Links, Lapbooks, and Ideas for Japan Study

I found some great websites to use for studying Japan.

There is so much material that it is going to take 2 weeks to finish everything.  My kids are enjoying it!

I found this great lap book on Japan - http://lapbooklessons.com/JapanLapbook There are so many pages that I did not end up printing everything.  My daughter really enjoyed making this and she is still working on it.

For my son, he was really interested in Medieval Japan after reading The Master Puppeteer so we are working on a different lap book on Medieval Japan.

I used this link:  http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/middle-ages-to-reform/medieval-japan/  This is a great website for lap book ideas, etc.  I have used it many times.

I also bought a video called Kids Animated History with Pipo.  It covers all the ancient civilizations.  Japan is included in that.  It is animated paper cuts and is very entertaining as well as educational.  My kids loved it.  You can actually watch these online here - http://www.yidio.com/show/kids-animated-history-with-pipo  However, since we do not have fast internet access, we bought the video instead.  I highly recommend it.

Antarctica Unit Study and Links

We are really enjoying our Eastern Hemisphere study for Sonlight this year.  The kids enjoy doing their research.  I give them a lot of freedom about what projects they want to do for each country.  For example, my daughter is really into animals and has been making animal fact cards or writing animal reports for each country.  For Antarctica, my son is going to research about explorers that went to Antarctica.  The notebook pages for Antarctica are a little sparse so I did some searching and found this great link:

http://diyhomeschooler.com/antarctica-a-mini-unit/

There are lessons, websites, activities, lap books, and note booking pages.

It looks like they have a lot of other great ideas for other unit studies, so I'll be sure to go to that website again.

Book for New Zealand study

We just read Red Sand, Blue Sky that was recommended by Sonlight for the New Zealand study for history.  My son wasn't crazy about it, so I looked up on Amazon an alternative.  We found a delightful book called Aroha's Grand Adventure by Angela Oliver.  It is a really cute story that features many of the animals that live in New Zealand. The kids loved it.  Very few stories like this anymore that are actually 300 pages long.

We also put whatever activity pages we do, maps, and crafts related to the country we are studying on our bulletin board for the week.