Children's Extra Reading Evaluation Post: Rats, Bulls, and Flying Machines; Magic Tree House Monday with a Mad Genius and Leonardo da Vinci

First, a review of Rats, Bulls, and Flying Machines: A History of the Renaissance and Reformation (nonfiction) by Deborah Mazzotta Prum.  I linked to amazon in case you want to read more reviews.  Miriam, age 11, is being interviewed by me--her mom.

Did you enjoy this book?:  "Yes, I loved it.  I want more books like it."

What was your favorite part?: "All of it.  I liked reading about Shakespeare and Leonardo."

Anything else you want to say about the book or the author's writing style?: "I learned what a papal bull is.  Papal means having to do with the Pope and bull is a word meaning document issued by the Pope.  The author had lots of good little cartoons.  The author was talking to you like she was a cartoonist, kind of.  She was funny."

Who would enjoy this book?: "I think people that like cartoons that add funny bits to a history book.  I think age 9 to old age would like this book."

Emeline (age 7, grade 3) reviews Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne (fiction).

Did you enjoy this book?: "Yes, I did.  It was very, very fun. Leonardo da Vinci and the two kids were fun to read about."

What was your favorite part?: "About Leonardo da Vinci's big bird."

Did you learn anything about history from this book?:  "I learned tons!  I learned that Leonardo was a great painter and a great architect."

Who would enjoy this book?:  "Kids that are 8, 7, and 6."

Emeline's review of Leonardo da Vinci: A Nonfiction Companion to Monday with a Mad Genius.

Did you enjoy this book?": "Yes, I did.  It was very, very awesome.  I liked the things it taught me about Leonardo da Vinci.  His most famous painting is the Mona Lisa.  I really liked how he paints and draws.  I really want to go and see the Mona Lisa."

Did you learn anything about history from this book?:  "I learned tons about history."

Who would enjoy this book?: "You would [meaning me, but probably you too!], Dad would, Miriam would, Cowen would, Kiersten would."

Everything Feels More Manageable Now

I've decided that for a person who usually muddles along without a "spine" for each subject I'm pretty happy to not muddle this year.  

I was really starting to feel desperate about where to start with the Renaissance (yes, I have a masters degree in history.  Would you care to know about masculinity during WWII, because I could really help you out there).  My sister, Kami, who likes history as much as I do but actually knows about the Renaissance sent me a bunch of links to help me out.  I went to each and every one and started to break down my units into logical sections and assign books to the units.  I was starting to feel better about things.

Then, I skimmed through the library books I already checked out and realized that I had unwittingly found a "spine."  A perfectly AWESOME spine.  It is called The Age of Discovery by Brian and Brenda Williams.  The book is laid out in sections by date and all the important things going on around the world during those years are broken up by geographic region.  There are timelines on the bottom of the pages to further clarify things. For example, on pages 52-53 the date box says, "1770-1789" and the sections are titled: "First fleet to Australia," "Settlement of Australia,""The Maoris of New Zealand," and "Tom Paine--Revolutionary."  

Awesome!!  At a glance I can see what the important topics are, whether or not I feel they are important enough to find an additional book about them, and how they fit together.  I can then skim over the timelines at the bottom of the pages that are in text boxes organized by continent.  It is seriously genius.  Now I don't have to worry that I'm going to leave out something critical from our studies.  It also gives me a way to fill in information without needing a whole book on the subject.  

I'm feeling much more confident!!  It is too bad Eli threw up today because now I'm pumped for school to start on Monday.  If all the kids are sick, we'll postpone.  :)  

As a small sidenote--I apologize to any and all of you who know me in person or who run into me on facebook periodically, or in any other way have to endure me during pregnancy.  This pregnancy has been harder on me emotionally than any other I can remember (the stress of the move? increasing sensitivity to hormonal changes? knowing it is my last one and just running out of grin-and-bear-it? having six other kids?) and I basically don't like anyone right now.  Grumpy is an understatement.  Please don't be offended!  I'll get over it the minute baby is born (or a week later when the hormones have settled a little).  Thank you for bearing with me!

Clay Castles

We're still working on history in fits and starts.  One day we read a bunch of books about castles (none of them were so fantastic that I felt they needed to be mentioned on the blog) and then tried to make castles out of clay.

It was pretty much a flop.

The kids had a lot of fun, however.  I even baked their creations and let them paint the next day.  Yes, you read that right.  I let my children paint.  I'm basically a rock star.

Viking Era Historical Fiction Reviews from Miriam

Argh, I am behind AGAIN!  I forgot to post this way back when we finished the Viking Era (800-1000 AD).  Miriam was unwilling to go into great detail about these books, but she did give them star rankings, which I hope is helpful.  

Miriam turned 11 this month (wowsers) and she enjoys books at grade level and significantly higher.

Viking Quest books, including Raiders from the Sea, by Lois Walfrid Johnson.  Miriam: I loved them.  I would give them 10 stars.

(That's a crazy high recommendation.  These were by far her favorite "assigned" books she's read so far this year.)

The Namesake: A Story of King Alfred by C. Walter Hodges.  Miriam: 3 stars; I liked it. 

Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli.  Miriam: I loved it, 5 stars.

Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland.  Miriam: I liked it, 4 stars.

The Shipwreck by Jorn Riel.  Miriam: I liked it, 4 stars.

There you have it.  Miriam might be getting the Raiders From the Sea series for Christmas.  Shhhh, don't tell.  :)

Tall Tales

If you have a 9 year old scout (Bear) then this post is for you.  One of the requirements is to learn about tall tales.  I am *learning to love* scouting and thought I'd start with something interesting to me to increase my motivation.  For that same reason we are doing cooking next.  After that, things get trickier.

Back to tall tales.  I decided to throw a mini-unit into our summer homeschool plans to accommodate the tall tale requirement.

First, we went to the library and checked out a gazillion tall tale books.  We read about the people I already knew about--Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyon, Pecos Bill, John Henry.  We also found some tall tales about people of whom I'd never heard--Gib Morgan (our favorite find), Sally Ann Thunder Something Something Crockett (my girls loved her because she was the only female--I just wish her name was easier to remember), and Casey Jones's coal man, Sim.

My kids loved this book (notice the author is Nancy Farmer of The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm fame; if you haven't read that book, repent and do so immediately):

(warning: the devil is very freaky looking in the Sim Webb book and Harriet was greatly disturbed by him the whole time we were reading)

My kids also loved this book:

And this one:

There were many, many others my children liked as well.  Just go to the tall tale section of your library and check out everything.  They are all fun.

After we read a bunch of tall tales, I taught my children the word "hyperbole" and also threw in "character" and "plot" while I was at it.  We don't really do language arts units very often, so I had a bit of fun using LA vocabulary around the house during our two weeks of tall tales.  Since my children understood the concepts, it was no problem to teach them the vocab.  

We did some other really fun things as well.  The scout book has little paragraphs about random people in their tall tale section.  I decided that while I don't consider those people "tall tales," we might as well learn about them.

For Molly Brown we watched "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."  I tried to find a children's book about her without success.  Someone should write one.  My kids loved the movie.  I love the movie too although there is a LOT of yelling.  Holy cow people, inside voices!

For Hiawatha we listened to a short reading on youtube.  At first my children whined (no pictures??!!!), but they were hooked in less than 30 seconds.




For Barbara Freitchie (if you haven't heard of her, don't feel bad, neither had I) we listened to this reading that we all quite liked:




We read through a little about the Lost Dutchman at http://www.lostdutchmandays.org/legend.htm.  My hubby was surprised that I'd never heard about the Lost Dutchman so apparently it is common knowledge among westerners.  Can I blame my ignorance on this matter on being Canadian?

We read about King Kamehameha the Great on this website: http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/king-kamehameha/.

Then we spent some time learning about the only Utah tall tale I could find: the Bear Lake Monster.  It's a bit of a stretch, but there is a youtube video about it. I can't find the video the kids and I liked best, but here is this one for all you Utahns out there:




After all that preparation, I thought the little scout quiz in the scout book would be easy for my kids.  Not!  Just a warning, the quiz is based on the info paragraphs in the scout book.  My kids have read about four different Johnny Appleseed books and watched the movie and they (and I) still couldn't figure out the answer for Johnny Appleseed on the quiz.  We finally halted the quiz half-way through, read the info paragraphs in the scout book, and then resumed the quiz.

If you want your kids to take the quiz, you can find it here:
http://pack45.com/pdf/Bear/BA-4.pdf.  Take it without reading anything in the scout book and tell me how you do.

Finally, we wrote our own tall tales.  None of my kids are really independent writers and this was a supplemental bonus unit, so I didn't want to take a lot of time helping kids write tall tales.  Instead I purchased a tall tale outline at teacherspayteachers.com for $1.00 and had the kids fill in the outline.  They kids enjoyed it, the activity took no time at all, and it was a good final project for our mini-unit.  You can buy one too, if you want, here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Tall-Tale-Story-Pattern-51344.

JUST FOR FUN BONUS: while I was looking for youtube videos about Hiawatha, etc, I stumbled across Johnny Cash reading my dad's favorite poem!  When I was little and one of us would say, "That's weird," my dad would say, "But is it as strange as the night on the barge at Lake Lemarge that I cremated Sam McGee?"  He had a lot of the poem memorized and would recite it randomly.  So you can imagine my excitement at finding Johnny Cash reading the poem.  My kids liked it too.




That's it!  Congrats on wading through this ridiculously long post. Hope you are all having a fun summer!!!

Let's Go a'Viking!: Unit Overview

My good friend told me that she was super excited to see my Viking unit.  She shouldn't have been.  Since my kids have been obsessed with Vikings and all things Thor (no, they haven't seen any of the movies) for ages, I cut this part of Medieval history pretty short.

Day One:

• Read Viking Warriors by Tony D. Triggs 
• play on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/who_were_the_vikings/.

Day Two:

• Read about "Aud the Deep-Minded" in Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages by Vicki Leon
• Play Timeline (just for fun, but it is on my official schedule so I included it here)
• Color and put in order the timeline found at http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worksheets/vikings/cut_out_make_timeline.pdf
• Add other important events we've covered into the timeline (Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, the Fall of Rome, Byzantine Empire and spread of Islam, Barbarians--Attila the Hun)
• Look at this map: http://historymedren.about.com/library/atlas/blateurodex.htm and discuss where Normans/Franks, Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings should be located on the map
• Look at these maps: http://www.timeref.com/mapindx.htm 
• Print off copies of this map: http://www.timeref.com/blankmaps/crusade_master.jpg and have kids fill it in with the right people and places for Viking times

Day Three (this works out to a short day for us because of Miriam's sewing class):

• Read The Vikings by Robert Nicholson and Claire Watts

Day Four

• Read Eric the Red by Neil Grant
• Play Timeline (I'm a bit obsessed :)), have each child fill out a Viking Travel Journal that can be  purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Here's the linky: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vikings-Students-Create-a-Viking-Travel-Journal-69903

Day Five

• Play Timeline
• Make a Viking longship as described here: http://www.looledo.com/index.php/viking-ship.html

I laugh at myself for my obsession with having my children play Timeline, but I always had (have) such a weak grasp of the historical timeline that I want my childrne to have a better chance of seeing the big picture so they can fill in the gaps later, rather than only having a lot of specific knowledge and no big picture.  

Battle of Hastings

My sister, Kami, is a seamstress who likes to make authentic period clothing.  Remember my Halloween Scottish outfits?  Yep, she made them.

 Below is a "Heidi" outfit Kami made for my niece who lives in Switzerland.

Below are my very favorite outfits Kami ever made.  Such adorable gnomes!!!  For the record, Sebastian's outfit is modeled on a traditional Norwegian outfit.

Here's the traditional Norwegian outfit.

If you're not impressed by gnomes, here is Dread Pirate Sebastian.

Because my sister likes to look at authentic costumes, she is a big fan of reenactments of any sort.  When I told her that I was starting our Viking unit she immediately emailed me some great links to Viking reenactments.

Then she sent me a link to an incredible reenactment of the Battle of Hastings.  Truth be told, I didn't know what the Battle of Hastings was or its significance until last week.  If you don't know either, it is the battle that the Saxons lost to the Normans, allowing the Normans (French) to take over England for a time.  Tonight we read in our Barbarians! book that the Battle of Hastings came quite soon after a Saxon vs. Viking battle wherein the Vikings lost, signifying the end of the Viking era.

I hope I didn't lose you in all that.

If you are interested, here is the amazing youtube video about the reenactment--the largest reenactment ever, involving thousands of participants.  It was awesome to watch.

The Battle of Hastings reminds me of another spectacular history reference--the game "Timeline."  Each player is given four or five cards (or more if you want the game to last longer) with a picture and brief description of an event on the front.  One card is drawn as the reference point then each player takes turns placing their cards in the right order using the first card as a reference.  Basically you are putting together a timeline.  I had the Battle of Hastings once in a game and I had no idea what that was.

You might think this game is only for older kids, but my 8 year old beat us all once.  The pictures on the front of the card are very helpful in narrowing down when something happened and you don't need to know the exact date, just the date in relation to the cards already in play.

It is one of my favorite games ever.  Unless we play "Timeline: Discovery and Invention," which is not my favorite game because I lose every time.  Grr!  Historical events are the easiest and science discoveries are the hardest for me.

I *highly* recommend this game.  You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Timeline-Historical-Events-Card-Game/dp/2914849869/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390964960&sr=8-1&keywords=timeline.

A fun resource for Vikings is this BBC site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/who_were_the_vikings/.  I let my children play around on it for an hour the other day.  I don't know if they learned anything but they sure had fun!

Farrier Field Trip

 This is my parent's place and my parent's horses and my parent's son (aka my brother Wyatt).  I'm editing a paper for him and he paid me in advance by giving a horse shoeing demonstration.

 We're studying the Middle Ages this year--I think I've mentioned that.  Around 900 AD iron horseshoes were introduced and had a profound impact on fighting.  Horseshoes allowed for a more viable cavalry.  Therefore, we needed a farrier demo.  Thanks again, Wyatt for shoeing a horse for me!!

 The kids were pretty excited.  None of the kids who attended, except mine, had ridden a horse.  The littles lost interest in the shoeing after a bit, but they came rushing back for the riding portion of the activity.  The older kids watched the whole shoeing demonstration and were also pretty thrilled to ride.

 The cats were also a big hit.

 I wish I had pictures of the riding but I was busy leading a horse and riders around the corral.  After the riding we all went on a hike up a canyon in the Wellsvilles by Mendon.  It was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, the younger kids were pretty tired and I packed Harriet almost the whole time.  She's no lightweight.  Still, it was beautiful and the weather was amazing and I was with good friends.  It was a lovely day.

Middle Ages Mosaics

 With great sadness I have to admit that we've been doing a lot more science than history these days.  My kids are warped and weird and love science.  Argh!  I have managed to work history in here and there.  We skimmed through the book in the above pic on the Byzantine Empire and then we made mosaics.

I got a bunch of paint samples from Lowe's, let the kids envision their picture, pick a cardstock color, draw their pictures, choose their paint samples, cut the samples, and then glue the little pieces onto their picture.

That was a terribly long sentence.  I apologize.

When we were done for the day I tried to throw away the excess tiny pieces of paper and my children had a collective nervous breakdown.  They had more mosaics to make!  More creative energies to expend!

There is now a ziploc bag of cut up paint samples in our craft drawer.  Fair warning--this is not a tidy craft and it lingers.

 Cowen's wolf.

 Miriam's  . . . something.

 Harriet's artwork.

 Emeline's Cutie Thing.

Miriam's Flowers.

I also showed my children the incredible mosaic my sister made when she was in high school.  Here's the linky.  You should see it for the mosaic but also for the cut paper art around the edge.  Crazy awesome, Kami!

http://thelatorrefamily.blogspot.com/2013/09/beehives-and-mosai.html

Mom, When Can I Have a Falcon?

 My friend Julie planned a fabulous field trip that took place last Friday.  We met at a park and the head of the Utah Falconry Association brought his two falcons and taught us about falcons, how you get them, how you hunt with them, and everything else falconry related.  It was awesome.

 Cowen lucked out and was chosen to be the assistant.  He was able to hold one of the falcons.  He's been asking for one of his own ever since.  (He missed the part where the presenter said that falcons make terrible pets.  They are loud and messy and bite.)

 Homeschoolers.

 Awesome!

Not a falcon, but still pretty cool.  Yes, those are my sunglasses.  *sigh*

First Few Weeks of Middle Ages Lesson Plans

I like having my science lesson plans (quick note style) on here that I am posting my Middle Ages lesson plans as well--at least for the first few weeks.  I find that I don't lose my computer as easily as my scribbler.  Quite helpful.

Middle Ages Day One:

• Go to Julie's house and have a medieval feast and give the kids tunics and necklaces with color/animal heraldic symbolism and import.  (I'll post pics of how this went later.)

Day Two:

• Go over the 7 Knightly Virtues and putting on the Whole Armor of God (doesn't really need to be capitalized but thought it added a little something).  This website is my reference: http://chivalrytoday.com/knightly-virtues/.  Make an official pledge sheet to be signed that has a promise to live up to the chivalric code and keep on the armor of God--print on each child's heraldic color with a pic of their animal.

Day Three:

• Read A Street Through Time, Medieval Warfare, pgs 7 - 11 in Story of the Middle Ages (not to be confused with Story of the World of which I'm not a big fan), and pg. 8 of the Atlas of the Medieval World (pretty sure it is my favorite reference book I've ever purchased).  
• start timeline; notebook version (550 Slav People; 589 China Reunited)
• color map of Roman Empire split

Day Four:

• Read Story of the Middle Ages pgs. 11-16, carefully look over map on page 16 and Atlas of the Medieval World pg. 10, The Byzantine Empire pgs. 1-26.
• Show kids pics of Kami's mosaic bird (my sister Kami used to make mosaic art using little pieces of foil.  I literally couldn't watch her painstakingly spread out the foil--I can't handle detail oriented stuff like that.  I did, however, let her unwrap my Easter candy so I wouldn't wreck the foil.  I'm a nice sister like that.)
• start mosaic project
• draw picture on plain paper
• pick out cardstock
• draw pic on cardstock
• pick paint sample colors
• glue on paint samples to make mosaic

Day Five:

• Read The Byzantine Empire pgs. 27 - end.
• read any books I can find on Byzantine architecture (do any of you know of any good books??  I'm having a hard time finding one)/Hagia Sophia
• Read Iggy Peck, Architect
• on graph paper, design a building
• Talk about Attila the Hun

Day Six:

• look at Atlas of the Medieval World pgs. 8-9
• Read:
• Story of the Middle Ages pgs. 19 - 29
• The Elephant from Baghdad
• 10 Kings/Queens Who Changed the World, "Charlemagne"
• "The Song of Roland," pg 35 in Favorite Medieval Tales (maybe read as bedtime story)
• Add to timeline
• Fall of Rome
• creation of Holy Roman Empire
• Byzantine Empire

Day Seven:

• Read:
• Atlas of the Medieval World pgs. 12-13, 16-17, 18-19
• Muhammad by Demi
• Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns
• I am Muslim
• Facts About Islam
• book about domes, if I can find one
• Watch video about approved Islamic foods
• Cook Arabic/Muslim foods; start with dates

Day Eight:

• Read:
• The Genius of Islam
• Watch youtube video, Paradise Found: Islamic Architecture and Arts
• Take a treat to our librarians

Day Nine:

• Color Islamic coloring pages while watching Aladdin

Day Ten:

• Read: 
• The Saxons pgs. 8 - 36
• "Finn Macoul" and "Beowulf" in Favorite Medieval Tales
• go over map--where are the Picts, Saxons, Angles, Jutes, Franks, Visigoths locate
• Color it in on an outline map and make a matching chart 

Day Eleven:

• Read: 
• The Saxons, pgs. 38 - end
• Saint Patrick
• The Man Who Loved Books
• Brendan the Navigator
• Put dates on the timeline

Day Twelve:

• Read:
• Unsolved History pg. 15
• Saint George and the Dragon
• Young Guinevere
• Arthur: High King of Britain, first chapter
• start writing our own King Arthur story/play
• elements of a King Arthur legend:
• magic, quest, fair maiden/hag, monster, justice, honor, chivalry

Day Thirteen:

• Read one story from Stories of Knights and Castles
• Finish writing story/play--practice and get it ready to film

Day Fourteen/Fifteen: finish up, catch up anything we missed, add anything to timeline, work on Arthur

Egyptian Collars

 I would love to say that we have been working diligently on our studies, but we haven't.  Not even close.  My sister came into town and we have been partying so madly that none of us have yet recovered.  But that is what summer is for--lakes and swimming pools and barbecues and chocolate.  Oh wait--chocolate is an all-weather food, but you get my drift.

 We did manage, however, to start our Egypt unit.  We read two books (I'll tell you about them in a different post) and made Egyptian collars.  I got the idea from here.

 My son liked his so much that he made one for his dog.  Pretty sweet.

I also managed to bottle 19 quarts of green beans and 6 quarts of beets last week, so I guess I'm accomplishing something amidst the frenetic partying!