Moldova

A couple of months ago my sister-in-law asked if we wanted to go with her to Chisinau. Ummm, where? It's the capital of Moldova. Ummm, where? It's a former Soviet Republic located between the Ukraine and Romania.. Oh....

So, this week she's in Moldova. (And, no, we did not go.) This summer we are headed on a big, 2 week trip to Europe and we, too, will visit a former Soviet Republic! Our stop: Estonia.

I've been reading and researching about the former USSR the past few weeks. From what I've read Moldova is the poorest former Soviet Republic (and the poorest country in Europe) and they elected a Communist leader in 2001. Estonia, on the other hand, is the richest former republic.

There are 15 post-Soviet states and they are typically grouped as follows:
BALTIC STATES: Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
EASTERN EUROPE: Belarus, Moldova &Ukraine
SOUTHERN CAUCASUS: Armenia, Azerbaijan, & Georgia
CENTRAL ASIA: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, & Uzbekistan
RUSSIA: Russia

The USSR dissolved in 1991 which was after I graduated from high school, so I never learned about these countries. I'm currently reading a book about Lithuania during WWII which I'll review soon! And, I hope my sister-in-law will send me a few photos when she returns.

International Postcard Swap

Barb at Harmony Art Mom posted about an Internaional Postcard Swap she's participating in and I just signed up, too. Basically, you'll be sending out 5 postcards between May 4th, when you receive your list, and May 10th. Then, you'll receive 5 postcards from different places around the world. You can get all the details at  Playing by the Book. What a great way to have a geography lesson!

UPDATE: I got an email from the lady hosting the exchange. They are currently very short on international swappers and have put some US residents on a wait list. So, if you're from a country besides the US, we'd love to have you! You only have to send out 5 postcards!

"How the States Got Their Shapes" on History Channel

I haven't watched it, but I'm going to DVR "How the States Got Their Shapes." It is airing on the History Channel on Tuesday. I saw a commercial and it looks really intersting!

 (photo from my "Drawing the United States" post)

Here's what I found online: Most Americans are familiar with the map of United States , but do we know why our states look the way they do? Every shape on the map tells a great story about our past. Why is California bent and why does Oklahoma have a panhandle? This documentary shows how borders were determined because of the shifting boundaries of slavery, and unexpected events such as earthquakes. The program blends geography and history, showing how state borders have been affected by politics and the natural world. Why is California bent? To cling on to gold. Why does Oklahoma have a panhandle? Because of shifting borders for slavery. Why does Missouri have a boot? Because of a massive earthquake.

Countdown to Mystery Class: Less Than 2 Weeks to Go

Last year, Alex and I participated in Journey North's Mystery Class. This year's class will start on February 1st. Right now, you can go to their site and download Teacher's Packets #1 ("Discovering Latitude Clues") & #2 ("Discovering Longitude Clues") so you can practice with last year's data. These packets are new this year and I think they will be a GREAT help.

(photo of our graph at week 6 from last year)

If you are not familiar with the Mystery Class, you are basically going on a hunt to find 10 "mystery" classes which are "hidden" around the globe. You will first use sunrise/sunset data to help determine the latitude of each class. In late March, you will receive a special set of "longitude clues" to help you determine the longitude of each class. Then, you will start receiving weekly clues about each mystery class. These might include special holidays they celebrate, landmarks, history, etc. At this point, you will have narrowed down the classes to a latitude & longitude and are using the clues to help you locate the precise city.

These classes are a LOT of fun... and include a LOT of learning. We are getting ready to study the Olympics and then census, so I'm not sure if we'll be participating or not. But, I do want to encourage you to check it out, and I hope we will find the time to join in the hunt!

Mastering Geography with Seterra

We started back to school yesterday and I decided we both needed to learn more geography. Specifically, I wanted us to learn the location of major countries, rivers, mountain ranges, etc. I opened up a FREE PDF file I had saved called Globalmania which is created by Knowledge Quest.

One of the sites Globalmania takes you to is called Seterra (photographs are of Seterra).  It is a wonderful geography 'game' where you loctae countries or cities or flags... whatever you'd like to work on. We started with the European countries yesterday. My goal was to have her learn about 15 "major" countries - but we have BOTH learned ALL of the European countries... in just 2 days!!!

                                        

Now we are working on the US states. Basically, the screen starts with all of the states (or countries) in green. If you get the question right on the first try, it turns WHITE. If you get it on the second try, it turns LIGHT YELLOW. If you get it on the third try, it turns DARK YELLOW. And, if you miss it on all 3 of your tries, it turns RED. (This was Alex's first try on the US states.)

                                   

What makes it so fun is that it lists the "Top Ten" scores after each game on that computer. And, you can write as much as you want. You don't have to just write your name (like "Dana"). You can write, "Yippee!!! I'm getting so fast! :-)" or "That's Dana's best score EVER!!!" Can you see how fun that is???

The "Top Ten" is what is keeping us so hooked on this game. In fact, we are both now making 100% on the European countries, but you can go up on the list by getting FASTER!!! Alex is loving this so much that she got up early today and stayed up late tonight playing!

For the sake of  variety and to make sure we aren't just memorizing that particular map, here are 2 other games we've been playing and really like:

• Sheppard Software - this one also offers information about each country and includes some city-states not on Seterra
• Lizard Point - this one also includes the city-states (link is to European countries)

Houston Italian Festival

A few weeks ago, we went to the Houston Italian Festival. We'd been a few years ago, but it has really grown since then! There was so much to see and do!

We watched some Tarantella dancers. There are several myths or legends about how these circular dances started. Here, we were told that dancing had been outlawed in Italy (or Sicily?), so people would act like they'd been bitten by a spider and dance around to get around the law. I read other stories about being bit by spiders. The stories are pretty interesting. Anyway, it is a lively dance and fun to watch!

We also got to watch a pasta eating contest... very funny! This lady, one of the dancers, came in 2nd last year... and she won this year! Most of the contestants were men. :-)

We enjoyed watching teens participate in sidewalk chalk art. The contest was called I Madonnari.

I Madonnari events actually take place all over Europe. At this Rosa Villa site, they said that these events started in Italy in the 1980's when artists started reproducing famous art on the famous squares in Italy.  My mother says she has seen this kind of sidewalk art in several countries in Europe.

We tried several different types of food at the festival. We ate pizza for dinner... it was more traditional Italian with a very thin crust.  When we were at the festival before, we had tried the donuts called Sfingi and enjoyed them. So, we bought them again... and didn't enjoy them as much. So, we tried Italian Ice and loved it!

They had only a few rides, but Alex tried this one we've never seen before. Only 4 people ride at a time and they 'pump' with their arms to make it spin around. We watched the ride a few time, and we saw the people (mostly adults!) looking VERY sick. Well, I wasn't sure Alex should try it but she LOVES crazy rides and never gets sick. I let her try it... and you should have seen her smile... the whole time! She never once looked sick. Whew!

We saw this guy who was making REAL mosaics! His art was incredible. He is actually chiseling the pieces to make them the correct size and shape!

And, we watched the kids doing a grape stomp! The barrels are filled with grapes. The kids stomp, and the grape juice goes out a tube in the bottom to a bucket below. The kids only got about 5 seconds each. Later, adults were going to have a contest to see which team could make the most juice, but we didn't stick around.

And, we enjoyed listening to this strolling accordion musician. He was near us as we were in line for food and sang "That's Amore."

Happy 4th Birthday to...

MY BLOG!!!

I started this blog 4 years ago as Alex was starting kindergarten. I thought for my blog's birthday, I'd post some photos from that first semester of kindergarten. (Many of these have to do with the Galloping the Globe curriculum - still one of my FAVORITE all time curriculum!)

a play dough model of the earth

the Eiffel tower

3 states of matter
FIAR snowman
leaning tower of Pisa

the Wright brother's Flyer

painting like Monet

building a pyramid

an "insect" dessert

learning about bee pollination... with Cheetos & a 'bee' finger!

So, where did the years go? Alex looks so young to me in these photos. I am so grateful that I not only took lots of pictures, but have been blogging about our experiences! I made her kindergarten years into a book and some day I need to do the rest of her school years. Maybe that can be my "August project."

 

I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment on this post so I can get an idea of how many people are reading my blog. Thanks to you all!!! I don't think I would still be blogging after 4 years if I didn't feel like people were reading it, enjoying it, and hopefully learning from it occasionally or getting an idea to try. Thanks for reading!!!

Expedition Africa - starts Sunday!

The History Channel will start a new, 8 part series called Expedition Africa this Sunday, May 31st. This series "retraces the 1871 journey of Henry Morton Stanley through the African interior in search of the famed Scottish explorer David Livingston."

This series looks amazing, though I will preview it as it also looks pretty scary. Four modern-day explorers attempt to retrace the steps of Stanley through the perilous African continent. There are video clips about the series at this link. And, there are lesson plans at this link. According to the site, this series would be helpful for "studying history, global studies, geography, social studies & world cultures."

If you have access to the History Channel, you might want to check this out! (Again, I haven't seen it yet so I would recommend previewing these episodes.)

Upcoming Houston Area Festivals

Here are some upcoming Houston area festivals that we are hoping to attend! (photo from Sam Houston Festival in 2006.)

Houston Children's Festival. Dates: April 4th & 5th. We've been to this festival many times since Alexandra was a toddler, but I've never blogged about it! If we get to go this year, I'll post some photos!

Houston International Festival. The focus country this year is Ireland . Dates: April 18th & 19th/25th & 26th. Through their website you can buy tickets half price through the end of March! We've attended this festival only once, in 2006, when the focus country was Jamaica. IFest offers EXTENSIVE Teacher's Guides online. Unfortunately, it looks like you can only access this years and the past 3 years guides, but those include Ireland (183 pages!), Africa, China, and Jamaica. These guides would be helpful for anyone studying those countries. The guides include things like environment, geography, culture and history.

Houston Japan Festival. Dates: April 25th & 26th. We've never been to this festival, but we hope to try it out this year!

Sam Houston Folk Festival . Dates: May 1st - 3rd. We've also been to this only once, in 2006. There are lots of wonderful demonstrations at this festival! I highly recommend it! It's about an hour north of Houston.

Dragon Boat Festival. Date: May 2nd. We've also never been to this one but we learned about dragon boat racing while studying Canada. Then, we found out that Houston has a dragon boat race!!! So, we're really looking forward to this event. Since dragon boat racing originated in Asia, there is also a "celebration of Asian culture" that takes place on the day of the race with dancing, music, and taiko drumming.

Drawing the United States

We joined Classical Conversations in January, but last semester the students were working on memorizing the states and capitals. One of the resources some of the families used was Mr. Walker's Web Site on how to memorize the U.S.

Mr. Walker's method actually involves learning to draw all of the states in their proper places from memory. He does this by using neat memory devices like remembering Wyoming is off center from the other 4 "square" states below it. You ask yourself "Why" when you're drawing it and remember "Why? is Wyoming."

We're also learning the capitals as we learn to draw the states. So far, we're just working on the first 10, but I hope Alexandra and I can both draw and name all of the states and capitals by the end of the semester.

Here are a few more US geography resources:

• The Scrambled States of America book, video, and game (we haven't played the game, but I'd like to buy it!) - Alexandra has read the book and watched the video MANY times
• The Scrambled States of American Talent Show - this just came out in 2008 and we haven't read it yet
• At Shepphard Software you can take quizes on states, capitals and landscapes

Longitude & Latitude Tattoo

I don't know why the "geography all the way" link from my post last night is not working now. The site says it is down for maintenance, so I hope it is back up soon. We thought it was a good site.

And, as far as the tattoo lady... while trying to figure out why the link was broke I googled "longitude latitude tattoo" and came up with the answer. The lady with the latitudes & longitudes tattooed on her arm is Angelina Jolie. And, why the 4 tattoos? They mark each of the places where her children were born! In fact, she now has twins so she's added 2 more tattoos on her arm! I guess this is one way to learn more about geography!

Where in the World? Eiffel Tower

This week, Alexandra solved clues #2 & #3 of Where in the World is Mrs. Waffenshmidt? I was happy that she solved both of them (King Tut in Egypt and Eiffel Tower in Paris, France) without even having to use the internet!

Besides finding the tower and the country for clue #3, you were supposed to find the name of the famous science fiction author who has a restaurant named after him on the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower. We had to look that up and found out it was Jules Verne.

(Above is a photo my brother, "the world traveler", took in 2008.)

We looked up Jules Verne to find out what famous books he has written. Among other things, he wrote Around the World in Eighty Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. We were so amazed as we had just started reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea the night before! This was also a reminder to me that we need to be discussing the authors as we read. When Alexandra was younger, we always read the title and author and illustrator names. This helped with her reading skills, but it also helped us to find some favorite authors and illustrators.

Where in the World is Mrs. Waffenschmidt?

We started something fun for geography this week. It's called "Where in the world is Mrs. Waffenschmidt?" There are 36 lessons and each lesson gives you a clue. Using the clues, you are supposed to figure out the name and location of each of Mrs. Waffenschmidt's trips. Here is clue #1:

Yesterday, I decided to get on a plane and take a trip. I found myself in a wonderful place. One of the most amazing things I saw was a huge white building that looks like a palace - but it's really a tomb for a dead woman! Seems when the man's wife died, he was so upset he wanted to build her the most beautiful tome in the world. The architect who designed it was "rewarded" by having his eyes pulled out! (Some people say his hands were crushed too.) Whatever really happened, it was done so the man couldn't build another building to rival this one. I am in a city called Agra. Can you tell what famous tourist place and country I am visiting?

We used google and I had Alexandra figure out some key words. She chose "white tomb Agra." Then, we looked at the results: Mrs. Waffenschmidt was in India visiting the Taj Mahal.

We read a few short articles about the Taj Mahal and found out this tomb was actually for the THIRD wife of the emperor. This surprised me as he built this tomb because he was so greif-stricken... and it wasn't even his first or his only wife.

My brother, "the world traveler" as I like to call him, has visited the Taj Mahal. So, I asked him to send me some photos - and he did! What's neat about the photo below is that he took it in a mirror. The emperor had a mirror built by his palace in Fort Agra so he could his wife's resting place from the palace.

My brother has been to 3 of the first 5 destinations (I've peeked and looked at the answers) so he's sending me photos from those, too. I think it'll make it more personal.

So, we're reading the clues, googling, reading about the destinations and looking at photos. We also need to find it on a map. I'd like to do something to keep, too. Maybe a lapbook or something. Any ideas???

Family On Bikes

Lapaz Home Learning posted about "the coolest homeschooling family EVER". This family includes mom, dad, and twin boys her are 10. Oh, and their dog! They will soon be starting about a 2.5 year bike ride along the Pan-American Highway and will earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest people to bike the whole highway.

They will be blogging about their adventures from the tip of Alaska to the bottom tip of South America. They are hoping for this to be a very education experience not only for their own kids, but for students anywhere... including homeschoolers! I think we'll be using this for some geography studies... starting with Alaska!!!

Easter Week

This weekend, we decided to make a bunny hutch to decorate our table for Easter. Alexandra even added a pool to the backyard.


The kit came with 3 bunnies, but only one of ours survived. I really liked this kit (I just saw some more at Target today), because the hutch is already put together! At Christmas, we had a really hard time putting together our gingerbread house. And, decorating it is the best part anyway!


We've also been working on a free lapbook from Homeschool Share using The Legend of the Easter Egg. It's kind of like a FIAR (Five in a Row) study.

On Monday, we did the language arts section - we read a poem about dying Easter eggs, worked on learning some vocabulary words from the book (like "bedlam" and "pelt"), and talked about similes. We had never discussed similies before and had fun doing a worksheet from this website and then had more fun making up funny similes during lunch.

Today, we did the geography component of the lapbook. We talked about faberge eggs and looked at photos of the eggs we'd made 2.5 years ago when Alexandra was only 4! And, we located Russia, Moscow, and St. Petersburg (where the eggs were made) on a map.

Tomorrow we plan on doing some neat science experiments and there is still more to do! And, there are recipes listed which we will probably do this weekend.

And, on Thursday or Friday we will discuss the real meaning of Easter - Jesus and His death and resurrection. The lapbook includes a Bible verse to memorize, a little book to discuss Good Friday and Easter Sunday, another to discuss the meaning of the bread and wine for communion, and one about the symbolism of the Easter Egg.

We are really enjoying these lapbooks from Homeschool Share and can't wait to do Rechenka's Eggs next week! The study includes more details of the geography of Russia, explains oviparous animal, has Russian recipes, and much more! And, Alexandra has a whole list of lapbooks she'd like to do after that.

Getting Ready for the Iditarod

Since Robin and her son at Martin Zoo had so much fun following the Iditarod last year, we decided to give it a try! Today, we printed out our map of Alaska using Robin's tip to use the "poster" print option on our printer so it would print out on 4 pages. We also chose our mushers.

I chose 2 mushers, but after researching them, I've decided to narrow it down to one. Alexandra has chosen 2.

• Mine: Dee Dee Jonrowe because of her faith and her love of the dogs. Her blog says "DeeDee has won numerous awards for the care of her dogs through her career, including the best-cared for team, the best dog care award (given by staff veterinarians), and the dog's best friend award." She "is the foremost female dog musher competing in the world today. She has both the fastest time of any woman in the history of the Iditarod and thirteen top ten finishes in her career." She is also a breast cancer survivor. She has come in 2nd on 3 different occasions and finished 4th in 2006. She was scratched in 2007.
• Alexandra: Melissa Owens because she is the youngest female - she'll turn 18 on February 18th. She has completed four Jr. Iditarod races and was the 2005 champion. She raises and trains most of her own dogs and has worked closely with DeeDee Jonrowe the last several years. (That's my musher!!!)
• Alexandra: Anne Capistrant which was also Robin at Martin Zoo's pick. Alexandra likes the fact the she has 2 young daughters who are 8 and 6 - just about her age! And, they are homeschooled!

So, we're ready to see what we do next! Is anyone else following/studying the Iditarod?

Geography and the Explorers

Our online KONOS co-op is currently studying the explorers. Along with that topic, we're studying geography. For example, since we're studying the Caribbean area that Columbus and other explorers explored, we're learning the names of the islands, bodies of water, etc, in that area. I came up with this neat idea of printing out a map, placing it on a sheet of corkboard (I got 4 of them for about $6 at WalMart) and then we take turns naming a place and the other person needs to place a pin in it. We're both really enjoying this game and have learned a lot! (Geography is NOT one of my strong points!)

We also used a Montessori approach to learning some land and water forms. We made models of the various land/water forms from Model Magic (which actually began to dissolve and get slimey in the water!) and added blue-colored water to make the water. For example, Vasco de Balboa crossed the isthmus of Panama, so we made this peninsula to show what that term means. (I'd seen another homeschooling blogger do something similar - but, unfortunately I don't remember who!)

Japanese Videos - Online!

Under the "video" tab, we watched some great videoes about Japan at this site.

We enjoyed the following videos:
Giesha Story "Sakurako" (talks with a geisha and shows her putting on makeup, getting dressed, and dancing)
Taiko Drums Festival (love it!!!)
Tsukiji fish market (kind of gross, though, with them cutting up the fish)
Mt. Fuji Climbing - Let's Climb!!! (neat to see KIDS climbing the mountain! at least at the lower parts) (and, I like how they get a "stamp" on their stick as they climb)

I don't recommend:
Onsen: Open-air bath

Daruma Dolls

We used a neat product called Rigid Wrap (you use it like paper mache) to make Daruma Dolls as we finished up our Japanese studies. We also went to Benihana this weekend for a Japanese meal.

Alexandra had never been and I've only been once - about 10 years ago. It was so much fun! If you haven't been before, they cook at your table, and it is quite a show. We had about 5 courses and liked almost everything. Alexandra especially enjoyed the fried rice and her chicken. I loved my shrimp and steak. What a wonderful finish to our study!!!

Geta

My friend, Ms. S, let me borrow some of her things while we're studying Japan. One year, for Halloween, she made one of her daughters a kimono and some geta (wooden clog shoes worn in Japan)! I thought she did a wonderful job and Alexandra was so happy to try these on and clomp around in them.

While studying Japan, I've enjoyed some of the posts at Ping Magazine. They have one called "Clacking with Your Wooden Japanese Clogs" that has some great photos of Japanese shoes. I especially loved some of the clogs which they use for certain jobs, like for planting rice and making tea.