The second day of the school year went better than the first.  It was an "interrupted" day as the children all had dental appointments (the drawback to making appointments 6 months in advance are many) in the morning, but the afternoon we did our first fun history projects/hands-on learning.

In the pics below you can see some of the things we did.  The poster with "Nomadic" and "Agrarian" written on it was to help facilitate a discussion about the pros and cons of nomadic and agrarian lifestyles.  We discussed the two lifestyles and wrote our thoughts on the poster.  My kids usually do better with a "visual."  

On the poster you'll notice my hubby's bartering lesson.  He set it up with 6 labor specialties as 6 kids were participating.  Each envelope held the resources for one specialty.  The food producers had more resources than the others because we thought the brick mason and thatcher might charge more than one loaf of bread for their services.  They did not.  If they had been older, it probably would have occurred to them.

The goal was for each child to get the materials needed for a complete house, a goat for milk, wheat to feed the goat, and a loaf of bread to feed the people.  Each child had to barter with every other child to get all the things he/she needed.  It went really well--in a chaotic help-the-three-year-old-who-isn't-getting-this-but-is-still-having-a-good-time kind of way.

I highly recommend doing something like this if you are trying to teach the concept of division of labor.  If you are strictly trying to help your kids figure out what the word "barter" means, I recommend having a good old-fashioned trading session.  My family started doing this after I moved out, and recently they became nostalgic for it so they planned a trading session with all of us that live in the area (which translated to 20-odd grandkids plus all the adults).

It was hilarious.  My son traded Grandpa a pack of gum for a bow (as in bow and arrow).  My other son started out with pretty much nothing and wound up with a book and some trilobites to grow.  My one daughter only wanted the gigantic pixie stick Uncle Wyatt brought, and she got it.  She could scarcely contain her agony that another person might out-barter her.

This works as a casual family activity or homeschool lesson.  Everyone grab all the stuff you don't want and trade it!

My two oldest daughters, Miriam (8--almost 9) and Emeline (5).  Emeline officially started kindergarten this year.  Yeah!  Can we all consider this their first day of school pictures?  Yes?  No??  No???  Thanks a lot. 

The Ancient Historians.  Miriam, Ahnika, Emeline, Ty, Aunt Julie (she's actually my hubby's aunt, but my kids don't realize this), Eli, and Cowen.  Eli should, technically, have been taking a nap right then, but he so wanted in on the action that I let him stay up.  Then he fell asleep on the couch at 5:00.  Then he didn't go to sleep tonight until 9:30.  Grr.

Below you'll notice Miriam with her salt map of the Fertile Crescent.  The desert on the left, the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers down the center, and the Zagros Mountains on the far right.  Pretty snazzy.

Some students had a more . . . fluid . . . interpretation of the point of the activity and the geographical landmarks of the Fertile Crescent.  Julie and I are totally okay with fluid interpretations among the younger crowd.

Julie provided my kids with a Century Book.  I know this is a pretty common thing in the homeschooling community so it probably doesn't need to be referenced anymore, but I still feel bad that I don't know exactly where this idea originated.  Suffice it to say--it did not originate with me or Julie.  Charlotte Mason, maybe??

Since I am so very unlearned about ancient history (yes, I have an MA in history--no, I did not study anything but American history and that was pretty much limited to WWII and masculinity) I thought a Century Book would be a helpful way for me to "see" what was happening when and where.

On the front page of each piece of paper is a 100 year chunk of time--hence the term, Century Book.  On the back of each sheet of paper are 6 boxes--one for each area of the world we are studying throughout the year.  We're approaching our study geographically, rather than chronologically, so I'm hoping that filling in the boxes will help the kids see what was happening at the same time all over the world.

Miriam decided to use her barter house to show the shift from nomadic to agrarian living.  Clever girl.  The grid under the house is her fields--some rows are newly planted so you can see the seeds, other rows are blue because they are being irrigated.  The pink row I believe is beets and they are ready to be harvested.  Nice.

And that ends the Second Day.

Japan

Days two and three of the new unit got a little derailed. I had to run a gazillion errands on Tuesday and then yesterday Cowen threw up and I was dealing with that.

However, since the baby's arrival creates a bit of a deadline for this unit, we persevered as best we could.

On Tuesday, after taking Eli to the doctor (ear infection) and making copies at Weber State for the class I teach that starts tonight, and picking up medicine, and dropping off library books and picking up new ones . . .

we also went to my favorite Asian market. It is called Oriental Market Foods and Gifts and is on Riverdale Road as you head into Roy. So, if you are at the Target in Riverdale, you head west toward Roy, going past all the freeway exits and entrances, and just before you hit the main road that runs through Roy, on your right is the Oriental Market.

I love that place.

I took a Chinese cooking class back in the day so I do a lot of Asian cooking. Mostly Chinese and Thai. The man who owns the market is from Taiwan and he is as nice as could be--but doesn't speak much English. His son is there most of the time and he's fluent. Don't worry though, if you write down the ingredients you need the owner can find everything for you. I've never had a problem.

At the market we picked up some seaweed for sushi, some Japanese soup base, some frozen rice cake things for a soup we are trying, and then I let the kids pick a few different treats.

The treats, like most foreign treats, weren't that great (how come sweets don't transfer borders the way the rest of the food does???). We are making our fancy Japanese meal the beginning of next week--I'll post all about it.

However, even if you don't want to tackle actual Japanese cooking, you should definitely go on a field trip to the Oriental Market. There are lots of fun dolls, statues, fans, carp kites, fancy tea sets, origami paper, and even a fancy samurai helmet that had Cowen's heart yearning. He continues to yearn, but seeing it was awesome. Plus all the dried squid (yum!! I'm serious--yum, you should try it), and other foods that look very different from our own. Since I don't know of any museums around these parts with a good Japanese representation, this is as close as I can get.

So that was Tuesday. On Wednesday, despite Cowen's illness we managed to read the following three books:

I Live in Tokyo by Mari Takabayashi is a good one. The baby in the movie lives in Tokyo, so that got the kids' interest right off. We liked it.

K is for Kabuki: A Japan Alphabet by Gloria Whelan didn't keep my kids' interest quite as well as the other two. I think that was mainly because Eli was crawling on and off my lap and trying to get me to read a different book and screeching when I wouldn't. To give the book its due--it has a lot of good info and the kids like looking through it on their own. I think I will try to revisit it with the kids when Eli is asleep.

Of the three, My Japan by Etsuko Watanabe was the runaway favorite. It is fairly similar to the Tokyo book but it also has Japanese letters in the back and pictures of food that Miriam has been practicing writing/drawing much of the morning. If you do anything with Japan, definitely get this one.

This morning was hectic as I was trying to finish getting my class ready for tonight, so school was kept to a minimum. We did two things. In the picture below you can see Cowen coloring a picture of a boy and girl in kimonos. We then hung the finished pictures on the wall as a decoration for our forthcoming Japanese dinner.

You can find the coloring page here. Just scroll down a little.

We also did a little vocabulary. I put the words on the wall and spread the definitions on the table. The kids looked through the definitions and matched them to the words on the wall. They knew most of them, so it didn't take them long to figure out the last two or three that they didn't know.

We used the words:

kimono--a loose robe fastened with a wide sash; made of silk

sayonara--goodbye

konnichiwa--hello

archipelago--a group of islands

samurai--Japanese warriors who were masters of archery and swordmanship

origami--the art of Japanese paper folding

pagoda--Buddhist temple; symbol of heaven

ancestor--a relation who lived a long time ago

Hopefully, tomorrow we'll be able to get back on track.

NEW UNIT: Babies/Geography

I'm having a baby in two months.

I know that isn't pertinent to all of you, but it does play a part in why I'm putting a hold on animal classification (I'm really sorry all of you who are starting the unit this January and expected to have my unit plans to assist you--I promise I'll finish up amphibians and mammals after baby arrives) and switching to a babies/geography unit.

I was inspired by my own pregnancy and that Miriam and Cowen are old enough to have a sincere interest in the process of growing a baby and in how to help take care of their soon-to-arrive youngest sister. Emeline has always been a little mother, so this unit was created with her in mind as well.

I was also inspired by the wonderful documentary Babies.

I'm sure you've all seen it by now, but I'll tell you what I love about it. First, I love that the movie illustrates that mothers love their babies. All mothers, all over the world. Second, I love that it shows how much mothers need other mothers. I was jealous of the African mothers who were so connected to each other. They were never isolated, off in their own house doing their own thing without adult companionship for hours and days at a time. Third, I love the scenery--just beautiful. Fourth, I love that the film provides such a powerful testament that mothering is cultural. It makes you really stop and think about why you do the things you do. It makes you wonder if we're not just a bit overprotective around these here parts. It makes you wonder what CPS would do if you tied your child up so you could go milk a cow. Not saying I'm going to do it, just . . . saying. And lastly, I just plain loved watching the babies.

I decided that the movie would perfectly whet my children's interest in the places the four babies live while building on their already high interest in babies.

And thus, a unit was born.

We started the unit today.

First, we went downstairs and watched the movie together. As fair warning, there is a lot of nudity in the movie--mostly breasts as nursing is a major baby activity. Also, the San Fran mom shows off her backside as she gets out of a hot tub with her baby. I didn't find it offensive. I thought it was all very natural, very National Geographic, and very okay for kids. However, you should definitely preview the movie as you might feel differently.

My children loved it. They laughed hysterically when the Tokyo baby has her melt-down fit when she can't get her toy to work properly. They laughed at the older Mongolian boy tormenting his baby brother. They were totally charmed by the African baby's smile. Basically, they loved it as much as me.

After we watched the movie we returned to the couch and read two books about babies.

Babies: All You Need to Know by Deborah Heiligman.

What's Inside Your Tummy, Mommy? by Abby Cocovini.

I read through a lot of books about babies development in the womb and how to take care of newborns while putting together this unit. Many of them had too much information for my little, little ones. These two I thought were particularly good without going overboard in the info department.

My children enjoyed both books, but they enjoyed more that after I read the books I bared my belly (I don't often do that as I don't often have time to just lay around letting the kids poke me) and let the kids examine to their hearts content. They poked, prodded, pushed, listened for a heart beat, and giggled when the baby pushed back. I was glad baby woke up and moved around for them as she usually is pretty quiet during the day. We were able to identify a few body parts of the baby (or we had fun thinking we'd figured it out), and she even did a great spasm-like movement that made my whole belly shake and jiggle and wiggle. My kids were in heaven.

It was a good kick-off to what I hope will be a very fun and successful unit.