re: #145 SanFranciscoZionist

Speaking of history: I am teaching Ancient World this year. We do a whole lot of work on Egypt, China, India, the Mesopotamians, Greece, Rome, etc.

Two areas I find missing in our books (and the CA standards), and would like to expand more on are the Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa. I’m planning to create a small unit for each, just so’s the kids understand that stuff is going on in these places. Given the ethnic makeup of the class, this seems especially important.

Can anyone recommend some areas/cultures I might focus on that flourished before the fall of Rome, and have some interesting details the kids might like? The seventh-grade year has considerable material on both areas, I’d just like to give them a sense that something happened between the dawn of time and the thirteenth century.

One word: Timbuktu.