Greek Gods Notebook

Notebook cover with Hermes colouring page

Andre and I worked on a Greek Gods Notebook over the last couple of weeks. He has always been interested in Greek Mythology, and with our current read aloud of the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan (where are on the second one), he wanted to learn more about the Greek Gods.

The first page in his notebook is a map of Ancient Greece.

I asked him to draw a map/picture of the Underworld and we included a description as  well, listing the rivers, the regions and Charon.

On this page, we have a book list of all the books we read to learn more about Greek Gods, this included reference books and myths. His top three favourite myths are listed. The creatures mini book has bits of information about each creature that Andre chose.

We made these character cards about his favourite Greek Gods, including a few details like what they look after, their parents or origin, if they are married and to whom, and their symbols. We are hoping to find some clip art that would fit nicely on the cards.

This page has a list of the 12 Olympians and an explanation of who the Titans were.

Another colouring page, Athena.

Here are a few of the books we used for our Greek Gods study.

This was a fun project! Andre and I worked on this notebook together, just the two of us, deciding what to include. As much as pre-made lapbooks are useful and probably more thorough, I find that it is more relevent and fun whenever we build our own.  

Reading My Library Challenge ~ "B" and "C" Authors

 

I haven't posted about this challenge since the letter "A" books . We have been reading a lot of picture books and are now ready to move on to authors that start with the letter "D", so it's time to share a bit about our finds in "B" and "C"!!

I find this challenge is excellent because it keeps me going back to the picture section every time I visit the library. All three children love picture books, but sometimes, on our library visit,  I tend to focus on what books we need for science or history, or other subjects, and bypass the picture books, unless Celeste happens to grab a few. With this challenge, we have been consistent in getting through the shelves and picking out picture books. It has been wonderful for Celeste to discover new-to-her authors.

Her favourites from the "B" section were:

• Franklin  books written by Paulette Bourgeois
• The Mitten and any title from Jan Brett
• Arthur's Family Vacation, Arthur's Baby and Arthur's Birthday by Marc Brown
• Too Many Monsters by Eve Bunting
• Tumble Bumble and other titles by Felicia Bond

From the "C" section, she particularly liked:

• Lucy Cousins books: Maisy Goes to the Library and Maisy Goes to the Museum
• The Princess and the Pea, Hubert Horatio by Lauren Child

You can click on the button at the top of this post to find out more about this reading challenge.

Sketch Tuesday ~ Trains

The theme this week for Sketch Tuesday was trains. We looked at pictures in books we had for inspiration, The Little Engine That Could in particular. I really liked everyone's train this week and all the details that they put in.

You can visit Barbara at Harmony Art Mom: Sketch Tuesday

Outdoor Hour Challenge ~ Winter Series ~ Winter Stars

We finally had a clear enough night to see stars tonight, and so we decided to try to look for a few winter stars.

You can visit the Handbook of Nature Study blog to read about how to participate in this study. The Handbook of Nature Study book by Anna Botsford Comstock has a great chapter on the constellations. We also used the Glow In The Dark Constellations: A Field Guide for Young Astronomers. We have had this book for as long as I can remember and finally used it to its full potential...not just taking it into a dark closet or unlit bathroom but looking up positions of certain constellations and then finding them outside!

The night sky is really dark around us. We live in a smaller town, far enough from the city to not get a lot of light pollution. We could see the starts perfectly tonight, a beautiful clear sky. I couldn't take any good photographs though...they all came out black like this:

But I did get one of the kids lying on their blankets, before I joined them. They were so excited to do this!

We were able to locate and see very clearly Orion and Orion's belt. This was a lot of fun since our husky puppy's name is Orion!

We also found the Big Dipper and Sirius.

We absolutely loved doing this night time nature study. We will be looking up at the moon on the next clear night.

Valentine's Day Simple Craft Links

There are a few Valentine's Day craft ideas that I have collected over the last couple of weeks and that we are trying out this year. I like crafts that are simple to make and don't use a lot of complicated supplies! 

This idea came from Skip To My Lou. It was called Heart Attack and my family loves it! We are adding messages on construction paper hearts to our bedroom doors all the way to February 14.

This one above, I simplified from another craft I saw in a Usborne Activities book (Valentine Things to Make and Do). I took some cardboard from our recycling bin and cut out a few hearts, then covered one side with foil, glued them back to back and put a string through to be able to hang them. The foil could be decorated on with a blunt pencil. It doesn't look like much on the photo, but the light catches the foil hearts and it creates a cute effect.

Another craft we did in the past from the same Usborne Activities book was called Striped Valentine Cards and you can view my post here about it.

Here are a few more crafts we are planning on making this week:

Crayon Hearts (from Martha Stewart)

Hanging Glitter Hearts (from Skip to My Lou)

Conversation Hearts (Lavendar and Limes)

Book Sharing Monday :: Miga, Quatchi and Sumi: The Story of the Vancouver 2010 Mascots

Celeste and her Miga mascot, she collected Wonder bread upc codes to get it!

The 2010 Winter Olympics are starting this Friday, in Vancouver, Canada. We are proud and excited to have them in our country this year and we will be following certain events online. At the bottom of this post, I have included a few links that might be helpful to you if you include studying the Olympic Games in your home school studies this month.

I mentioned this book when we first bought it in April 2008, but thought it would be allright to share it again with you today.

Miga, Quatchi and Sumi: The Story of the Vancouver 2010 Mascots is a fun book to share with children, it is even dedicated to "all children and critters with a dream". A bilingual book (english and french), this is the story of how Sumi, Quatchi and Miga, who they are and how they became the mascots for the Vancouver Winter Games.

"Miga is a sea bear from the waters off Vancouver Island. Like the sea bears in First Nations legend, Miga and her family pod are orca whales that, on land, can change into bears."

"Quatchi is a sasquatch who loves to travel and explore. He's one of the shy, giant beasts that are described in many West Coast First Nations stories, but are rarely seen."

"Sumi is an animal guardian spirit who wears the hat of an orca - similar to the beautiful First Nations hats that are carved by great artists across British Columbia. He has the strong legs of the black bear. And he flies with the wings of the great thunderbird."

From the inside flap description of the book.

Here is a little video about the mascots:









The mascots have a fun website, filled with games, printables, and videos.

Currclick has an inexpensive Winter 2010 Olympics lapbook with study guide (grades 2 to 7) available for purchase as a pdf file.

The Canadian Olympic School Program is filled with great teaching resources. It is a free website.

If you are able to find the science magazine for kids called KNOW, the January/February 2010 issue has a big section called "The Science of the Winter Olympics".

Are you following the Winter Olympics as a special homeschool project? I would love to know, so please leave me a comment if you are!

If you are interested in participating in Book Sharing Monday, please visit this post! Thank you :)

Mystery Class has started!

For more information, visit Journey North Mystery Class!

Clara is ready too!

Outdoor Hour Challenge ~ Winter Series ~ Winter Weather

Today was a beautiful day. The temperature was higher than it has been in a while, around 1 degree Celsius so we decided to take advantage of it. We set out for a nature walk right after lunch. We also decided to complete another topic on the Outdoor Hour Challenge. We talked about the weather as we started our walk. It snowed yesterday a little bit, but already it was melting. We looked at the sky and talked about the clouds.

The farmer's field is bare right now, with little patches of snow.

I am always attracted by the simple beauty of nature (and take lots of pictures!).

The little path we take for our nature walks near our house is right next to the train track...and here it is!

There is a tiny creak by the path too. Andre wanted to see how frozen it was and if it was safe to walk on.

The creak covered in snow.

We found an abondonned nest.

The creak was the main attraction today...We tested the ice and found out that in the centre it was thick enough to safely walk on. I had a hard time at first with this, but I learned to relax and the children were safe and had a great time!

We even found animal tracks!

This was a wonderful afternoon spent outside, in nature. Every one enjoyed the fresh air and the walk, Orion too!

To find out more about the Outdoor Hour Challenge visit the wonderful Handbook of Nature Study blog.

Outdoor Hour Challenge ~ Winter Series ~ Tree

We are continuing our tree study from the fall. We planted a baby birch tree last summer. We measured it and noticed that it hasn't grown much! It has lost most of its leaves, and the fruits are bigger now and look darker. We noticed a few buds too!

We can't wait to see when leaves will start to appear..and when it will start to gain some height too!

You can visit more families that are participating in this Outdoor Hour Challenge on this blog: Handbook of Nature Study.

Someone wasn't too impressed that Adrienne and I were in the front yard..and he wasn't!

Sketch Tuesday ~ Picture Study and Reproduction

After a long break, we are very happy to be back participating in Sketch Tuesday! This week was a picture study and reproduction of a painting by John Singer Sargent called "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose".

Adrienne

Andre

Celeste

Mine

The original painting

We all spent a few minutes looking at the painting, and then went on to reproduce it. We all came up with the same idea to try to draw one of the lanterns.

To find out more about Sketch Tuesday please visit: Harmony Art Mom's blog.