May 18, 2016

Chapter 1: A World of Empires

Activities for this chapter


  • make shrinky dink replica of an angel coin or any coin in circulation 1600-1850

Links for this chapter

  • Free membership and free ancient coins for students from the American Numismatic Association: Children who earn three A's in their coursework will receive an ancient coin and a one-year membership in the ANA (homeschoolers are encouraged to apply).  Children may also complete a variety of activities in order to earn more ancient and early American copper coins: https://www.money.org/young-numismatists
  • Free ancient coins for teachers: Teachers may apply to this program in order to receive ancient coins for their students (it is restricted to Latin teachers in public schools, however, there may be a way for other educators to get ancient coins at a discount): http://ancientcoinsforeducation.org

What we did

We brainstormed a bit about possible show and tell projects.  First the kids wrote down five "impossible" things they would like to do, things that they would do if money, strength, and time were not an object.  Some suggestions were: build a house, travel to a foreign country, discover an archaeological site, make a canoe, forge a sword, write a novel, be president of a country.  Next we brainstormed doable but ambitious projects for the year: invent something, forge something (there is an open forge on the east side of town), experience a tea ceremony, interview someone from a foreign country, build an earth oven, make a historical costume, visit an archaeological or colonial site (we discussed the Sears-Kay ruins, the Pueblo Grande museum, and out-of-the-way ghost towns), write a short story (and get it published), learn glass-blowing, make moccasins or shoes, make something out of leather, visit local bronze casting works, get a pen pal, start a coin collection, make soap, make bobbin lace, learn food preservation techniques, cultivate yeast and make bread with it.  Finally, we brainstormed some easy projects that they could do when they are not up to doing something big: minecraft buildings, see a movie or read a book and report on it, drawings, sculpey jewelry, cook a recipe, research something and report on it.

 Also, I meant to ask them to write down things they like to do: play, watch TV, play Minecraft, draw, write stories, put on skits, make YouTube videos, train animals, explore, visit new places, go camping.  And I meant to ask them what sorts of things they are interested in about the past: weapons, jewelry, make-up, medicine, music, clothes, battles, literature, food, gardening, technology, science, animal domestication, food preservation.  

 We discussed rules: each child should work about two hours a week on the project but will only do a show-and-tell every other week, kids can work as teams, projects can be long-term—just be prepared to discuss the progress being made when it’s their turn to do show-and-tell, sometimes projects don’t work out or are complete failures—don’t stress, just discuss what was attempted and why it didn’t work out.

 We also tried to discover the visual clues to possible origins of the US dollar sign in a picture of a Spanish real, and a verbal clue from the word "peso" which is short for "peso de ocho," or in English "piece of eight," so-called because it was worth eight reales.  We discussed the famous mine of Potosi and the dangers of working there.




We didn't have time to make an angel coin, some kids took the image and shrinky dink plastic to make at home.  The ritual for the King's Healing in England can be found in this edition of The Book of Common Prayer:




And here is the part of the ritual where the king would place an angel coin around the neck of the person suffering from scrofula:



Finished shrinky dink angel coins:








A show-and-tell project--quartz pounded into tiny pieces!






Posted by No comments:

Chapter 2: Protestant Rebellions

Activities for this chapter

  • Many countries have relatively stable names and borders (Spain, Spanish), but the Netherlands is very difficult to pin down.  We will try to untangle the following terms: Low Countries, Netherlands (which means low countries), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (of which the country of the Netherlands is a constituent country along with the Caribbean countries of Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten), Belgium (which also means low countries), Holland (a region of the Netherlands but which is often used as pars pro toto for the Netherlands), Flanders and Flemish (the Dutch speaking region of Belgium sometimes used as pars pro toto for the Low Countries), Dutch (refers to the language and the people of the Netherlands), and Deutschland and Deutsch (which is how Germans refer to their country and language), Benelux (refers to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg).  To top it all off, for Spanish speakers there is further confusion because the word "flamenco" can refer to "flemish," the dance and music of Spanish gypsies, and to "flamingo" the bird.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_the_Low_Countries
  • briefly discuss sea level, draining water from wetlands, Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287 BC -c. 212 BC) who said "Eureka!" and watch video on windmills in the Netherlands:
  • watch video on Dutch art:


  • listen to period music while working on the activities, maybe by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck 

Links for this chapter

  • flood control in the Netherlands:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_control_in_the_Netherlands
http://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-page/the-netherlands/the-dutch-and-water-in-the-netherlands
http://www.let.rug.nl/polders/boekje/types.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windpump 
http://chain.eu/?m3=32852

What we did

We played a game show with the discussion questions--Spain versus the Netherlands, each team member had a flag for their country, Spain won!  We drank Dutch hot chocolate and ate waffle cookies.  And we made a topographic map of the Low Countries showing the sea level higher than some of the dry land.



We worked on three different Archimedean screws, this is the paper model:




And this is the plastic bottle model:




And the plastic tubing model:



And some of our show-and-tells--a beautifully intricate aristocratic hairstyle:



And a self-portrait in the style of Rembrandt, the dark background really makes the colors pop out!



Another student shared images of Incan jewelry and a video of Incan ruins shot from a drone, and another discussed her plans to make an earth oven.

Finally, here is a picture of some library books that I needed to return but that I wanted to remember for future projects:





Posted by No comments:

Chapter 3: James, King of Two Countries

Activities for this chapter:

  • discuss Guy Fawkes Day, still celebrated though its history is not well remembered, not entirely reputable, anti-Catholic sentiment (George Washington condemned the celebration:    
"As the Commander in Chief has been apprized of a design form'd for the observance of the ridiculous and childish custom of burning the Effigy of the pope - He cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be Officers and Soldiers in this army so void of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a step at the Huncture; at a Time when we are solliciting, and have really obtain'd, the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as Brethren embarked on the same Cause.  The defence of the general Liberty of America: At such a juncture, and in such Circumstances, to be insulting to their Religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered or excused; it is our duty to address public thanks to these our Brethren, as to them we are so much indebted for every late happy Success over the common Enemy in Canada." (Writings of Washington, Vol 4 Oct. 1775-Apr. 1776, page 65, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1931)
see also, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/washington-condemns-guy-fawkes-festivities), look at Guy Fawkes mask (now sometimes used as a symbol of anti-government protest), read the poem, "Remember, remember the fifth of November," collect historical coins--"a penny for the Guy," Guy Fawkes as eponym of the word "guy" http://www.businessinsider.com/guy-fawkes-created-the-word-guy-2013-11
  • see videos of Scottish bagpipes and dancing, and learn how to do a highland dance







Links for this chapter:

What we did:

For show-and-tell we heard about the history of banana cultivation and sampled a delicious fried plantain dish.  We also learned about the history of ribbons and looked at a pouch tied with a ribbon.  We heard about an ongoing project to make an Aztec stone knife and watched a video that explained how to make a cutting blade out of stone.  We saw a Minecraft model of a Dutch village and dike.  And we saw the beginning of a small mud-house project.

It took a lot longer than expected to warp the cardboard looms so we will be working on them in the coming weeks.

The project in Sarah Swett's book Kids Weaving: Projects for Kids of All Ages was to make a pouch with a basket weave with a thin warp thread and thick wool yarn for the weft, and after taking it off the cardboard loom, washing and fulling it to felt the wool.  In retrospect it would have been better to stick with the project in the book.  We made the bags by using the same size yarn for warp and weft and using a twill weave.  The result is very pretty but it meant that the top loops on the loom didn't finish off on their own--we had to weave through every loop so the pouch wouldn't unravel.  Also, because we used so many different yarns to make the tartan, there were many loose ends that needed to be tucked in thus making a weak weave and a not very practical pouch.  But the result is very pretty, and we certainly learned a lot!

Here are some more links on weaving with cardboard looms, the first ones have instructions for the kind of cardboard loom we used: http://www.rabbitgeek.com/file/weavecardboardloom.pdf, http://glennaharris.org/pdf/Draw_String_Pouch.pdf, http://www.roundvalleyschools.org/pages/uploaded_files/Weaving%20Fram.pdf,
https://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/mn_htw.pdf, http://www.weavingtoday.com/weaving-for-kids, http://taliesin.confabulation.com/~workstead/cardboardweave.html, http://www.art-rageous.net/Weaving.html, http://www.interweave.com/Weaving/projects_articles/Handwoven-Bags-For-Beginners.pdf, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4MitkDeKPg, http://www.craftypod.com/2011/07/11/a-community-weaving-project-at-the-museum-of-contemporary-craft/, https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/06/in-art-room-weaving-part-1.html

Here are two of the twill weave tartan bags, two finished and one is on its way:









Posted by No comments:

Chapter 4: Searching for the Northwest Passage

Actvity for this chapter:

  • watch these videos on navigational instruments:











  • We will also put a bag of organic grapes in a bucket and try to make wine old school style by smashing them with our feet and hoping the right kind of yeast is on the grapes to ferment the must (grape juice) into wine without spoiling.  It's the same process as making hard cider but wine is more delicate.  We may also try to make wine vinegar with old left-over wine two ways: one by just letting the wine sit out on a shallow bowl, and two, by adding a little non-pasteurized vinegar to the wine to ensure the right bacteria is present.  
Here is a picture of grape stomping from the Wikipedia article on the history of the winepress.  Remember too, the lyrics of The Battle Hymn of the Republic "...He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.." which in turn is a reference to Revelation 14:19 (which actually refers to a winepress).  Both methods have been used since the time of Ancient Egypt to the present.



Links for this chapter:

What we did:

We played a game with the discussion questions by dividing up into three teams--Hudson's Heroes, Champlain's Champions, and the Canadians (?).  Champlain's Champions won!

Our show-and-tell projects.
A plaque and tartan for a Scottish clan:




A haiku poem:



Research on a long-term project--making a corset:



An Aztec shield project, note the handmade cordage:



The progress on the mini earth oven following the instructions in Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer and Hannah Field, the sand form, the newspaper layer, and the clay/sand layer:





And the beginnings of a doll mud house:



And our activity for the day--making apple cider vinegar:



Crushing grapes with our feet:



And here are some of the jars, now all we have to do is stir, wait, strain, and wait some more:






Posted by No comments:

Chapter 5: Warlords of Japan

Activities for this chapter

  • make everyday Japanese food
  • watch videos on samurai technique and armor:




  • watch videos on kabuki theater:



  • watch video tutorials on brush painting and try it ourselves:




Links for this chapter


What we did

  • We read the story of Ooka and the Stolen Smell from a well-loved copy of Judge Ooka stories:

  • Our show-and-tells--a Japanese house on Minecraft, with a Japanese pig inside:

an abacus and a horn book:

a Korean tortoise boat:

an origami fan and purse:

Japanese hairsticks:

  • We made Miso Soup with Tofu and Seaweed:

Sweet Potato Salad:

and Fried Noodles (Yakisoba), as well as Teriyaki chicken and Japanese crackers in the background:

We tasted it all, and in the end there was only a little bit of Miso soup left!  Here are the recipes:



  • We ate bamboo and we painted it too, using brush painting techniques:



























Posted by No comments:

Chapter 6: New Colonies in the New World

Activities for this chapter

  • play a modified version of the stockholder's game--kids invest historical coins in three ships which are going overseas to the New World to trade, one of the ships will founder, the kids get one cookie for every coin invested in the ships that do make it back (and a half, or broken cookie for every coin they decided not to invest):

  • watch videos on candle making:



  • watch an example of colonial dance:

  • watch video and learn how to dance The Waves of Tory:
advance 4 beats
retire 4 beats
advance 4 beats
retire 4 beats
each group of 4 puts right hand in middle and circles clockwise 8 beats
each group of 4 puts left hand in middle and circles counterclockwise 8 beats
lead couple parades up 8 beats
lead couple parades down 8 beats
lead couple starts the peel
lead couple makes a bridge and everyone else joins hands with their partner and goes under bridge
once everyone is in place, lead couple starts making the waves, under first, then over, etc., all the way to the end and back
now there is a new lead couple and the dance starts over 

What we did

Our show-and-tells, first the progress on the corset project, beautiful stiff fabric and boning:



an illustrated book on the Plymouth Plantation:



the mini earth oven:



an illustration of the global influences on Caribbean food (and a Caribbean Rice dish too):



the Caribbean Rice, Traditional Wampanoag Cornbread, and Sixteenth-Century Succotash (one of the students made Stewed Pompion too):



With much laughter we really did learn how to dance the Waves of Tory!  And we made beeswax candles.  The coffee can with melted wax was on one corner of the table and slowly the kids dipped their candles and circled around the table. 



A break in the process to show the candles as they were being made, as well as the finished experiment candle.



Posted by No comments:

Chapter 7: The Spread of Slavery

Activities for this chapter


  • watch a video about the Ndebele tribe showcasing their painted homes, beadwork, history, and hopes for the future:

  • the Ndebele language is one of the few languages in the world that uses click sounds, so we will watch a couple of videos that explain the sounds and try practicing them too:




  • learn how to do a few African dance moves from Dinhe--a harvest dance:

These are Ndebele fertility dolls: "Fertility is of major importance to the Ndebele people. A fertility doll is made (in secret) for the bride by the maternal grandmother and is ritually presented to her when she enters her new hut after the wedding ceremony.  Custom has it that, after the birth of the third child, the fertility doll must be given away, or destroyed, because it is considered unlucky to keep it any longer."

Every 4 years hundreds of Ndebele boys spend 2 winter months in a secret place in the mountains undergoing the "wela" their initiation from boyhood to manhood.During this time the mothers of the initiates wear "Linga Koba" strips of beadwork that stretch from their headdresses to the ground, to show that their sons are away in the mountains.Linga Koba translated means "long tears" - tears of sadness at losing a boy and tears of joy at gaining a man.

Among the "Nguni" people the Sangoma is an important specialist. A Diviner who claims contact with the ancestral spirits.  It is believed that she reveals the will of the spirits, and is revered as the protector of society. Her opinion and judgement are highly valued.


These are some examples of dolls inspired by the Ndebele dolls symbolizing important life accomplishments (http://ourartlately.blogspot.com/2010/10/ndebele-dolls.html):

Here is another artwork inspired by Ndebele dolls: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zaraillustrates/14844484027/in/photostream/

  • listen to African music while we work:





What we did

our ndebele dolls:




links for this chapter




Posted by No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)