Unit 1: Mexico
What
In this first unit I will be exploring the history, politics, culture, and possible future of Mexico and its people. Quite an undertaking, I know.
The Deal
So the deal will be that I will update this at least once a week, talking about my readings and any field trips or hands-on experience.
This unit should probably take a few months, honestly. Mexico is a big topic and I’m very interested, so I’ll probably get distracted on certain issues for a while. I would like to stay on task, though, so I’ll give myself the deadline of the end of June for this whole unit, and I won’t be sad if I go too long!
Why
The reason I chose Mexico as my first unit is because I know embarrassingly little about it. I know the basics, but I’m afraid my World History and Geography classes were limited to Mrs. Baeslack’s semester antics (which were totally sweet) and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (also totally sweet). We couldn’t ever really get too in depth, though, cause Carmen kept jet setting and Mrs Baeslack needed to move on to turning the classroom into the Panama Canal.
How
Since my resources are limited, we’re going to rely on the Chicago Public Library and any random books I may find in used book stores for our reading material.
I did end up finding such a thing at Myopic the other day, called The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico edited by Miguel Leon-Portilla. Good place to start, I think. I should be able to give you thoughts on that by next week.
After that we’ll move forward with an overview of Mexican history, probably focusing on pre- and post-colonial eras if anything, knowing me.
Where
I am also planning on taking field trips to supplement my readings and ramblings.
The Field Museum has an exhibit about the Aztecs right now, which I plan on going to within the next week.
Also, I am lucky enough to have the National Museum of Mexican Art right here in Chicago! I’m pretty excited about it and may hold off on it as a treat, but I’ll be sure to tell you guys all about that when I go more into the culture aspect.
Another thing I would really like to do is learn how to make corn tortillas. I feel like that would be a pretty decent Hands-On excercise for this unit.
And I’ll have to take a few field trips to some Mexican restaurants. Oh man, why couldn’t school always have been like this?! Maybe it was and I just didn’t appreciate it.
Note
I gotta tell you, searching Mexico and History in the Chicago Public Library, it was kind of depressing how many American Girl Josefina books came up. Nothing too reliable for this kind of study. So, when that fails an always sure-fire way to find some interesting reading materials for anything, but especially Home Schooling yourself about Mexican history, is to google your key words along with the word “syllabus.” Universities usually post their syllabi online, and if you know how to search for it you can come across some great things, like this:
UCSB History 156 Directed Readings
And this:
Haverford History 317b Syllabus
So don’t worry too much if the public library isn’t lookin so hot at first.
Wish me luck and as always, feedback of any kind is encouraged!
