Geography - China

We went to China for our geography last week and we really enjoyed it!

We used the Expedition Earth curriculum from Jen over at

It is an awesome curriculum. With her curriculum we learned some geography, a little bit about the culture, did a couple of crafts, and learned a little bit of the language.

One of the fun crafts we did with the curriculum was to make a Chinese fan.

In addition to the curriculum we bought a kit to decorate Chinese lanterns. We made the paper lanterns as well, but I really enjoyed decorating these so that Bella could use them to decorate her bedroom.

At the end of the week we had crab Rangoon and orange chicken for dinner. It was delicious.

Asian Orange Chicken at AllRecipes.com

Crab Rangoon at AllRecipes.com

I also add garlic salt to my Crab Rangoon mix and I deep fry them, not bake them. They get nothing but rave reviews every time I make them! Try using this recipe and deep frying them and I promise you will be so happy with it that you will never even want to eat Crab Rangoon from a restaurant again!

Geography, Week 1 - the World

We are using Expedition Earth as our main geography curriculum this year, and I love it! My kids are pretty far apart in age, Isabella is 8, and Alex is 3, but they both enjoy the curriculum and are learning from it. I mostly design things around what Isabella needs right now and then I just try to find ways for Alex to still feel included, be kept busy, and be learning. We got our Expedition Earth curriculum from Erica over at

It has been such a help to me because for some reason I found geography daunting and didn't know where to start! Now our whole family is enjoying it, and I couldn't be happier.

One of the fun things we got to do this week was to make a creation lapbook:

Both of my kids made these, but for Alex I cut everything out in advance so that he would just participate in the coloring, circling the letters of his name, gluing, etc. It made it much easier.

Another fun thing we did was to make a paper mache globe. I found a website with lots of fun ideas I might use later and good tips for paper mache.

How To Paper Mache

Another thing that we did was start our display boards for our animals. We made our Animals of North America first, since the animals we are studying for our Little House in the Big Woods curriculum can go on here. 

(So far our bears and wolves are on here)

So that was our week of geography.  Next week we plan to study Antarctica because it goes so well with the nice snowy weather we are having. What about your family? Any fun ideas to share? 

Countdown to Christmas...23 Days!

Today is officially my last day wearing the walking boot for even a partial day, so there is something to celebrate right there!

For dinner we are having pumpkin pancakes, and for activities, we are having Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, all over this place!

So far today we have read 10 pages from Hark! A Christmas Sampler, Read today's selection from The Jesse Tree, taking our ornament and candy out of our advent envelopes, and I now have a coloring page for each story we read.

We also read about Mexico in our Christmas around the World activities from Expedition Earth and made paper bag luminaries, using battery operated candles.

When we finished all of that, we just hadn't had enough (I know, right?) So we made hand print ornaments, another idea from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Here is the link to her instructions and pictures: snowman handprint ornament I actually used the acrylic fillable Christmas ornaments so that I wouldn't have to worry about them breaking during the creation or shipping process.

I went ahead and added the links for everything you would need to make the ornament crafts, and also a link for battery operated candles, so you would know what you are looking for but I found the candles 2 for $3.99 at Target, so the candles can be found cheaper. The book I haven't found anywhere but on Amazon so I bought it there myself.

Someone Should Have Warned Me!

So, I am using my lovely Expedition Earth curriculum and studying the country of Germany. Everything is going splendid, if I do say so myself. The children are enjoying it, I am enjoying it. We are learning some Geography but also getting to make this time of year special for Christmas. We have a lot of books, songs, and activities to do each day that help us to think about what time of year it is. We get to think about the history of this holiday, how it is now, and the true meaning behind it all.

You can find the expedition earth curriculum here:
<a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com"><img alt="coahbutton" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4539688748_8098ff340c_o.png" width="150" height="150" /></a>"&gt;

When I was a kid we made nativity cookies every year at Christmas time and last year I had purchased some nativity cookie cutters so that I could carry this tradition on with my own children. You can find the cookie cutters I bought on Amazon.com




So we have these nativity cookie cutters, we have traditional cookie cutters. We are looking in our Expedition Earth curriculum of Germany, and it says to make gingerbread ornaments. We decide this is a fantastic idea! We can make nativity ornaments even! What a fun, festive, cute little craft!  We printed the directions. I expected a little bit of trouble because my mixer was broken and it is made of things like molasses.

Needless to say, my arm hurt. Now comes the funny part. That recipe makes like 8 majillion ornaments! I just kept rolling out dough and the kids kept cutting and I would put it in the oven and there would still be more! It felt never ending! I was starting to think it was some Christmas miracle like the widow who's jar never got empty, except with a tiring craft! I only have 2 kids and one of them is only 3 so while this is awesome for those of you out there with a lot of kids, it was way too much work for little old me to be doing with only my 8 year old participating.

Here is the box of ornaments we had when we were done baking them:

Here is the dough still left in the fridge because I got tired, ran out of pans and energy, and the kids eventually lost interest in cutting them out:

Will we get to it? Who knows! It was a super fun craft! We just have such a small little family...After our ornaments set for a couple of days to finish hardening (during which time I constantly warned all house guests not to try the "cookies") we finally go to the fun part this morning! Painting! Cute pictures start now!

They really loved the painting! Alex kept sticking out his tongue to help him concentrate but every time I tried to take a picture he would stop. It was frustrating me! Bella takes such time and puts such thought into her ornaments, Alex paints them the favorite color of whomever he intends to give them to. (I am getting a bunch of green ornaments, his Aunt Megan, purple). I had to guide Alex to another activity eventually so that he wouldn't rush through painting them all and leave none for his sister to paint. So now we have tons of gingerbread ornaments. If you are reading this and are related to me, guess what my kids got you for Christmas this year? :D

How Do You Spell....Mr. Potato Head?

Yesterday was crazy. We had our home-school co-op planning meeting and then I came home and did school with Bella before leaving for my own classes. I didn't have much down time. I laid down for about 5 minutes to take a nap but then Bella needed help with something on her school work so I got woke up.

Alex is doing very well with learning to read. I was so proud, in fact, that I decided to show off to my husband. "Alex, what does c-a-t spell?" I asked. "Cat!" he shouted enthusiastically. "Good job! What does, h-a-t spell?" He smiles, enjoying the chance to show off for his daddy, and yells "Hat!" "Great! Now what does r-a-t spell?" Alex is practically bouncing with excitement at this point, he knows he is doing great. "Mouse!" he screams. Then we all have a good laugh.

We continued our Christmas around the world theme in Germany and Bella and I made German paper stars yesterday. This is one of the projects from the Expedition Earth curriculum by my favorite blogger. (You will see me toting her praises here a lot!) Here comes the linkage:

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Anyways, those stars aren't as easy as they look! The video is about 12 or 13 minutes long but it took Bella and I around an hour! We grunted, unfolded, refolded, played back the same spot on the video over and over, but in the end we were very pleased with ourselves when we finally got it accomplished!

Next time, they will probably come out even better! (I hope.)

Okay, and I had one last thing I had wanted to share with you today. Yesterday my black-Friday deals add from JoAnns came in the mail and when I opened the first page, guess what I saw? The workbox carts and they are going to be on sale for $35 dollars a peice! You can get other ones, of course. I just like these because they are so colorful and fun. I think they make things look fun!

You can see the drawers I am talking about here:

Storage Drawers for Workbox System

And information about the workbox system here:

<a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/workbox-system.html">http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/workbox-system.html</a>

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Have fun dreaming of being organized!!!

While you do that, I am going to go make some gingerbread ornaments!