Cultivating Childhood

Overview: Window on the World : New Zealand New Zealand Fact Sheet Flag from Expedition Earth Workbook Map Worksheet Coloring Page People Maori Coloring Page Children Just Like Me book Travel Kids: Maori Haka Travel Kids: Kiwi Videos Tourism Video National Anthem Crafts Weaving Necklace Poi Craft Video Science  Seasons - NZ is in the Southern Hemisphere, so we learned about why they celebrate Christmas in the summer! Crash Course Kids Seasons and the Sun Earth's Rotation and Revolution Seasons Interactive on the Computer Animals Kiwi  Dot-to-Dot Video of one hatching Sheep  Craft Video of them herding Math Skip-Counting by 10s Skip-Counting Maze Bible Verse: I Corinthians 10:31 Some things we didn't do, but might be fun for at home: Various NZ crafts

Overview of South Africa: Videos Top 10 Amazing Facts about South Africa   (we skipped #1) Beautiful Cape Town Flag Worksheet Make out of Legos Map Mini-Unit Study Science: Talked about why shipwrecks happened at the bottom of continents South Africa's Big Five Animals Other things we did this week (unrelated to South Africa) Art We finished talking about Edgar Degas  and did a coloring page Math Skip-counting by Nines  Learned Nines tricks here and here Skip-Counting Mazes for Nines ( Other tricks that we didn't teach for multiplication  and here ) Science Magic School Bus "Takes Flight" Other Resources (we didn't get to): Nelson Mandela's speech " I Am An African " Learn more about The Big Five

Overview of the United States N and Z at a 4th of July party 2015 Videos Fun Facts for Kids Star-Spangled Banner  (National Anthem) Flag Worksheet Map Coloring Page Geo-Puzzle America Learned about The Statue of Liberty About Coloring Page Science: Thomas Edison Short Video of his life Snap Circuits (Light) Copywork Quotations from Thomas Edison Do not be afraid to fail, keep trying, learn from your mistakes Never stop learning, keep improving yourself. Excerpt from "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus  (written on the Statue of Liberty) “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Art: Georgia O'Keeffe Biography Worksheet Examples of her art Painting Tutorial Reviewed some American artists we've already learned about from Mike Venezia's...

Overview of Mexico Videos 10 Facts about Mexico  (we skipped the folklore section) Flag Worksheet Children Just Like Me  book Map Coloring Page Geo-Puzzle America Food: Tortillas and Salsa! Pyramids Mexico Pyramids Pyramid Book Make a Lego Pyramid Art: Make an  Ojo de Dios  (this was a HUGE hit) Frida Kahlo How to Draw Frida Kahlo Body Cast Printable Art History Lesson and Printable Things we didn't do at school, but could be fun: Make  Aztec Hot Chocolate Tons of resources here Mexico Unit Study Math: Mayan Numbers  The Dawn of Numbers Mayan Counting Worksheet Science:  Monarch Butterfly Migration Life Cycle and Migration to Mexico Song Monarch Butterfly Release Butterfly Symmetry Art More Mayan Info: Hour long video on Mayan Code  by NOVA Mayan Glyphs explained Mayan Math Game Archaeology Game featuring the Mayans Another game (costs money) with a lot of worksheets ...

Overview of Canada Videos 10 Facts about Canada Flag Worksheet Map Coloring Page Geo-Puzzle America Canada Wordsearch Science: Learned how maple syrup is made ( Modern ) and ( Old-fashioned ) More info on Sugar Maples Worksheets for Kids (including one for making Maple Popcorn) Art: Emily Carr Video Biography Another Biography Colored " Forest " with chalk pastels Reading: Read  Ox-Cart Man  (this probably takes place in the USA, but it talks about tapping Maple trees.) Things we didn't do at school, but could be fun: More things Expedition Earth's Lesson Plan for Canada Lots of Canada Day Activities from DLTK-Kids Make Canadian Flapjacks!

Confessions of a Homeschooler  and  Homeschool Creations  both have great unit studies on the Netherlands.  We used a lot of ideas from Homeschool Creations this particular week. Overview of the Netherlands Videos showing places in Holland/Netherlands Holland - The Land of Windmills, Tulips and Canals View from Above - Netherlands Flag Worksheet Mapping the Netherlands Science: Windmills Why they are needed in the Netherlands Since 1/4 of the country is below sea level, they use windmills to pump the water out to create farmlands. Windmill Paper Towel Craft Tulips Magic School Bus Goes to Seed and Gets Planted Videos Studied  parts of a tulip Parts of a Plant and Flower Worksheet Diagram Art: Vincent Van Gogh Biography Art Project  for Starry Night Starry Night Coloring Page Sunflowers Coloring Page Literature: "The Little Hero of Holland" from  The Book of Virtues Things we didn't do at scho...

Here are some links around the web that I've found to supplement our first few readings from  Story of the World Volume 3 (Disclaimer: Please preview everything to see if they are appropriate for your family) Chapter One: A World of Empires Videos: Crash Course World History #219 : Charles V Crash Course World History #25 : Spanish Empire (also viewable on Khan Academy ) Online Activities: Become a Spice Trader game (found from looking at this blog ) Chapter Two: Protestant Rebellions Online Activities: Mary, Queen of Scots Spying Game Tudors and Victorians Dress-Up Game Chapter Three: James, King of Two Countries Videos: Black Death Disease! Crash Course World History Gunpowder Plot Stories from Parliament Part I Stories from Parliament Part II History of the King James Bible Crash Course US History #2 : Colonizing America Crash Course US History #3 : The Natives and the English Jamestown Settl...

A glimpse into what we learned about Germany About Germany: Germany Tourism Video Facts (from Expedition Earth ) Flag Map Work Wordsearch with Facts Science: Einstein!  (I totally expect a lot of this to be over the kids head, but I believe that exposure to something like this early sets a tone for what they will learn in detail later). Biography from Ted-Ed Lesson from Ted-Ed From Biography.com Worksheet about his life Art/Music: Beethoven Worksheet Video Biography Reading: Grimm's Fairy Tales are from Germany!  There are a lot of them in simplified versions in the Treadwell Readers (especially the Second Reader), but we also read Rapunzel and Cinderella as read-alouds. Things we didn't get to this week: Neuschwanstein Castle Tour Guide - YouTube Made a castle out of blocks Paul Klee (Artist) Video Biography Art Activities Hands-On Activities Paper Dolls Make  German Pancakes Movie Suggestions Cinderella...

Here is what a typical day looks like at "school" Play Time Drop-off time at school is 8:30AM.  We are currently made up of four families and have seven kids.  We intend to be more of a homeschool setting than a school, so we try to make it as engaging with the kids as possible.  They usually just want to hang out with their friends once they first see them in the morning.  Play time first thing in the morning allows for them to get some energy out, connect with their friends, and let the parents chat a bit before getting into the school day. Sharing Time Z sharing about his last book that he read Once we've gathered all the kids together, we have sharing time.  I do this mostly to ward off rabbit trail conversations and questions throughout the morning.  I have each kid come up individually and usually ask them a question.  Usually, it's something like, "What did you do this weekend?"  Or maybe it's "Show and Tell".  Many of ...

When we moved to Thailand a year and a half ago, this blog lost its purpose.  My focus shifted from my attention being dominated by two young boys to what I hoped would be full-time ministry half-way around the world.  We even created a new blog, Living Into Eventually , to chronicle our time there. In a series of disappointments, we found that what we originally came to do in Thailand wasn't for us.  It was a dream that was laid to rest, and we struggled to find a fit while we find ourselves here.  Homeschooling our children was our main constant through the ups and downs of living in a different country. Late in 2015, I found out about a small homeschooling coop in our little town.  The teacher of this "school" of 7 children was no longer able to teach, and I realized that this would be a wonderful opportunity for me to use my gifts.  Also, after having been pretty isolated, the coop would also be a place for my boys to have more social interaction wi...