Saturday, September 21, 2013

Epcot Geography

We are very lucky to have Disney annual passes. I use the 3 parks as much as I can for Homeschooling. This week we started our Epcot geography lessons. I bought 2 Epcot world showcase passports. They are $9.95 each, which I think is a great price. Inside you get 1 passport, 1 pin, and 11 sticker sheets. 
We started in Japan because that is the county we studied in August. We are doing 1 country a month for our school year. I choose only ones that Epcot has a land for. I had Katie find it on the Epcot map. 
We ate lunch in Japan then went to explore. We found a samurai warrior, Japanese art, bought kid's chopsticks, and found kimonos to try on. 

We then found the kidcot station. This is where a person from the country stamps the passport, writes the child's name, and teaches them a word in their language. My kids already know how to say good morning from watching Big Bird goes to Japan on youtube


The kids then put their stickers into their passports when they found it in the land.
 
The next country we visited was Canada. We are studying Canada in September. We did the same thing we did in Japan. We decided to skip the Canada movie because the kids were getting fidgety.  

Lastly we visited the Epcot aquarium. We sat in a dolphin show, watched the manatees, and saw all the fish. 
                                                           
 We love Disney!!! 

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Making a map of our street

We started inside with me making a small map of our road. I talked about scale, direction, addresses, and streets. We then went outside for our walk. This was one time the baby and preschooler were not interrupting school. They loved it too.

It took longer than I expected, but we made it down our block. Marking street names, addresses, and counting houses. I drew the houses and June Bug wrote the addresses. 
We then went back inside. We took a large piece of paper and drew our block. June bug drew the houses and landmarks she would recognize. She drew the neighbor girl, the house with the pool, the man who is always landscaping, and the mean dog on our street. 
I also printed up a google map of our area and circled where we were mapping to show perspective. 

We still need to color it and add the legend but I found this activity fun and cross subjects. 
We worked on math, handwriting, spelling, map skills, social studies, and art. 

How we do Landry

The laundry that builds up from 6 people in one house is as high as a mountain. But it must be climbed! 

I have a different way of going about the piles. Each family member has their own laundry basket. Names written with sharpie to make it official. I try to use the same type of basket for stacking purposes.  
I wash the laundry and let it sit in baskets clean until we have a bunch to sort. Then I dump it onto the clean living room floor.

Each child must find their laundry and place it into their basket. The baby helps unsort ;). 

They then take the basket to their room. I help sort and hang clothes with them, but they do most of the work. 

It is working for us. How do you handle Mt. Washmore in your home?