Learning about the United Nations

As part of our study of Canadian History, we learned about the formation of the United Nations in 1945. We remembered learning about the League of Nations a few weeks ago, especially when we watched Paris 1919. I wanted to pause our study of Canadian History and take a few days to cover the United Nations, what it is and their role in the world. This topic crosses over to world geography and world news. I found a few resources that I wanted to share with you. These were very helpful to me to introduce this topic to my two older children (12 and 13).


We visited the United Nations website for kids and educators called United Nations Cyberschoolbus. This website is filled with information, lesson plans, games, quizzes, and more. We haven't explored the whole website yet. Some of the links didn't work for us, but that might be a problem from our end.

Here are a few links that we found helpful:

The Food Force is a video game on world hunger. It has six different missions and is geared to 8-13 year olds. The objective is to teach children about the logistical challenges of delivering food aid in a major humanitarian crisis. Here are some screen shots:

The Water Quiz where we learned interesting facts about water.

The UN Intro to learn about the history of the United Nations.

The Millenium Development Goals link explains the eight goals that all 192 United Nations member states have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. Some of the goals are achieving primary education for all, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and promoting gender equality.


Nadene at Practical Pages has a notebook page and a lapbook mini book free to download. We used the notebook page to write a short summary about what we learned.

While learning about the Millenium Development Goals, I was reminded of the young Canadian that started Free the Children. We spent some time reading about how he got started and the amazing work he has accomplished around the world. I think it is important for our children to see that anyone can make a difference.

Your local library will probably have several books on this subject. I was able to find one that related directly to Canada. The book "Canada and the United Nations" is written by Bev Cline.

The other book on the photo is by National Geographic, "Every Human Has Rights". It is "a photographic declaration for kids based on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human rights with poetry from the ePals community". Thirty basic human rights are written and accompanied by a photo that illustrate each of them, along with a poem. You can read more about how this book came together here. 

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ Green Eggs & Ham, WW II, and Earth Hour!

We had another good, quiet week here. School wise, we wrapped a few things and continued with others. We are still waiting for Spring here in SW Ontario, Canada!

Celeste and I are reviewing the lessons on vowels in the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We also started the First Language Lessons. At first, she didn't like the FLL, but already by lesson six, she has changed her mind. She is also continuing her work in Explode the Code and Miquon Math. This week, she decided to read "Green Eggs and Ham" by herself. She sat on the couch and worked on it while I was busy with Adrienne and Andre. After a while, she told me she had read the whole book. I then listened to her and she did great! I am very proud of her! I read that story a long time ago, once to her. It's not one that she has memorized. She then read it to her siblings and her dad. She is already planning on reading it to her Nana when she visits next. She's very excited!

Adrienne and Andre continued on all their regular main subjects this week. Every morning went pretty smoothly, considering we were off last week. It's always a little difficult to get back to it after a break.

In History, we finished our study of World War II. We had several books (see picture above) we wanted to read and a movie as well. We watched an excellent documentary called "The Price for Peace: From Pearl Harbour to Nagasaki". This documentary explained World War II in the Pacific. It included original footage and interviews of veterans. 

I gave Adrienne and Andre a writing assignment as homework to wrap-up our study of WWII. The assignment had four questions which they needed to answer with some details. The questions were:

• What caused World War II
• What countries were involved in World War II
• Choose a battle and give a brief account of it
• How did WWII end?

In World Geography, we finished our review by testing ourselves on the maps of South America, Europe, and Africa. We also started the next unit, Asia.

We finished our literature study of Black Star, Bright Dawn this week too. This short novel was a perfect match to our Iditarod study.

On Friday, we did a little Art Appreciation by studying the paintings and the life of Joseph Mallord William Turner. The picture above is called "The Fighting Temeraire" and was one of our favourites.

Adrienne and I also worked on Mystery Class this week, you can see our latest charts in the previous post. We also talked about current events, in particular the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Yesterday we celebrated Earth Hour by turning out all our lights for over an hour! This is our thrid year participating, I think. Our neighbour friends came over to our house to play board games with us. We also had a fun time playing hide and seek in the dark! I forgot about taking pictures this year, but you can see my posts from previous years here and here.

If you would like to read more wrap-up posts by other homeschoolers, visit Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Recycled Paper for Holiday Decorations

After wrapping presents over the weekend, there were pieces left of the wrapping paper that were too small to use. We decided to make a guarland with those instead of just putting it in the recycle bin. This particular wrapping paper is reversible, so it was perfect for this project!

The other easy project uses a catalogue from Joe Fresh (a clothing line from our grocery store).

I had picked up the winter catalogue for Celeste, she likes to see all the fashion pictures.

Once she was done, I told her we could use it to make a big 3D snowflake (like we did last year).

We took apart the pages and Celeste chose which ones to use for the snowflake.

You can find very easy-to-follow instructions here. 

Here is one of the snowflake branches:

And here is the final complete snowflake, we like to hang ours

from the light fixture above our school table:



Book Sharing Monday :: The Beautiful Christmas Tree

The Beautiful Christmas Tree is written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Yan Nascimbene.

The story shows Mr. Crockett who moves in a small house on a fashionable street of brownstone houses. He is plain and does all the work on his little house himself. With years of attention and patience, he transforms his shabby brownstone into an elegant home and brings a scrawny, neglected tree to life, teaching his neighbours a very valuable lesson.

You can see a short preview of the book at Google books here.

"On Christmas Day, when the neighbors went to church, they glanced at each beautifully decorated tree in the window of each brownstone until they came to Mr. Crockett's house. There was a brown pot in the window with a stick of a tree, crooked and almost without needles. "Awful!" they exclaimed."

We have used a fake tree for our Christmas decorating forever. The main reason is because we don't want to cut down any more trees. That is our choice, but I know many families that prefer live Christmas trees. You can replant them, if you have space, after Christmas if you like! Here is a quick how-to explanation: How to Replant your Living Christmas Tree.

Please include your link to your Book Sharing Monday post below:



Loop Scoops

Annie Leonard from The Story of Stuff along with PBS and WGBH created a new online series called Loop Scoops. Through fun little cartoons, kids will be asked to think about important questions about recycling, using and buying less, where you food comes from and much more. My kids and I have watched a few of these and we are sharing our favourites with you so far. You can see more on youtube by searching Loop Scoops or by visiting the PBS site.

On Handwork.

Perfectly said!

Excellent presentation and the message is the right one. I just don't understand why some people in the audience felt the need to laugh...

Cleaning up on Earth Day

We spent part of this morning picking up garbage in the area that we often visit for our nature study. We filled up a jumbo size garbage bag, and could have done more...so sad how people take this little nature area as their personal dumping zone.

Earth Hour 2010

We participated again this year in Earth Hour. We played Uno and Ghost in the Graveyard. We also took out a few light sticks and the kids had a lot of fun with them.

We enjoyed reading this morning the reports of all the different countries around the world that participated too. We will continue in our efforts to "live green" and hope that even our tiny part will make a difference.

Don't forget about Earth Hour this Saturday!

Irish flood quilts ~ blocks by Adrienne and I

Adrienne and I made two blocks to send to ps. i quilt last night. We chose some fresh light fabrics in hope to bring some sunshine... She helped with the position of the fabrics and I sewed them together. We enjoyed helping out in this small way. We had made some friendship starts for the victims of the Australian bushfires earlier this year too, you can read about that here.

If you would like to find out more about the Irish flood quilts, please click on the button at the top of this post.

Book Sharing Monday

"River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River" by Hudson Talbott is two books in one, a beautifully illustrated living book, and a history of the Hudson River. I picked this book up at the library because of its cover (a common reason for me!), but was so pleased to find out that it was educational as well.
At the beginning of the book, we read about the different tribes of first people that made the river their home for thousands of years. We then find out about Henry Hudson, a British Explorer working for the Dutch. The story keeps going through the years, from the 1600's to today, explaining the various battles, Fulton's Steamboat, the Erie Canal, and much more.
The author explains how the river attracted artists as well as all the traders and business men. We arrive in the 20th century and the pollution that comes with all the factories, garbage, and sewage, accumulated over those prosperous years.
I don't want to give the whole story away, but I appreciated reading about Franny Reese and her actions that helped the Hudson River.

"Many new laws and new citizens' groups have been inspired by those early heroes of the environment, and their work has begun to bring the Hudson River back to life.

The Mahicans called it "The River That Flows Both Ways". Slowly we are learning that taking care of the river is the only way that the river can take care of us."

You can read more about the efforts of Scenic Hudson and their quest to protect the Hudson River and the valley.

Do you eat local (Canadian) ?

Link for the juice pouches bag!

A few have asked for the instructions, I followed roughly the ones on this link:

Juice Pouches Purse


I made sure to wash the pouches, after cutting them at the bottom, and dry them completely. I sewed with my machine and it worked fine.
Have fun and let me know if you try it out!

Recycled juice pouches bag

I wanted to try making this type of bag. It was pretty easy to make, not sure how strong it will be..Celeste has claimed this one as her own already!

Another way to re-use what we have!!

Book Sharing Monday

Adrienne read this book first and recommended it to me. I read it aloud to Celeste this morning and we both loved it. The message is so clear, but with full of Dr. Seuss' imagination. Written over forty years ago, it definitely still applies to today, even more I would say.

"What's more, snapped the Lorax. (His dander was up.) Let me say a few words about Gluppity-Glupp. Your machinery chugs on, day and night without stop making Gluppity-Glupp. Also Schloppity-Schlopp. And what do you do with this leftover goo?... I'll show you. You dirty old Once-ler man, you!"

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please follow the button below!

What my children are reading ~ June 11 Edition

This week, Celeste is enjoying listening to "Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep" by Jane Yolen. It is beautifully illustrated by Heidi Stemple. It reads like a lullaby, going through many animals and their habitats for the winter. We're not quite at the right season to read this one, but we both liked it anyway!












Andre has been working in his "Dragonolody Handbook" again. He received this as a birthday present (in February), and he picks it up now and again, completing a few more "lessons" at the time. He really loves learning more about these fantastic creatures.

















Adrienne is enjoying a few Dr. Seuss books this week, along with continuing Elissa's Odyssey (mentioned here).
This particular title was her favourite, she told me, of the pile she brought back from the library. I can understand why, mixing Dr Seuss fun writing with a earth-friendly message of conserving our natural resources.
I found out there is a campaign called The Lorax Project, you can read more about it here : The Lorax Project .
There are activities related to the book here as well: The Lorax .









Visit The Well-Read Child to read other families posts and their children are reading this week. I always enjoy reading these, as it gives me new suggestions for books!

Home by Yann Arthus-Bertrand ~ Trailer

Visit Home to find out more

Earth Hour 2009 Update

I just received an e-mail from WWF Canada with an update on Saturday's Earth hour that put a huge smile on my face :

Earth Hour was a huge global success with 3,937 cities and towns turning out their lights, across 88 countries. With almost a billion people mobilized, Earth Hour 2009 was the biggest environmental demonstration in history! Millions of Canadians took part all across the nation, along with nearly 1,000 businesses, helping to make our skylines go dark.

People were inspired across the country and around the globe as monuments such as the CN Tower, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Acropolis and the Empire State Building went dark. This year we welcomed new participation from people in countries such as India and China, and welcomed back the countries that celebrated Earth Hour in 2008.

Earth Hour 2009

Adrienne, Celeste, Daddy and I stayed up for Earth Hour last night and played Uno by candlelight. Andre had had a sleepover the night before and just couldn't stay awake past 8:00pm. We had a wonderful time, lots of laughter, and our kitty was still fascinated by the candles.
Next year, our plan is to inform our neighborhood about Earth Hour, since we couldn't help but notice all the lights on around us. We also need more candles!

I was really surprised and so happy to see all the different cities and monuments around the world participating. Below you can see a couple of photos from our evening, and a video from Paris of the Eiffel Tower shutting off its lights!