History Lesson - Coins From the Past

Today we got a great surprise - while visiting my Grandmother, we were talking about some old coins that we had and she pulled out a HUGE collection of coins from WWII (and some even older ones), plus a bunch of paper money from different countries. This is going to be an awesome addition to our World Geography lessons this year! For each country we study, we can look at and actually touch the currency from that country (at least at from some point in their history). Also, I plan to make color copies of the coins and paper money to cut and paste into our "Travel Journals" (part of the Winter Promise Children Around the World Curriculum).

We have about 50, but here are a few that I think are the most amazing ones. These are from Hitler's Germany 1937, 1939, & 1940, Russian 1930 & 1934, France, a German coin that says "Paul von Hindenberg", a huge 1937 "Penny" from England, and the one with a hole is from Denmark 1936. You should be able to view these larger if you click on the pics below.

And here is some of the paper money. We also have a few US Military Payment Certificates that my grandparents had to use when they were stationed in Germany (instead of US Dollars). Some of these are from Germany, Poland, France, Ukraine, Korea, and Japan. Then she had some from Mexico and Ghana, too.

We already had some neat things that I had collected over the years. The paper money is from Iraq, the coins mainly from Canada & Mexico, but a few are from Panama & Aruba.

I am going to ask the rest of our family if they have any coins or bills from other countries, too. I know my father has some from Kuwait (we lived there for a while). Who knows what we might dig up.

Here are some Roman coins I bought off eBay a long time ago. When we study World History (next year), I will pull these out and add them to our study. Each one is labeled and they "say" they are from from 238-383 AD, with one being from 41-54 AD. Now, I do no know anything about coin collecting, so I am not saying they actually are from these time periods, but they sure look real. Not sure...maybe one day I'll take them to be appraised to see if they are true Roman coins, but for our needs, they will do just fine.

Another idea we are doing this year (idea was from Guest Hollow a great homeschool site for literature based curriculum ideas) was to send off for a China kit that includes money, a flag, a red scarf, bookmark and much more. It only costs $14 and come from China. Go here to see it.

I think we are going to enjoy this! Hands on learning is unforgettable learning!