Asia: It’s People and History

Asia: It’s People and History
Written by Bonnie Rose Hudson
Available at

About the book

Welcome to Asia: Its People and History!  Is the land of Asia a mystery to your kids?  Do they know who lives there?  Do they know how to pray for them?  Asia is home to more than fifty countries and territories and roughly three-fifths of the world’s population.  Could you use some help introducing your family to this vast land?  This sixteen-week course presents a brief picture of six nations.  It is by no means all encompassing.  Its purpose is to introduce your students to the people of Asia, share their stories, and spark curiosity.

I pray that the course does much more than that, however. I pray that through meeting just a few of our brothers and sisters who live in cities and villages with names that are hard to pronounce that your children feel more connected with those who are suffering for their faith in Christ. Through stories and activities, we’ll meet the people of Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Iran, and Vietnam. We’ll get to know the children of these lands and hear about their experiences. Most of all, we’ll pray for them and their families. Won’t you join us?

Who is Bonnie Rose Hudson?

Bonnie Rose Hudson works with both SchoolhouseTeachers.com and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® as a curriculum creator and editorial assistant. Her heart’s desire is for every child to feel the love of God and know how special they are to Him. She would love for you to stop by and meet the star of her children’s series at Exploring with Jake , look through the 10/40 window of the world and join others in prayer at Looking Out the 10/40 Window, or stop by her author’s blog WriteBonnieRose.com for fun printables and discover how you can write for the homeschool market.

Our Thoughts

In the midst of the February blues, the Olympics, the running around to get 2nd and 3rd opinion for orthodontic treatment for my oldest son, we sat down numerous time in our living room to learn more about Laos in the pdf version of Asia: Its People and History.    The main reason why I decided to embark on this review team is that I knew it would introduce something different to our kids during what I consider the toughest month of the year when you homeschool and we have friends who are missionaries in a country in Asia – Thailand.  

The countries you will visit with this book are Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Iran, Vietnam. Each country is divided into 2-4 weeks of study which includes stories, discussion questions, history as well as fun activities.

So what do you know about Laos?   Well, I sure didn’t know much about that country so the kids and I embarked on a journey to discover more about it.  The first week, we learned about how Jesus came to Laos and how it impacted a specific village in one of the areas.   It was a moving story about how it is illegal to own a Bible in that country and how Jesus provided for a specific need for the main character.   The following week, you learn more about Laos itself and discover its history.   During the reading of that week, we got introduced at a map of the part of Asia where Laos is located.   Well, it turns out that it is one of the northern border of Thailand (the other one being Myanmar where our friends are the closest as they live near Chiang Mai).  Realizing that Laos was so close to Thailand was interesting.  The first part of that week, was a mini history lessons and the second part of the chapter was providing more information on what life as a Christian is in Laos.  At the end of the chapter, you are directed toward two downloadable free book from Kids of Courage in which you can learn more about the people of Laos: Bold Believers of the Hmong People and Bold Believers Among the Khmu of Southeast Asia.  There is also a crossword activity included for the kids to do.

During the third week, we read another story about a family of believers who were rejected by the villagers because of their faith.   The family was split in two because a brother at stayed in fear of standing up on his faith.  Though circumstances will reunite them in the end.  Reading this story, helped the kids and I realize the struggles that believers in many countries have to face on a daily basis.  Sometimes I think that we have it easy in North America and that it would be a great way to gleaned the true believers from the flaky ones if you see what I mean…  Again discussion questions are following this chapter in order to allow you and your kids to talk about what you have read.   Finally, this past week, we learned more about who lived in Laos by discover two of the hundred people groups that can be found there.   We also read some stories of Christians living in two provinces of Laos – Laos contains sixteen provinces.   And then at the end of that week, there is a printable puzzle that you can do with the kids.

During the weeks were we read and learned more about Laos, my daughter who is six years old and is a Sparkie at Awana was working on her Wing Runner Frequent Flyer Extra Credit Cards.  She had recently completed the Book Review verses and was finishing up the TakeOff section when she entered in the Passport section of the book.   This specific section introduce the importance of sharing the Gospel in other countries and how you need a passport to travel.  Anyhow, each pages of this book contains activities in the back of them – like coloring, find the image by following numbers and so on.   Well, she came to me one day last week all excited because at the back on the first thing she had to do in the Passport section there was a map of Asia and she learned fun facts about the country of Laos – People who live in Laos speak Lao and People eat a lot of rice in Laos.   She was trilled to show me the map and pointing at the country of Laos which was marked as well.  She decided that she would color the country just because we have learned more about it.     She was so proud to have Laos mentioned in her Awana book that it was simple priceless to see her excitement.  All I can say is thank you Bonnie for writing about Laos in this book.

My only disappointment is that there isn’t more countries of Asia included in this book.  But it’s a great introduction of Asia, the people living there and the history linked to the countries.   I would also have included some recipes in order to make the experience of visiting a country via this book more interesting and introduce the kids to different flavors from Asia.   On the other hand, I guess you could expand the exploration of a country on your own if you want to do that.

Needless to say, the kids are already looking forward to explore Bangladesh the next few weeks.   February being what it is I think this book is a great way to do something different while we wait for spring to come.   We enjoyed learning more about Laos and look forward to learn more about the other countries in this book in the weeks to come.

To make the study even more interesting, the author has put together a variety of bonus content linked to the countries found in the book.  You can find them on her website at Asia It’s People and History Bonus Content.

GREAT NEWS!

Two of my readers can get the DDF copy of the book

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Asia: It’s People and History is available on  The Schoolhouse Store, SmashWords as well as Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.