Africa

This month we studied about the continent of Africa in our Expedition Earth curriculum. To add to our study we  got to experience the taste of Africa firsthand!  Our sweet friends, the Underwood's, invited us to their home for an authentic African meal.  They have a daughter, and soon to arrive home son, that are from Ethiopia.  It was such a very neat experience that they shared with our family!  We ate our first African meal of  Doro wat (chicken), shiro and injera. It had a very distinct flavor and I actually liked it!  The boys all sampled a little too!  It is a flavor that I will remember. 

 After our meal Bailey and Kabina, Noah, Luke, Roman, Becca and Nick gave us an awesome presentation on Africa and the culture.  They put a lot of thought into preparing for this and it was such a neat treat!  Bailey read us an African folktale and showed us  handmade African jewelry and scarves.  Kabina taught us some  Amharic words and a neat game they play with stones and quick hands!

 Both girls showed us an African song and dance! The Underwood boys showed us cool drums, African toys and African money.  Nick taught us about the coffee beans in Africa and how that is a lively-hood for some of the people there.  Becca shared with us about the ministry work that is done in Africa.  It was a very neat, eye opening experience that blessed us that evening!

Discovering Columbus

In celebration of Columbus day we learned about the man himself!  This was actually a learning experience for me too!  I remembered bits of a poem that I had learned in grade-school, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" and honestly that was about as much as I knew about Mr. Columbus! Today we read a short biography about Columbus that told about his childhood up to his discovery of America and then his other voyages until his death.  I didn't realize that he died not knowing he had actually discovered America and not Asia.  The boys learned the "In 1492" song (to the tune of Farmer in the Dell) which helps us to remember that "in 1492 in 1492Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, for 70 days he sailed, for 70 days he sailed,..... he came to a new land,.... exploring he did go,.... he sailed back home to Spain,.... Columbus sailed across the sea, then sailed back home to Spain".
We made our very own Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina ships!

My  Explorers

We had a cantaloupe ship for snack.

Later during the little boys rest time Evan did some creative writing on "If I had Discovered America,....". This was fun for him because he loves to write stories!  We learned a lot of History today about the first discovery of America and the Native Americans who were actually the first to claim this land as their own.  Happy Columbus Day!!

If I had discovered America,.........

 

 

 

All About Apples! Happy September!

We dedicated this month to Johnny Appleseed and apple studies!  It was a fun unit study.  We taste tested several varieties of apples.  I never knew there were so many different types!

my taste testers

Evan decided he liked the Golden Delicious the best, Lane liked the Honey Crisp and Jace sampled and liked them all! Mommas favorite is still the Fuji.

We learned about Johnny Appleseed, who's real name was John Chapman.  He loved nature and apples! He traveled across the land planting apple orchards. His birthday is September 26th.

We studied the life cycle of an apple tree (seed, seedling, tree, blossoms, apples, EAT!) and observed the seeds in an apple.

We enjoyed lots of apple snacks, homemade apple granola, apple chips, dried apples, apple cider, apple muffins and apple pie!

One of our favorite books this month was How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Majorie Priceman. The character wants to make an apple pie and goes to the market to get the ingredients.  The market is closed so she has to travel all around the world gathering the finest ingredients for her pie!

We ended our fun month with a trip to Eckert's Orchard in Belleville Il to go apple picking!

Hayride to the orchard! Lane is representing the Green and Yellow!

picking Red Delicious, Jonathans, and Golden Delicious

Sampling the crop

Getting a full bag!

It was a gorgeous day!  We came home with several pounds of apples that we are going to make apple butter with!  Happy Fall!