Testing is done and it was back to school as we know it. Groans and complaints aside, the week was very fun and even I learned a lot in the process {who says homeschooling is all about the kids, eh?}

The main focus this week was the Eiffel Tower because it was just too fun. :) The girls especially enjoyed picking one of Monet’s paintings to imitate {I picked 4 different paintings and let them choose one}.

When I tried to sit the girls down at the end of the week to put their notebooking pages into their binders and stamp their passports, Laurianna asked if we could study for another week and do a lapbook. So I’m going to be spending the next few days pulling together something for next week.

Monday

• Geography song (kids are singing it to me while pointing to the countries on the map)
• History of France {via Time for Kids} ~ I printed off what they provide for us to use in our notebooks
• Read a few chapters of The Little Prince

Tuesday

• Geography song
• Visited the official website of the Eiffel Tower and took a 360 panoramic tour
• Put together some paper crafts of the Eiffel Tower
• Played a few games for fun (Hector at the Eiffel Tower)
• Read The Cat Who Walked Across France by Kate Banks

Wednesday

• Geography song
• Practiced counting to 10 in French {see YouTube video clip below}
• Read a few chapters in The Little Prince
• The Travel Linguist ~ French 101 teaching some basic French phrases

• Geography song
• Talked about Claude Monet & watched short documentary about him
• Picked our own Monet painting to imitate
• Read more in The Little Prince

• Hector and the Eiffel Tower ~ has 7 different games that kids can play including puzzles and spotting the differences in pictures. FUN!!
• LaTour Eiffel ~ the children’s page has some great resources for teachers!! Be sure to check it out. I’ve listed a few individually below since there are pdf’s that you can download and print for the kids. They also include some great lesson plans {12 in all}
• 360 Panoramic view of Eiffel Tower ~ courtesy of LaTour Eiffel
• Eiffel tower crafts: from Papertoys.com and Group Publishing {the one from Group is a little less involved, so that’s the one McKenna did}
• Time for Kids ~ sightseeing guide and a little tour through France, history timelines, postcards, and even a little challenge quiz once you are done with your virtual tour.
• Learn to Speak French ~ video with short quiz on counting 1 to 10
• The Travel Linguist ~ French 101 teaching some basic French phrases
• Claude Monet Life and Art ~ site providing a lot of links to the life and works of Claude Monet
• Claude Monet Documentary ~ via YouTube about 4 minutes long

Books We’re Using

I admit it. I ‘cheated’ a bit this week. I found a fun way to teach the kids about Germany this week, all under the guise of a game.

Highlights Magazine offers spy adventure kits that include a puzzle, a guidebook to the country, suspect cards, a case file, and a puzzle book. I picked up one called “The Bummer in Berlin” (completely unused) at a book sale the week we started our study of Germany. When I pulled it out and told the girls we were going to solve a mystery in Germany…well, let’s just say they were excited!! So when I say I cheated ~ we just followed along, learning discreetly about Germany through reading/searching for clues, and I had very little work to do!

Each day we completed several pages in the puzzle book to find clues, eliminate villains and tried to discover where the stolen item might be hiding. We used our guidebook (basically a book about Germany) to learn things about Germany and answer questions to find clues. We also used website links to get a little better look at some of the things we were talking about.

{I included a link to the Highlights kits here ~ it’s set up similar to a book club. First one is free and you pay for the rest of the kits as you receive them. You can view a sample here. I am in no way affiliated with them – just wanted to pass the info along in case you were interested}.

Monday

• Put our puzzle of Germany together
• Learned about the Brandenburg gate ~ a 200 year old monument in Berlin {several of the suspects were trying to mingle in the tourist crowd}
• Took a ‘walk’ through the Tiergarten, the largest park in Berlin.
• Talked about the wall between East/West Berlin
• Learned about the cuckoo clocks and the famous Black Forest

Tuesday

• Traveled to Stuttgart and visited the Mercedes Benz factory
• Learned about the autobahn and lederhosen
• Learned about the importance of the Rhine River
• Looked at pictures of a palace Frederick the Great built – Sanssouci {means without worries}

Wednesday

• Traveled down the Rhine River and learned more about some of the other rivers in Germany (put together a crossword puzzle with all of their names)
• Looked at some of the different castles along the Rhine River
• Listened to the German numbers and also German phrases
• Talked about the war and Adolf Hitler

Thursday

• Toured the Beethoven museum online
• Learned about the Frisian islands off Germany’s North coast (which I never realized were there….)
• Solved our mystery ~ figured out what was stolen, where the thief hid it, and who did it!

Websites & Links we used:

• CityPanoramas – 360 view of the Brandenburg Gate
• Mercedes – tour the Mercedes-Benz museum
• 100% German Places – picture tour of Sanssouci, a palace built by Frederick the Great
• Lorely Info – links to castles along the Rhine River
• Time 4 Kids – audio clips of German phrases
• Speedyconkiwi on YouTube – has lots of video clips with examples of how to count to 10, months of the year, days of the week, etc…
• Beethoven-Haus Museum – virtual tour of the museum

We’re off to Germany! We didn’t finish all of our book Keeper of the Angels Den during our study of the Netherlands, but figured that it was ok to keep reading it along with Germany since it takes place during WW2. Our week was a little scattered…so most of our time was spent on some of the basic things about Germany. Next week we are doing a fun ‘mystery tour’ of Germany and I can’t wait to share about that with you all!

I did put together a few notebooking pages: one is a mapping/labeling activity of Germany that includes labeling some key cities, rivers, seas and identifying the countries that border Germany. The other is a notebooking and coloring page on the flag of Germany. It also includes a brief history on the German flag.

Here’s a look at how our week worked out:

Monday

• Geography song about Eastern Europe (Geography Songs)
• Locate Germany on world map and also the globe
• Learn more about Germany using the atlas
• Read a chapter from Keeper of the Angel’s Den about Corrie ten Boom

Tuesday

• Practice geography song
• Complete map activity (click on thumbnail for document)
• Read Germany’s tale in Around the World in 80 Tales
• Read a chapter from Keeper of the Angel’s Den

Wednesday

• Practice geography song
• Complete flag notebooking sheet (click on thumbnail for document)
• Talk about the history timeline of Germany using Time for Kids site

Thursday

• Practice geography song
• Talk about the money in Germany
• Read a chapter from Keeper of the Angel’s Den

Websites we visited/used:

• Time for Kids: Germany – sightseeing, history timeline, fact files, and postcards
• Mama Lisa’s World – Children’s songs and nursery rhymes from Germany
• Come to Germany.com – travel site for Germany including virtual tours and lots of information

Additional Resources: