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. 

 

World Geography--China

China was the first country we visited on our trip around the world.  We began by learning the basics:
Location: Asia
Capital: Beijing
Population: 1,336,718,015
Main Language: Mandarin
Main Religion: Atheism
Currency: Yuan
Government:  Communist State

Then we leaned some fun facts.  Riding bikes is popular in China.  The yak and giant panda are found in China.  A child is 1 year old on the day it is born and 2 a year later.  Red is a lucky color.  Next we went to Google Translate and learned how to say a few words in Mandarin.  We also attempted to write some Chinese characters.  We read about what it is like to be a kid in China today. 

Our first project was to make the Great Wall.  We used rice crispy treats cut into bricks.  Some walls were greater than others. 

Paper was invented in China in 105 AD, so we decided to make our own paper.  It was strictly for decoration--it is too tick and soft for everyday use. 
1.  Tear scrap paper into small pieces and put them into a blender so it is half full.
2.  Fill the blender with water to make it 3/4 full.  Turn blender on medium until the paper is blended into a pulp. 
3.  Add pine needles, leaves and other small materials to pulp.  Blend for 1-2 seconds more.
4.  Place a screen over a pan.  Pour the water pulp over the screen, spreading the pulp out in a square shape.  Let the water drain off into the pan for 30 minutes.  (We didn't have screen, so we used an old potato sack). 
5.  To drain water from the pulp further, put an old towel on top of a stack of newspapers.  Carefully lift the pulp covered screen and put it on the towel.  Put another pieces of screen on top of the pulp and roll the water out with the can--like a rolling pin.
6.  Lift the screen, then flip it over onto the pressing cloth.  Peel the screen off the set paper carefully.
7.  Fold the pressing cloth over the wet paper and press until almost dry.  (We used a bar towel).
8.  Put a heavy book on it overnight to flatten.  Iron if desired.  (We skipped this step). 

Before paper was invented, the Chines people wrote on strips of bamboo.  They also wrote from top to bottom, right to right.  We made our own bamboo books using popsicle sticks.  It was hard to write that way.  I forgot to take pictures of this project. 

Next we made fans.  We drew 2 pictures on the same piece of paper--1 upside down from the other--then folded the paper accordion style. 

As part of the Spring Festival that falls at the beginning of Chinese New Year, people celebrate with fireworks and parades.  Dragons are everywhere.  For our final activity we made dragons.  The kids decorated dragon heads, made accordion bodies and added streamers. 

The kids are also making a suitcase to keep their crafts and activities in. 

 

Around the World

Remember how I said we would take a trip around the world after we finished our unit on the 50 states?  Well, we've finally departed.  Our first matter of business was to learn a bit about our world.  We read a great book called Me on the Map where we learned the difference between continents, countries, states and cities. 

Then we made a paper mache globe.  MESSY!  We painted it and added continents.  We learned about latitude and longitude lines, the equator and prime meridian/international date line.  We even attempted to learn about he tropics of cancer and capricorn. 

We will slowly work our way around the world, spending time in several countries on each continent.  Most of my ideas come from the curriculum I purchased form this site.  I've also found some great books at the library with fabulous ideas.