Istanbul was Constantinople....

Yes that's right... we're in Turkish lands now! Studying the Ottoman Turks and their invasion (and final overthrow) of Constantinople, the last city in the long standing Byzantine Empire.

They did it with huge cannons from all sides, and so that is exactly what we did!

Planning a poetry class

I have been thinking about this all summer long. My kids and I had SO much fun with Small World's Wordsmithery lessons last year, that I took that inspiration and turned it into a class for our home school group! I am crazy excited about the way the classes are writing up.

If you haven't done the Wordsmithery class over at Small World, check it out! The lessons are clear and easy to teach, and each of the sessions have 4 mini writing sessions that you do through out the week that take a total of 15 minutes each, but turn out SUCH great results!

Anyhow... more on my class. As much of it is inspired by Wordsmithery, the lessons are set up in pretty much the same order. However, since I will only get the kids once a week (and can't expect a ton of homework to be accomplished) I am compacting the lessons into two hour segments. The first part will be the 'lesson' part where the kids get to hear about the rules of the day and the types of words we will be dealing with. The second is the 'project' portion of the class, where the kids get to do some of their own writing and a neat project that goes along with each type of word (very much like this Wordsmithery lesson).

I am CRAZY excited about it, and can't wait to share with you guys what we do for each day and some of the writings of this talented group of kiddos I have the honor to teach.

The Mongols and the overthrow of China

Today's lesson was about the overthrow of China. The Mongol's came down from the north and took over an area that was HUGE, even in contrast to the Roman empire some hundreds of years before. Their empire didn't last long, (less than a hundred years) but they did put a Mongolian king on the thrown of China.

Our craft today was a paper lantern. One of the kids in class was asking about how they put a candle inside the hanging paper lanterns that the Chinese made and I could not for the life of me figure it out! Does anyone know? I couldn't find any clues online either, for every craft that includes the lanterns is either sitting around a candle holder that is on a table or without the fire altogether. No hanging paper 'lanterns' with lanterns!

They sure did turn out cute! :)

Update on the Grains of the World project

Sigh... I have no idea if this project will work anymore or not. The last three days have been cold and WET. The whole first day was pouring rain, and all our grains are getting little black moldy spots on their leaves. None so far on the grains themselves, but my plan is to bring them in as SOON as we get another hot day or two and place them under the carport, hanging upsidedown to see if I can get them to cure without sitting in the sun. Which should be this weekend. Cross your fingers for us... we will need the luck!

PS I wonder how many people who are growing grains right now are dealing with this same issue on a huge scale?

Robin Hood!!!

This week was Robin Hood, King Richard the Lionheart, and Prince John and the signing of the Magna Carta.

What a FUN Lesson this was!! The kids LOVED the story, (of course) and I learned a whole lot, too! I didn't realize what an antagonist that King Richard was! The 'real' reason he disappeared coming home from the Crusades was he had insulted the Duke of Austria SO badly that when traveling through Austria, the Duke captured him and locked him up! For years! lol... And the whole time, he was in a sort of pissing match with France (who was an ally in the Crusades until Richard showed up and made the King of France mad too) and ended up dying in a boarder dispute with an arrow through his throat. He was known in history for being a great King and warrior... but a BAD diplomat. All the movies portray him so generously that I have never even suspected that he could have irritated other world rulers so badly!

The story of the Magna Carta comes after King Richard gets killed. Prince (then King) John Lackland (Richard's brother, not cousin) gains the throne and starts being a tyrant. He is taking land and obscene amounts of taxes from the nobles, who of course, make life horrible for the surf's and peasants under them. Most of the taxes were taken for wars with France, not to over throw Richard (because he was already gone at this point). So the nobles got together and made a document of laws that they believe EVERYONE (including the King) should have to follow. This was the first time in documented history that a dictator was held accountable to their own laws, and it set up a system of government that is still VERY alive today. (Canada and the US still follow the basic ideas of the Magna Carta.)

At the end of the lesson, the kids got to make their own Magna Carta! The rules they listed were SO cute I wish I could write all of them here. They ranged from "Sir Caleb does not have to read before watching movies" and "Sir Elias gets 7 minutes of video game time every day" to "Princess Madeline gets to wrestle with daddy every day before bed" and "Madam Hannah gets to have dessert with every dinner". They were PRECIOUS! The kids all stood up and read them aloud to the class and when they were done we all banged on tables and shouted "Hear hear!!" and "Whoohooo!" as the kids beamed! It was pretty amazing.

Here is Cyan's Magna Carta:

Isn't that the sweetest thing? Yes, I signed it this morning. Although I added the stipulation that she was allowed to get ice cream on all those days, until her own money ran out. ;) She decided that one day a week was plenty, so now it is only on Sunday's.

Cyan's Knight

Cyan spent quite a long time drawing this knight after class last week. She was so into it that another little friend from class joined in, drawing a 'maiden' at the same time. These lessons... the good ones, they stick in your mind forever. It isn't a cookie cutter education that actually teaches kids. It is one that is real to the child, brought to life by the child's own mind.

I remember so many times in school where I forgot the information unless I was sitting in the classroom where I needed to remember it. I would walk out that door and into my own world, and bring nothing of that class with me... cuz it didn't matter to me at all. I am so glad to see that things are sticking with my children. It isn't always the things we want to stick with them (Cyan still remembers the China Silk Secret because a King wanted silk underwear) but if they have the space to remember this information in, they can go back and access that space, and fill it with as much information as they want anytime they want to!

I just loved seeing her get so into these lessons!

Grains of the world ~ part 8

The barley is ready for harvest!

I researched how to cut it and cure it (although there is VERY little info out there for small batch operations, but I figured the large batch things would still apply), and then cut the bundle by hand. I tied it, and laid it in a dry place that got maximum amount of sun. Right now it looks perfect laying on a spare picnic table in the center of the backyard. I am considering keeping it for fall decorations... but I really want to get that loaf of bread! So off to research threshing I go.

Another thing that has happened in the last little while with the project is the millet has fruited!

I have no idea what this little grain will hold, as it is a good few weeks behind everything but the corn (which is not happy in this climate at all right now!) but we will see if we can add it into the bread making process somehow.

Knights and Samurai

This last week in history class, we had a couple of special guests. An English Knight and a Japanese Samurai from the late middle ages!

A friend's brothers had spent some time studying the era and had made costumes for last Halloween that were as close to the real thing as cardboard and spray paint would allow. They answered questions and showed the kids the different kinds of armor and weapons from the different knights as the other moms and I asked questions from the lesson that included things like; "So what was the Samurai's armor made of?" and "What was the code of conduct that a Knight had to follow to be included in the tournaments?".

The class ended with a nice long demonstration of the different fighting techniques. It was all talk of lances, long bows, which material makes the best arrow, what the pieces of the Samurai's costume were for, and how long it takes to get into a suit of armor. There was quite a bit of talk of cardboard armor construction too... but that was all part of the fun.

Then of course, we had to have a battle.

Some knights were more of the participating kind...

...others just looked on for the entertainment, but it was deffinetly a lesson to remember!

The biggest picture in the world

I took Cyan and a her girlfriend to see Beezus and Ramona yesterday. It was a WONDEFUL movie! I was sad to see that they used most of the books as one story though... because that means that they will not be able to make more movies. The movie was mostly a mix of Ramona and her Father and Beezus and Ramona... but even some of Ramona and her Mother, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were in it.

The dad in that series is just incredible. And the actor they picked for the role was perfect. I loved that he always wore his "dad" sweatshirt, even though it was really, obviously, kid made and designed.

We didn't have a roll of paper on which to make the 'longest picture in the world', but we did have a HUGE sheet of brown packing paper... and a TON of left over art supplies. We put them to good use when we got home.

Colored Queen Anne's Lace

Food coloring always seems to end up as a science experiment in my house. It is rare that I actually use it for food, but we use it for science quite a bit.

On our way home from Fort Nisqually last weekend I saw this BEAUTIFUL patch of Queen Anne's Lace by the side of the road. It was late, my kids were tired, but we had to stop and pick some.

Before they went to bed, we colored the water, and set the flowers we had picked into the colored water to see what would happen in the morning...

They look like fireworks to me!

However, this one, picked at the same time the same way died by the morning. I am wondering just how deadly red 40 is at the moment. Makes ya think... huh?

GOTW ~ Part 7

This has been the coolest experiment I think I have ever done with the kids. It has been really long term already (we first planted in April), but what an amazingly educational and fun thing to do! I HIGHLY recommend planting the grains that you can find around you and seeing what comes of it in your area. (This is the link to the rest of the story and how we started out.)

Our newest fruiting grain has been the Oats... they just sprouted a couple days ago.

They are much different than the wheats, barley, and rye. The millet hasn't fruited yet, and the corn is still very much concentrating on the stalk of the plant, but I can see that if this weather keeps up, those two will be fruiting as well.

The rye has a very flat fruiting head. It reminds me of a braid of hair... flat, but textured.

The white wheat has a very bumpy fruit. It also has these little white pollen things that come out of it. I wish I was better at describing these parts, but honestly, I don't know any more about it than the kids. So hopefully, by the time we are done, I will be able to name all the parts of the grains too! ;)

The barley is the most "amber waves of grain" plant out there. It has long hairs at the end of the fruit and really beautifully symmetrical heads of grain. It waves in the sun and is already turning yellow. Once again, I really have to find the time to research how to get these grains to make bread.

The red wheat is very similar to the white... but the little pollen heads are even more prevalent and the seeds tighter in the fruit head. It is a slightly taller plant too. Not sure if that is how/when we grew it, or if it is actually a taller plant than the other wheat... but it has been fun to watch them all side by side.

(A link to our last years garden experiment with a Topsy Turvy and Tomatoes.)

Grains of the World ~ Part 6

I haven't posted about this in forever, but recently, in our Grains of the World study, very exciting things have been happening!

I keep wondering what we are going to do with our little grain plot if it actually matures. Wouldn't it be awesome to make seven grain bread with the grains we are growing? That is my goal... but I don't have much hope of it happening if it doesn't stop raining! So here's hoping!

Here is a link to the whole experiment. Enjoy!