My Birthday

Remember when you were a kid and you thought your parents were old?  They were actually pretty young when I started thinking that.  It's funny how a child's mind works.  I just celebrated my 36th birthday and I don't feel old.  OK, sometimes I don't feel as young as I used to, but that's different than feeling old. 

Jonathan and the kids made me feel super special that day--no cooking or cleaning, nice notes and gifts, a morning together (roller-blading at the park), and a new juicer.  It was a great day!

World Geography--India

We went to India next.  We started (as always) by learning some basic facts, listening to some words in Hindu and reading some books about children in India.

 Location: Asia
Capital: New Delhi
Population: 1,189,172,906
Main Language: Hindi, English, and Urdu
Main Religion: Hinduism and Islam
Currency: Rupee
Government: Federal Republic

We began the unit by making (more like attempting to make) an Indian bread called Chapattis.  It didn't turn out too well because Braedi read the recipe wrong and added 1 T of salt instead of 1 tsp of salt. 

Chapattis
4 cups whole meal flour
2 T vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup water

In a large bowl mix the flour, oil and salt.  Gradually add the water to make a thick dough.  Knead the dough and divide into 12 equal balls.  Flatten each with a rolling pin and roll into a 5" circle.  Fry on low heat, turning several times to avoid burning.  As the chapattis cooks, it will puff.  Serve warm and dip in butter, curries, or sauces. 

India is home to the smaller-ear elephant.  Sometimes the elephants are used as work animals.  During the Elephant Festival the elephants are decorated and marched in a parade.  We made an elephant craft.

We learned about symmetry by making an Indian welcome message.  Mothers and daughters begin their day by cleaning the front porch of their home with water.  After it dries they draw a symmetrical design called rangoli with white powder.  First they make dots, then connect the dots with lines.  On special occasions the inside spaces are filled with colors. 

We also learned a little about the Taj Mahal.  Then we learned how to play a game called Kaooa or Vultures and Crows.  Here are the instructions:

Materials
--Homemade pentagram game board
--1 counter to represent the vulture
7 counters to represent the crows

Playing the Game
Player  1 places one crow on any point.  Player 2 places the vulture on an empty point. 
Player 1 places the second crow on any empty point.  Player 2 moves the vulture 1 space along a line to an empty point. 
They continue taking turns until all seven crows are on the board. 
Then the players take turns moving one counter at a time to an adjacent empty point.   Player 1 moves the crows and Player 2 moves the vulture.  The vulture may capture a crow by jumping over it along a line to an empty pint.  The vulture may make a series of captures on a single move. 
The game ends when the vulture is trapped and can't move or when the vulture has capture at least four crows. 

The kids enjoyed playing it and tried to teach their dad how to play. 

World Geography---Japan

Japan was the next country in Asia that we visited.  Again, we started by learning the basics, learning some words in Japanese and reading some books about children in Japan.

 Location: Asia
Capital: Tokyo
Population: 126,475,664
Main Language: Japanese
Main Religion: Buddhism and Shintoism
Currency: Yen
Government: Constitutional Monarchy with a Parliamentary Government

You can't go to Japan without learning about origami--the art of folding paper.  The kids chose from 4 simple designs: fox, crane, cup and pig.  Paper folding is hard!

 

We learned about the Itsukushima Torii Shrine and made one out of play-doh. 

 

Many Japanese girls collect dolls and display them at the Doll Festival.  Braedi made a cute doll out of a water bottle and construction paper. 

Japanese boys are honored during the Boys' Festival.  They hang carp windsocks from poles.  Corbin made a carp kite.

 

We also made Mon-kiri cutouts.  Instead of making something from folded paper, we made something by cutting paper.  We folded coffee filters, drew designs (kind of like snowflakes) and cut, then glued the circles onto black squares.  We made a little math lesson out of it.  We wondered how many designs we would get if we folded the circle 2 times or 4 times or 6 times.  Pretty designs, but no pictures.

 

Our homeschool group happened to be hosting the annual geography fair at this time, so we decided to present Japan.  The kids each picked something to talk about and display.  Even though it was a super windy day and our display board got knocked down, the kids did a fantastic job. 

 



World Geography--South Korea

The next stop on our trip was South Korea.  We started by learning the basics and had fun listening to google translate say some words in Korean.
Location: Asia
Capital: Seoul
Population: 48,607,000
Main Language: Korean
Main Religion: no affiliation, Christian, and Buddhist
Currency: Won
Government:  Republic

After reading some books and stories about South Korea we did our first activity.  Have you heard the story about the peasant who went to the king and tricked him into giving him 1 grain of rice the first day and doubling the amount every day for 1 month?  I'm not sure if the story came for Korea or if it's just that rice is a staple there, but we tried the activity.  We took our ages and tried to figure out how many grains of rice that would be, but after 6 days I was done counting!  There has got to be a formula for that problem. 

We played a game (or attempted to play--the words got confusing) called "kawi, bawi, bo" (rock, paper, scissors).  Next we played a Korean drum.  The idea was to make a drum with an old round cardboard carton.  I only had one, so we just played the "drum" using different items.  A Korean drum lies on its side so the drummer can hit both ends.  Dyllan used her hands, Ephram used plastic spoons, Faythe used hard plastic straws, Braedi used wooden spoons and Corbin used markers.  They all made interesting and unique sounds. 

 

We also happened to be learning about Korea during one of our history lessons during our co-op.  We learned about the flag in South Korea (a yin-yang) and made a fan with a similar to that. 

 

Lastly we made a paper lantern.  In Korea, the people honor Buddha's birthday with paper lanterns.  They decorate the temples with the lanterns and have a parade with real lanterns in the evening.