Japan mini-unit
Apr 26th, 2007 by lapazfarm
Sorry about the scarcity of posts lately. This is dh’s last week with us before he heads to Kodiak, so we have been spending time with him and school and blogging have been taking a backseat to life right now.
But, I wanted to share a few things we have going on school-wise:
Superboy’s interests in Karate…
and bonsai…
have sent us off on a little rabbit trail to Japan.
We have been reading aloud and very much enjoying this book:
And Superboy is making a mini-notebook on Japan. Here are the topics he is interested in including and some resources we’ve dug up for them:
Karate: Superboy’s Dojo , Karate Wikipedia article, All-Karate.com
Bonsai: The Bonsai site , US National Arboretum Bonsai Virtual Tour, NC Arboretum Bonsai collection
Samurai: history, Samurai Gallery (awesome pictures).
Tea Ceremony : here, and here
Sushi: here and Roll your own sushi
Kanji: The Kanji site
Haiku: Too many resources to list!
Kabuki theatre: Wiki and coloring page (more Japan coloring pages for the littles at that site)
And there are a few other topics he was interested in but I can’t recall right now. The little notebook is actually looking pretty sweet, though. I can’t wait until it is finished so I can show you what he has done!
Not a full-fledged unit-study, but just following a blossoming interest. We will see how far it goes…
Oh, and he has been trying to talk me into using our new seine net, but the creek water is still too dang cold for me. I won’t be able to hold out much longer, though! So that will be likely happening next week as well!
I wanted to thank you for sharing, as we are following you down this rabbit hole a bit. We did Japan last year quite thoroughly, but Girlie could not get enough. She has been asking to read your blog, and I saw the twinkle in her eye. She came up with an idea of a mini-trip around the world project for geography, leading her own study and with me coming up with a craft or activity after she submits and itinerary. Of course, I know it was only so she could make a bonsai! Thanks for giving her a spark.
That’s great Angela. Superboy had planned an entire Around-the-World notebook project early in the year, but we never did get “around” to it! We plan on starting off next year with that in mind. I look forward to seeing what Girlie comes up with! Who knows, maybe Japan will be just the beginning!
I see you “found” me. *smile*
I’m glad to see your post. I’ve been checking in. Your one of my favorite blogs to check. You have such great hands on activities and projects and you encourage me to be better about those things also.
This is awesome! I was thinking that Little Man might like something like this, since he has developed an interest in Yu Gi Oh.
That is so neat! Can’t wait to see the finished project. I love how you follow your children’s lead so well!
Japan would be a great rabbit trail. I took two years of ‘nihon go’ in college and so enjoyed it. I just wish I could remember more. He might want to try learning to write in hiragana or katakana, the syllable based writing system. There is a nice animated writing tutor at http://members.aol.com/writejapan/hiragana/writutor.htm
It made me want to pull out my books for a review
PS – Theresa, I tagged you for the Thinking Blogger.