World of Food

Teacher

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THIS IS A SELF-PACED COURSE

Class starts every Tuesday, starting at the beginning of the semester. You have until the final due date at the end of the semester to complete all work for the course. This means you have the entire semester to complete the course on YOUR schedule!

There is no teacher support for this course. All work is to be completed independently.

Read more details about self-paced class format.

CLASS DESCRIPTION
The World of Food will take students on a journey around the globe. Instead of using a plane or a train, we will be zipping around the world and through history on the backs of some of people’s favorite foods. Food can tell us much about history and other cultures. Food preferences, regional specialties, delicacies, and ingredients tell us so much about other humans. Furthermore, “breaking bread” has become synonymous with bonding with strangers or even enemies over a meal, and sharing a meal with someone is one of the best ways to learn more about them. In addition to the history of these important foods, we will be discussing crucial historical and cultural elements that have contributed to the spread of food across the planet, such as agricultural revolutions and globalization. Plus, each week you’ll have the opportunity to make a recipe about our food of the week!

CLASS FORMAT
No live classes- view lessons on YOUR schedule. In general, expect 1.5-2.5 hours to work through the lesson plan each week, and an additional 2-5 hours working on assignments (it really depends what assignment your child chooses to do and how they manage their time). For classes with two levels, the material is the same for both- the depth of the assignments differs. Younger students should usually be placed in Level 1. Older students, or younger students who want more of a challenge, should be placed in Level 2. Each lesson consists of a fully narrated PowerPoint presentation with images and videos to enhance the topics. Students will have access to our learning management system, Canvas, for viewing their lesson, printing worksheets, taking quizzes, viewing/submitting assignments, and viewing grades. Read more details about self-paced class format.

IMPORTANT!! Self-paced class enrollment is separate from our other courses. You can only enroll by clicking the button below.

Week 1 – Bread
We begin the class with one of the most basic and widespread foods in the world. Bread was the lifeblood of the ancient world, and it is still consumed by nearly every culture in the world. It is such an important staple that “breaking bread” is a phrase that has been used to explain getting to know someone better over a meal for thousands of years. This week will be focused largely on the ancient world and the ways in which bread helped create civilization as we know it.

Week 2 – Pizza
The second week of the course explores one of the most popular foods around: pizza. We will be looking into the history of pizza, starting with the first pizza-like foods from the ancient world and moving into the twentieth century and the popularization of modern pizzas. In addition to the food’s history, we will explore globalization and the ways that pizza changed as it spread across the world. (Please note: This is the same pizza class that was offered as a 1 week course in May 2020)

Week 3 – Tea and Sugar
Tea is a drink consumed around the world. It has been used to purify water for safe consumption, meal times have been based around it, and wars have been fought because of it. When sugar became more widely available in Europe as a result of the large sugar plantations in the Caribbean after the discovery of the New World, sugar and tea quickly became staple foods. As a quick and cheap way to get energy for the rest of the day, both foods were consumed by a wide variety of people from all walks of life. The history of the two will be examined, and we will explore the cruel processes by which sugar production expanded to the point of offering the world such an important additive.

Week 4 – Tomatoes
The last week of the course will be much more embedded in the modern world than the other weeks. The Old World did not have access to tomatoes until after the discovery of the New World. Though the food took some time to gain popularity due to certain areas of Europe believing it to be poisonous for decades after its discovery, it rapidly became consumed with a variety of other foods. The brief history of the tomato in the Old World will be a focal point of the final week, but we will also be looking at modern farming methods and how tomatoes are produced today.

Next Level Homeschool is a firm believer that not all learning should happen from behind a screen! That's why we give students the freedom to submit their assignments in the way THEY want to! We don't want regurgitation learning here. By allowing students to use their own talents, skills, and passions to complete assignments, they become even more engaged and retain the information. Why? Because now it's literally in their hands! We receive thousands of projects every year from our students- written reports, videos, models, posters, Scratch, minecraft, songs, poems, skits, drawings, sculptures, crafts- we've seen it ALL! And WE LOVE IT!!

Click here to view just a few projects we've received from students who have taken this class, and see what YOUR kid could be learning with Next Level Homeschool!