Using My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures homeschool curriculum? Get FREE supplemental MFW printables, resources, ideas & more!
Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC) was our first year in the family cycle of My Father's World, and then also our last before high school. It was by far one of our favorites in 3rd grade! DO NOT SKIP THIS IN THE CYCLE It is essential to begin with this study; the geographical and cultural context you gain will be essential to any historical study that follows. We did this study first as third graders, and it gave us a great foundation for the next 4 years of History because it was hard to learn about Germany when you don't know where it is! The beauty of My Father's World curriculum is the core teaching is done together, with additional activities are suggested for older students. While the Daily lesson plans are in an easy-to-use weekly chart format, it took a few weeks to get the hang of the family cycle. Since the curriculum designed for a multi age classroom, some resources hit younger kids, some middle elementary, and some for older. Don't get discouraged if a resources seems over your kids heads, everyone retains information at their level. Don't get overwhelmed if you are beginning, the manual will become easier to navigate as you establish the rhythm for your Together Time Subjects . It took a week or so of actually teaching from the manual to be comfortable with the flow, and to learn how to leave items out that weren't meant for us. Throughout the year, you will also need to assess if a book suggested works for ALL your kids. It is OK if your youngers don't retain all the details from every book, they are still learning at their own level. For those of you like to check all the boxes,you need be OK with sometimes not doing something listed because it is too old or too young for your kids. Below are descriptions of why a book did , or did not, work for our kids. Your kids are different, so your cons may be our pros! Please leave a comment on what works for you! GEOGRAPHY PROS Teacher's Manual Hands-on activities (cooking, flag sticker book, passport, etc) were easy to execute, without buying too many crazy extra items. I would usually make whatever food item was called for on Friday for family movie night. If we didn't want to use the recipe in the manual for the country, I'd just google a simpler recipe for that country, or GASP, skip it that week! World Cake in Third Grade (week 2) World Cake in Eighth Grade (week 2) Student Sheets Younger Students-You will definitely need the student sheets for this year with younger students! When we went through this with 3rd graders, the student sheets were the spine of the curriculum! 7th & 8th grade Students- As we go through it the second time with 8th graders, we are using less of the student sheets and more the World Geography pages, but the student sheets are still useful and I would still recommend Trip Around the World & Another Trip Around the World- These books have a few extra worksheets & activities for some of the countries you visit. You will have to make copies for each child. Book Basket- We used the book basket list and the library heavily this year, more than any other year. These books will so much more context than you can provide to your together time. Remember this is a jumping off point for your library search! Every country allowed us to fill the library basket full of fiction and non fiction books for all ages. Online library searches at home were a weekly event, and allowed me to easily add many books that weren't on the book list to our basket. Studying one country or continent at a time made finding alternatives very easy. Children's Atlas of God's World, Classroom Atlas, & Maps and Globes were everyday resources that were essential to the study. Even older students will learn something from the picture book of Maps and Globes Blow Up Globe- You definitely need some sort of globe for this study. We did enjoy the blow up Globe when my kids were 3rd graders, but as 8th graders I had purchased a real globe that we used. Geography From A to Z- was a wonderful book, age appropriate book. It might have been our favorite book of the year! The illustrations are clear and even taught me many new vocabulary words. The books is also scheduled strategically throughout the year, like learning about Fjords when you visit Norway. In 3rd grade We used the Printables from Mama Jenn, so that at the end of each child had their own hand drawn dictionary! In 8th grade I had my children use Index Cards to illustrate the differnt terms Currency Kit- We used the money kit in only 3rd grade, and never fully the way described in the manual. We were suppose to use it to "buy" items in your house each week. What we did was to have them visit the "Money exchange" office each time we got a stamp in the passport. Each new country, they would exchange $10 American for the currency of that country. They just kept the money with their passport, until we went to the next country. Exploring World Geography- In 3rd Grade- We did not use because it is for the 7th and 8th grade supplement only In 8th Grade- Great workbooks that develops research skills through the study of the different continents Mixed Feelings Wall World Map-We did not use a world wall map due to a very small house & not enough wall space, instead used the map placement we had bought during Adventures in U.S. History. The blow up Globe also took the place of the need for the wall map. If you have the room for this in your house, I would recommend you putting it up, it just wasn't a possibility in our home. Geography Game (in Student Sheets) In 3rd grade- Even though it comes with the Student Sheets, we didn't actually used the Geography Game when my kids were in 3rd. Instead we used Stack the Countries App. In 8th Grade- We used the game because my kids were able to play it a little more independently , but we still used the Stack the Countries App a lot. . BIBLE PROS Hero Tales- We really enjoyed this kid friendly book of true stories of godly men and women and the character traits they portrayed as they served as missionaries. The manual lays out the schedule well, so you learn about a missionary from the continent you are studying. In 3rd grade we printed copy work from Mama Jenn that helped cement then stories and lessons. Window on the World- This was an informative book, that was also a family friendly introduction to the religions around the world. I like that it gave us specific prayers for each country, to teach us how to pray for different cultures. It also gives you context on a bigger variety of countries that the student sheets. God Speaks Numangagg- This book is only used once, but it s a great read. Mixed Feelings Memory Verses & Bible Copywork- We did not do the Weekly memory verses and daily readings from Matthew because my kids are active in AWANA, a Bible Memorization Club. * If you'd like alternative plan to copywork, try my Proverbs Copywork workbook Missionary Chapter Books (Deluxe package) In 3rd grade-These were way too old for my 3rd graders and Hero Tales covered all the heroes already, so it felt redundant. In 8th Grade- These are more appropriate for an 8th grader, but not essential if you want to just order the basic package. We had a few in the book basket but never read together SCIENCE Our favorite part of this year in 3rd grade was the easily accessible science topics. All kids love animals, and the focus on different habitats (desert, rain forest, grassland, forest, polar region, etc.) was loved by all. In 8th grade, we didn't use MFW manual science because my kids already had a very full plate trying to get Apologia science done. That said, we did watch older documentaries on Disney Plus about the ecosystems of the country we were studying (like Planet Earth). PROS Living World Encyclopedia was a great kid friendly book, with lots of bright illustrations. Book Basket- Plan to get as many of the optional library books listed in book basket as you can, especially for younger kids. If the book listed isn't at your library, just type in Keyword for whatever ecosystem you're studying! The ecosystem always correlates to the country being studied (e.g., rain forest when studying Brazil), so searching your library catalog will be pretty easy. Even the least well stocked libraries should have some fiction and non-fiction books on the major ecosystems (babies animals in the desert, animals of the savannah, etc.). The Great Animal Search- This is a good book for younger kids. Again, the animal study was very age appropriate for elementary aged children. Too young for my 8th graders. Properties of Ecosystems- was a good book that we tried to read with my science lovers. It is more of a textbook, as opposed to a living book. While we enjoyed it sometimes, I'd recommend it for older elementary/6th grade. Be ok if your 3rd grader doesn't retain all the information given. Mixed Feelings The Complete Books of Animals (for 2nd & 3rd graders) We did not use this book, because we used Draw Write Now which was a science and art curriculum combined. I found our schedule for these books on the MFW ECC Group. We also felt the abundance of library book options made this book redundant. If you do not use Draw, Writw, Now or your library is not well stocked, I would recommend getting this book for 2nd & 3rd graders. For 7th and 8th graders, add Apologia science (purchase separately) When we were in 3rd grade this didn't apply to us. In 8th Grade we added an 8th grade science. We used MFW recommended were on Apologia Physical Science, 2nd Edition by Dr. Wile. We were successful with Apologia, but it was so heavy that it was hard also do ECC science. If I could do it again, I would probably for Friendly Physical Science alongside the very fun and meaningful ECC science ART & MUSIC PROS Teacher's Manuals Art Projects I am an artistic person, but can slack on art with my kids. Thankfully the projects were scheduled that didn't overwhelm the day, or require super weird materials. Example: When learning about Mexico, we made tissue paper flowers on Thursday that we then used for our fiesta on Friday (we made homemade tortillas on Friday, and it was almost the only thing scheduled for the day). Fun with Easy Origami (Deluxe package) My kids LOVED this book. That said, is only used during Japan, so you could easily get any simple Origami book to use this week! Be prepared from a house full of paper animals! Did Not Use GLOBAL ART (Deluxe package) The teacher's manual provides so many hands on activities, that I didn't usually feel like we needed any projects from this book. It would make your day extraordinarily long if you added all these. If you have crafty kids, you will like to be able to pull from this book throughout your year. Wee Sing around the world (Deluxe package) At first, when we finished every country by eating food from that country, we would play a song from that region while eating. But the CD only has one song from each region. I would recommend just getting some CDs from that country from your library, or looking up some on your phone. MATH We have never had great luck with MFW recommend math, so we have always used Math U See instead. We use Math U See,you can see our review here. LANGUAGE ARTS PROS THIRD GRADE Language lessons for Today, Grade 3- We again enjoyed LLFT, because it is a gentle Charlotte Mason approach to language arts. Some feel it is too light, but as we have stuck with it, I have seen it gets harder at an age appropriate level. Some years past have felt almost too light, but I think the 4th and 5th grade are beginning to pick up, and challenge them more with grammar and writing. Cursive Handwriting - This was a great year to start cursive! I recommend paring your cursive with a read aloud and using Learning Cursive with Literature Series, if you child loves Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, The Hobbit, or Proverbs. EIGHTH GRADE Progeny Press Study Guides (MFW Recommendation) We all really enjoyed these guides, a great resource for reading comprehension. They were independent enough for my kids to do most of them on their own, but challenging in good ways. I will caution you that the first guide your child does, you will need to more hand holding as they learn. Easy Grammar Plus I am VERY glad we introduced grammar gently through LLFT, but they needed this year of repetition through Easy Grammar. It was a little dry and repetitive compared to our past Language Lessons for Today, BUT I would recommend it because it was simple to execute and my kids really learned their grammar. Writing with Skill Level 1 (MFW Recommendation) This is done independently, and my kids enjoyed it for the most part. It took longer than I expected to finish, each week in the books took about two weeks to finish, which is why MFW recommends you only do the first half of the book this year. We could only fit it in twice a week, but that is okay for the recommended schedule in 8th grade. CONS Spelling By Sound and Structure MFW Recommendation of Spelling Power is confusing, and just does not work with our work-boxes. It is very teacher driven and we needed a more independent spelling curriculum that didn't require so much teacher presence. ADD-ONS Stack the Countries App We use this instead of the Geography Game LEGO LANDMARKS- free supplement using the Legos in your house- This past year we turned my boys' Lego obsession into another avenue of learning. LEGO Landmarks: Free Supplement to ECC Friday Family Movie Night Family movie night during ECC always included a movie from whatever country we were studying. Thankfully Disney+ has done several different countries. In 3rd grade we would watch an animated movie based in that country (Frozen during Norway, Mulan during China, etc) In 8th grade we watched documentaries from the countries we studied. You can find an extensive lists and suggestions in the MFW ECC Group. Workboxes - The Workbox system has saved my sanity! I can't imagine homeschooling elementary and middle school without it! 3rd Grade Workboxes- ECC Draw Write Now in 3rd grade used this as a science, art, and handwriting curriculum, and my kids LOVED IT. Their drawing improved by leaps and bounds, and it as an independent activity that worked perfectly with our work boxes We used a schedule for these books in MFW ECC Group. Draw Write Now Book 3: Native Americans, North America, Pilgrims Draw Write Now, Book 4: The Polar Regions, Arctic, Antarctic Draw Write Now Book 6: Animals and Habitats: On Land, Ponds and Rivers, Oceans Draw Write Now Book 7: Animals of the World Part 1: Forest Animals Draw Write Now Book 8: Animals of the World Part II: Grassland and Desert Animals
A few years ago, I handed my two eldest children their very first math test. They sat together, side by side, and commenced. Within moments they were wriggling in their seats and soon the little ga…
This past year we turned my boys' Lego obsession into another avenue of learning. Our third grade study was a tour around the world, using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. For each country, we studied their culture, flags, ecosystem, and landmarks. You can use this list and make your own "Around the World" Study. Look up books on the country at your local library, and have a ball! If there wasn't a specific landmark that jumped out at us, we made a few animals that we studied in that country's ecosystem. Some were my idea, and some were the boys' ideas. Use your imagination, and your kids will probably come up with their own fun creations! Lego Landmarks can be added anytime during your trip around the world. In MFW ECC our routine was one or all of the following: Build the flag the same day we introduced the country (same day as flag notebook page). This could be a substitute if your kids don't like to color. Build an animal on the day we study the animal ecosystems Build a landmark at the end of studying each country. Use a picture book about the country for your model TIP: Don't worry about perfect accuracy, this is a fun activity to give your kids a hands-on learning experience. My boys didn't pick always pick right colors for each landmark, but had fun figuring out how to build each shape. Introduction Map of your room Map your house Map your neighborhood. North America United States Buildings- Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, or White House American Flag Mexico Buildings- Mayan Ruin Pyramid Chichen Itza and an Adobe House Mexican Flag Canada Maple leaf Ecosystem- Northern forest and tundra animals South America Brazil Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janerio Ecosystem- Rain forest Animals Europe Norway Reindeer shepherds and their homes (after watching a video on nomad reindeer shepherds) France Building- Eiffel tower French flag Germany German flag Africa Kenya Crocodile int he Nile River Watering hole with animals, on Savannah Kenyan flag Asia Saudi Arabia camel Arabian flag (use green lego board for back, and white blocks for design and sword) India Building- Taj Mahal (after reading 'T is for Taj Mahal') elephant Indian flag China Building- Great Wall of China Japan Japanese Building with traditional rooftop Ninjas and Samurai Warriors Russia Russian flag Saint Basil's Cathedral Antarctica Penguins Australia Building-Sydney Opera House Different types Coral Reef
Download FREE Hero Tales notebooking pages / copywork printables to supplement the My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures homeschool curriculum.
Hola! What a fantastic week we had in Mexico. This week’s boarding passes appeared on the boy’s breakfast plates as usual. I cut a long green chile shape out of construction paper to pl…
Another year of My Father's World has begun! We continue to use MFW, alongside workboxes and some of our own supplements. This is a follow up to my Second Grade Homeschool Work boxes, My Father's World Adventures in U.S History. We start around 9:30am with a snack before "school", then cuddle up on couch for together time. Together Time I keep my Together Time books in the living room and we read together on the couch. Geography-Read Teacher's manual on new country, any country activities, listen to any songs from Wee Sing Around the World. We usually save all cooking for Friday night dinners. Lego Landmarks- We are building a landmark or flag for every country we visit. Science- Readings from "Living World Encyclopedia" and "Property of Ecosystems". If there are any experiments or worksheets to finish, we do them before work boxes. Bible- "Hero Tales" ECC Workboxes We use 10-Drawer Organizer Carts for our workboxes and love them!. Below is ONE BOYS' boxes. The other child has the same boxes, but in a different order (i.e if I am working on Math with one, the other is doing independent copy work or reading). Knowing your children's personalities also helps in setting up their order; one of my children has his reading as his last box because he has been know to get lost in a book and forget to do the rest of his school work. Box 1- Bible. Copy work for Hero Tales . Matthew Bible Verses. Box 2- Geography John 3:16 Country Student Sheets, Flag Student Sheets, or Copy work for Geography A to Z. I also keep their passports Flags of the World Sticker book in this box. Box 3- Spelling Our choice for spelling is Spelling By Sound and Structure for Christian Schools Grade 3 because it maintains more independence in learning. The boys have a page to do a day, then a test on Thursday or Friday. I leave a note book to be used on test days, and any additional practice of missed words. Box 4- Art and break Instead of Book of Animals, we use Draw Write Now Books (also used in 2nd grade). Draw Write Now Book 3: Native Americans, North America, Pilgrims Draw Write Now, Book 4: The Polar Regions, Arctic, Antarctic (Draw-Write-Now) Draw Write Now Book 6: Animals and Habitats: On Land, Ponds and Rivers, Oceans Draw Write Now Book 7: Animals of the World Part 1: Forest Animals Draw Write Now Book 8: Animals of the World Part II: Grassland and Desert Animals Since the boys usually use the same book, they have to grab the indicated book themselves. They are on the shelf next to the workboxes. Each boy can then get a snack and then take a 10 minute break. I love that they have to set their own timer, and get back to work when they are done. Box 5- English The twins use the same English book, so instead of putting the actual book in their box, I put a dry erase page that tells them what lesson to do, and if they need to do it with me. The boys retrieve their English book from the shelf next to the work-boxes, and work with me if indicated. I also include any materials they may need for that lesson. Box 6- Math We use Math-U-See DVD curriculum. My usual schedule is watch video and learn new concepts with Mom on Mondays, then independent practice and review for the rest of the week. The video is upstairs in our living room, next to Together Time materials. Box 7- Typing FREE ONLINE Typing.com , best resource out there next to Hoffman Academy. The boys have a bookmark webpage on our desktop, and they must sign in on their own and complete lessons, and I have a teacher portal to check their progress. Box 8- Writing Draw Write Now, or Cursive Connections. When we run out of Cursive, I plan to add independent activities, like puzzles and flash cards. Box 9- Piano and Practice We use FREE Online Piano Lesson Hoffman Academy. The boys watch a video every Monday on our tablet, then practice each day afterward. I spent the extra $20 a year for the printable materials (totally worth it), and each child gets a worksheet every week to go along with their video. I typed a practice schedule with all their songs , practice games, and finger power exercises for the boys to practice more independently whenever we don't have a video. Box 10- Reading We love My Father's World Book Basket recommendations because they allow the boys to gather information on the country without me having to read aloud. All books from Library have to stay in basket n living room (cuts our late fees in half!!!).
Learn about countries for kids with Around the WOrld Country Coloring Pages! These coloring sheets are easy way to explore 19 countries!
IDEA BOX on Pinterest Ian is going into 3rd grade and this is the curriculum we'll be using coming school year. Take a trip around the world and explore diverse countries and cultures while learning geography and being challenged by true stories of missionaries. Our easy-to-teach unit study includes a teacher's manual with daily lesson plans and all books for Bible, geography, science, art, and music. Supplement these with picture books and information books from the library for the countries you study. Add math and language arts for a complete curriculum. (My Fathers' World ECC) I think it's super fun!! Here is my plan and some simple add-ons. Spelling: Spelling Power English Language Primary Language Lessons (continued from last year) After every country, will print a letter paper with country icon on and child will write a letter. Math Singapore Math (finish 2A fr last year, maybe 2B and a bit of 3A?) Music Wee Sing around the world Bible We'll be reading through Matthew and memorizing verses from there. We'll be using copywork from here And we'll be using this very useful app for reinforcing bible memory (I added the ECC verses as "My Verses") AND, I made a bookmark for all the verses to read for Matthew. This way, I may ask boy to do his devotions using this bible reading plan.(this pic is not updated. I did add in the missing alpha) Mother Tongue (Foreign Language) I'll rather call Mandarin Chinese our Mother Tongue, than F.L. Just to make me feel better. =) After a lot of thinking, struggling, we have decided that the children need to learn ZhuYin after all. ZhuYin because it's a different set of characters and will not be confused with the Roman letters of Hanyu Pinyin. (I am not ZhuYin trained though, so I'll have to learn on my own) And we need to learn ZhuYin so that the children can start reading right away. In this way, they will be willing to learn Chinese easier, instead of learning to read many many characters before they can read. I found a great resource here for learning the Chinese Phonetics (ZhuYin) And this blog has a great pictorial flashcards/worksheets free for printing! Between these two sites (and some wonderful friends) I should be able to teach the kids (AND ME) ZhuYin, in preparation for reading and learning Chinese characters! I'm very excited! The guide to the sounds here Want the font with zhuyin on the side? (super cool!) go here Making things fun I made a travel memory page (something like a scrapbook page for every country) There were many good ones out there, I just made one that fits us. Download here : Memory Book I also made a Geography Vocabulary page. Mamajenn has a good one, but I think one full page for one vocab is a bit too much for us, so I made it into 2 in one page. Download here: Geog Terms And I thought of (let's hope it'll succeed!) to change our dining table (a.k.a school table)' centerpiece for every country (simple things like the country's colors/flag, the finished crafts we are going to do...landmark pictures...) We are doing the whole passport/stamp/flag sticker deal. 2 tag-a-longs will be very thrilled. And here's where you find the customized air tickets and here for the stamp on the passport Go to idea box on my Pinterest Page (that should be updated regularly) Customizable music sheets Introduction Interesting 3 min song clip of the overview of the 7 continents. Local mapping (using google map) Continent crossword puzzle Orange globe activity Geography Map Pretest John 3:16 poster using magazine cutouts North America Week 3-4 Countries/Geog: USA Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Crossword Worksheet (Trip Around the World) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Science: Forests Draw layers of Forests Forests Preschool Pack Preschool Letter "U" craft, "A" crafts Hero Tales: Moody, Tubman Character Traits copywork from here Art: Motion Picture Flipbook Paper Doll USA Food: burgers/hotdogs Week 5-6 Countries/Geog: Mexico Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Crossword Worksheet (Trip Around the World) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Spanish Lapbook Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language) Preschool Letter "M" craft, "D" craft Science: Deserts Desert Diorama Preschool Desert Pack Art: Tissue paper flower God's eye Paper Doll Food: homemade tortilla Some mexican dish Week 7-8 Countries/Geog: Canada Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Crossword Worksheet (Trip Around the World) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet French lapbook Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Very Last First Time (Book), lapbook Preschool Letter "C", "Q" Science: Food Chain, life cycles (plant/animal) Hero Tales: Booth, Muller Character Traits copywork from here Art: maple leaf print soap carving Paper Doll Food: Baked Blueberry Dessert South America Week 9-11 Countries/Geog: Brazil Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Crossword Worksheet (Trip Around the World) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Portuguese lapbook Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Preschool Letter "B", "R" Science: Rain Forests Preschool Rain Forest Pack Diorama (Desert/Rainforest) Art: drinking straw flute Rainforest frog Rainforest thumprint art Paper Doll Food: Brigaderiros, Pão de Queijo(Puffed Cheese bread) Europe Week 12-13 Countries/Geog: Norway Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag sheet from ECC student sheets Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Preschool "N", "E" Science: Northern Forests Find pinecones? Art: lapland felt squares Rosemaling Paper Doll Food: fruit soup? Week 14-15 Countries/Geog: France Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Crossword Worksheet (Another Trip Around the World) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet French lapbook (review) Memory Page(air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Preschool: "P", "F" Science: Animal Adaptation, Living Things Hero Tales: Simons, Tyndale Character Traits copywork from here Art: Draw Eiffel tower make Eiffel tower model draw silhouette Look at Monet/Renoir paintings Paper Doll Food: Crepes, hot chocolate Week 16-17 Countries/Geog: Germany Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Decoding Worksheet (Trip Around the World) German words Enjoy the Grimm Brothers' stories (Coloring and pretend play?) For eg Cinderella 3D craft, Hansel & Gretel story and cake? Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Preschool "G", "L" Science: Rivers and Lakes Preschool pack: Pond Hero Tales: Luther, Wesley Character Traits copywork from here Art: Draw castle Paper Doll Food: Potato pancakes Apple pancakes? sauerkraut Africa Week 18-20 Countries/Geog: Kenya Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Mancala Game Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Preschool "K" Science: Grasslands Safari Brown Sack Mural Safari Habitat Diorama PS Art: Dough Animals Safari Brown Sack Mural African Mask Necklaces Paper Doll Food: Pineapple Tapioca Pudding Irio Asia Week 21-22 Countries/Geog: Saudi Arabia Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag sheet from ECC student sheets Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Learning about camels Preschool "S" Science: Conservation/Pollution Endangered Species Art: Middle Eastern Tiles Paper Doll Food: hummus Falafel? Week 23-24 I changed China and India because Jan 31 is Chinese New Year, the year of the Horse Countries/Geog: China Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag sheet from ECC student sheets Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Chinese New Year activities: CNY Traditions (Red Packet, Oranges, Couplets) Make Red packets Make a movable horse "Spring" decoration Preschool "H" Science: Living with people, Ocean and seas Preschool: Oceans Hero Tales: Hudson Taylor, Gladys Aylward Character Traits copywork from here Art: Paper cutting (I like the idea from here) Paper fan Paper Doll Lanterns Tangram Designs Chinese New Year activities: CNY Traditions (Red Packet, Oranges, Couplets) Make Red packets Make a movable horse "Spring" decoration Food: Dumplings A Fish Dish (Nian Nian You Yu) - Surplus every year ("surplus" sounds like "fish") sweet dessert soup? (sweetness for the year) Steamboat? (for Chinese New Year Eve) Week 25-26 I changed China and India because Jan 31 is Chinese New Year, the year of the Horse Countries/Geog: India Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag sheet from ECC student sheets Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Preschool "I", Science: Mountains Hero Tales: A.A. Judson Character Traits copywork from here Art: Rangoli Art Peacock craft Food: Naan Lassi Week 27-28 Countries/Geog: Japan Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag sheet from ECC student sheets Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Flag/Mapping Worksheet Science: Oceans, Beaches Preschool: Oceans, Letter of the week crafts "O" "J" Art: Kimono bookmark Koinobori (Japanese Flying Carp) Cherry Blossom art Origami (monsters bookmark or cranes) Food: Sushi/Onigiri (riceballs) Mochi or other Japanese snacks from the store Week 29-30 Countries/Geog: Russia Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag sheet from ECC student sheets Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Language Page (Another Trip around the world) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Preschool: Letter of the week crafts "V", "W" Science: Artic/Tundra Habitat Diorama Art: Nesting dolls Watch part of Nutcracker or other Tchaikovsky ballets Draw St Basil's Cathedral Food: Russian Tea Cakes Ezhiki (meatballs with rice) Week 31-32 Countries/Geog: Australia Dot to Dot Country worksheet Flag sheet from ECC student sheets Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Children Just Like Me and summary worksheet Preschool: Letter of the week crafts "X" and "T" Science: Coral reefs Art: Australian dot painting Sydney Opera House (using paper plates) Egg carton sea life craft set Food: Meat pies? Lamingtons Week 33-34 Countries/Geog: Antartica Memory Page (air ticket, air plane pic, currency, Hello in the language etc) Arctic and Antartica page Science: Antarctica Habitat Diorama Art: Penguin mosaic art Penguin handprint art Food: Week 35 Countries/Geog: Singapore/Taiwan This is the last week and besides UK (which we added as impromptu) we are adding our home countries to ECC. I prepared a lapbook for Singapore and Taiwan and some internet links to the food (yum)
This year we will detour into My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures. I've been known around here to spend a little too much time in office supply stores buying supplies. It didn't take too long to organize this guide. Fortunately MFW provides student notebook pages. I did print off other things that many generous MFW moms had made. This is how I put it all together: This is my shiny new guide, the student notebook, and my master schedule. As folks around here know, I'm always pushing these Staples Better Binders. They are so worth the money! These things are indestructible. I've never had to throw one away. You can recycle your old binders at Staples and get $2 back for each one. That helps the cost some at least. They go on sale during back to school time, so grab them then, or you'll go broke! I bought the 1 1/2 inch size for the student notebook. At the beginning of each week I take out the pages that will be used and put them all on a clip board. These binders are too big to work out of, but they make a nice place to store everything in one place. Another thing I love over at Staples is their Better Dividers. Again, these things last forever. I always recycle the ones I used from previous years. I love that there are printable labels to use. You can find that template here. I've divided the binder into these sections: Memory Verses World North America South America Europe Africa Asia Australia Antarctica Bible Copywork Hero Tales Geography Vocabulary Geography Game Fast Facts I included the memory verses in the first section. The next tab has all of the pre and post test world geography pages, and anything else that doesn't belong in the continent sections. I pre-printed all A Trip Around the World Pages, and Another Trip Around the World Pages and included them in each continent section, so we won't have to do that in the future. This is the North America section. South America Europe Africa Asia Australia Antarctica I'm so thankful for the creator of the blog Mama Jenn. She created these great Bible copywork pages. She also made Hero Tales copywork pages. I like that there is a place to draw a picture. Additionally she made geography vocabulary pages. All of these activities are scheduled in the MFW guide. The next section holds the Geography game pieces, though I may take these out to put in the binder I keep mine in. The last section holds the Fast Facts drill sheets. We will probably not use these as much as CLE already has daily math drills. I laminated the Geography Game instructions, boards, and game pieces. I 3 hole punched them and put them in the binder. This binder also holds the Currency Kit conversion pages. I laminated all of the game pieces and separated them by continent. The new Currency Kit did not come cut out. This literally took (hours.) I chose not to laminate the pieces as I will not be using this guide again in the future. Even if I were, I'm not sure I would have. It took long enough! This is my master schedule. I like having an official record that includes all the things we do. I bound it with my fancy new ProClick Binding Machine! If you'd like a cover for your teacher resources, mine is here. I keep attendance and field trip logs in the front. This is our official attendance sheet for the year. This is where we will keep a log of the field trips we take. There will be plenty of fun things we will get to do with this guide! We're going to have lots of fun! I look forward to getting to know you MFW ladies. I have a whole lot to learn about this new guide. I hope to learn from your successes, and maybe I will be able to share some of mine. We start school in 4 weeks! See you soon!
Our “first day of school” picture this year was a group shot. I usually like to do individual pictures, but the weeks leading up to our first day of school were so crazy, that I just di…
If you're using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures homeschool curriculum, you're going to want to check out our Brazil activities!
Exploring world cultures with your child allows them to build an appreciation for the world itself, the people in it, and the differences between themselves
I shared my organization for My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures last week. I meant to share a blank schedule, and am now just getting around to doing so. I created a master schedule to go with both guides each boy would be using. Since I will be running 2 guides I need the accountability of something to check off each day. This is completely unnecessary for most people. Many people copy off the grid right out of the MFW guide, and write in the extra subjects which is perfectly fine. For those of you who don't resell their guides, or use them for multiple cycles making separate will probably be unnecessary work. I personally like having an official schedule that I could hand someone should questions ever be asked, or if we move to a more strict homeschooling state. I made a cover for my schedule and shared it HERE. Here's a peak into what my schedule looks like on the inside. I can't share it as that would violate copyright, but I am happy to share my template. I have shared the PDF version HERE. I shared the word version HERE. If you want the word document to not open up all wonky you'll have to download Ostrich Sans and ABC Cursive fonts. Hope this helps someone :)
Well, this week didn't go exactly as planned, but all in all, it was still a great week! It was pretty apparent on Monday that we would ...
Norway! Quite possibly, our favorite unit so far. Surprising because on the eve of this study’s inauguration, my husband had to call an ambulance to come get me after I began to experience su…
This is the download page for the FREE printable Geography from A to Z notebooking / copywork pages that supplement the My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures curriculum. Go to the corresponding MFW ADV
If you're doing a unit study on France or Germany, you'll want to see what fun activities and ideas we added to My Father's World ECC.
Seeing as how we have been a bit sickly this week and we haven't been doing much more than lounging around, I think I'd like to share with you some of what we were doing last year. We were using My Father's World's ECC (Exploring Continents & Cultures.) I can't begin to tell you how much I loved this program. For those of you who aren't familiar with ECC, you can check it out here. Basically, it is a fun-filled trip around the world, where the student explores diverse countries and learns of the people, their food & customs, the geographic area and the environment that makes up their ecosystems, It is a complete curriculum, including Bible, Social Studies, Science, Art, Music and Read-Alouds. We thoroughly enjoyed our year doing ECC. The reason I wanted to share a little bit of our experiences is because when I was using ECC I found it very helpful to see how other families were using the program and I would eagerly seek out any information I could find on the Web. Today, I'm just going to share some pictures of how we got started at the beginning of our ECC year. We had another family, who was also doing ECC, that joined us every Friday for an activity day. Fridays were seriously crazy days. The boys were always so excited to get together, because, well one they are boys and they're just wild, but also because they knew we had lots of fun activities planned for them. We always tried to include one or two art projects, a quick review where we let the boys show off how much they'd learned that week, some music or cultural decorations, and lots of good food from the particular country we were studying at the time. Basically just a big party every Friday! What's not to love. First, I have to brag on my dear, talented mother, who came and transformed this little hallway at the bottom of the stairs going into our basement into The Explorer's Express Airstrip in the middle of a lush, tropical jungle. Using cut cardboard, she painted this adorable air traffic control station that is being manned by our friendly little monkey. But you know what's really clever about this? She attached magnet strips on the back of the cardboard so that it could attach to the big ugly metal fuse box panel that is directly behind that lovely work of art!! Below, you'll see the Destination sign for the airport. Each week a child got to place a giant thumb tack next to the country we would be "flying" to. This too cut from cardboard. After marking the destination on the board, we would introduce the new country by showing them the location on the world map and letting them pin the country's flag on the map, and by reading a book about the country. And finally, we'd have the children go through "customs" to have their passports stamped, and they were allowed to board their little plane. The plane is made out of two refrigerator boxes cut and pieced together. I spray painted it silver and just let the kiddos have fun decorating her. We glued a world map inside at the cockpit so that they could take turns navigating. We asked questions like, "Which direction are we headed?" and "What country did we just pass over?" Here's our sign post so nobody can get lost :) The bulletin board is all finished now! I love it and can't seem to bring myself to take it down. Maybe I'll leave it up for future reviews? You can see we attached a piece of string from the country's flag to the activity or artwork that went with that country. So, that is my not so short introduction to our year with ECC. I hope to be posting more about what we did last year. I'll just sprinkle in bits and pieces here and there as time permits. It's refreshingly nostalgic to go back and look at what we've studied and what all we've accomplished. I know you've got to feel the same way too. Sure, sometimes you probably ask yourself if they are getting any of this, but as time goes on, you can see little glimpses (and sometimes even amazing strides) of what's being absorbed. After all, God's given us these little guys and girls that are miraculous little sponges - they just soak up all the experiences, and somehow, over time it all comes together into this thing we call knowledge! Wow, what a privilege it is that we can take part in that with our children!! Blessings out there, Vicki P.S. If you fall in love with paintings and want some information about the artist, her name is Diane Knowles and her business name is Daystar Designs. She is a professional muralist and a positively, lovely Godly woman.
Simple and satisfying, this cornmeal porridge from Kenya, called Ugali, is the perfect accompaniment to soups, stews, and savory curries, especially our recipe for Kenyan Beef Curry.
This last homeschool year, we traveled the World with My Father's World Exploring Countries & Cultures. Here is my honest review of the curriculum and our experience with it. Pin Me! If you are unfamiliar with My Father's World, it is a Christian homeschool curriculum that is a mix of Charlotte Mason, classical education, and
Check out the activities in our Norway study as part of My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. See what ideas and actiivities we did!
Are you thinking about using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures? Check out what is included in the curriculum.
Use music and playful activities for Teaching Children about South America. So many great ideas for toddler, preschool, and elementary age kids.
MFW: ECC GETTING ORGANIZED We finished MFW: Adventures in U.S. History and are moving on to MFW: ECC. Excited to start this new adventure in our homeschooling journey. I've been trying to prepare and organize everything before we start in May. CURRICULUM I labeled both the teacher manual and the student sheet notebook but using tabs and writing the number of the week it is for. Helps me find the week so much easier this way. I've actually done this same method since we started MFW: God's Creation. It has worked great for me. Here is a closer look at the inside of the student notebook. I actually divided each week into page protectors and placed tabs for each week with the number on it. This time I decided to use page protectors for each week instead of folders, it's actually a lot cheaper this way. Also in this notebook is the geography game in the back of the notebook. BOOKS This year we will be using Language Lesson for Today Grade 3 and Spelling by Sound and Structure 3. This year we will be concentrating a lot more on writing in cursive, K has shown a lot of interested in wanting to write in cursive. Bought this math book at Barnes and Noble, Singapore Math 2 A & B for grade 3. For our bible study we will be using Window on the World and Discoverers Bible that we used last year. Also include God Speaks Numanggang by David Hazell with our bible studies. Typed and added a picture to each memory verse of the week. After printing the sheets I laminated them and then cut them out. On the back of each one I added what week we will be using them for. I can't seem to add a link to the ones I did so if you are interested in a copy I can email it to you. Geography we will be using several books, which we are so excited for. Love learning about new places and how different cultures live. Several of the Janet and Geoit Benge stories we will be using for our read-aloud. Use Hero Tales with the worksheets I printed from Mama Jenn blog page. Some of the science books we will be using this school year. I've added Art Treasury with Global Art for our art books and will be listening to different music videos on YouTube that will go with our lessons each week. Include this Origami Charms book that we had already in our studies. MAPS We have a geography wall in our hallway, which I actually lowered this year so it would be eye level for the kids. Above the map will be our Art wall to display the kids masterpieces. I printed out several different children of the world I found on Pinterest and used some that came in the student sheet to add to our map. The kids love looking at the different styles and seeing where they live. More children from the world, we might include animals to our map when we get to each country. Bought this at our local Children's Museum, added it to our Geography wall. Found this at Dollar Tree We sent out different letters to about 32 embassies for them to send us some information about them. Checked off the ones we have already received information packets from. Kids get excited when they see the mailman, they look forward to seeing who might of sent us some information. Keep all our embassy packets on top of one of our carts so we can use them when we get to that particular country. SCHOOL SUPPLIES On the bookshelf I have several activities in which the kids can use whenever they like or when I need them to play quietly while working with the other child. Also have some of our paperworks that we will use each week. Next to the shelf is a book basket which is for books K uses for her read aloud that she picked from the library or some books D wants me to read to him. Here are our carts which stores everything we would need for our school year from art, science, worksheets, paper, and many more materials. Next to our carts is our bookshelf that is our mini library. Our other bookshelf has more of our books we use to for our school year and it also contains all our notebooks, Kinetic Sand, sensory supplies, globes on top of the shelf, buckets of different activities or games. Next to our everything bookshelf we have several big bins which contain our rainbow pasta & rainbow rice, sensory bin, and stamps. There are also several boxes of science experiments and our globe. Made something like a bulletin board above our turtles tank. It has our calendar, memory verse, work for each week and the week after, an outline of what we will be studying each week. Next to the turtles tank is D's school work, he will be starting MFW: God's Creation while joining us in our MFW: ECC studies. Under the tank are a few of our manipulatives, games, and a bucket of superworms which is Larry Boy's (our bearded dragon) food. In the living room I put up a chalk board which I bought off of Geek app. It comes so you can stick it on the wall but I used thumb tacks to hold it on the wall since we are planning on moving next year I want to able to take it with us when we do move. I found this really pretty boarder at our local school supply store "School Tools". Goes great with what we will be learning this school year. Also have a punching bag and punching ball for the kids to take out some energy or anger they may have. D sure does love it, he says it helps him with his ninja moves. Our living room is a multiply purpose room, it's the kids play room, living room, school room, and entertainment room. Love the indoor trampoline gets a lot of the kids energy out. Bought this silicone continent mold on Amazon for our continent cake. We will be using this mold through out our studies. Planning on using for when we reach a certain continent to make ice cubes, candy, or chocolate. PETS Here are a few of our other family members. Looking forward to our new school adventure and learning a lot more about that many different cultures out there. I'll be adding a link below of each week once completed. GOD BLESS! PREVIOUS POST MFW: God's Creation from A to Z (Kindergarten) MFW: Learning God's Word (1st Grade) MFW: Adventures in U.S. History (2nd Grade) POST OF THE WEEK Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 Week 17 Week 18 Week 19 Week 20 Week 21 Week 22 Week 23 Week 24 Week 25 Week 26 Week 27 Week 28 Week 29 Week 30 Week 31 Week 32 Week 33 Week 34
I have received hundreds of requests for the information below which details our Charlotte Mason approach to Classical Conversations. Please understand that this is not the only possible approach t…
Science activity exploring maple syrup candy
Travel to Russia from the safety of your home! Arts, crafts, music, food, books and more will help you and your family feel like you are on a trip to Russia!
Grab these Saudi Arabia Coloring Pages for kids to learn about other cultures, customs, and landmarks so they are welcoming world citizens.
Everyone is big on experimenting here at the moment! Miss 3 is always asking to ‘do experiments’. Which for her means grabbing […]
It's Canada Day on July 1st and we're celebrating with some easy and creative Canada Day Crafts for Kids! Let's learn about maple leaves, inukshuks & more!
Russia is so rich in culture, from the art, to the music, to the architecture. We could spend months learning about all these wonderful treasures. Wouldn't that be fun? One of the things I wanted
Learn about Antarctica's geography, animals, tourism, and explorers in this free Antarctica lapbook. Resources for the Antarctica Lapbook Explore Antarctica by Bobbie KalmanAntarctica: Journey to
Learn about China's geography and culture in this free China lapbook. How to Fold a Lapbook Library List: DK Eyewitness Books: China by Poppy Sebag-Montefiore D is for Dancing Dragon by Carol
The "I See the Sun in..." series of books takes us to Nepal, China, Afghanistan, Russia, Mexico, and Myanmar to follow a child through their day.
Cultural is the last curriculum area in my Free Montessori Video Lessons Series.
