The Boy With The Bronze Axe

Recently in our geography studies, we learned of a fascinating place called Skara Brae in Orkney.  In reading about it online, I found that Kathleen Fidler had crafted a fictional tale based on what life may have been like in Skara Brae at its height.  The Boy with the Bronze Axe has been a wonderful addition to our school days.  It is a favorite with my 11-15 year olds.  

The little artwork there is in the book is lovely. The story is of Kali and her brother Brockan, their family and village, and their relationship with a newcomer who has an axe made of an unknown (to them) material called bronze.  He is a valuable addition to their life and they have many adventures.  He shares his knowledge and learns from them, too.  

I liked especially that Kali is a very involved girl who doesn't sit on the sidelines of life.  The author worked many details of the archeology of Skara Brae into the story.  It's quite interesting to read of an item being used in the story that we have seen in the videos we watched! 

It seems that this book was out of print for some time. It's available again on Amazon, so be sure to pick up a copy. May your family enjoy it as much as mine has. 

California State Unit

Here's a nice colorful map to show the different regions of California. We discussed the mountain ranges (Coastal and Sequoia), the Central Valley, the desert regions (Mojave, specifically) and the differing climates, plants and animals.

Here's a nice selection of printable maps of California.

We discussed the state symbols: flag, motto, bird, flower etc. This was just an overview, with no requirement for memorization of this information.

California State Flag Online Coloring Page I like activities like this since they use no ink to print, create no paper to manage, are fun and engaging for a time and teach mouse skills and hand/eye coordination.

Lots of printable and interactive activities

Mission Pictures We briefly discussed missions, but we do not devote very much time to them. We looked over the pics we took at Mission San Buenaventura when we visited and talked about how the Spanish helped and hurt the Indian culture.

We played a game with California trivia.

We learned about the failure of the Kaweah Colony. This area isn't too far from us, and we have been to the site in the past.

Here's an Amazon Listmania that I found helpful.

We watched a neat video clip of Market Street in San Fransisco days before the Great Quake. We also looked at lots of pictures of the aftermath and compared the with the 1989 quake in Loma Prieta. This, of course, led to a discussion of earthquake preparedness, the reasons we prep, and the real-time earthquake map I have bookmarked. Go to the left sidebar to change to a view of the whole USA or the world.

Books we read:

Nine For California by Sonia Levitin
John Muir by Charles Graves
If You Lived At The Time Of The Great San Francisco Earthquake by Ellen Levine

State History and Geography Overviews

This year (and likely next) we will be studying each state's history in overview fashion, its geographical features and learning things like its capital, famous residents, quirky stories, etc. We'll read story books that are representative of each, as well. I think it will be a fun study! Since we live in California, we're bucking tradition and beginning our study on this coast, working north (and west), then east. It's more important to me that my children are familiar with the states they may visit sooner than later.

I plan to blog the sites and resources that I use for each state. If you have a great state/regional story that we should not miss when we get to your state, please share it! I can use all the great story ideas I can get!

School Comes Out in Real Life

One of my children studied the Alps, specifically, The Matterhorn, in geography. She's reading "The Occident" by Richard Halliburton, one half of the great series, "The Complete Book of Marvels". When we were at the park the other day, she constructed a Sand Matterhorn. It's pretty good, I think!

Wee Gillis: A Mini Unit

We began this study after reading "Wee Gillis". I am so fond of Robert Lawson's illustrations! The Little Lambies: Troubles, Missy and Jack all listened and learned quite a bit about Scotland just from one reading.

We looked up the location of Scotland compared to our location in California and Israel. We always address geographical locations from these two points. We named the seven continents and they deduced which continents Scotland is located on. We spoke of what countries are to the north, south, east and west of Scotland.

We Google-traveled a road or two and looked around on street view. How green it is! Of course it's because it rains so much.



We looked at Loch Ness and discussed the Monster. I read to them a few appropriate pages of Jaws, Claws and Dinosaurs by William Gibbons and Kent Hovind.

We listened to bagpipe music. We listened to other traditional Scottish songs, too.

We learned about haggis. The children decided they did not want a sample of that!



We looked at pictures of long-haired cows and Scottish stags.

The Flag of Scotland was built out of Legos (thanks to Renee for the idea!).

We spoke about kilts and why men wear them. We discussed plaid and tartans and their meaning. This craft seemed appropriate.

I made a coloring page out of this image of Wee Gillis.



We practiced blowing balloons up in one breath to show how very strong Gillis' lungs must have been!

This was a fun little study. I think the Little Lambies learned a lot!