SOTW Week 3

Week 3 of SOTW 1855-1857
Dost Mohammad signs treaty with Great Britain, ending the Great Game and David Livingstone Explores Africa.

This was a fun unit that didn't look too promising when I first planned out what we were going to learn. I found it difficult to follow what the books recommendations were for the hands on projects once again, and decided to do a few of my own. While my own girls have already done an in-depth study of  Africa last year, my other co-op kids had not. My own didn't mind revisiting Africa and learning about the great sacrifices that David Livingstone made.

We created tree's in our journals and placed a heart under the tree. David Livingstone's heart was planted in the same way by the Afrikaans when he died. His body was then sent home to his family, while his heart remained forever. We labeled the the tree and sky using our Afrikaan words.

On the left hand side of our Journals we added our map work and famous men of this era.

 We practiced and added our Swahili words and Afrikaan words. Their assignment was to address and use these words to others this week. Jambo was used a lot!

 Co-op was hosted at my house this week. It gave me an opportunity to actually TEACH in my new classroom! I will have to admit... I do love my dry erase boards! On the left is our Swahili, in the middle the tree, next is Afrikaans and there to the right are some of the facts we knew about Africa before we began this unit.

Other Co-op Happenings

 Mrs. Sampson helping the littles with Art Appreciation.

 Mrs. Hildboldt with the Elementary and middle school kids. They are working on their nature sketches.

 I know that sweet girl there! Abby is sketching the flowers we planted on top of our dearly beloved Megan that had to be put down at the end of summer.

 This is actually in the middle of my "new" raspberry patch.

 I will have to say this... I LOVE these kids! Nothing can wear me out quicker than a day with these little ones! They are amazing!

Africa Unit Study

This summer we have taken to learning about the continent of Africa. Both Hali and Aaron have participated in the mock Missions Trip to Africa with a sister church. Their experience was very eye opening.... So it only seemed appropriate that we should include this unit study during the summer.

We have done quite a few hands on activities and still many, many more to do. In fact, since Africa is actually a Theme of The Month over on my Noplace Like Home homeschooling board, we will revisit Africa at the beginning of the traditional school year. Until then, here is a sneak peak at some of the fun we have been having.

We began by learning Braille. The kids did a simple exercise of writing their names and then wrote some sentences. Many children in Africa are blind. We prayed for these children as we learned about this amazing language. Learning the spacing was a bit difficult at first, but in the end the kids got it right!

We learned about African tribes and their belief in Various gods. One of them being a rain god. So we pulled out the last of the rain sticks and went to work.

There is Chrissy with Hali and our little friend Razzia. Razzia's papa is living in Africa. We took out the globe and found Cape Town. Razzia talked to us about things her papa shares with her.

 This funny little guy was inspired by Veggie Tales. Hali was the creator of this and I didn't even know this was taken until it was time to blog! That girl cracks me up!

We spent a whole day learning Afrikan and Swahili.. We were cracking ourselves up to the point of being breathless.

The vowels are what shocked me the most. It was so hard remembering how they were different.
A= Ah!
E= Say
I= be
O= ho!
U= Too

We learned about several animals in Africa. We actually made little books to put in our lapbooks (the next part of this unit study). The kids took notes and then tried a little art project. I couldn't tell WHAT animal was what... so I skipped the picture part of that!

One of these days I will actually be organized enough to have this information available to share with others who WANT to know some interesting facts. It's something to aspire to, but I currently fall short of that mark!