, hosting a world meal (the average meal eaten by most people on the planet), trying food remedies made by grandmothers everywhere, initiating meaningful life-cycle (birth, coming-of-age, etc.) celebrations from around the globe, and becoming acquainted with global versions of Cinderella and other favorite stories. Each chapter is a treasure house of even more resources. If you can't find exactly the right idea for a project or activity in this book, I'm pretty sure you'll find it in the myriad books, movies, websites and organizations she directs you to. Oh, and the movie list! That was another thing that got me really excited. Next time we rent a movie I'm totally turning to this book for a recommendation. She has lists of movies for little kids to big kids and they all look SO good! Let me tell you just a few: The Cave of the Yellow Dog, Lagaan, Children of Heaven, Winged Migration, Veer-Zaara, Romantico, The Children of Noisy Village. I could go on and on, that list only scratches the surface of all the great titles she recommends. And each is accompanied by an explanation and interesting tidbits about the film, as well as suggestions for appropriate ages.
I'm really excited to try some of her activities and suggestions with Sam. We're lucky to live in a city where he gets to meet people from different cultures right here in our neighborhood. I love seeing him greet our Nepali neighbor with hands together and a cheery "Namaste!" I hope my kids always retain their enthusiasm and appreciation for other cultures. I think using a book like this is a great way to not let yourself get complacent and lost in the minutia of our day-to-day, insular lives, but to remember that we are, in fact, part of a great, big, beautiful, exciting world.
Here's a great video about the book, and make sure to check out the website too; it's chock-full of good stuff!
