Amber’s Taste of Belize & Outdoor Movies July 7, 2015

In this post: My special fruit drink that reminds me of Belize, outdoor movies, and a way to help the Belize Mission.
Hello dear ones! For Memorial Day (awhile back I know) we watched a movie outside with our projector and we had my special fruit drink “Amber’s Taste of Belize”. I’m giving you the ingredients…but not the amount. I’ve got to keep some of it a secret ;). There was this awesome fruit drink the hotel staff made for us on the Belize missions trip. I’ve tried to replicate it and this is as close as I could get.

Amber’s Taste of Belize

• Cans of pineapple juice
• orange juice
• Cranberry Sierra Mist
• Shaved ice

 

We finally bought a projector. It was worth the investment too. Outdoor movies rock! You may remember that a couple summers ago we dragged our t.v. outside for a redneck drive in on the trampoline. That post is here:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/my-family-rocks-sunday-redneck-drive-in-repentance-corner-summer-fashion/
Well, that trampoline died and we got a new one with a net. It’s not very projector friendly, so we hung a bed sheet on the gazebo. Then we put tarps down and covered them with pillows and blankets.

We put the baby in his bassinet.

It was great fun. We also got a little pool. Leeland doesn’t mind the water until the wind hits him and he’s cold. We’re able to go to some pools for free too since my husband is a vet. It is very hot down here so we do what we can. It’s not as hot as it is in Belize though. We’ve also had several big thunderstorms…still not as bad as the monsoons in Belize. I miss Belize…lol. I really do. My church is about to go for a week. I will be home with the kiddos, but I hope to go back some day.

Hey, they do some awesome work there in Belize. They feed babies. They give them medicine like Tylenol so they don’t die of fever. The missionaries don’t take any money for themselves. They completely give of themselves for the people of Belize. They share the gospel. Help them out if you feel led.

Pray, give, and go : http://www.iservants.com/

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Mardi Gras 2015 March 1, 2015

In this post: Mardi Gras treats, crafts, parade fun, and a lapbook.

Hello dear ones! We celebrated Mardi Gras as a family for the second time. We’ve come up with our own traditions, like decorating a float for our family parade. Anywho, this is how we did Mardi Gras.

• We began with a Mardi Gras lapbook and several videos on Mardi Gras’ history. I’ll include a link at the end.

 

• Michael made a jester mask.

• Michael and I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame because it has the Festival of Fools in it. It’s not the same holiday but the style is similar. I also like the lessons on sin and grace in the movie. Rio and The Princess and the Frog are also good for this time.

• We had a small feast for supper. We had ham which is a rare treat. We don’t give up anything during Lent, but it was a nod to the history of Fat Tuesday and how people ate all their meat before fasting during Lent. I found the centerpiece at the Dollar Tree.

 

• We made a King cake using cinnamon rolls. We put it in the oven while we had our parade.

Here’s Chris braiding his part.

 

Into the oven!

 

• Michael and I made a parade float out of Leeland’s wagon. We used tissue paper and masks. Then we filled it with beads, moon pies, and coins. Teddy played the king/jester and rode in the float.

 

• I turned up the jazz music and we had a parade. Michael and I took turns throwing things. We put on masks and beads.

 

• Lastly, we decorated and enjoyed our King cake! Mmmmm….we just used the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls and sprinkled it. I couldn’t find purple sprinkles so I used glaze.

You can find the lapbook, videos, and other ideas here:

Mardi Gras on Pinterest

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Mardi Gras past
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/mardi-gras-dr-seuss-birthday/

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/crafty-monday-gods-love-hearts-galore-plus-mardi-gras-celebration/

Another good Disney film to watch for Mardi Gras is The Princess and the Frog. Here are some ideas to give you that New Orleans’ flavor:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/crafty-monday-disney-countdownpinocchio-the-princess-and-the-frog/

Six Inspirational Christmas Books with Activities December 24, 2014

Hello dear ones! I want to share with you the inspirational Christmas books we read during Advent and the activities we did with them. Also a link to the free Christmas Around the World lapbooks we’ve been doing in homeschool.  Well, all but one of these Christmas books talk about Jesus’ birth. Enjoy and I hope you’re having a merry Christmas season!

1.The Gift of the Christmas Cookie

This delightful story tells how the tradition of Christmas cookies came about. It is a story about sharing God’s love with others. We made Christmas cookies to go along with it.

2. The Message of the Birds

This cute story uses birds to share the news of Jesus’ birth. For the activity I taught Mom and Michael how to draw cardinals. Then they used waterpaint and finger paint to finish.

3. The Candymaker’s Gift

This is one of my favorite Christmas books. A grandfather uses the candy cane to teach children about Jesus. We made a couple candy cane ornaments. Then we made candy cane hearts to eat! Links will be at the end of this post!

Crushing the candy canes

Before adding the vanilla almond bark

Sprinkling the crushed candy canes into the melted candy

Voila!

4. The Legend of the Christmas Tree

Why do we decorate Christmas trees? A tree salesman shares the origin of Christmas trees and how the church has used different trees to share God’s story through history. I learned something new myself when we read this. Michael made a picture ornament and a cornstarch ornament tree.

5. The Little Matchgirl

This is the only story that doesn’t mention Jesus. It is a bittersweet tale by Hans Christian Anderson. The poor matchgirl lights a match to warm herself as she sells matches in the freezing cold. But everytime she lights a match she sees a warm vision. This is one of my favorite classics. It’s sad but also happy…depending on your point of view. I would use this story to talk about helping others and also being thankful for what we have. We made mistletoe luminaries for this story.

We used mason jars, red & green tissue paper, modge podge, and epsom salt. The epsom salt gives it the snowy effect.

6. Mortimer’s Christmas Manger

This adorable story is about a mouse who finds a home in the manger. By the end of the tale he’s given his new home back to the baby Jesus. Then God provides Mortimer with another home, a gingerbread house. So I allowed Michael to start nibbling on the gingerbread house him and his dad made earlier this month. He has until New Year’s to finish it.

I hope you enjoyed this post. You can find these books on Amazon and Christianbooks.com (except my version of the Matchgirl. It’s from when I was a kid.) I believe these stories are worth reading every year. They’re fun and they keep the focus on Christ.

Here are the links for the craft and food ideas:

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Here’s the Christmas Around the World lapbooks we used.

Free passport:
http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/lapbooks/lapbook_country_and_culture.html
Lapbooks:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/christmas_around_the_world.php

I used the above link for all but Asia. I wanted to explore countries besides the Phillipines. So I used three other links for Russia, China, and India.
http://www.123homeschool4me.com/2012/10/christmas-around-world.html
http://perciousperks.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-in-russia-free-mini-unit.html?m=1
http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/

We did not make any of the crafts or food this year. But the nice thing about lapbooks is that you can save them and pull them out next time. Maybe next Advent season we will have time to do more.

Michael stamped his passport each time he learned about a country.

I apologize for the poor quality of these photos. My camera hasn’t been the same since I dropped it.

Also Michael learned how to play “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” on the piano. We looked over the lyrics to the song and watched several versions online. I used several Susan Paradis worksheets to go over his notes. They all had a Christmas theme. You can find them at this link:

A Tea Party Baby Shower for Hannah February 8, 2014

In this Post: I threw my best friend Hannah, a tea party baby shower. I combined elegance with Hannah’s favorite storybook characters.. Toad & Frog, and Winnie the Pooh.

Dear ones, the first weekend in January I threw a baby shower for my best friend, Hannah. She loves tea parties and wanted something elegant. So I used mismatched tea cups, fake pearls, tea pots, and pink and white fake flowers. I found a lovely white clock at a thrift shop. The candle holder in front of the fireplace is also a thrift shop find. I wove a strand of fake white flowers through it and lit tea candles to set the mood.  I scattered pink petals on one table and pink baby confetti on the more casual gift table.

I also have a creation of my own on the gift table. I modge podged pages from Hannah’s favorite story book characters on the letters BABY. You can see Toad and Frog and Winnie the Pooh. I gave the Winnie the Pooh tea book and the Toad & Frog book to Hannah as a gift. After I modge podged I glued the letters together and added ribbon and fake pearls.

Our friend Rachel (whose blog I’ve mentioned several times) brought the tiered platter full of tea cakes. Her husband Al is a chef and made them. I am so thankful for her help with that and also Hannah’s family for  helping me decorate etc. We were at Hannah’s Mom’s and it was already so beautiful. I didn’t have to add much. Zoom in on the platter and you will see a baby in a teacup on top. That goes great with the invitations I sent out, which are at the bottom of the pic. I ordered them online.

I wanted to make homemade foot print cookies but my attempts failed. So I just bought pre-made sugar cookies and at the last minute I found cookie icing that hardens on spot. They turned out beautifully this way with less pressure on me.  I bought the cookie cutters online. It was trial and error but they were a hit. I got the mini chalkboard at Michaels’ craft store.  The favors were super easy: pink mints, Hershey kisses, and a heart charm that said “It’s a girl!“, all tied up in a sachet with pink ribbon.

Hannah’s Mom has a hot water tap so we used that to fill up tea cups and people chose their own tea bags. I had many different flavored teas. I bought nice pink and white napkins. The elegant  paper plates are super fancy and I got them online. They have a chic pink birds and flowers print.  Tea cups are expensive so I went with white plastic tea cups and I glued a pink bow with a pearl on each one.

The two games were super simple but fun. We played a diaper game. The person who found the poopy diaper won the gift basket (I used a sticker. The candy bar idea makes me nauseous). Then we played “Don’t Say It” a Baby shower version of Taboo.  I split the group into two teams. No prize for this game but the guests really had fun.  The paper flowers on the gift table were made by Olivia, Hannah’s daughter. 

The shower was lovely and Hannah got all she needed. Lil Miriam will be her third child but it’s been awhile since Liam was born. Hannah wasn’t expecting this little one so the shower really helped. We all are excited and waiting to meet Hannah’s baby girl, maybe this week :). The shower wasn’t that hard to put together but I was very nervous because I had never thrown one before.  Thank the Lord he helped me get it together!

Baby Shower Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/baby-shower/

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Middle Ages Week 4: Robin Hood & the Crusades

In this post: The Canterbury Tales & a craft, poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer, Robin Hood, the Crusades, stained glass windows, blawmanger (Medieval chicken & rice), dragon feet, & a study of Snowflakes with actual snow! Also Greensleeves, the song that brought King Richard home! 

Well, I am finally caught up! This coming Monday I will be back on schedule and I can’t wait to share our study of Medieval Russia and how it awesomely coincides with the Sochi Olympics. But for now let’s go to a very dark time…the time of the Crusades.

First off, most history books and videos are very biased during this time in history. Catholics (Christians maybe..maybe not. The commoners didn’t have much knowledge of scripture back then) are seen as villains who got crazy and bloody. While the Muslims are usually portrayed as completely peaceful. I like Story of the World because it shows the good and bad of both parties involved. We see that Muslims had taken over the Holy Land and the Pope had a misguided quest to redeem it.  It seems that at first pilgrims were treated fine in the Holy Land but then Christians and Jews were being banned from it and persecuted.  The Pope guaranteed a spot in Heaven for those who fought. I don’t say that these were all Christians because how can you be a Christian if you don’t even know Christ’ teachings. The people could not read the scriptures for themselves and they went by whatever the often corrupt leaders said at the time. Had they known the scriptures then they would know that Heaven doesn’t come by fighting a war. Also they’d know that Jesus said to love our enemies. The very fact they believed salvation came through the Pope’s blessing and a crusade, proves they were not Christian. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, by believing  in him and confessing with our mouths.  This is what Christ teaches.

The Crusades were just sad. Both sides back n forth doing horrible things to each other. The only light in all this is that the crusaders gained knowledge of  Muslim technology. The Muslims were very advanced compared to the rest of Europe. Also it’s good that Christianity still exists. The war was not good but had Islam continued to take over then Christianity probably wouldn’t exist today. All but one of the crusades were unsuccessful. The reconquest of Spain however was successful. Jerusalem was built by the Jews and later taken over by Catholics, then Muslims. The Jews were scattered during the diaspora, after Rome destroyed the temple. It is a sad time in history. Jews have always been persecuted. Unfortunately, so called Christian leaders tried to convert people by force. This is completely unbiblical. We’ve learned though that many leaders adopted Christianity so they could have control of the people. Their religion was unsincere and the proof is in their unchanged hearts.  Jesus never mean’t for Christianity to be used as a tool. Alas, the middle ages were really dark and corruption rampant in every religion and culture.

If you’re interested in a unique take on the crusades watch BBC’s Robin Hood.  I love how Robin of Locksley (Robin Hood) is portrayed as a lord that went to war in the crusades.  There’s a great episode in season three where a monk has started writing the scripture in the common language, though it is forbidden by the church. It’s a great series for the middle ages. You also get to see Muslim technology because one of Robin’s “men” (actually a woman) is a Muslim.

During this time, King Richard (from the stories of Robin Hood) went off to fight in the Crusades. He left his people to be governed by corrupt rulers. You know the story of the sheriff of Nottingham and  Richard’s younger brother, Prince John. Well, Robin Hood is most likely a legend but Prince John was real. And people were really being drained of their money and left with nothing.  No wonder people dreamed of a hero that stole from the rich and gave to the poor.  The people were so upset that they forced Prince John to sign the Magna Carta. This made things a little bit fairer.  The Prince could no longer do whatever he pleased with the people’s money.

Meanwhile, King Richard went missing. The stories say that he was found by his friend Blondel  who went around singing “Greensleeves” and waited for an Englishman to sing the next verse. He supposedly stood beneath a tower and sang a line. Then he heard King Richard sing it back. The people (against Prince John’s wishes) begged the Duke of Austria, who had captured Richard, to let him go.

Michael watched Disney’s Robin Hood and I made him a quiver for his arrows. We made tissue paper stained glass windows with contact paper.  We also made dragon feet out of cardboard and had medieval chicken and rice, blawmanger. It’s made with almond milk. I played Greensleeves on the piano.

We watched and read a story about the Children’s crusade (which some believe to be fictional or maybe the basis for the pied piper story).  The movie we saw was another time traveling movie; Crusade: A March through Time.

Speaking of the Holy land…people would take pilgrimages. An important poet named Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote down stories from pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. Most of the stories are crude and perverse but the Nun’s story of the rooster and the fox is perfect for kids.  We made puppets and Michael acted out the story as I read it. Thankfully my old story books I told you about, have several stories/poems by Geoffrey Chaucer. We also read his poem “A Perfect Knight” and we read his short biography. Geoffrey Chaucer is said to be the Father of English literature.

More after the pic…

Lastly, we had three snow days and we took advantage of them. They coincided with our snowflake study.  Michael was so sad when the snow started to melt. I told him to scoop up some snow and put it in the freezer. Now he will have snow all year round :). I wanted to get a microscope to look at the snowflakes but we couldn’t find one. I did however, get a telescope and Michael found Jupiter.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Search for Blawmanger on this site: http://www.godecookery.com/how2cook/how2cook.htm

Canterbury Tales Puppets: http://www.layers-of-learning.com/canterbury-tales-for-kids/

Dragon Feet: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/dinosaur-feet-craft/

Robin Hood’s No Sew Quiver: http://www.creativecapitalb.com/2013/10/simple-upcycled-no-sew-kids-quiver.html

Snowflake study: http://www.currclick.com/product/88816/Snowflakes—Two-Day-Study-Series

Middle Ages Lapbook: http://www.currclick.com/product/1065/Middle-Ages-Lapbook

Middle Ages Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sow-middle-ages-renaissance/

Netflix links for Story of the World: http://terishepard.com/2013/08/06/story-of-the-world-netflix-resources/

Middle Ages Week 3: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-3-the-vikings-the-feudal-system-castles/

Middle Ages Week 5: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/middle-ages-week-5-medieval-russia-marco-polo-plus-2014-winter-olympics/

Middle Ages Week 3: The Vikings, the Feudal System, & Castles

In this Post: Viking fun, food, and crafts. A magnificent chocolate castle cake, a homemade Hnefatafl viking game set, and more!

Dear ones, the vikings kicked our rump! What a week this was! We really did overkill. We crammed a  2 week Viking lapbook into 4 days and also did some of our Middle Ages lapbook. We won’t do so much next time.  We got this great Viking ship kit on sale at Barnes & Noble. It happens to be very complicated so we haven’t finished it yet. If we ever finish it, I’ll update this post.

We made drinking horns and had fake meade (gingerale and apple cider). I post my inspiration links at the end.  Michael wore a viking mask. We made Viking toilet paper roll people and for fun we watched How to Train Your Dragon. We continued with Story of the World of course and we watched more Monarchy. Seriously, the Vikings were mean!

I made our own Hnefatafl, viking game set. It’s similar to Chess but so much easier. You can find instructions online. I used leather and a sharpee for the board. Then I made game pieces out of clay. We had so much fun with this game. A piece is missing now. I think Annabelle ate it :(.

I was inspired by High Hill Homeschool’s tree of life pendent kit. I didn’t have a kit.  I made my pendent using gold wire and fake pearls.  I have a really old book collection passed down from my Aunt and  Dad. It’s a series of 12 books with fairy tales, legends, and history. I can find stories from all over the word in these books. I found a Norse tale that was similar to a Celtic story we had read in our new Celtic book. What a funny coincidence! Michael drew a really kewl dragon that I for some reason don’t have a picture of.

We also watched a Norse song being performed on youtube. The link is on my Pinterest.  Chris helped Michael make butter by shaking heavy cream in a bottle. It was very soft butter but tasty. Sadly, we didn’t have time for MLK Jr. crafts. Michael did however read “Who Was Martin Luther King Jr.?” I love the “Who Was?” series. Michael loves them too. MLK Jr. is one of the few heroes that I have a picture of hanging on my wall. I admired him growing up. After Michael finished the book he had a sour expression. He informed me that MLK Jr. was dead and that he was mad at the guy who killed him. I chuckled a little since obviously the Doctor has been dead for awhile. It’s just a new revelation to Michael. I’m glad he admires my hero too.

More after the pic….

We learned about the feudal system and how the English language developed. We

studied the process of becoming a knight and Michael made his own code of chivalry in the Middle Ages lapbook. I used M&M’s to show the distribution of wealth in the feudal system. Michael did a worksheet on the armor of God. I gave an object lesson on spiritual armor by using an orange. The orange with the peel (armor on) floated in the water but the peeled orange (without God’s armor) sank. It was a tasty lesson that got the point across. I peeled a little at a time and explained the process of slowly taking off our armor (willful sin, not praying, not reading God’s word because you don’t want to be convicted of the sin, and lastly losing faith).

We made a castle out of a box and tp rolls.  Michael watched a youtube video on the parts of a castle.  Monarchy showed us how stone castles came from the Normans (French Vikings) in the UK. William the Conqueror also brought the idea of knights and the Feudal System in the UK.

I threw in the Lego picture for fun. I moved Michael’s Lego table under his bed and it works better. Michael played the Lego Castle Adventure online. He was able to design his own Coat of Arms.

I hope you take a good look at it because this was my favorite: the chocolate castle cake. I made mine smaller than the inspiration and it’s not as professional. But I’m sure it tasted just as good.  I only used one box of cake mix but I used two tubs of chocolate frosting. I used half a bag of generic chocolate creme cookies for the towers. I used several mini candy bars. I used sprinkles for the grass. My guys were impressed!

Well, join me next time for Robin Hood and the Crusades! God bless & remember the High King lives! ~ Amber Dover

Vikings Lapbook:  http://www.currclick.com/product/1035/Vikings-Lapbook

Middle Ages Lapbook: http://www.currclick.com/product/1065/Middle-Ages-Lapbook

Middle Ages Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sow-middle-ages-renaissance/

Netflix links for Story of the World: http://terishepard.com/2013/08/06/story-of-the-world-netflix-resources/

Viking TP People: http://www.layers-of-learning.com/viking-people/

Tree of Life Pendant: http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.de/2011/12/viking-history-co-op-week-7a-mythology.html

Viking Drinking Horn: http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.de/2011/12/viking-history-co-op-week-7b-food-and.html

Viking Mask: http://www.hellokids.com/c_12033/kids-crafts-and-activities/masks-crafts/people-masks-for-kids/viking-mask

Feudalism Chart for M&M’s: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080620782060/

Chocolate Castle Cake: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080620782127/

Armor of God worksheet: http://www.sermons4kids.com/armor_of_god_decoder.htm

Lego Castle Adventure: http://www.childrensmuseum.org/castles/games.php

More Medieval posts of mine:

Middle Ages Week 1: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-1-celts-anglo-saxons-king-arthur/

Middle Ages Week 2: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-2-japan-and-the-franks/

Middle Ages Week 4: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-4-robin-hood-the-crusades/

Middle Ages Week 2: Japan and the Franks

In this Post: Sushi, pirates, theater, and a fan with Japan. Also a lapbook and Samurai crafts! Charlemagne & the Franks with a glitter map. Lastly, Winter habitats. 

Hello dear ones! Thank you for reading and for letting me catch up on all these posts. Part of the reason that I’m this behind is because this study of the Middle Ages is packed with crafts and food. It’s just a busy study. It’s a lot of fun but boy, a lot of work too!.  So it worked out that I didn’t have a car to drive (wreck), because we really haven’t had much time to go places. It’s been intense.  I so enjoyed Japan. Let me share with you…

We found a free Medieval Japan lapbook and we also did a brief study of Japanese pirates at the time. We learned about Baunraku (Japanese theater using life size puppets) and we watched a couple shows on Youtube.  We made a neat Baunraku pop up theater.  We had fun with paper Sushi and Michael tried real Sushi for the first time (he didn’t like it).  I don’t like raw fish much or seaweed. So I made my own “Amber version of Onigiri”.  I used shrimp with cocktail sauce, rice, and cabbage. It was an interesting combination. I made Green Tea Panna Cotta, which none of us liked but you might have a taste for it.

Michael made a Japanese fan. He also drew a Samurai from his Draw and Write Through History book.  Lastly, Chris and I tag teamed to make a Samurai helmet for Michael. He already had a sword.  We learned about the Japanese Feudal system and the Samurai code of honor. More after the pic…

We learned a bit about Islam but never got to the craft because we were catching up from our time off after the wreck.  We learned about Charlemagne and watched Monarchy. Michael colored a picture of him.  We made a glitter map of the Frankish Empire. We watched Timeline, a great time travel fantasy that takes you back to medieval France. As always, I encourage parents to preview movies to see if they meet your standards. You can see from the picture that we had a candlelit dinner with sparkling grape juice.

Lastly, we caught up on our study of animals in the winter. We did a Hibernation lapbook that I did not take a picture of. We watched some videos on hibernation and we did this great Winter habitats picture. It’s Pre-K-ish but fun.

Well, join me next time for Vikings, Feudal England, and Castles!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Hibernation lapbook: http://www.currclick.com/product/76685/Hibernation-and-Dormancy—Speedy-Lapbook

Japan Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sowjapan/

Middle Ages Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sow-middle-ages-renaissance/

Netflix links for Story of the World: http://terishepard.com/2013/08/06/story-of-the-world-netflix-resources/

Charlemagne Coloring Page: http://images.hellokids.com/_uploads/_tiny_galerie/20120102/26-charlemagne-zkw_kaa.jpg

Winter Habitats Picture: http://amy-fun4kids.blogspot.com/2009/01/animals-in-winter-hybernation-penguins.html

Green Tea Panna Cotta: http://ooh-look.blogspot.com/2011/06/fusion-green-tea-panna-cotta.html

Medieval Japan Lapbook: http://dynamic2moms.webs.com/medievaljapan.htm

Japanese Pirates: http://www.layers-of-learning.com/wokou-japanese-pirates-of-the-middle-ages/

Pop Up Baunraku Theater: http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/history-games/popupbaunrakutheatre.php

Onigiri ideas: http://savoryjapan.com/wordpress/2011/08/onigiri-basics/

Paper Sushi: http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2009/03/paper-sushi.html

Samurai helmet: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/samurai-helmet-craft

Japanese fan: http://www.thecraftyclassroom.com/CraftJapanFanPrintable.html

Middle Ages Week 1: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-1-celts-anglo-saxons-king-arthur/

Middle Ages Week 3: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-3-the-vikings-the-feudal-system-castles/

Middle Ages Week 1: Celts, Anglo-Saxons, & King Arthur

In this Post: Anglo-Saxon wattle & daub houses, an Anglo-Saxon  feast, Celtic crafts (pin & cross), and illuminated manuscripts. Also a neat castle and our attempt at ice bubbles. And more!

Hello dear ones! It’s been forever I know! We just finished our fifth week of the middle ages and I am just now posting week one for ya’ll. I just didn’t catch up like I wanted to after the wreck. Things have been great though but crazy. I just found out that I’m going on a missions trip to Belize this Summer. So much is going on and I’m pumped! I can’t wait to share the highlights of 2013 and my bucket list for 2014. But first I want to catch you up on the Middle Ages.

Ya know, the ancient world was fun but I really love the Middle Ages. I would not want to live in that time but it’s fun to romance about. We began our study with the Celts and Anglo-Saxons. We’re still using Story of the World (now book 2) and lovin’ it. I got inspiration from a couple Mommy blogs. I’ll post the links after the picture. PS: We don’t use the SOW activity pages. We just read the books.

I found a Celtic melody online and played it on my flute. I’m wearing the Jester hat that I made last year for our trip to Medieval Times. Michael, Chris, and I made an Anglo-Saxon wattle and daub house out of clay, tooth pics, and yarn. We made a Celtic (or Byzantine) cross out of cardboard and fake gems. I made a Celtic pin out of gold wire.  I ordered this Celtic book of fairy tales here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1846862132/

More after the pic….

Our wreck happened half way through so some crafts waited til the next weeks.  We watched several shows on Netflix. *As always I encourage you to review the movies before you let your child see them. All parents have different standards.  My least favorite series was by Terry Jones. It was not family friendly for a history on the Middle Ages. Michael had to turn his head several times and we just quit with it. I liked The Dark Ages by the History Channel but it is blunt and made for adults. So we skipped a few parts. My favorite series is Monarchy and we’ll be watching it through out our study.

We learned about the legends of King Arthur. There are many opinions on who King Arthur was based on but there is no evidence that he was real.  I personally believe that he’s based on King Offa.  We watched a few episodes of Merlin. It’s not based in any fact. The castles back in those days before the Normans were made mainly of wood. And of course…people weren’t born with the magic.  But it is a basically clean series that shows medieval medicine and dress. Just watch out for the spiritual side and some scary episodes in the last season. We only watched a few episodes because of the spiritual element. Michael had never seen the show before though I enjoy it. We never got to Disney’s Sword in the Stone but it’s on our to do list. We also watched First Knight, again parental discretion advised. I think as a kid I fell in love with the Arthurian tale because of this movie. It stars Sean Connery as Arthur and Richard Gere as Lancelot. There’s an intense kiss and battle action but it’s very PG compared to most movies today. King Arthur gives a wonderful speech on God, morality, and the law.

We had a huge Anglo-Saxon/ Celtic feast. Turkey comes from the New World so it wouldn’t have been eaten during the Middle Ages. Still, huge turkey legs are a favorite at Ren. fairs and Medieval festivals. So Chris grilled turkey legs and I made Anglo-Saxon pottage. I didn’t have Maslin bread but I bought something similar.

We learned about Medieval monks and St. Augustine. My favorite craft was the illuminated manuscript book. I actually used medieval fonts and typed out The Apostle’s Creed. Then we made the cover out of a paper bag. There’s a link later with instructions. Michael helped color/ illuminate the writing. I made a page with blank spots so Michael could practice his cursive.  We also looked at some funny “Star Wars Illuminated script”. I set up a Monk’s post in Michael’s cardboard castle (that we got on sale at Michaels craft store).  We’re putting our medieval jewelry, decor, and clothes inside the castle. It’s fun :).

Lastly, we had a cold week and attempted to blow ice bubbles. It came close but popped. Anywho, I have several links for you and later the link to week 2. We’ll be learning about Japan and the Franks. I can’t wait!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Middle Ages Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sow-middle-ages-renaissance/

Netflix links for Story of the World: http://terishepard.com/2013/08/06/story-of-the-world-netflix-resources/

Anglo-Saxon pottage: http://www.picturebritain.com/2012/10/whatdidtheanglo-saxonseat.html

Medieval Fonts used for Illuminated Manuscripts: http://www.atypicalenglishhome.com/2013/04/st-georges-day-fonts.html

Medieval Book Cover: http://www.layers-of-learning.com/medieval-book-making-craft/

Celtic Pin: http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.de/2011/08/celtic-history-co-op-week-3a-jewelry.html

Celtic/ Byzantine Cross: http://www.theusualmayhem.com/2013/11/middle-ages-unit-part-1.html

Rome Week 3: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/rome-week-3-chariots-pompeii-and-the-end/

Middle Ages Week 2: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-2-japan-and-the-franks/

Epiphany Celebrations January 7, 2014

Hello dear ones! This was our first year celebrating Epiphany. I have a knack for picking up holidays. My mom says that every day is a holiday for me. Our Epiphany journey started with learning that the 12 days of Christmas song has a deeper Christian meaning. I was intrigued. So I put together a 12 days of Christmas lapbook from In the  Hands of a Child.  Each day we learned about the Christian and secular meaning of the song. Then on Epiphany itself (yesterday) we had a King cake. I just bought a cake from the bakery and added gumdrops to the top.

Below the picture I’ll list the Christian meaning of the 12 days of Christmas. I also have a link with craft ideas. We did not do any crafts but maybe next time. Michael has however been writing the Apostle’s Creed in cursive.

• The gift giver is our Heavenly Father.
• Partridge in a pear tree~ Jesus Christ, our Lord
• 2 turtle Doves~ the Old and New Testament
• 3 French hens~ the 3 virtues (faith, hope, and love)
• 4 calling (callie) birds~ the 4 gospels
• 5 golden rings~ the first five books of the Old testament (Torah)
• 6 geese a laying~ the 6 days of creation
• 7 swans a swimming~ 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit
• 8 maids a milking~ the 8 beatitudes
• 9 ladies dancing~ 9 fruits of the Spirit
• 10 lords a leaping~ the 10 commandments
• 11 pipers piping~ the 11 faithful apostles
• 12 drummers drumming~ the 12 points in the apostle’s creed

http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/the-12-days-of-christmas-epiphany/

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: The word “catholic” in the Apostle’s creed is not referring to the Catholic religion but actually means “universal”. Spurgeon.org has a good article explaining the purpose of the creed.

http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/apostles.htm

New Year’s Eve Party! January 2, 2014

In this post: Join us as we count down to 2014. See our french bulldog, Annabelle in her new dress. We’ve got food, fun, and some sweet decor!

Hello dear ones! We did a countdown by the hour with some nifty New Year’s bags. They were filled with noise makers, silly string, resolution questionnaires, the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne, and more. We also had shrimp cocktail, sparkling grape juice, and other goodies. We ended the night with fireworks and we took the ornaments off the tree.  My Mom and stepdad partied with us. We’ve got some great family pictures and even Annabelle Antoinette (our new pup) and Tessa (older dog) got into the festivities. We also watched Man of Steel. Enjoy the pics and I’ll put links at the end where you can find the neat printables.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: at the end I have a pic of Annabelle in her new raincoat :).

http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/winter-crafts/

http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/winter-cooking/