Geography and Ceramics Mug-Making

At the start of the week, we decided to play our American Trivia board game that covers history, geography, art, and "general," and I realized that the kids, especially the girls, needed to learn a lot more about their geography.  Jaden William knew far, far more before their ages, and I knew not only all my states before Elizabeth's age, but also all the capitals.  By Olivia's age, a child should be learning more world geography, in my opinion.  So on Monday, both the maps came down from the boys' room to be washed, and I hung the world map on the dining room wall.  Trusten put the states one back up in his room. 

 I am glad Sheppard Software is still up and running.  I used that a lot in my home school. 

I introduced the kids to "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"  I looooved that game when I was a kid.  That was back when my home computer operated on MS-DOS.  I became an expert and learned so much.  I told the kids how I'd used hardback encyclopedias (which we now have in our home) to gather all the information I needed to catch the criminals. 

To play, visit this link and choose to play in your browser.

I brought out the old, worn place mat of the world flags for the kids.  I'd used the 'F' encyclopedia as a kid. 

I got out our copy of My First Atlas by (Katie John Sharp, 2005) and the 'M' encyclopedia so they could access a list of the countries' currency to assist them.  My First Atlas is a good book of geography that lists important agricultural resources, exports, the capital cities, etc.  I remember spending so much time engrossed in the encyclopedias. I also remember something I accessed on the computer, too, though, that helped me memorize various other data, like important exports and whatnot. 

The game was a big hit.  Learning is most effective when it is fun and engaging.

They will continue with geography learning.

We still got outside plenty and engaged in fun exercise. :-)  I'm so happy it's spring and that so many lovely flowers are blooming.  Our lilac bush smells so wonderful, and plenty of butterflies and bees are enjoying it.

Elizabeth enjoyed a Zoom meeting with her teacher and a few of her classmates last week, though I didn't take any pictures.  Here is Olivia chatting with her teacher and some classmates.

Carissa and I started making our mugs. 

My first mug is for Trusten, decorated with tigers. I think he is going to want it to be blue.

I find it ever so difficult to get things to be perfect.  Oh well, I guess it's got that homemade look!

I am about to start reading Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen to the kids. 

I found a recipe so that we could use some of our chicken maple sausages with some leftover rice to make a lunch.  Carissa fixed it, and it was pretty good. :-)  The red pieces are red bell pepper.

Next week, I will be making some teaching videos based on past learning with the kids.  I'll be using them for my field experience hours, but maybe it will also help inspire some parents out there who are struggling with the pandemic homeschooling they've been thrown into.

Until next time...