May. 5, 2008 - Home School Highlight of last week - Australia Day!
Our Home School highlight would have to be the Australia Day on Friday.
It wasn't an easy day - I never seem to have an abundance of time to prepare, but it was a great day nonetheless.
Had 3 families join us. I need to make a master list of what countries we have studied when - I've done countries for over 15 years and I get mixed up as to who was where when. smile We actually studied Australia in 2002 with Rachel, but Redhead and Jewel couldn't remember it,
so that was good for them. (I actually learned more the second time around - proves the importance of learning hooks!)
I started off with a continent quiz.
One of my younger girls failed a continent quiz earlier in the week, so I realised even though they know the continentsong (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Antartica,
Africa, Australia - these are the continents. One more time! North..... and so on) - I usually only have one child pointing with the pointer to the continents (and usually a willing one).
This time, I took my globe ball around the room and had each child point to the continents as the rest sang the song. It was very revealing. Made them work! smile
Then we sang O Canada. I had the National Anthem ready to play from our National Anthems CD - and I read the words while it played. Everyone standing respectfully for both, of course! smile
After that, I talked about the Country facts for a bit - I usually use a whiteboard to write on two countries at a time, but had lost our whiteboard in the fall (rolling eyes!) and started keeping the facts on posterboard. We are on the second posterboard and I had them both taped up at the front of the room - and I reminded them of the seven countries we have already studied and compared some of the facts.
It is so easy to see if countries are first or third world by how long people live, how many babies die (out of every thousand) and how much the GNP is for each country. Russia didn't even list their GNP in the book I have. Says a lot, hey?
Everyone had a pamphlet to color while I talked (coloring pages found on the Net) AND I reminded everyone at the beginning that they need to keep track of what they learned because everyone gets to share 3 things at the end of the day. The big kids have learned to keep notes as I talk (smile)
I took out the Geographics and started showing pictures - we covered everything from the aboriginies to the outback, to the wet and dry season, to the Sydney Opera House, to the platypus, to the bulldog ant, to the Great Barrier Reef, to Australian pearls (great quality and price) to more. I reminded everyone this is just the starting point to learning about Australia and that they can go back home and look up more later.
Talked a bit about Crocodile Dundee and the digeroo (long imusical instrument), Quigley Down Under and the scene where they are forcing the aboriginies over the cliff (only 1% of Australia is aboriginal at this time), Man From Snowy River, and Return to Snowy River. The Crocodile Hunter was also mentioned.
(Talked for a bit too long today - hard to know what not to include) - Another mom brought her talking globe and we got to hear what it had to say about Australia, too - as well as she shared some things along the way, too.
We also sang Kookaburra sits in the old Gum Tree and Waltzing Matilda (some kids didn't like this activity - I'll remember that for next time!). The mom mentioned above had printed off the words to Waltzing Matilda and the meanings behind the words. Very cool. (I remember singing it in elementary school and enjoyed that). Waltzing Matilda is considered the unofficial National Anthem of Australia - smile
She is also a member of Brain Pop and brought two quizzes for the kids to watch and answer. She has her kids watch once, answer the quiz and then watch it again to find the answers they missed. Very neat. I've got to subscribe. She can find a brain pop quiz on just about anything they study.
Then we had show and tell (everything from beaded bracelets to koala bear teddies made from kangeroo hide, to an Australian coin, to Australian cookbooks, to a carved wood car, to more) - very cool day. I loved it. It always is tough fitting it in - I sometimes wonder what I'm doing when life is busy, but then we get together and it is very rewarding.
One mom thought about bringing *damper* but didn't have time. smile Eating food from that country can be educational, too. smile The kids aren't very adventurous,
My show and tell was Princess' Country Day Binder from years past. When we went through her portfolio recently, I was astounded again at how valueless worksheets are - so easy to throw away. The stuff we kept was personal writing and artwork, mostly. When she got older, she was responsible to write a page on what she had learned about the Country and how she enjoyed the
day. Very nice pages. Everything from did you know Australia has more sheep than people?, to when it was, to anything else she thought was neat. It is a lovely record of the country days she attended.
Hope this inspires you to have a country day soon in your home!
Comments
May. 5, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by SandBetweenMyToes
Sounds like a very full, fun day. I saw your link over on Ellen's blog. We seem to have several things in common. We have 4 girls, have been homeschooling 14 years, since the oldest was in 2nd grade, and have graduated the 2 oldest. I also love scrapbooking.
Letitia
Letitia
May. 6, 2008 - Letitia - good to read your comment!
Posted by homesweethomeschooler
I'm glad you checked my blog out and it is so cool that you have a household full of girls and love scrapbooking, too.
Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting!
May. 6, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Shari Ellen
What a neat way to study a country. Getting other families involved and contributing ideas and resources sounds like a great idea. I'm glad you all had so much fun - definitely a hi-light.
http://ellenfunlearning.blogspot.com/
http://ellenfunlearning.blogspot.com/
