Posted in Homeschooling Adventures

Our Mexico study started out with us "driving" to Mexico.  We live within 8 hours of the border, so it didn't make sense for us to "fly".  The kids showed their passports, we stamped them, and headed in for our study - stopping to tell the border patrol why we were going in - of course.


We had a major ice storm here, and had lost power that day.  It was COLD in the house and we were all bundled up!  I had about 3 layers of clothes on at that point! LOLOLOL

Here are the kids "passport" photos:





We had such a wonderful time studying about Mexico.  I was able to ask my Mother-in-love questions about pronunciations, and talk about Mexican cities with my Dad.

We also rented a couple of DVDs from Netflix.  We really enjoyed Globe Trekker: Destination Mexico and for fun we got Scooby Doo and the Monster of Mexico.  Big P and the kids watched that one tonight.  It is based on the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.  It has given us so many opportunities to discuss belief systems that are so different from our own.  Also, it has sparked discussion on how badly the Spaniards wanted to conquer the Indians and how they had a "unspoken creed" to convert or die.  Big P was talking about how when nations try to conquer other people and lands, they do so with their government and their religions.  That got me to thinking as to why the Mestizzos seem to mix so much of their pagan religions with Roman Catholicism.  They wanted so badly to hang on to their own ways.  And when the Spaniards came in with force, it didn't turn their heart toward Jesus, but more so to what they already knew.

We still are going to be doing some research on what the missionaries are doing in Mexico currently.  We are setting up a display at International Night at our homeschool meeting.  So, we will be including many of the information that we have learned.

On Thursday we went on a couple of field trips to finish up our Mexico study.

We have a book by Linda Morley, that is written with field trip ideas for the DFW area.  This is where we found out and planned our activities.

First we went to a restaurant.  We picked out several pieces of pan dulce (sweet bread) and bought a couple packages of fresh flour tortillas and fresh tamales!  Yum!

Then, we headed to another place that was to have a large selection of pinatas.  It was also a grocery store and restaurant.  We decided to sit in the restaurant and have a snack.  We had a great time.  I went through and read things in the menu in Spanish and had the kids try to figure out what I was saying.  They did great!  We had a great discussion of how many words in Spanish and English were similar.

I was able to find a molinillo.  This is what the Hispanics use to mix up chocolate and make it bubbly.  It was $2.69, so I purchased it.  I don't know if we will use it for chocolate, but it was fun to have.  It looks similar to an upside down totem pole.

Then, we were having our Mexican Fiesta on Friday.  We had invited over some friends from church.  They homeschool as well.  We had a great time!  We had Mexican stack-up, my best girlfriend's recipe.  We picked up ingredients for my salsa at the local Mexican grocery store.  We had some Mexican soda's that were yummy - I liked the Guava one the best!  We busted the pinata.  Our friends had brought the goodies to fill it.  In our studying, we found that Hispanics use more fruit than candy to fill the pinatas.  So, they brought apples, oranges, candy, etc.  The kids had a great time just playing with friends and busting the pinata.

We are excited to start our study on Canada on Monday!!  We are on full board with My Father's World now!!!