Kate Middleton, Queen Elizabeth and royals from around the world are spending time in their home offices during the coronavirus pandemic
Have you ever toured or seen a dwelling completely unlike your own? Most of us are fascinated by such houses, and kids enjoy seeing or hearing about how children from other times and places lived. Every culture and period has its own type of housing; by studying it, we learn about lifestyle, climate, topography, belief systems, living standards, even politics. These topics are included in the bigger subject of geography. As you study history, take time to discover more about houses of the times. Help your children see the impact of where people live on how they live. Near water? In a desert? Nomadic or settled? Seeing structures they built indicates a great deal about their society. Kids will learn more when they can put themselves into the story, imagining what it was like to live a different lifestyle. In good weather, children can build outdoor houses and forts! This beloved activity for kids of all ages moves to the next level with the project below, with research first and consideration of what type of structure to build. Hands-On Activity Build a model dwelling. Your children can make these structures simply with items like sugar cubes, pretzel rods, and building blocks or students can go all out and use a tent, sandboxes, or big cardboard boxes. Older students benefit from doing a little research before building. It would be helpful for them to see images of the housing they are trying to construct; you might do a Google Image search and print a few examples. Remember to take pictures when your children’s construction project is complete. Questions for students to consider before building: 1. What am I building, and what was its purpose? 2. Who would have lived in (or used) it? 3. What was the weather like at its location? 4. What was the land like (rocky, marshy, hilly, etc.)? 5. What are the most important features I want to include? 6. What materials do I have that could represent or make this structure? Igloos served as temporary shelters during winter seal hunts and were perfect for nomads traveling over arctic terrain. Sleeping platforms and tables were made of snow. Burning embers and frozen blubber for whale oil lamps provided heat and light. Seal and caribou skins provided warmth. Make an igloo with sugar cubes. Roman houses often displayed small shrines dedicated to household gods. Villas for the wealthy impressed more than provided comfort; they were built of stone, marble, and concrete with rooms built around the perimeter opening to a central courtyard or patio. Surrounded by columned arcades, the open rooms and courtyards displayed paintings and ornaments. Living quarters tended to be smaller and less ornamental. The lower classes (peasant farmers and craftsmen) lived in modest houses constructed of sun-dried or kiln-fired mud bricks, with stone and dirt floors and beams of packed earth and branches. Have fun making a Roman house with Legos. The Zulu people of Africa built beehive-shaped huts near a stream. Furnishings were limited to grass sleeping mats with carved wooden headrests. A fireplace kept the hut warm but smoky. Woven saplings, covered with grass thatch and arranged in a circle, formed a pen for cattle. Make a Zulu hut outside with twigs, leaves, dirt, and such. In the late sixteenth century, the North American Iroquois tribes (now known as the Haudenosaunee people or Six Nations) built longhouses for large extended families. They were made of posts and poles covered with bark. The interior was divided into compartments for various family units, each of which had its own fire for light, cooking, and heat. Mats and furs covered the inside walls and benches. Build a longhouse with sticks and bark. Viking houses were sturdy farmhouses made of stone, wood, or turf to withstand heavy coastal weather. Simple long halls allowed sleeping, cooking, and eating in one big room. Lincoln Logs, anybody? The Aztecs of Mexico made homes of adobe (brick) with a single room divided into four equal parts: shrine, sleeping, food preparation, eating. They typically added a second, circular building for a steam bath. Try making an Aztec house from mud or clay. Or try constructing one of these buildings: Anasazi cliff dwelling Castle Hampton Court Palace Nineteenth-century frontier log cabin Traditional Japanese house Wigwam, tepee, Chickee hut, and other Native American dwellings Home in Plymouth (Plimouth) Colony Greek city house European peasant hut (Middle Ages) Famous forts (Soldiers, and often their families, lived in many of them.) For the unusual, consider windmills, lighthouses, or space stations. Do something new to surprise your kids. Have fun! You will never regret spending extra time and energy to make homeschooling memorable! In 1991, Bob and Maggie Hogan began homeschooling their two young sons. The first years were exciting and challenging, but with little curriculum available, they had to work hard to find or develop their own materials. As they created materials that worked well for their family, Maggie began speaking and encouraging others at homeschool conferences. Her handouts grew longer until Bright Ideas Press was born. Bright Ideas Press promises to publish Christ-oriented, affordable, and easy-to-use curriculum that will fit into homeschoolers’ hectic lives. See their popular products, such as The Mystery of History series, All American History, Illuminations, and recently, WonderMaps, at Bright Ideas Press. ___________________________________ This is an example of the wonderful articles and projects you'll find in every issue of Homeschooling Today Magazine. Subscribe today!
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roof of dugout There is a house under this hill - commonly called a dugout View of houses The big winch They don't care where they leave their old cars Col looks at home here - who needs a job? Underground Church Col was dying to play here until ............................. He realised there was no grass!!!!! Temperature was 40 degrees lets leave that one alone. Machine digs these tunnels Houses - dugouts are built in some disused mines, soil conditions need to be perfect though Underground bedroom Constant 24 degrees down here all year round Opal - posh so not valuable no colour Hi everyone, we reached Coober Pedy without any problems without the rest of our family they are still in Renmark waiting on car parts. Coober Pedy is a truly fascinating place, we both love it. Such a great contrast again from the Sunshine Coast and in fact anywhere else in Australia that we have seen. The town is the Opal Capital of the world and has a population of around 3,500. There are 45 different nationalities represented here and about 60% of people living here are European. About half of the houses and businesses here are built above ground and the other half underground or some have above ground and equally as much house underground, they call these houses dugouts. The reason for this is to keep the houses cooler – Coober Pedy is very hot. Houses underground maintain a constant 24 degrees both winter and summer, the average cost for a home like this is around $70,000, there are some much grander homes also which would be worth a lot more than this. The dugout houses are disused shafts and mines that were once mined for opal. No more mining is allowed within the town, even though it’s believed there is still opal here because it is now too dangerous that there are people living in the town, the mining takes place within a radius of 75km around town. Colin was interested to see a golf course with not a blade of grass! You will see photo’s the greens are sand with oil mixed in, otherwise the sand would blow away. It is not unusual for Coober Pedy to suffer dust storms. There are photo’s of a magnificent underground church, you will see the walls and ceilings are natural just with a glaze over to protect them. The church has some beautiful hand carvings that were done by a visiting New Zealander. I have mixed feelings sending this blog; I am seeing so much devistation in Qld it seems petty to spend time putting together our photo’s of our wonderful trip. So many of our friends and my customers will be effected by this devastation either directly or indirectly. Our thoughts go out to them. I am sure all of you feel the same way and our thoughts and prayers are with those effected. Thankyou for viewing our blog I hope you enjoyed it.
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