From the time my boys could stand and push a stool around they were at my elbow in the kitchen measuring, chopping and stirring.
So my favorite jumping off books seem to be cookbooks.
Some might suggest that history and geography are boring. How can anything be boring when food is involved. In Jeff Smith’s Our Immigrant Ancestors, now our of print but still available, we have the perfect jumping off book for families with children of almost any age. We meet people in our towns from a variety of places around the world. We can taste a variety of food at ethnic restaurants.
To get us started we might ask…
We grow oregano and thyme in our gardens for cooking but where does turmeric grow and how is it used in cooking?
Great-grandma came from Ireland. Where is Ireland? Why did she come to America? What do they eat in Ireland that we eat now in America?
New neighbors moved in from India. Where is India? Have people come before to America from India? When? How? Why?