Because we were rowing through "Hanna's Cold Winter," I went searching for a taste of Hungarian culture in the Twin Cities, and discovered that there's not only a Minnesota Hungarian group but that they have a holiday festival. And so we signed up and went!
December 6th is a special day in Hungary. Mikulas (St. Nicholas) is coming to town on this day.
On the evening of the 5th of December children polish their boots and
put them in the window. During the night, Mikulás (St. Nicholas) will
come and fill their boots with candy, fruit, chocolate Mikulas figures
and small gifts. That is, if they have been good! Naughty children
receive a bundle of twigs, usually with a krampusz-figure attached
(Krampusz: is Mikulas' helper, a mean goblin who punishes bad children).
Since no child is all good or all bad, most get the bundle of twiggs
and the presents.
The event started off with presentations from students in their Hungarian language program, and concluded with a visit from Mikulas, who passed out treat bags and posed for photos. Then there was a potluck, and we got to taste Hungarian food. It was great to be surrounded as much as we could with Hungarian music, language, food, and people. What a fun thing to stumble upon!
With The Girl's love of language and my love of travel, we could have kept going forever with this study on Italy. And The Boy was along for the ride. (Well, mostly the catnip tea, which he can't get enough of.)
As always, we started off with the Homeschool Share lapbook; here is the link to the one on Italy.
I love the free country landmark sheets from Education.com, because they show the flag, and important landmarks, with a few other activities. Here's the link for the one on Italy.
COLOR THEORY
The color wheel is fundamental to good art, and so we did a few experiments with colored water, a handout protected within a ziplock bag, and eye droppers. Here is the link to the free printable we used. The artwork we made on a paper towel was hung up and displayed for several months. It was so cool!
We meant to paint like Michelangelo by taping paper to the bottom of a table, but never did because then I saw the idea of re-creating a taller structure so folks could stand and paint the bottom of a surface (like this), and thought that would be so much better. Better, but not something I figured out how to do. Another time.
ARTISTS: MICHELANGELO AND DAVINCI
There is so much about the Renaissance and artwork that we could have talked about, but this time around I thought we would just get to know a few of the artists. I started off with focusing on Michelangelo, but then tales of Leonardo da Vinci slipped in.
Two of my favorite things in the world. Yep, I fell in love with "Papa Piccolo" by Carol Talley when I looked at the cover image! And so did the kiddos.
We had a great time rowing through this book, and really delved into Italian culture, checking out the language, music and history. Plus we learned everything we could about Venice -- oh, what a lovely city that is! We learned about the great artists like Michaelangelo and Leonardo daVinci, and threw in some color theory and drawing lessons.
We also focused on cats, learning facts about that breed of animal. And then we threw in some herb lessons on catnip for fun!
WE READ
Olivia goes to Venice by Ian Falconer
Madeline and the Cats of Rome by Marciano, John Bemelman (Fun to revisit one of our past FIAR characters!)
Owls: Hunters of the night by Elaine Landeau
Big Cats: Hunters of the night by Elaine Landeau
Raccoons: Scavengers of the night by Elaine Landeau
Night animals by Cohen, Daniel
Night animals by Selsam, Millicent E.
Dark emperor & other poems of the night by Sidman, Joyce
Italy ABCs : a book about the people and places of Italy (Country ABCs) by Katz Cooper, Sharon
Zoe Sophia’s Scrapbook: An Adventure in Venice by Claudia Mauner
The orphan singer by McCully, Emily Arnold
Gabriella’s song by Fleming, Candace
This is Venice by M. Sasek
Angelo by Macaulay, David
Michelangelo (Getting to know the world’s greatest artists) by Venezia, Mike
Michelangelo : the Renaissance (Ticktock essential artists) by Spence, David
Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore
Six Dinner Sid: A Highland Adventure by Inga Moore
Socks by Cleary, Beverly
Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
Cats (Pets plus) by Head, Honor
Cat (Eyewitness (Dorling Kindersley Limited)) by Clutton-Brock, Juliet
Why do Cats Meow?
Cats by DK Publishing
The dog who had kittens by Robertus, Polly M.
Five little kittens by Jewell, Nancy
Wish Come True Cat by Ragnhild Scamell
If You Give A Cat A Cupcake by Laura Numeroff
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Moses the Kitten by James Herriot
WE DID
Rowing through "Papa Piccolo" gave us the excuse to learn about Marco Polo, the great teen explorer who traveled between Italy and China. Wow. We watched several videos about him as a family. I didn't find any good children's books about Marco Polo, just longer chapter books geared towards readers.
But we used this map to learn about his route, and read through the biographical information on the site.
When you already love cats, rowing through a lovely story book on cats is the most perfect thing you could do.
We greatly enjoyed the varied cat activities and books we looked through while studying "Papa Piccolo" by Carol Talley, and tarried with this book far too long!
One of the Logic of English - Foundations readers just happened to focus on cats and dogs. Yay!
First off, we mined Homeschool Share for its Cat Lapbook, and did many of the activities in there. There were cat breed cards, cat classification information, and more.
We played Kittens in the Gondola and worked on math skills. Come on, the gondolas and kittens are just too cute, aren't they?
CATNIP TEA AND TOYS
We enjoy learning about herbs in general, and so we took the time to focus in on Catnip. After quick trip to our local herbal pharmacy, The Medicine Tree, in south Minneapolis, we had a bag of dried catnip. We loved drinking the tea ourselves. It makes a nice, mellow tea that actually soothes humans while it revs up cats.
Drawing is one of The Girl's favorite activities, and she enjoyed following this tutorial on how to draw a cat.
The Girl loves word searches, but most are too hard for her. This Kitty Word search was perfect.
We branched out from just cats, and investigated 5 Animals You Didn't Know Were Nocturnal (a number of which are big cats). I printed the article out so we could fashion our own little book from the information and photos.
We also learned a bit about our own eyes and conducted a peripheral vision experiment. We marked off on the sidewalk when we could see something appear on the side in our peripheral vision. This handout listing the major parts of the eye was useful, as was this one titled What is Your Eye? And we read over a graphic that showed the eyes and ears of a cat, and compared them to ours.
We had tons of fun with the Who Am I game on the Night Animal Sounds interactive web site, listing to various voices and guessing about what animal the sounds belonged to.
We meant to make Cat Masks or Venetian Masks, but never got to them. It was just too easy to do a million things with this book, and we spent 2 months on it before I finally decided it was time to move on. Else we were going to spend all year on this one book!
WE READ
Cats (Pets plus) by Head, Honor
Cat (Eyewitness (Dorling Kindersley Limited)) by Clutton-Brock, Juliet
Why do Cats Meow?
Cats by DK Publishing
The dog who had kittens by Robertus, Polly M.
Five little kittens by Jewell, Nancy
Wish Come True Cat by Ragnhild Scamell
If You Give A Cat A Cupcake by Laura Numeroff
Moses the Kitten by James Herriot
Big Cats: Hunters of the night by Elaine Landeau
Raccoons: Scavengers of the night by Elaine Landeau
Owls: Hunters of the night by Elaine Landeau
Night animals by Cohen, Daniel
Night animals by Selsam, Millicent E.
Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore
Six Dinner Sid: A Highland Adventure by Inga Moore
Socks by Cleary, Beverly
Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
WE WATCHED
Of course, we watched the Dreamworks version of "Puss in Boots"!
Talking about birds during our study of Grandfather's Journey > led us to discussing how their feathers work > which led us to talking about what happens to feathers in oil spills > which led us to talking about pollution in our earth. Whew! And we could have kept going!
How do feathers work?
We put a layer of feathers in a ziplock bag and then ice cubes over that. Then we tried it out - was it cold? No! The feathers did a great job insulating our skin!
How do birds clean up after a gasoline or oil spill?
We talked about what happens during oil spills (and when gasoline spills out of a boat motor) and how tough it is for birds and other wildlife to clean themselves. We spilled oil on a feather and tried to clean it off with just water, and then tried to clean it off with soap and water. What do birds do in the wild when they get oil on them?
What impact does pollution have on the water?
Our discussion naturally led into how we pollute the earth, and as I was writing an article about the pollution at Lake Hiawatha in our neighborhood, we headed over there with a garbage bag and picked up some trash. Wow! There sure was a lot of trash between the playground and the lake. We filled up our bag within 10 minutes with an array of things. When we got home, we put it all in a glass jar. Imagine being a fish and swimming through that! Imagine being a bird and trying to dive for food in that! We all agreed it was pretty gross.
What does it mean to be a good steward?
Our discussion pushed out into what it means to be a good steward of our world and God's amazing creation. We all agreed it's important that we not litter, that we reduce our waste, and we do what we can to help the animals and our planet!
Then we watched "No Impact Man," and learned about how one family in New York City did their best to limit their impact on the earth. They got rid of their tv, stopped using toilet paper, bought organic food, and used candles. It gave us some good ideas on ways we can change our lives in order to be better stewards.
And then we went to a farmer's market, a place that seeks to grow things in a sustainable way that doesn't load up our precious earth with chemicals! This is one way we can make a difference.
Ever wondered at how the different types of bird beaks work and what type of tool they are like? We investigated that during our study of Grandfather's Journey.
First, we checked out a handout that shows various bird beaks, and compared and contrasted them. (Scroll down in this forum http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-v/zoology/14536-notes-zoology-10.html)
Then we got a clothespin, a tweezers, a spoon and a scissors to simulate the various ways birds use their beaks, and we tried to pick different items up! We recorded our observations on this handout I created.
The lovely thing about rowing FIAR books is that we get to experience other cultures. While rowing "Grandfather's Journey" by Allen Say, we dived into Japanese culture, learning as much as we could about this place across the sea. While we didn't do as much this summer as I had intended to at the start of it, we did have fun with "Grandfather's Journey" and our own virtual journey to Japan.
WE READ
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree by Allen Say
Tea with Milk by Allen Say
Tree of Cranes by Allen Say
Shibumi and the Kitemaker by Mercer Mayer
Look what came from Japan by Miles Harvey
Crow Boy by Taro Yashima
The Magic Fan by Keith Baker
The Badger and the Magic Fan: a Japanese folktale by Johnston, Tony
Little Oh by Melmed, Laura Krauss
Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela S. Turner
Suki’s Kimono by Uegaki, Chieri
Tea with Milk by Allen Say
The Boy of the Three-Year Nap by Snyder, Dianne
The Paper Crane by Molly Bang
Guyku: A year of Haiku for Boys by Raczka, Bob
Grass sandals : the travels of Basho by Spivak, Dawnine
The Wakame Gatherers by Thompson, Holly
My Japan by Watanabe, Etsuko
A Pair of Red Clogs by Matsuno, Masako
Volcano Wakes Up by Lisa Westberg Peters
California by Mari Kesselring
Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
Maneki Neko: The Tale of the Beckoning Cat by Susan Lendroth
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree: An Old Japanese Tale by Allen Say
The Boy of the Three-Year Nap by Dianne Snyder
The Funny Little Women by Arlene Mosel
Hurricanes by Gail Gibbons
WE DID
We didn't do as many projects with this book as we have with others, as The Girl wanted to be outside and wasn't into doing anything with paper. (ie. no books, worksheets, etc. as long as the days were long and the sun was out.) Instead, we took field trips and read books. We did build our study around the PDF available over at HomeschoolShare.
It was quite interesting to read as many of Allen Say's books as we could find as they all continue the story of his family in some way. Grandfather's Journey is about his grandfather, who left Japan for California, got married, and then later brought his family back to Japan. Tea With Milk is his daughter's tale, which begins in California and ends in Japan. Tree of Cranes tells Allen's own story as a boy. It is fascinating to watch this family pulled between two nations. Rowing Grandfather's Journey came on the heels of my Book Club's reading of "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, a tale of a World War 2 prisoner of war in Japan, which made for an interesting and complex journey.
Our neighbor, who lived most of her life in Japan, invited us over for authentic Japanese food. We had such a lovely time! (See full post here)
We spent a fascinating morning at the United Noodle store, a large Asian grocery store in south Minneapolis. It's hidden in an industrial area, so you have to know where to look. Once you get there, you'll be so glad you went. The store is divided by country. There's different types of teas everywhere. Just walking through is a cultural experience and we paid attention to all the packaging, language, sights and smells. We left with our arms full of rice noodles, bubbles for bubble tea, rice vinegar, barley tea and more. (See full post here)
When we got home, we made our own spring rolls, which The Girl loved. I think she loved making them more than eating them!
My Neighbor Totoro was playing at the Riverview Theater in
south Minneapolis so we headed over there. What a fun Japanese cartoon.
The kiddos are still singing the theme song.
I've been wanting to check out Midori's Floating World Cafe at 2629 E Lake St. in South Minneapolis, and so we used this as an excuse to head over one evening for dinner. (See full post here)
We recruited our older friend to teach us origami -- that was a blast.
We drew Japanese characters with sidewalk chalk. Used a fork to paint puffer fish.
Branching out from Japanese culture, we learned about continents and volcanoes and hurricanes. Our continent song is sung to the tune of "He's got the whole world in his hands"...
He's got North and South America in his hands.
He's got Europe, Asia Africa in his hands.
He's Australia and Antarctica in his hands.
He's got the whole world in his hands.
We also did some experiments centered around pollution and birds. We also had fun with a bird beak experiment (inspired by this post)! (See full post here)
We did a little about our family history, and I intend to do more in the near future with that.
There was so much else we wanted to do, such as delving into similes, making candy sushi, fashioning a carp kite, experiencing a Japanese tea ceremony, and more... But it was time to move on. Another time...
WE WATCHED
Netflix has "Japan: Dr. Merry's Nomad Traveler," an older movie but I still felt like it gave us a good look at Japan.
We really enjoyed checking out a exuberant style of Japanese drumming, The Taiko Project. I think the kiddos could watch those movies all day! We're planning to see the Taiko Project live when they're at the St. Paul Ordway in April 2016.
Did you know that Minnesota's largest Asian grocery store is tucked into an industrial park off Minnehaha Ave. in Minneapolis?
We headed over to United Noodles as part of our FIAR study of "Grandfather's Journey" by Allen Say, upon the recommendation of a friend who is originally from Japan. Walking through the store gave us a fascinating glimpse into another culture via their food. Well, into many cultures as United Noodles has products from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Hawaii and more. Their cafe inside the store serves ramen, BBQ pork, house made kombucha and creative weekly specials.
The family-owned and operated supermarket has been serving the community for more than 40 years.
We brought home a pile of fantastic products, including a bunch of gluten-free noodles. Oh, and bubbles for bubble tea! Plus I had to get Barley Tea after drinking it at a friend's house. (See post here on our Japanese Lunch.)
And then we started cooking. First up on our Menu were spring rolls!
I'm a (rather) recent transplant to the big city of Minneapolis from a small town one hour north.
I've been exploring this big city and all it has to offer, as well as the fun of other places. We have just started homeschooling. We love to learn and travel. We focus on fresh and natural foods. We live a "crunchy" lifestyle.
We'll drive with the windows wide open so that we don't miss a thing.
