🌎 Post Archives: Weekly World Heritage

Great homeschool teaching ideas, resources, and little lessons about a different UNESCO World Heritage Site each week, from the River Houses Homeschool Network. Download and print your own World Heritage Calendar on our main homeschool calendar page, and add your name to our free River Houses mailing list to get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week. 😊

🇨🇴 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Fortresses of Cartagena in Colombia

6 November 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-cartagena

Colombia in northern South America is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Colombia’s World Heritage Sites: the Port, Fortresses, and Monuments of Cartagena.

“The historic center is surrounded by 11 kilometers of defensive walls. These were complemented by fortifications along the coast, making Cartagena a militarily impregnable city. The walls, made in several stages, were designed to protect the city from continual pirate attacks, with construction beginning in 1586.” (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

What is now the modern city of Cartagena, Colombia, has been one of the major Caribbean ports on the South American mainland since the sixteenth century:

“Situated on the northern coast of Colombia on a sheltered bay facing the Caribbean Sea, the city of Cartagena de Indias boasts the most extensive and one of the most complete systems of military fortifications in South America. Due to the city’s strategic location, this eminent example of the military architecture of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries was also one of the most important ports of the Caribbean. The port of Cartagena — together with Havana and San Juan, Puerto Rico — was an essential link in the route of the West Indies and thus an important chapter in the history of world exploration and the great commercial maritime routes. On the narrow streets of the colonial walled city can be found civil, religious and residential monuments of beauty and consequence.

“Cartagena was for several centuries a focal point of confrontation among the principal European powers vying for control of the “New World.” Defensive fortifications were built by the Spanish in 1586 and were strengthened and extended to their current dimensions in the 18th century, taking full advantage of the natural defences offered by the numerous bayside channels and passes. The initial system of fortifications included the urban enclosure wall, the bastioned harbour of San Matías at the entry to the pass of Bocagrande, and the tower of San Felipe del Boquerón. All of the harbour’s natural passes were eventually dominated by fortresses:“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #285)

World Heritage Sites are cultural or natural landmarks of international significance, selected for recognition by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. More than 1000 such sites have been recognized in over 160 countries, and we post one every Wednesday, drawn from one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week. You can find a complete list online at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and in Wikipedia.

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre also has a free and comprehensive World Heritage education kit for teachers, as well as a wonderful full-color wall map of World Heritage Sites (riverhouses.org/2019-wh-map), available for the cost of shipping. Why not add them both to your own homeschool library. 🗺

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745–852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read the WHC’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🇨🇴

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool States & Countries posts featuring historic sites of international importance. Download your own copy of our River Houses World Heritage Calendar (riverhouses.org/calendars) and follow along with us as we tour the planet, and add your name to our free weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

🇨🇫 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park in the Central African Republic

30 October 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-manovo

The Central African Republic is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of the Central African Republic’s World Heritage Sites: Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park.

Rhino in Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park, Central African Republic. (Image: worldatlas.com.)

World Heritage Sites are not only places of historical importance in human culture, they are also places of exceptional biological and scientific value:

“With an area of 1,740,000 ha, Manovo-Gounda St Floris is the largest park in the Central African savannas. Straddling the two ecological zones, Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park owes its importance to its rich flora and fauna. It is home to many endangered species including the black rhino, elephant, hippopotamus and red-fronted gazelle as well as large concentrations of herbivores.

“This Park is an interesting example of a “crossroads” where the species from savanna communities of East and West Africa, as well as those of the forest communities of the South, cross paths. The Park is a valuable area for the study of environmental changes occurring throughout the Sahel and Sudan under pressure from drought and overgrazing.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #475)

Sadly, extensive poaching and violence in the region has led this important park to be included on the current list of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

🇨🇻 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Cidade Velha in Cabo Verde

23 October 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-cidade-velha

The island-nation of Cabo Verde in the eastern Atlantic is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Cabo Verde’s World Heritage Sites: Cidade Velha, the historic center of Ribeira Grande.

Pillory Square, Cidade Velha, Cabo Verde. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

The “Old City” (“Cidade Velha”) of Cabo Verde was the first Portuguese colony established outside of Europe:

“The town of Ribeira Grande, renamed Cidade Velha in the late 18th century, was the first European colonial outpost in the tropics. Located in the south of the island of Santiago, the town features some of the original street layout [and] impressive remains including two churches, a royal fortress and Pillory Square with its ornate 16th century marble pillar.

Ribeira Grande [marked] a decisive step in European expansion at the end of the 15th century towards Africa and the Atlantic area. Ribeira Grande was subsequently, in the 16th and 17th centuries, a key port of call for Portuguese colonisation and its administration. It was an exceptional centre in the routes for international maritime trade … between Africa and the Cape, Brazil and the Caribbean. It provides an early image of transcontinental geopolitical visions. Its insular position, isolated but close to the coasts of Africa, made it an essential platform for the Atlantic trade of enslaved persons in modern times. A place of concentration of enslaved persons and the inhuman practices of the trade of enslaved persons, Ribeira Grande was also exceptional in terms of the intercultural encounters from which stemmed the first developed Creole society. The valley of Ribeira Grande experimented with new forms of colonial agriculture on the boundary between the temperate and tropical climates. It became a platform for the acclimatisation and dissemination of plant species across the world.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #1310)

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

🇧🇬 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak in Bulgaria

16 October 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-kazanlak

Bulgaria in eastern Europe is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Bulgaria’s World Heritage Sites: the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak.

Ancient murals from the Thracian tomb of Kazanlak. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

Much of modern-day Bulgaria was once the ancient kingdom of Thrace:

“Discovered in 1944, this tomb dates from the Hellenistic period, around the end of the 4th century B.C. It is located near Seutopolis, the capital city of the Thracian king Seutes III, and is part of a large Thracian necropolis. The tholos [the dome-like tomb building] has a narrow corridor and a round burial chamber, both decorated with murals representing Thracian burial rituals and culture. These paintings are Bulgaria’s best-preserved artistic masterpieces from the Hellenistic period.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #44)

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

🇧🇴 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Historic City of Sucre in Bolivia

9 October 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-sucre

Bolivia in central South America is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Bolivia’s World Heritage Sites: the Historic City of Sucre.

The historic city of Sucre in Bolivia. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

Sucre is the constitutional capital of modern Bolivia, but its historic core is built around the earliest sixteenth-century Spanish settlements in the region:

“The Historic City of Sucre, located in the foothills of the Sica Sica and Churuquella in central-south Bolivia, is an excellent, intact and well-preserved illustration of the architectural blending achieved in Latin America through the assimilation of local traditions and styles imported from Europe. Founded by the Spanish in 1538 as Ciudad de la Plata de la Nueva Toledo (Silver Town of New Toledo) on the lands of the Yampara, the indigenous culture of the Characas confederation, La Plata was for many years the judicial, religious and cultural centre of the region. The city was renamed in honour of the deceased leader of the fight for Independence, Antonio Jose de Sucre in 1839, when it was declared the first capital of Bolivia.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #566)

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre also has a free and comprehensive World Heritage education kit for teachers, and also a wonderful full-color wall map of World Heritage Sites (riverhouses.org/2019-wh-map) available for the cost of shipping. Why not add them both to your own homeschool library. 🗺

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

🇧🇪 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Neolithic Flint Mines of Belgium

2 October 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-belgium

Belgium is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Belgium’s World Heritage Sites: the Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes.

The flint mines at Spiennes, Belgium. The mines are believed to have been worked from about 4300 to 2200 B.C. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

Abandoned for thousands of years, these extensive Stone Age mines in western Belgium were rediscovered in 1867 when excavation for a railroad line exposed the ancient network of underground galleries.

“The Neolithic flint mines at Spiennes, covering more than 100 ha, are the largest and earliest concentration of ancient mines in Europe. They are also remarkable for the diversity of technological solutions used for extraction and for the fact that they are directly linked to a settlement of the same period…. The site appears on the surface as a large area of meadows and fields strewn with millions of scraps of worked flint. Underground, the site is an immense network of galleries linked to the surface by vertical shafts dug by Neolithic populations…. The mines were in operation for many centuries and the remains vividly illustrate the development and adaptation of mining techniques employed by prehistoric populations in order to exploit large deposits of a material that was essential for the production of tools and cultural evolution generally.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #1006)

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre also has a free and comprehensive World Heritage education kit for teachers and a wonderful full-color wall map of World Heritage Sites (available for the cost of shipping). Why not add them both to your own homeschool library. 🗺

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745–852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read UNESCO’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🇧🇪

🇧🇭 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Qal’at al-Bahrain, the Ancient Capital of Dilmun in Bahrain

25 September 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-dilmun

(A new homeschool year has begun and so has a new tour of World Heritage Sites around the globe! Print your own River Houses World Heritage Calendar (riverhouses.org/calendars) and follow along with us every Wednesday.)

Bahrain in the Middle East is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Bahrain’s World Heritage Sites: Qal’at al-Bahrain, the Ancient Harbor and Capital of Dilmun.

Remains of Qal’at al-Bahrain, the “Bahrain Fort.” (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

One of the richest archeological sites in Bahrain, the Qal’at al-Bahrain location was occupied for more than 3000 years:

“Qal’at al-Bahrain is a typical tell — an artificial mound created by many successive layers of human occupation. The strata of the 300 × 600 m tell testify to continuous human presence from about 2300 BC to the 16th century AD. About 25% of the site has been excavated, revealing structures of different types: residential, public, commercial, religious and military. They testify to the importance of the site, a trading port, over the centuries. On the top of the 12 m mound there is the impressive Portuguese fort, which gave the whole site its name, qal’a (fort). The site was the capital of the Dilmun, one of the most important ancient civilizations of the region. It contains the richest remains inventoried of this civilization, which was hitherto only known from written Sumerian references.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #1192)

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745–852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read UNESCO’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🇧🇭

🇦🇺 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Sydney Opera House in Australia

18 September 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-sydney

Australia is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Australia’s World Heritage Sites: the Sydney Opera House.

The Sydney Opera House in Sydney Harbor, Australia. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

Many World Heritage Sites are ancient, but some, like the famous Sydney Opera House, are almost brand new:

“Inaugurated in 1973, the Sydney Opera House is a great architectural work of the 20th century that brings together multiple strands of creativity and innovation in both architectural form and structural design. A great urban sculpture set in a remarkable waterscape, at the tip of a peninsula projecting into Sydney Harbour, the building has had an enduring influence on architecture. The Sydney Opera House comprises three groups of interlocking vaulted ‘shells’ which roof two main performance halls and a restaurant. These shell-structures are set upon a vast platform and are surrounded by terrace areas that function as pedestrian concourses. In 1957, when the project of the Sydney Opera House was awarded by an international jury to Danish architect Jørn Utzon, it marked a radically new approach to construction.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #166)

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745–852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read UNESCO’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🇦🇺

🇦🇴 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Mbanza Kongo in Angola

11 September 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-mbanza-kongo

(Welcome to a new homeschool year and a new tour of World Heritage Sites around the globe! Print a copy of our River Houses World Heritage Calendar (riverhouses.org/calendars) and follow along with us every Wednesday.)

Angola in southwest Africa is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Angola’s World Heritage Sites: Mbanza Kongo, the Capital of the Former Kingdom of Kongo.

Remains of the Cathedral of the Holy Savior of Congo in Angola. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

Mbanza Kongo was the royal center of the regional Kilukeni dynasty during the 1400s, and then a focal point of Portuguese contact and settlement from the late 1400s onward.

“The town of Mbanza Kongo, located on a plateau at an altitude of 570 m, was the political and spiritual capital of the Kingdom of Kongo, one of the largest constituted states in Southern Africa from the 14th to 19th centuries. The historical area grew around the royal residence, the customary court and the holy tree, as well as the royal funeral places. When the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century they added stone buildings constructed in accordance with European methods to the existing conurbation built in local materials. Mbanza Kongo illustrates, more than anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa, the profound changes caused by the introduction of Christianity and the arrival of the Portuguese into Central Africa.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #1151)

Mbanza Kongo was added to the World Heritage List in 2017.

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745–852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read UNESCO’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🇦🇴

🇦🇫 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: The Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan

4 September 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-bamiyan

(This is our first Weekly World Heritage post for the 2019–2020 school year. Print your own River Houses World Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year.)

Afghanistan is one of our homeschool countries-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today learning about one of Afghanistan’s World Heritage Sites: the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley.

The Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan. Note the large niche carved into the cliff face where the giant Buddha statue stood before its destruction by Taliban militants in 2001. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

The Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan is home to a wide range of ancient Buddhist artworks and monastic structures carved directly into the valley cliffs:

“The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandhara school of Buddhist art. The area contains numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period. The site is also testimony to the tragic destruction by the Taliban of the two standing Buddha statues, which shook the world in March 2001.“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre #208)

The most famous artworks in the Bamiyan Valley were two colossal Buddha statues, the larger one more than 150 feet tall, which stood in niches carved into the cliff face. They were sculpted in the sixth century, and both were destroyed as idolatrous and anti-Islamic by Taliban militants in March of 2001.

The larger of the two principal Buddha statues at Bamiyan, before (1963) and after (2008) its destruction by the Taliban in 2001. Note the human figures at the bottom of both images for scale. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

What world treasures will you be exploring in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745–852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read UNESCO’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🇦🇫

🏞 AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL: San Antonio Missions National Park

28 August 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-san-antonio-quarter

Calling all homeschool historians, geographers, artists, and treasure hunters! Here’s something new for you to search for this month: the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park “America the Beautiful” quarter from the U.S. Mint:

[Click for image: riverhouses.org/2019-san-antonio-quarter]

The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park “America the Beautiful” quarter, 2019. (Image: U.S. Mint.)

If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to include some interesting geographical and historical facts in your homeschool schedule (as well as a little treasure hunting), you can’t do better than to keep an eye on the “America the Beautiful” quarters series. This commemorative series began in 2010 and each year five new designs are issued featuring national parks and other historic sites in the U.S. states and territories.

The latest quarter commemorates the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in Texas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it has just gone into circulation:

“The San Antonio Missions were among the largest concentrations of Spanish missions in North America, established in the 1700s, and helped create the foundation for the City of San Antonio, TX. The construction of aqueducts and irrigation canals (acequias) brought water to the missions sustaining farming and ranching. The missions’ toolmaking, carpentry, looming, spinning, and masonry also contributed to the community’s ability to be self-sustaining.“ (U.S. Mint)

The Mint has a remarkably comprehensive set of free lesson plans available for the whole America the Beautiful series — you could make quite an American history course out of them. And the Mint also has a very nice simple album for this series (amzn.to/2D2A3dO) — just the thing to get some educational treasure hunting under way.

(And next up, if you want to look ahead: a quarter for the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho, scheduled for November.)

What numismatical discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Come, here’s the map: The America the Beautiful quarters are a great tool for teaching about geography. Locate each park and each historic site in your homeschool atlas (riverhouses.org/books), and spread out your whole collection on atlas plate 35, the map of the entire United States. 🇺🇸

❡ Make it a tradition: Why not pick up an old roll of circulated quarters at your local grocery store or bank each week and invite your students to go through it around the kitchen table. A whole world of historical and geographical discovery awaits them. 💰

❡ Cabinets of wonder: This is one of our occasional posts on the educational value of collections and collecting for homeschoolers. Add your name to our free weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🔎

🗺 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: A (Nearly) Free World Heritage Wall Map

21 August 2019 by Bob O'Hara

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-wh-map

Every Wednesday we’ve been paying a homeschool visit to a World Heritage Site, drawn from one of our countries-of-the-week. The 2018–2019 River Houses year is coming to a close (and the 2019–2020 year will begin next month), so we’re going to wrap up our current grand World Heritage tour by inviting you to order a copy of the lovely full-color World Heritage Map that’s available from UNESCO for just the price of shipping (US$3.00).

Front of World Heritage Map, 31 × 20 inches. (Image: UNESCO World Heritage Centre.)

I ordered my own copy this week and will give you a report when it arrives. It sounds like just the thing for your homeschool bulletin board, and it can double as a general-purpose world wall map as well:

“This large format full-colour map features World Heritage sites and brief explanations of the World Heritage Convention and the World Heritage conservation programmes. It is available in English, French and Spanish, [and has] superb photos of World Heritage sites with explanatory captions. The dimensions of the map are 78 cm by 50 cm (31 in. by 20 in.).“ (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Back of World Heritage Map showing complete list of sites. (Image: UNESCO World Heritage Centre.)

➢ UNESCO World Heritage Map

We’ll be starting up a new World Heritage tour next month as the new River Houses year begins. Download a copy of our printable World Heritage Calendar (riverhouses.org/calendars) and follow along with us!

What world treasures have you explored in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses almanac, atlas, and history encyclopedia (riverhouses.org/books) for more information about any of our countries-of-the-week. The almanac has profiles of all the nations of the world on pages 745–852; the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found; the history encyclopedia includes national histories on pages 489–599; and you can find additional illustrations, flags, and other mentions through the indexes in each of these volumes. For an ideal little lesson, just write the name of the Weekly World Heritage Site on your homeschool bulletin board, find its location in your atlas, read UNESCO’s one-paragraph description aloud, look at a picture or two, and you’re done. Over the course of the year, without even realizing it, your students will absorb a wealth of new historical, geographical, and cultural information. 🗺

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool States & Countries posts. Add your name to our free weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎