CHINA
Our family attended a Chinese New Year celebration hosted by Huntington Gardens. The day included dragon parade dancers, Chinese hammered dulcimers and singing and dancing performances.
We also received a calligraphy lesson, and a man wrote our names for us.
The Chinese garden wasn't completed yet,
but we saw a model of the garden that we now enjoy there.
Before our school year began, one of the mothers found these amazing calligraphy sets at a discount store. She called everyone and asked if they wanted them.
The girls had a wonderful time creating with them.
You know the kids are inspired by the school theme when they spend their free time
creating and learning more about the school year subjects.
Field Trip to China Town, Los Angeles. We met together as a group and then split up into families and smaller groups. The kids loved seeing the shark fins in the shops, and all the dried pieces of animals and things hanging in the apothecary shop.
Afterwards we drove to this massive Buddhist temple.
It felt like we had really visited China on this day.
We took a few detours to other oriental lands on our Magic Carpet Ride.
A family in our group hosted lectures by someone who had lived in Thailand. That was interesting as well.
JAPAN
We opened our study of Japan to a local sushi restaurant for lunch. We had never been there, but it was really good, and the kids loved the experience.
Giselle wore her kimono which was perfect for posing with this Samurai costume.
A favorite field trip was our visit to Little Tokyo. We pulled out the kimonos Hal brought back from his mission in Japan. The girls and I made obis to wrap around them. The one Autumn Heather is wearing is authentic. Giselle's is simple cotton, but the perfect size for her.
There was too much to see in Little Tokyo, but one of the favorite shops was filled with Japanese dolls. The girls wanted pictures with some dolls they liked.
There were many shops and lots of food to try, including fresh mochi ice cream. We loved eating lunch in this café. The girls got the bento box lunch special.
Autumn was so inspired by the her Little Tokyo lunch that she made her own red and black box from cardboard and created a beautiful lunch to go inside. She really paid attention to detail.
Then she set up a Japanese screen she made, dressed in another kimono,
and set up a little table for this photo. This was an amazing inquiry after our visit to Little Tokyo!
One day a group mother contacted me about getting together. She was going to teach her children Japanese Haiku poetry, so their family came over for an impromptu lesson. We had a fun time learning, writing and sharing our poems.
Autumn Heather sitting at "Poetry Port" writing her Japanese poetry.
Huntington Gardens is a great place for a field trip on Japan.
We always bring sketchbooks or journals for writing.
As the end of the school year advances and the garden is calling, sometimes I have to push myself to keep focusing on the school year. One morning I woke up and didn't feel inspired do do school. All I could think of was, "We're in Japan. What can we learn today?" We had just seen the Huntington Japanese garden, including the Zen garden. I decided to look up some key points about Japanese gardens.I thought the girls might like to make their own garden, complete with goldfish koi.
After I shared some key points and my idea about making a garden,
we found a cardboard box and lined it with a black plastic bag.
The girls laid out a design that included a pond for the fish.
We already had bamboo plants from China Town...
and a mini Zen garden with Japanese bench from the dollar store...
The girls made this toothpick screen.
They really paid attention to the elements of a Japanese garden.
After the girls gathered dirt and soil, and put together the structural design, we went shopping for more garden items like miniature plants, small rocks, and goldfish.
The girls spent the entire school day creating a miniature garden.
It was definitely an inspiring day.
SOME PROJECTS AND OTHER INQUIRIES DURING THE YEAR
Creating and painting a topographical map of India
Learning to make Chinese noodles from scratch
Making the Chinese invention, paper, from plant matter in our yard
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My favorite project of the year was raising 25 silkworms. I ordered them online, and we received a little petri dish with a smudge inside. Those were the eggs. The worms grew quickly as we fed them mulberry leaves. They moved from the petri dish to a pie tin, to a large foil roasting pan, to 3 roasting pans!
A slice of toilet paper roll for the worm to spin a cocoon in
We retrieved the silk from one cocoon. The single thread was incredibly strong.
The silk worm cycle ended after the moths emerged, mated, laid eggs, and died.
It is something that completely engrossed me. I think the kids liked it too.
We held a closing day of Japan and closing day of the year all in one day.
Since most of us live far away from each other, we planned one giant day to spend together.
The host family went out of their way to make this memorable.
They had many fun inquiries for the students.
Everyone made their own pair of Japanese sandals. Our host had cut out and put together all the wooden sandal part for each student. Then the student chose a fabric tube filled with batting, and put it together with the sandal. My girls loved having their own pair!
We received painted rocks and more as favors for the day.
We had sukiyaki, sushi and many yummy dishes for our Japanese lunch.
The students enjoyed sitting together on the floor to eat.
After lunch a visitor presented some experiences of living in Japan
The students then presented some research projects from the year.
Giselle shared her Chinese paper-making project.
Autumn Heather shared her Japanese origami project, and told about making her bento box lunch.
Part of her presentation included teaching how to fold an origami creation.
This lovely day was the perfect ending to our exotic school year.
That night as I tucked the girls in, we talked about our some of our favorite times flying our Magical Carpet Ride to Lands of Enchantment. They told me that now they couldn't decide which year was their favorite school year, since this one was so engaging!
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