Around the World Day 2008
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Yesterday was our homeschool group’s Fifth Annual Around the World Day, probably my favorite day of the school year each year. Once again, every one had wonderful displays, food and costumes and the kids did a fabulous job of representing their countries.
Each year, all the families in our group who want to participate, sign up to represent the country of their choice. They spend some time learning about the country and putting together a presentation including things like a display board, food from the country, costumes, and items that represent the country, which can be handmade, but are often souvenirs from a visit to the country by the family or a friend or relative.
Now for the tour…
I did visit Mongolia myself, but in the craziness of trying to take pictures and keep up with my kiddos, I didn’t get to talk to “Mr. Mongolia” very long, but my in laws mentioned to me that he really knew his stuff. They were really impressed with how much he’d learned, so, way to go, Mr. Mongolia’s Mom. 😉
I loved Greek Girl’s Acropolis shirt (not pictured). The kids here did a great job on their display…
And, here is Ms. Peru, looking lovely in her traditional dress. They had strings on their table for the kids to take. I read the significance of the strings, but I’ll be honest and say that I don’t recall for sure what it said. All I know is that Josh learned some really cool games with the string that he went around showing everyone for the rest of the night.
I had to explain to Josh that the pancakes in Canada were supposed to be a sample, NOT breakfast! This display was done by one of our teenagers and I always enjoy seeing what he puts together because, if I understand correctly, it’s all independent work…and he always does a great job.
We really enjoyed the video of the Ugandan dancers on our visit to Uganda. I may have to swipe the portable DVD player idea for next year.
The kids in China were so excited to tell me about making almond cookies. They were yummy…and isn’t the panda bear cute?
We were right next to Ancient Egypt, so I probably learned more about it than anywhere since I was left manning the table while my kid traveled the world…and socialized with their friends. (See? I keep telling people we really aren’t unsocialized!) I loved all the cool, handmade crafty things in Ancient Egypt. It looked like the family had so much fun. And, I learned that the Ancient Egyptians were the inventors of marshmallows! Cool, huh?
The German table was really cool. The parents had lived in (or visited?? Don’t count on me to be one to have all my facts straight.) Germany, so they had lots of cool stuff that actually came from Germany. My favorite was the little “carousel” that was turned by the heat from the candles.
And, here is our display, Italy, where you can see our salt dough map, Brianna’s Leaning Tower, the Mona Lisa and more…
We were also able to visit Morocco, which had lots of cool handmade crafts. My favorites were the drums. They were awesome! The kids had great costumes, too. I should have posted the pictures, but I wanted you to be able to see their great display up close.
We enjoyed Australia, as well. Next year, I might be tempted to trade our salt dough map for a paper mâchè one like we saw in Australia. I also thought their Aboriginal “dream prints” (I got the concept, even if I didn’t get the name correct.) were great. My only disappointment was that I forgot to chase down the older girl to get her to play her homemade digeridoo.
The folks from Scotland had a super display, too. Didn’t they do a fabulous job on their Loch Ness monster? They had a really nifty layout for their fact sheet (not pictured), as well.
I thought that, once again, everyone had a wonderful display and we learned something new about each country. My kids are already talking about next year.
The last Wednesday of the month, I’ll be posting on how to plan your own Around the World Day over at The Homeschool Classroom, so if this looks like something you might like to do with your homeschool group, be sure to be watching for it.
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
That is such an awesome idea! I hope to be able to have my kids participate in something like that when they are a bit older. Everyone did such a good job!
Wow!!! That was a great trip around the world. I love all the displays. Will definitely have a go at doing one. Its a great idea.
Everyone did an amazing job! Wish I could have been there, but thanks for the tour, Kris! Next year!
wow- great stuff. I’ll be watching for your “How-to” post. 🙂
These look like such neat displays! What a great idea. I love your salt dough maps too. 🙂
Well y’alls display turned out really great! I know you had a blast. So now you gotta gear up for France next year!!!!
Have a good weekend!
We loved AWD. Thanks for your encouragement. It is great to have somethng like this where Miriam gets to work on a project and then show it off. It’s great for the dad’s and grandparent’s to be able to come by. We look forward to next year!!
Too cool! I can’t wait to read your directions on how to do one of these!
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! I love little facts about different places! 🙂
that’s great. I would love to do that here as well. Maybe some year. I think it would be great to even do that as a family. I have 5 children so we could cover 5 countries every 6 months. But it definately would be more fun with a big group.
Lisa
http://www.houseofmanyblessings.blogspot
Your ATW Day is like lapbooks on steroids!! What a great way to get everybody inspired. Thanks so much for sharing.
~Dana
Wow! What a great day y’all had! I REALLY hope that we can participate next year! Thanks for posting the great pictures!
What a wonderful event for homeschool groups!
I can’t wait to read your post about how to organize this.
Way to go on the Italy display!
This is my first time visiting your blog, and I love it!
Blessings,
Shannon
Nice idea. When my kids went to public school, they did something like that, only the kids would research the country of their ancestry. Looks like fun. Too bad my kids are too “mature” for this sort of thing now; they’re teenagers…!