India Week

We finally are moving on to our next continent, Asia.  Rather behind where I'd like to be, but oh well, we had fun lingering in Oceania.  We did a gentle introduction to Asia last week with the bulk of the work specific to India this week.

We got our passports stamped for our trip (passport how to post here). Asia Passport Stamps

Older Toad did the Montessori pin flag activity for Asia.  You can get the flags as a free download at Montessori Materials here.  They are not the fold over style so you'll have to tape them to the pins which is not very official Montessori but free is great.

We got a new audiobook for the car, Jungle Book.  The boy's like Kipling, we did Rikki Tikki Tavi and the Just So Stories last year so I knew it'd be popular.  I like to make vocabulary builder projects for our audiobooks so I went to the Discovery Education website to use their free custom word search builder.  It's a great tool.  I like theirs because you can copy the word search you made into another program and bump up the font size.


We did the Tiger lapbook that was a really nice freebie from Homeschool Share.  We did not use it, but there's some free printable curriculum to go with the Magic Treehouse, Tigers at Twilight here.





It was Grandma's birthday last week so we used the Locchricio cookbook to make her an Indian feast.  I love Madhur Jaffrey's cookbooks and own several of them.  The Locchricio one is a kids cookbook because the directions are more extensive than regular cookbooks but the quality of the recipes is just as good.  The banana, date chutney was really different and yummy.

 

We looked at the materials from the Indian embassy which I did a post about here.

We took a virtual tour and watched some videos about the Taj Mahal here.

We did the regular stuff like math, handwriting and spelling too.

Originally, I'd hoped to study Diwali when it was actually going on but we got behind.  Instead, reading about it provided some good opportunities to compare it to Christmas.  I asked Toad for some similarities and differences and he came up with some good ones.  He also read one of the Cricket publications about Hinduism. I bought a world religions theme pack on sale awhile back.

We've been getting ready for Christmas around here.  We decorated the tree (which is a bamboo palm this year), made some upcycled gift wrap (post here) and wreaths.  The eggnog has been yummy!

Hope you're enjoying the holiday spirit too!


Update 12/15/12

I should have included that the end of the month is the anniversary of Rudyard Kipling's birthday.  He was born December 30th, 1865.  A resource online.

*This post contains affiliate links

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Spoke Too Soon

On Monday I posted our summary of our embassy requests. I thought since it'd been over three months since I mailed the requests, we wouldn't be receiving any more packages. The day I did that post we got a large envelope from Panama. 

 Inside it contained:

• Panama - a trifold brochure in a mola design. Since we have molas on the wall from my husband's stay in Panama that's very relevant. 

•  A CD with Panama info 

• A super large format map.

 Muchas gracias! 

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Please Tell Us About Your Country Summary

Asking the various embassies for information about their countries has been a rewarding project.  We got lots of helpful materials.  This is a summary of the project as the posts were strung out over the whole fall.

Intro to the project
Australia
Canada 
France
Germany
India
Ireland
Mexico
Myanmar
Spain
United Kingdom

The countries we requested information from but did not get a response from were: Botswana, Brazil, China, Egypt, Japan, Panama, and Russia.

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Please Tell Us About Your Country - German Edition

 
I requested materials from many countries' embassies for our upcoming year of school.  This is the last country in the series of posts.  You can read the original post here.  The German embassy went well above the call of duty and an sent amazing array of materials.  They were very prompt in replying and these two photos are of the things they sent us.  They also sent an email with a great list of online resources.  Those I've added in at the bottom of the post with their descriptions.

The embassy sent in triplicate:

•  lanyards with the German and US flags
• German flags and wristbands
• Pens, pencils and stickers for the German Information Center
• Get to Know Germany Coloring Book
• Facts about Germany
• UNESCO World Heritage in Germany (that was my favorite) 
• All this is Germany - magazine highlighting historical towns and cities
• DE Magazin Deutschland - Politics, Culture and Business (the current issue highlighted sustainable development).  They also an issue from 2007 focused on Art and Culture.
• Religious Germany
• Vibrant Towns and Cities - A large travel magazine
• Welcome to Germany - The Magazine for Independent Travellers (Issues Winter 2011 and Summer 2012)
• Destination Germany
• A 2 sided map with political and physical boundaries.
• On the ball with the beautiful game - Women's World Cup booklet      
• A road map

It was so much stuff it made me feel guilty for asking.  I'm sharing all the duplicates with homeschool coop families.

Dankeschön

Online Materials suggested by the embassy:

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/02__GIC/GIC/03/__Print.html

Educational videos and dvds are available online and for download through the following website:

http://www.magazine-deutschland.de/en/video-categories.html?rmnmm_src=video

For additional educational material, we suggest contacting the Goethe-Institut, Germany’s center for language and culture.  To find an institute near you and to view their material online, please visit the following website:

http://www.goethe.de/lhr/mat/enindex.htm

In addition to these materials, I would like to direct you to our website, www.germany.info.  There you can find information about Germany for various grade levels and interests.  Germany for Kids (www.germany.info/kids) and Germany for Teens (www.germany.info/teens) are accessible websites especially designed to introduce students to various aspects of German culture and life.

Also located on www.germany.info under the heading "Education and Exchange," you can find teacher kits and other educational resources for teachers.
http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/06__Education/01/03/__Resources__for__teachers.html

The German Information Center USA also provides several electronic newsletters, including a bi-monthly newsletter for educators, "Germany in Class." To find a description of all electronic newsletters and instructions as to how to subscribe, please visit the following website:

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/02__GIC/GIC/04/__Newsletter.html

Finally, the following Web sites may provide you with additional materials for your class.

http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/

http://www.young-germany.de/

http://www.land-of-ideas.org/

http://www.deutschland.de/

http://www.cometogermany.de/

http://www.entdecke-deutschland.de

http://www.hanisauland.de/en/en_index.html (for children)

http://publications.europa.eu/docs/flipping_book/catalogue/index.htm#/0 (about European Union)

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Please Tell Us About Your Country - Myanmar Edition

To read what this project is about, here is the original post.

The Embassy of Myanmar was kind enough to send us:

• a handout describing the flag of Myanmar

• a booklet of Myanmar Travel Information.  I liked this one for the pictures.

• a tourist map of Myanmar

Blogger does not support Burmese script so I can't say thank you in Burmese, but we appreciate the materials!

Today, November 19th, President Obama is visiting Myanmar and is the first US President to do so.  Here is an interesting summary of our nation's relations with Myanmar in the last year from the White House Blog.

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Please Tell us About Your Country - Spain Edition

Here is the link to the original post to see what this project was all about.

Before we received our envelope, the Embassy kindly sent an email with these documents attached.

In our envelope we had:

• A handout describing the elements of the flag of Spain.

• A picture of a Spanish castle.

• Two reproductions of maps of Spain.  One was a topographical map and one showed the different provinces.

• A recipe for Tortilla de Patatas.  I love Spanish patatas so this will be fun.

Muchas Gracias!

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Weekend Away

The highlight of our homeschool week was the time we didn't spend homeschooling. My husband and I got to run away for a 2 night stay at a bed and breakfast. No special occasion, just in honor of the grandparents being willing to keep the kids.

Left:  View of the Carillon  Top Right:  Sundial at the base of the tower  Bottom Right:  View of the orange groves

We spent a whole day at Bok Tower. Bok Tower is a really interesting place.  It's in Lake Wales Florida which is not really a destination location, no offense meant, it's just rather out of the way.  The tower and grounds were built as a place to honor nature, encourage reflection, and peace for humanity.  All of it was originated and financed by Edward Bok who was the editor of Ladies Home Journal for over 25 years.  He hired leaders in their field at the time to do the work such as Frederick Law Olmsted (who designed central park) to design the grounds and Samuel Yellin's firm (who did the Federal Reserve bank in New York) to do the ironwork.

I had really wanted to take a tour of the house.  The Garden acquired the neighboring estate Pinewood, whose grounds were also designed by Olmsted.  It's normally open for self guided tours but both times I've visited in the past I've had the kids and didn't want that battle.  Unfortunately, this time it was closed for Christmas decorating so I still didn't get to go.  Oh well, it gives me something new for next time still.
 

The next day we took a trip to the Florida Citrus Arboretum. The Arboretum is one of our best kept local secrets. It's a really amazing place. They have over 250 varieties of citrus on 4 acres. Most of the varieties you've of course never heard of, or had a chance to taste before. While there, you can eat all you want. For a fee, you can pick fruit by the bushel. This is the second time we've been. Last time we went it was December so a different set of varieties was ripe. That's part of the fun since you never know what you're going to get.

We came home with samples of:  Brown's Select Satsumas, Kimbrough Satsumas, Sunki Satsumas, Meiwa Kumquats, Procimequats, Lakeland Limequats, Variegated Rough Lemon, Red Rough Lemon, Nine Pound Lemon, Hirado Pummelo, Liang Ping Yau Pummelo, Pink Pummelo and Marisol Clementine.

We started three liqueurs from some of our haul.  Homemade liqueurs make great holiday gifts.  In the past we've made Calamondin liqueur from our neighbors tree.  The tree's gotten so old it's not producing anymore.  The book below is the one we use for our recipes.  It was published some time ago and there are more recent books available, but years ago I saw the authors speak at a conference so I am partial to this one.  They've published on a really diverse range of topics and are interesting people.

Of course, I caught a cold from younger Toad and got my period too, but it was still so great to get away.  We had a gourmet meal without complaints about the food, got to carry on a conversation without interruption, and slept in.  I hope all of you reading this get a break soon too.

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Please Tell us about Your Country - French Edition

The original post to see what this project is about is here.

The French embassy was kind enough to send us:

• Paris Map – This is a great little map because it places the famous French monuments on the map with a little image of the structure. It'a mini Beaux Arts map.

• News from France – A monthly review of French news & trends

• A brochure for Tivi 5 Monde – French TV. This was the Toads' favorite thing.

• A French highway map.

• A business card with the French embassy's social media addresses.

• A booklet on the European Union – This would be great information for older kids, especially with the recent Nobel award.

Merci Beaucoup!

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Please Tell us About Your Country - India Edition

You can read the original post regarding what this project was about here.

The Indian Embassy was kind enough to send:

A Time to Rejoice - A really nicely designed booklet covering India's fairs and festivals.  The pages are shaped like carousel animals and the last page is a handy month by month reference.  I'm looking forward to Yoga week in February.

India Perspective - Our parcel included Jan. 2012 and Nov 2011.  This is a glossy magazine produced by India's Ministry of External Affairs.

India Review - We received issues Feb - May 2012.  This is monthly magazine focused on geopolitical issues.  It would be great for high school students.

Incredible !ndia - This is a booklet series focused on specific areas of Indian tourism.  We received larger booklets on Adventure Sports,  Nature & Wildlife and Arts & Crafts.  The Toads of course loved Nature & Wildlife with the tiger on the cover and I liked Arts & Crafts.

Incredible !ndia - We also received in the same series a set of maps of New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai and a little booklet about Tirupati.

A cd with a publicity documentary about India.

And last but not least we received a little booklet about Varanasi.

आपको धन्यवाद देता हूं। 

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Please Tell us About Your Country - Australia Edition

Here is the link to the original post to see what this project was about.  Australia/Oceanis is the first continent we're visiting on our worldwide 'tour'.

The envelope on this one was even exciting as instead of a return address it had the seal of the Australian government and an address label with a boomerang.  We'll be cutting those out and putting them in our lapbook.  The Australian embassy was kind enough to send:

• Australia compact reference map - a nice very complete map.

• 2 Australian flag temporary tattoos

• 2 packets of coloring pages with Australian images like koalas and the Sydney Opera House.

• A booklet called Tell Me About Australia geared towards kids.  This has all the info you would need for a unit study on Australia.  The booklet is available on the embassy's website here as a PDF.

Good on ya mates! 

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Please Tell Us About Your Country - Mexico Edition

Here is the original post to read what this project was about.

The Mexican embassy generously sent:

• National Geographic Traveler Mexico 50 Discoveries 

• Mexico Beyond Your Expectations

• A kids booklet called Mexico for You produced by the Mexican Cultural Institute

Muchas Gracias!

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Please Tell us About Your Country - Ireland Edition

Here is the link to the original post to see what this project was about.

The Irish Embassy was kind enough to send:

• A road map of Ireland. This map had advertisers on it and one that might be of interest to homeschoolers is Walton's music.

• A booklet designed for kids called Friends in Ireland.  This was the popular one here.

• A larger booklet called Ireland in Brief.  Both booklets are well illustrated. 

Go raibh maith agat

Please Tell us About Your Country - UK edition

Here is the link to the original post to see what this project was about.

I thought I'd start with this country just to get the not fun stuff out of the way.

We got a letter back from the British Embassy and they were not helpful.  Perhaps with the Olympics they were overtaxed but they said they were not able to provide any materials.

They sent a form letter that suggested looking at the following websites:

http://www.visitbritain.com/en/US/
http://fco.gov.uk/en
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1038758.stm

I'll keep the posts coming.  It was a fruitful project overall but my good English name got me nowhere.

Tampa Bay Staycation Tour

Slideshows of other people's vacations can be really boring...

So I thought I'd stick to the highlights of our recent staycation with links for those people planning on coming here or for those of you who like links to the education programming.  We get lots of tourists because it really is nice here.  I once posted on a large mommy listserve about vacation options for places to go for a mom and her toddler together as a vacation (back when I only had one tadpole).  My husband travels regularly and I thought it'd give the toad and I a change of scenery to go away while he was gone.  I didn't mention where we lived just asked for opinions on great places for a mom and kid to vacation.  There were 5 responses and every single person said the beach.  I sighed and we walked to the beach.

Here's our latest adventures.

Lowry Park Zoo - The animal above is an African okapi.  It's always one of my favorites to visit because they're so beautiful.  My husband hadn't been in three years so he had an especially good time.  Here's a link to the education page with PDF's for educational activities (look for self guided curriculum in the center of the page).  I took the opportunity of the vacation this week to start Zoo Story by Thomas French.  It's a book he wrote all about Lowry Park Zoo.  He used to be a reporter for the local newspaper and our recently reinvigorated Friends of the Library had him for a guest speaker at their one year anniversary which is where I picked up the book.  My grandmother used to take me to the zoo and I had not been to one in over 20 years until I had kids.  The author does a good job of talking about the specifics of this zoo and the philosophical implications of zoos in general.  There's a good bit of gender observations too which make for a good laugh.

Selby Gardens - This is only the second time we've been and we have had a lovely time both times. Here they have two PDF's for different ages to do a plant hunt.  I printed them out and attached them to handled paper bags for the kids to collect treasures (with strict instructions that treasure only comes off the ground and absolutely no picking).  I don't think they finished either one but they loved having an official place for all the seeds they found.  The PDF's were generic enough you could use them at a garden near you probably.  Also, they are known as a research institution so the website has lots of articles and resources available.

We went to the Dali for the first time since they relocated and expanded.  They did a wonderful job and the new museum was a great way to spend a morning.  My husband and I went with younger toad while the older was at preschool.  I hadn't taken him to a museum in years since they last time I did we both left in tears.  He was much better this time and enjoyed the scavenger hunt they provide the kids.

Museum of Science and Industry - Always lots to do there.  They have some online activities about water here.  They were having a kid's health fair on the day we went.  I picked up some great paper plates with the suggested portions illustrated and labeled.  The food pyramid never made a ton of sense but having portions divided into pie wedge fractions on a plate is easy to understand.  It looked like all the resources they had available at the fair were at the USDA's website here.

...and of course we went to the beach several times.  Grab your sunscreen and come some time!

Travel Ideas

 We're starting our staycation this weekend so my posts might become irregular.  We decided to do a staycation since the toads are not the best travelers.  We've made a no cooking and very little cleaning rule so hopefully it's a bit of a break as well as lots of fun checking out the fun things to do here.

If you are planning a trip in your area or across the country this year, check out this list of organizations.  You can search their websites for ideas that you wouldn't find on the travel websites.






American Association of Museums - Here's a PDF of all accredited museums in the country.

American Association of Zoos and Aquariums - Here's the list.  Their education section has helpful links for studying polar bears and elephants.  Here's the kid's section.

Association of Children's Museums - International list

America Public Garden Association - Searchable database.

Association of Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums - The list.

Association of Science and Technology Centers - The list.

National Park Service -  Get outside!  Here's the teachers section of their website.  Here's the kid's section.

National Registry of Historic Places - Their directory by state is more like a travelogue than simple list so it's still fun and educational even if you're not planning a trip.  Also, they have a whole section devoted to teaching with historic places here and their kid's section here.

If you've got a great resource for finding places to visit that I've left out please add it to the comments section.