Arctic Animal and Habitat Unit Study and Lapbook Project

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Christina C

This past week marked the official beginning of winter. What a great time to start learning about the animals that live in arctic climates and how they manage to survive in extreme temperatures! Here is a list of the books that we are reading for our Arctic Unit:

(The following pictures contain links to Amazon.com. Should you decide to purchase any of the books, Thankfully Home will receive a small commission. This will not cost you anything at all! It helps us buy books for our family, so thank you!)

At the suggestion of my daughter, we also watched this movie about an Inuit legend to add some culture to our unit as well as March of the Penguins to try to experience life in Antarctica:

We have also decided to add Mr. Popper’s Penguins to the mix as our chapter book read aloud. In addition to that, we will do The Quiver of Arrows from Brave Writer to accompany Mr. Popper’s Penguins as our Language Arts for the unit. I love when it all falls into place and everything fits together!

With the knowledge that we acquired through reading these wonderful books and watching these movies, we are designing and making our first lapbooks. Most of the printables that we used for our lapbooks came from here. Others were from quick Google searches for specific items.These are works in progress, and we are adding more and more as we learn more! I think it has been a huge success so far!

My children love learning about animals and they love being creative with their knowledge. This has been a win-win for everyone!

Bringing History to Life – Part 2

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Christina C

Traveling through time to a century and a half later, we entered the town of Williamsburg in the year 1773. There, we meandered down brick pathways through a living Colonial town.

One of our first stops was at a shoemaker’s shop. There we saw how shoes were made in Colonial America. We learned that shoemakers had a 12-year apprenticeship. Shoe shops imported leather from England because it was of better quality than leather from America. Additionally, shoemakers only made and sold men’s shoes – women’s and children’s shoes were made of fabric and were not well crafted, like men’s leather shoes.

Next, we had the pleasure of dining by candlelight in Chowning’s Tavern. There, we were entertained by guitar music and readings by Edward Chowning, the tavern owner’s nephew. We dined on Shepherd’s Pie and sampled homemade ales and hot cider.

A stop in the marketplace turned into an afternoon of shopping for local wares, game playing, and a lively game of “baseball,” the way Colonial children might have played it.

We met some very interesting folks during our stroll through town. One gentleman even taught my sons how to march like soldiers!

On the way down Duke of Gloucester Street, we stopped at the courthouse and had a chat with a clerk. He informed us about the law and how it was carried out in Colonial times…

We took a grand tour of the Governor’s Palace,

which included a tour of the kitchen. We got to visually sample a five-course meal that might have been served to guests of the palace.

We walked through the parlor, offices, bed chambers, and the ballroom…

The finale was a visit to a woodworking shop, where a wheelwright was fastening the final pegs into a cart wheel. We learned that all wheels were made of ash, oak, and elm. It took two weeks to make one wheel!

Reading about history is wonderful and can be very interesting and engaging. But actually living it, seeing it in action, walking amongst it, is an altogether different experience. My children and I will remember this experience in all of its vivid splendor for a very long time…

Bringing History to Life – Part 1

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Christina C

Our family loves history. We love to read encyclopedias, historical fiction, myths and legends. We love to watch period films. We recently had the pleasure of visiting the Historic Settlement at Jamestown outside of Williamsburg, Virginia. Stepping back in time to the year 1607, my children got to frolic around a Powhatan Indian village, board two ships that brought English settlers and merchants across the Atlantic, and explore an English settlement. They made tools out of rock and animal bone, loaded and pretended to fire a swivel gun from the side of a ship, and watched a settler make meat and fruit pies. The got to see history come to life, be a part of it, live it – if just for a day.

It All Counts!

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Christina C

As the Holiday Season descends upon us, I would like to encourage everyone to slow down and enjoy this festive time. Stop and smell the evergreens and the scrumptious smells wafting through your kitchens. Listen to the children laughing and squealing in Christmas anticipation. Enjoy it all. I know it’s hard, but we need to learn to go a little easier on ourselves! Let’s face it, the Holidays can be very stressful. Add to that the responsibilities of everyday life: the cooking, cleaning, errands, and commitments. Now add to that the responsibility of homeschooling our kids. That’s enough to send us all over the edge.

I want you to take one thing from me right now. IT ALL COUNTS. Let go of the stress of fitting in traditional work and curriculum. Christmas crafts are important for fine motor skills, artistic development, creative imagination, and so much more. And baking. Let’s talk about baking and cooking. Not only is it so much fun to spend time in the kitchen with your children, but imagine how they could learn addition, fractions, and measurement! Come on, count it as Math! Field trips to the Christmas tree farm, the train garden at the mall or fire station, trips to the theater or symphony. IT ALL COUNTS! These are the things your children will remember about the Holidays, not sitting at a table doing worksheets. There is definitely a time for that, but give yourselves a break! Don’t worry, though, because the learning doesn’t slow down just because you do…

If you would like to learn more about the program that has inspired our family to trust more in learning through living, please check out Brave Writer.