Read the World – a few Living Books for North America
Hi friends, and happy weekend. It has been absolutely scorching here this week and will continue that way for the next several days. We have been SO blessed to swim in lots of friends’ pools! (Hooray for mooching everyone else’s backyard pools instead of having our own… ha!) So, we haven’t had tons of time for reading aloud, but we did fit in a few books this week for the North America week. I have to chuckle though because if I were to take photos of ALL the living books we’ve read set in North America – the post would be endless. We have read hundreds over the past couple…
Read the World – Living Books for Europe {a few suggestions}
Oh boy, is it EVER Summer in our home. We went swimming SIX out of seven days this week. Yep… I’m exhausted! Truth be told – we aren’t reading nearly as much as I’d like this July. It has been a unique month filled with LOTS of kids at our home, in our van, and in our lives – and busy, busy days with little to no room for reading aloud. (I can’t believe I’m saying that!) But, it is true. It is different, but still meaningful and blessed – in different ways. I’m trying to have grace with myself but BOY am I missing our regular routine. I…
Read the World – Africa {a few Favorite Living Books for Africa}
Alright. Hi! How’s it going? Truth be told – this week we TOTALLY FAILED at ‘getting back into the groove’ I hoped to get into. (IE: Reading way more, doing morning time, chores, etc.) Umm… what was I thinking? Why am I even attempting to get into any sort of groove the first week of July? Our life this week can be summed up in two words – PURE SUMMER. We were living the sunshine life this week, friends – and it was lovely. And exhausting! Come to think of it, we’ve been living this for the past 2 and a half weeks! We had our good (kid) friends with…
Ancient Civilizations – Greece! (A Primary Unit Study)
For our study of Ancient Greece, I found a great lapbook and unit study resource at Homeschool Share. Click HERE to view it. Most of the lapbook elements below came from that resource and I am so thankful to the amazing ladies at Homeschool Share! A huge portion of our reading came from our Sonlight program for Core B (comprising of mostly Usborne books, hooray Usborne!). The kids loved reading through the pages in The Usborne Book of World History. Some topics of study: Daily life in Ancient Greece – houses, food, clothing, families, communities, war. Life in Athens Greek gods and Greek Mythology (the kids really enjoyed this part!) Greek Alphabet…
Cultural Studies – Ancient Egypt
We studied Ancient Egypt to go along with our work with Sonlight, Core B. We are working our way through history from Creation to the fall of Rome so the past three weeks found us in Ancient Egypt. Hope this post is helpful! Egyptian Culture – what we covered In our home, we believe in presenting our children with a “generous curriculum” as Charlotte Mason said. But, with this generous curriculum comes a whole lot of careful discussion and thorough studies about all aspects of whatever we are discussing – especially cultures like Ancient Egypt. The truth is, Egyptian culture is full of idolatry, false gods, satanic symbolism, and a whole bag full…
Galloping the Globe: Northern Canada (and The Very Last First Time – FIAR)
Our children really enjoyed our study of Northern Canada and we combined our cultural study with our Five in a Row study of “The Very Last First Time”, by Jan Andrews, is a story about a young Inuit girl who lives in Ungava Bay, Quebec. She journeys out for the first time to collect mussels on the sea bed. It’s amazing because traditionally Inuit people in Ungava Bay actually wait for the tide to go out and dig through the ice, revealing a cavern below. They enter the cavern under the ice and find a bounty of Mussels. It was so interesting to learn about this tradition! Some of the…
Galloping the Globe- Russia (and Another Celebrated Dancing Bear)
A couple of weeks ago, we studied Russia with Galloping the Globe and coupled it with a literary study of Another Celebrated Dancing Bear by Gladys Scheffrin-Falk. Although we really enjoyed our study, this wasn’t the kids’ favorite Five in a Row book. They enjoyed the activities more than the actual literature for this one. I used many of the FIAR activities and also came up with some ideas of my own! We started our study with a look at Russia. Every literary study corresponding with Galloping the Globe starts with us opening up several Atlases and locating the country, its capital, and other important places within that country (major…
The Story of Ferdinand (and Spain)
Our kids had a blast working through The Story of Ferdinand from Five in a Row, Volume 2. We are continuing Galloping the Globe and I’m seeking fun and interesting ways to tie literature into our country units. There are certain books that literally SPEAK to kids. This was one of them. All three children were happy to listen to The Story of Ferdinand over and over. What a great classic. Some of our resources: The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, Usborne’s Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do, Ferdinand the Bull and Friends CD, 365 Things to Draw and Paint (Usborne) Measurement in Inches and Centimeters Part…
Follow the Drinking Gourd (the Underground Railroad for kids)
This is a home that belonged to slaves who found freedom in Ancaster, Ontario. We visited the site as part of our study (more below). This study was taken from Five in a Row, Volume 2. I added my own ideas and expanded on what was offered in the Unit Study, but I wanted to reference Five in a Row as the program was a launching pad for so many wonderful ideas. Follow the Drinking Gourd tells the story of Peg-leg Joe who would travel to various plantations during the time of slavery in the southern states. He would sing the song “Follow the Drinking Gourd” and teach the slaves…
Galloping the Globe – China (and Weighing the Elephant)
This week we used a curriculum called “Come Sit By Me” which I borrowed from my Charlotte Mason Home Educators group. It is similar to Five in a Row but using Canadian books. Most of this post deals with the literary study of Weighing the Elephant by Ting-Xing Ye but it is also very transferable in many parts to a study on China with young students. Enjoy! Of course, as with all of our cultural studies, we included food! (Are you getting the idea that I’m a bit of a food person yet?) We purchased the ingredients for a delicious chicken stir-fry with some traditional Chinese veggies mixed in. …
