Saturday, October 13, 2012

Celtic Unit Study


We went on an awesome field trip a few weeks ago to a local Celtic village Museum called Keltendorf.
But before we went, we did a quick 2 day study on the Celts.


Who were they?

 Why are the so popular today? 
What about those amazing knots they make?


 Surprisingly there isn't to much online for KIDS about these cool people! So I just put together my own lapbook (gasp!) with some basic info, and we were set for our adventure!



We talked about the cool Celtic knots... And colored one online. 

We learned that they didn't write to keep track of their own History, but told story after story to keep it going... it wasn't until the Romans came in, that the Romans wrote down what we know today.





KT's chosen sentence of the day and her little round house....



We have a favorite Geography songs Cd ... This is the printable from the activity guide that goes with it. The song was of the British Isles.  We discovered that they Celts lived in many places in Europe even as far as Turkey!




                 Finally, we cut out and colored a Celtic Cross, then glued it to a large sheet of paper..



We read an excerpt from The Story of the world Vol. 2. It was a great story for the kids! ...  Watched a few you tube videos and read a little bit online from BBC on Iron Age Celts

That was pretty much all I had at home for our impromptu Adventure!







                                                      Each room was a mini Museum.




Each Child was able to make a craft on site. KT chose to make a leather purse, while JT made a wooden arrow for his bow from scratch!



                                        Here, they had a chance to hold a shield and fight !









                                                     KT trying out the grinding stones.




As part of afternoon they included traditional lunch. Soup & apple juice. =)  The kids had a GREAT afternoon!

Did you know the Celts were the first to use Soap? And they really weren't dirty and barbaric? =) 
A fascinating people.. 


Thanks for visiting!!! 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Days of Fall.....



Happy Fall!
This post is picture heavy! Fall is one of our favorite seasons...Here is what the Kinders have been up to!




Every year we visit our favorite Pumpkin Festival. It's our kick off into the season! We haven't missed one in 8 years!










The Kids favorite is always the Hay bales and the Giant pumpkins on display!


Nothing like driving along......and out of no where... some cows...=) They escaped somehow. We managed to heard them with our car back into the village we had just driven through, and a few minutes later the farmers were on the hunt for 'em.. The kids thought this was very fun! =)


                                      We also found out we are expecting Kinder #3 !




Another fall favorite is finding chestnut trees and picking all nuts, and bringing home the shells. They are prickly little things... not to fit into a pocket so easily...=)



                                                                Lots of cool sunny days...









We had one litter of 4 bunnies this August, and to our surprise one day, ANOTHER litter! This time there are 6 baby bunnies. They are a week and a half old.


Isn't new life amazing? while we still haven't given away the other 4, we are so excited about these little guys... The kids are really enjoying watching them grow.


The Kinders both started Horse Lessons this fall. It's gone really well. JT was extremely afraid of Horses, and now....he is awesome! No fear, and doing so well. KT just loves it...



                                   Our Homeschool group went on a field trip to the pumpkin farm!




                                                              Library days.......




Fall Craft Time! Last year we got into Needle Felting. This is a totally fun craft if you haven't tried it yet. It's great for all ages from about 5 & up....  This time we felted pumpkins.....







Aren't they adorable???









                KT is spending more and more time in the kitchen with me, and learning basic recipes.




Robots! My kids have been so into creating robots out of any recylable at home the last few months. I found a small kit online for them to try, since they wanted to make a REAL one. KT usually wants to do everything JT does, so I had to find a robot that was do-able for both! We did a Tin Can Robot.  totally worth it! They loved it, and it still works!





All year I have been learning to make skirts and little things for KT. Here is one I made out of a vintage table cloth. It turned out really cute!



And Lastly, we have been working on the house little by little. Here is our Front Entry way. This to me, is the  weirdest room, and most awkward to re-do (on a budget).... it looked like a mobile home entry way from the 1970's...

The walls, were paneling, the doors were a different color wood, and as you can see the ceiling above is another shade of brown... We painted the paneling, no other choice at this time... because of the way it was installed.Then there was DIFFERANT paneling on the wall with the doors... i just put wallpaper batten and board on it.  The doors were solid wood, so I decided to paint them till I find doors I love ( it seems all the doors here are fake wood, and that light modern color). I also added decorative trim to the basement door to give it some character.  then I added some molding to the top, and we are putting up white ceiling tiles. Now, we just have to add the molding to the top and add lighting!




















Thank you for visiting!! More soon!