Africa/Namibia: Day Two

Day Two was actually a night and the next morning. I wanted to prep my kids for their field trip, so we read a book called Namibia by DE Gould. It was way too long and detailed to read in its entirety to my children, but it was the only book the library had specifically about Namibia. It worked well enough for my purposes. We looked through all the pictures and talked about them. We saw pictures of members of the Himba tribe (the tribe featured in the Babies documentary). We found Namibia on a map and discussed it being a country that borders the ocean and also contains a lot of desert. Although not perfect, it worked.

Then we read Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa by Don Brown. We've read this book before and I jumped at the chance to check it out again. We love it. She's one tough cookie. And brave. And awesome. And female. Fantastic. I would even go so far as to call this a GOLD STAR BOOK.

The book didn't have anything to do with our field trip, but I like it and wanted to read it. So I did. My children would have me read it every day, so they didn't complain.

And now the field trip.

On Friday, I drove the kids to Provo for a field trip. First stop was Aunt Kami's house to drop off the two youngest. Then Miriam, Cowen, and I went to BYU's anthropology department where we met up with another homeschool family (the mom of that family graduated with an anthropology degree from BYU and set this whole thing up--thanks Sarah!!) and a certain Dr. Crandall. Dr. Crandall has lived in Namibia and goes there on field studies often. We went to hear what he had to say about it.

Let's just say that I was a little puffed up with pride by the end. Dr. Crandall asked if anyone had questions and Cowen had a great question (do the people carry spears as they travel around?--answer is yes, they carry spears to protect themselves from lion attack). Then Dr. Crandall said his wife had a baby while they lived there and I asked about birthing facilities. He said that the cities are very modern and Miriam said: "Is that because of when the Germans took over?" She remembered that from the Namibia book. I didn't even remember that from the Namibia book. See, reading really does plant things in their brains that they can later use to make connections.

Then Cowen asked about killing elephants and protecting crops and he and Miriam both explained to Dr. Crandall that they knew all about migrating animals in Africa (thank you James Earl Jones). Basically, we had only spent two days on Africa but my kids made connections that surprised me and were able to sound intelligent while talking about it. Love it.

Now if only I could get Miriam to stop the dramatic sighing when she's bored, my kids' behavior would have been perfect. :)

PS--Do you know how strange it is to go to campus now that so many buildings look different??? Besides the fact that returning to campus with children in tow is weird. It is almost like I dreamed the whole four years up--or it was an Alice in Wonderland type of adventure. Sometimes, I feel old. :)

Namibia: Day One

I'm afraid there isn't much about Namibia in the library. Africa in general, and African animals in particular, have resources galore. But Namibia--not so much. So, instead of focusing entirely on one country in Africa, I decided to make this section of our Babies Unit a little broader in scope. Continental, in scope, you could say.

Day one was about building interest. As I have come to find out, my children love animals in a deep, passionate way. So, I started with animals. Always build on their interests when possible. But, you pros already knew that.

To start off the day we read a book called: Who Comes to the Water Hole? by Colleen Stanley Bare. I couldn't find a cover image, but do not let that deter you. It was a great book. The pics were not National Geographic quality, but they were plentiful and in color and varied. The book talks about the wet and dry seasons, which was helpful later on that day when that concept came up again.

Then we read Face to Face With Cheetahs by Chris Johns with Elizabeth Carney. GOLD STAR BOOK. I'm pretty sure this is one of the best animal books we have ever read. It is published by National Geographic and Chris Johns is a National Geographic photographer so the pictures were beyond amazing. But the text was excellent as well. It was just enough information. Perfect children's book.

To end the day, we watched the movie Africa: The Serengeti. My daughter realized it was narrated by Simba's dad before I did. Smarty pants. James Earl Jones's voice really added to the overall coolness of the movie. How could it not? This is an IMAX movie, so only 40 minutes long (perfect for small children) and has a few strange cinematography moments probably due to it being a 3D movie. Despite that, the movie was excellent. It showed herds of wildebeests migrating and lions and crocodiles attacking them. Other African animals also make cameo appearances. The kids really caught on to the wet season/dry season concept, but I didn't realize that until later. Overall, this was a very enjoyable movie to watch with the kids and it made Africa really exciting to them.

Later that night, I had my hubs read A Story A Story by Gail E. Haley to the children. I don't usually use nightly story time for school purposes, but there were a few Africa books that didn't tie in very well to the activities I planned, and this is one of them.

It is an awesome book. Especially if you or your hubby do voices. My hubby does. My children were riveted. Highly recommend this one. It won the Caldecott and it deserved to win. Enough said.

So--day one went very well.

on socialization...again...

hello.
we've had quite a busy start to our "semester" in the new year.
we started extracurricular activities -
jui jitsu and ballet and soccer.
i promised myself that i would get them signed up
after we had successfully completed one "semester" of school.
and since we survived, we thought it was time to start -
to get them SOCIALIZED a bit more.





and after the first dizzying weeks of sudden activity -
do you know what i've learned?
IT'S NOT MAKING A STINKIN' BIT OF DIFFERENCE
sure, they sleep well those nights after practices,
and sure, i get a bunch of great photo-ops,
and we all get some fresh air...
but they don't NEED it to make them better at socializing.

the best social skills come when
they learn how to be themselves.
and it doesn't take a bunch of kids running after a ball
to teach them that.
it takes love, patience and understanding.
it take's a deep sense of curiosity on our part -
so that we can figure out what makes them tick.
but mostly it takes time.

and of all the gifts that the homeschooling parent can impart on a child,
this is the greatest -
THAT WE TOOK THE TIME
TO MAKE THEM COMFORTABLE IN THEIR OWN SKIN.
and that's all that matters.
the rest will take care of itself.

becky from hellofromhades.blogspot.com

San Fran: The Golden Gate Bridge

If it weren't for the great book pictured below, I would pretend that I didn't spend a "day" talking about the Golden Gate Bridge. I know you are expecting some great bridge making activity with toothpicks and marshmallows (how do you know how to make a flying buttress, Becky????) or popsicle sticks, or something.

But no. I planned on giving my kids glue and popsicle sticks and seeing what they came up with, but in the end, even that seemed like too much hassle. I'm due in three weeks. Everything seems like too much hassle. (I did get all the baby's clothes/blankets/burp cloths washed and rinsed twice and folded and put away. My kids have very, very sensitive skin. So see--I'm accomplishing things, just not gung-ho homeschool things.)

However, Pop's Bridge was a great book for anyone studying bridges or San Fran and I wanted to make sure you were aware of it--in case any of you do this unit.

Pop's Bridge by Eve Bunting.

To sort of make up for my bridgeless bridge lesson, I give you another San Fran idea. As we all know, Ghirardelli chocolate is made in San Fran. Chocolate interests me. It interests me a great deal. So I thought--we should make something out of San Fran chocolate.

So we did.

I decided to have the kids make a chocolate pudding recipe that I quite like. It is called Silken Chocolate Pudding and I found the recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Recipe Book (not exact title). It is a vegetarian restaurant. No, I'm not a vegetarian, but I've found that vegetarian cookbooks often have some killer pasta and salad recipes. Not to mention the yummy soups. It is a great cookbook, and I have made the pudding before and thought it was yummy. Also, it is very simple to make--perfect for cooking with kids.

Unfortunately, the local grocery store didn't have silken tofu. Since I'm only really familiar with extra firm tofu (use it in hot and sour soup), I wasn't sure how different silken tofu was from firm tofu. Not wanting to drive to a different store, I bought the firm tofu and hoped for the best.

Big mistake.

The great thing about this pudding is the texture. My family makes a chocolate pudding that is tasty, but is so prone to lumps. Grr. But this chocolate pudding has a perfectly silky texture without all the stirring and work and worry.

That is--a perfectly silky texture when you use silken tofu. Not so much when you use firm tofu.

Basically, it turned out gross.

Sigh.

What a waste of chocolate.

Here's the recipe, though, for those of you who are interested. I really like this pudding because it is easy and because it is fairly bitter (if you don't like dark chocolate--this recipe is not for you). I sweeten it up with whipped cream. You could also decrease the cocoa for a less bitter flavor.

1 cake of silken tofu (about 16 oz)
3 tbls powdered sugar (I tend to add a little extra)
8 oz semisweet chocolate
6 tbls water
3 tbls cocoa
1 tsp vanilla

1. blend tofu and sugar until well blended (a blender is easiest but I used a hand mixer this time to give the kids more to do)

2. warm chocolate, water, cocoa, vanilla until chocolate melts. Stir until mixed. Pour into tofu mix and beat until smooth and silky.

I chill mine--but it isn't bad warm. You could top with vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream to offset the bitter chocolate flavor. Or, you could add extra dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet to up the bitter factor. It is yummy that way!

PS I put icing sugar first and then realized most of my readers are American and might not know that icing sugar=powdered sugar. So I changed it. But now you know--icing sugar is what Canadians call powdered sugar. And knowing is half the battle.

San Fran: Ocean Sports

It occurred to me one day, as I was pondering San Fran and how to make it interesting for my kids, that my little darlings have never seen the ocean. Logically, they don't know much about sports that take place on or in the ocean. That realization led to a day studying surfing.

And kiteboarding--which I had never heard of before.

We did not read the following books. The following books were boring. At least to me. But the pictures were helpful.

All Action: Wind and Surf by Phil Holden.

Kiteboarding by Joanne Mattern.

Gilbert, the Surfer Dude by Diane deGroat. Okay, this book we read and it was all of our favorites. Gilbert chooses swim trunks that say "surfer dude" on them, even though they were too big. Of course, he loses them in the ocean. Even though it was predictable, it was still funny. I usually don't love early reader books, but this one was good. We'll be finding more Gilbert books when Cowen is ready to move into early readers.

Olivia Learns to Surf adapted by someone from a screenplay written by someone else. Yeah, we read this Olivia book but it wasn't that great. I mean, I usually love Olivia books--she's hilarious and the colors are awesome. But this one was a simplified board book so the story line was weak.

The best part of the day wasn't the books. It was when we put the books away and watched surfing and kiteboarding and windsurfing videos on youtube. Wowsers. People do some crazy/amazing things on a surfboard. We were all fascinated.

Thank you youtube, for helping turn our school day around.

PS We were going to watch Surf's Up, but my neighbor who has every animated movie ever made didn't have it. So I couldn't borrow it. So, we didn't watch it. Still, it isn't a bad idea for a supplement to a surfing lesson. Also, my hubby has a snowboard. If we had snow, I would have pulled that out and let the kids try to balance on it down a little hill. It would have been a little like balancing on a surfboard. Maybe?? I should ask my hubby about that.

hellofromhades here...

since we are living in remodeling
and living in chaos
and have no "homeschool" space,
i have taken over the fridge.

it's a bit of a hodgepodge mess
but at least i can see what we have done
and what we still need to get done.

i hope my kids survive the next six months.

a curriculum of charity...

i'm always looking for a way for my kids
to help out in their community and around the world.
this is the project we are currently undertaking.
go check it out
HERE

as you are shopping and cutting and filling up the bags,
use this as an opportunity
to talk about the birth story of each of your children.
and explain what role hospitals and medicine play in our lives.
then explain how others do not have the same blessings as we do.

remember, empathy is a valuable commodity in today's society.
there seems to be a diminishing capacity to learn it
amidst the materialistic and entitlement driven values
that surround us.

okay, have fun.
whether you are preparing a meal for a widow around the corner
or passing a dollar and an apple to a homeless person
you have opportunities talk about the have and have nots of the world.
don't shy away from teaching your kids about reality
don't be harsh
but be truthful.
your child's heart is enormous.
they can handle it.

good luck.
becky from hellofromhades.blogspot.com