First Day of Middle Ages Feast

Julie and I felt like we'd never manage to get together for our back-to-school Middle Ages Feast.  However, despite the fates conspiring against us, we did have our party and the children loved it.

 I was in charge of the food.  I learned a great many things--mainly that I am incredibly grateful for vegetables.  And gravy.  And chocolate.  I also learned that in the Middle Ages everything was cooked in a pie crust.  Most of the recipes I used came from this site:  http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/goderec.htm.

The meat pie was okay and most people liked it.  However, it was just meat.  In a shell.  I was tempted to add gravy but I was trying for authenticity so I didn't.  

 Above: an apple pie type dish that wasn't very good.  You cooked your apples and made an applesauce then added anise flavoring and bread crumbs to thicken.  It just tasted . . . not quite right without being awful.

The gyngerbrede was the runaway favorite of the children.  If you are going to make anything from the Middle Ages definitely try this one: http://www.greneboke.com/recipes/gyngerbrede.shtml.

Our entire menu: meat pie, applesauce pie, gingerbread, and mushroom pie.  (I picked the mushroom pie because I knew it would taste good and it did.)

Julie did the amazing part--creating fun Middle Ages clothing that reflected heraldic values.

 Above: Cowen's excitement when he heard what his animal and color meant.

 Ei in his amazingly awesome tunic.  Notice the green and the eagle.

 The girls got princess hats in their heraldic color and a necklace with an animal charm.

 Our knights.

Our ladies.

Later, on a different day, the kids and I talked about putting on the whole armor of God and developing virtues.  It all ties so beautifully to chivalry and heraldry.  I made the children cards with a picture of their animal followed by their name and what their animal and color mean.  They hung these on their walls.  On our upstairs wall we put a picture of the armor of God.

This one:

Miriam

Purple Peacock

Majesty, justice, beauty, power, and knowledge

Cowen

Dark Red Bear

Doesn’t seek a fight and yet, when required to fight, victorious

Strength, cunning, ferocity in protecting his family

Emeline

Yellow Unicorn

Generosity and thoughtfulness; extreme courage; virtue and strength

Eli

Green Eagle

Hope, joy, loyalty, nobility, strength, bravery, alertness, intelligent, and just

Man of Action

Harriet

Pink Dove

Peace, sincerity, gentleness, constancy 

A Science Update

 Our depiction of the layers of the earth.

 Yay!  Worksheet!

 Patsy (the dog) trying to join in the fun.

 Since we were studying the earth's layers on a Monday, we had a layers of the earth treat for FHE.  Half an oreo (crust, mantle) with chocolate sauce (outer core), and m&m (inner core).  The kids loved it.

 Look out!  The wind is eroding the hill.

Rainstorm!

Good times.  My kids love science.

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

New Art Supplies

Have any of you ever felt like buying the supplies is the easy part of so much of homeschooling?  I can buy the art supplies, no problem.  But then, what to do with them?  I don't know how to create any form of art and I loathe trying.  Seriously, I was the kid in elementary school getting frustrated whenever there was an art or coloring assignment.  Except maps--I love coloring maps because everything is so precise.

I continue to buy the art supplies and let me kids play around with them but every now and again I wish I had the capacity to really teach them something about creating art.

On the bright side, they sure do love their new easels!

First Field Trip 2013: Welding/Metal-Working

 Our first field trip was to a metal-working shop.  It was awesome.  Our host is a jack-of-all-trades and his workshop is a trove of treasures.  He was also extremely pleasant and authentically enjoyed the children.  According to my friend, Julie, who set up the field trip, he's a fantastic primary teacher.

 Emeline was the first child who tried welding.  She wasn't scared at all and kept trying to get a second turn.

Emeline, Cowen, and Eli all tried welding.  I tried to make sure Harriet kept her eyes closed and tried to ignore the risk of bodily harm as she ran up and down the pipes on the floor.  She never fell.

Really, this was interesting stuff and if you know a person who works with metal, I highly recommend you take your kids to visit.


DSCN7802 from Andrea Young on Vimeo.

DSCN7801 from Andrea Young on Vimeo.

Finding and Making Pet Rocks or First Day of School!

And so it begins.  The school year, I mean.

Rock Unit Outline in Unpolished Form

We are starting our new school year next Tuesday (day after Labor Day) and we are pretty excited.  I've been working on lesson plans like a crazy person and I'm almost ready.  We are starting science with the unit my children most looked forward to last year that we didn't end up getting to: Rocks.  

I won't lie--I wasn't as excited as the children. I don't think science is very interesting in general (no people) but rocks are even more uninteresting than most science.  BUT . . . I found a website of a science teacher who is amazing and now I'm actually looking forward to this unit.  You can find the blog here: http://beakersandbumblebees.blogspot.com/2009/10/earth-science-begins.html.

Most of this unit is taken directly from Beakers and Bumblebees.  I also supplemented with youtube pretty heavily because I understand science better when I hear it explained.  

We'll be doing science on Mondays and Tuesdays this year so this unit as written should last five weeks.  I expect it to last longer though because we'll be doing some rockhounding on some of our science days.  I just haven't worked out the details of those trips. 

If you want information on good places to rockhound in Utah check out: http://geology.utah.gov.  This website has detailed instructions for polishing stones: http://geology.com/rock-tumbler/rock-polishing-instructions.shtml.  I also appreciated this website: http://sarahssweeties.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/rocks-and-minerals-unit-study/ and will be stealing her scripture idea.  I hope to memorize the scripture and the rock songs and vocab by the end of the unit.

The scripture she used is: 

M: Extra Book: Rocky Road Trip (Ms. Frizzle)

Day One (Pet Rocks):

Read: Everybody Needs a Rock

Practice our rock song:

We will ROCK you!

We will we will rock you!

we will we will rock you!

Volcanos erupt with lava so hot

it cools and hardens and its igneous rock cuz

rocks can change...all over this place...

they weather, and melt, and get rearranged!

We will we will rock you!

we will we will rock you!

Rock gets weathered into tiny tiny rocks

layers and layers get piled on top

it gets compacted, its elementary

this rock will become sedimentary

we will we will rock you

we will we will rock you!

Any type of rock under heat and pressure

becomes metamorphic and thats for sure

cuz rocks can change, all over this place..

they weather, and melt and get rearranged

we will we will rock you

we will we will rock you!

Make pet rocks!

·      Google eyes

·      Fabric for clothes/capes/hats

·      Paint

·      Pet rock description papers (name, date of birth, personality traits, likes/dislikes)

Day Two (Fossil Fuels):

·      Start learning vocabulary

o   Fossil fuels: nonrenewable resources found deep in the Earth, formed by the remains of ancient plants and animals. Coal, Oil, and natural gas are the three fossil fuels

o   Coal- a fossil fuel formed by the remains of ancient plants

o   Oil- a fossil fuel formed by the remains of ancient plants and animals.

o   Natural gas- a fossil fuel formed by ancient plants and animals. It is a flammable odorless gas.

·      Fossil Fuels Song!

(to row, row, row your boat)

Oil, coal, and natural gas

we use them everyday.

These three fossil fuels

are formed in special ways.

Oil comes from animals and plants

plus time, pressure, and heat.

Natural gas in the same way and

coal is formed from peat!

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ1HIBIIJU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBLrThFM5x8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufwvFOXUCnc (peat)

Put resources in the correct area of the chart:

Renewable Resource: Resources that can be replaced

plants

animals

water

soil

Air

Nonrenewable Resource: Resources that cannot be replaced

oil (fossil fuel)

coal (fossil fuel)

natural gas (fossil fuel)

minerals

Inexhaustible Resources: Resources that will not run out

Sunlight

Wind

Tides

Day Three (Earth’s Layers):

Read: The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth

Read: If Rocks Could Sing

Add to vocabulary:

Crust- the outermost layer of the Earth

Mantle- the middle layer of the Earth

Core- the innermost layer of the Earth

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAHY6965o08

Make a model of the earth’s crust out of paper (circular, basic model)

Color and label more complex model.

Make oreo model.  The outside chocolate cookie represents the crust, the cream represents the squishy mantle, the chocolate syrup represents the liquid iron outer core, and the m&m represents the solid iron inner core!

Have hard-boiled eggs for lunch.

Day Four (Erosion/Weathering):

*Practice song

*Practice vocab

Read: I Am a Rock

Read: If You Find a Rock

Read: Rocks and Soil, Simple Science

Read: pgs. 24 – 27 of 100 Things

Add to vocab:

Weathering: The break down and wearing away of rock into sediment

Deposition: the process in which sediment is dropped in a new place.

Landform: a natural structure on Earth’s surface

Delta: a large flat area of land at the mouth of a river

Erosion: The movement of sediment by water, waves, wind, or ice

Sediment: bits of rocks, soil, sand, shells, and the remains of organisms.

Glacier: a large body of moving ice that stays frozen all year.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Rp9MJJGCU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SlcrcYstc4

Eat a gobstopper while watching video to do our own weathering.

Get dirt in paint roller thingy, weather it with wind (blow through straw), rain (spray bottle), waves (fill bottom up with water and roll the water toward the dirt)

Do acid rain experiment (rocks in water vs. vinegar): pgs. 12-13 in Science Fair Projects: Rocks and Minerals

Day Five (Sedimentary Rock/Minerals):

Read pgs. 14 – 17 in 100 Things About Rocks

Read Sedimentary Rocks

Read A Gift From the Sea

Review vocab and song

Add to vocab:

Sedimentary Rock: rock that formed when sediments were pressed and cemented together.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1F4J8uZUQc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etu9BWbuDlY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a7p1NFn64s

Put together a sheet of paper with description of minerals.

Make our own sedimentary rock: weather graham crackers (sediment), add clumps of butter and sugar and m&ms (more sediment) bake for a few minutes until firm to show what adding heat will do.

Make this oreo layered dessert: http://www.adventuresofadiymom.com/2012/09/5-layer-oreo-dessert.html and eat it at supper while discussing the layers.

Day Six (Igneous Rock):

Read pgs. 10-13 of 100 Things You Should Know

Read Igneous Rocks

Add to vocab:

Igneous rock- rock formed from cooled magma or lava.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqgHUPSTojY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5LdZJiKsVk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbQla7cdJrY&list=TLCbJ6OajwBNU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCnAF1Opt8M&list=TLb2o2bnXlClg

Melt chocolate and pour it over ice cream to see if it hardens when exposed to the cold.  Then have it harden on a plate more slowly and see if it looks different than the chocolate that melted quickly.

Day Seven (Metamorphic Rock):

Practice vocab and songs

Add to vocab: Metamorphic rock- rock that formed when another kind of rock was squeezed and heated deep inside Earth’s crust.

Read pgs. 18-21 in 100 Things

Read Metamorphic Rocks

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oQ1J0w3x0o

Take a Snickers bar and apply heat and pressure—see what it looks like afterwards.

Day Eight (Rock Cycle):

Read pgs. 6 – 9 of 100 Things You Should Know About Rocks

Add to vocab: Rock cycle- the process of rocks changing into other kinds of rock.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3yJArifULo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRaInMDNyE8

Practice song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lMdHzvGCQ

Put together rock cycle handout (I got it here: suzieshomeeducationideas@blogspot.com.au)

Day Nine (Review):

Read Let’s Go Rock Collecting

Read Weird But True Rocks

Make crayon rocks—all three types of rocks using shaved crayons.

Day 10 (Rock Labeling):

Read Rocks in His Head

Read 100 Things pg. 28 – end

Read Rocks and Minerals

Read Cool Rocks

Get out rock collections, discuss which rocks fall into which rock groups, test hardness, classify by color, hardness, etc. 

(I’ll be looking at the rock collection we purchased throughout the unit, but this day is about comparing the rocks we’ve found with the ones we already have labeled and seeing if we can identify the rocks we’ve collected.)

Play with our rocks.  Make more pet rocks, label our egg carton collections, sing our songs, review what we’ve learned.  Pull apart cookies to find the “minerals” that make up the “rock.” 

Any suggestions from those of you who are rock experts would be appreciated!