AEP/International Day

Every Monday afternoon the boys and I participate in a sort of co-op class for homeschoolers. The class is called "AEP" - Academic Enrichment Program. Each month we study a different topic. So far we've learned about Ohio, the Human Body, and Geography. We try to go on field trips and plan other special activities related to each month's theme.

At the beginning of November we had a fun Saturday outing that tied together our AEP themes from last month and this month. First, we went to COSI (our local Science center) for a Fit and Healthy Family Day. We had a wonderful time exploring their new "Life" exhibits. The boys got to jump in inflatable bouncers, try out some tumbling and karate activities, do some crafts, and even play miniature golf! After that, we headed across the street to an International Festival. We looked around at display booths from many nations, listened to music, and ate some yummy food from all around the world. It was a very fun family day!
Yesterday we concluded our Geography month with an International Day. Each family chose one country to study. We chose the Netherlands because Jon's dad's family came from there a few generations ago. We read books, watched videos, found some wooden shoes ("klompen") and tulips at a thrift store, made paper windmills, and prepared this project board:I was amazed at how much Ray remembered about our studies. He was eager to get up and tell everyone all about the Netherlands. He did a good job, except for mumbling into the microphone. Adam also got up and told one fact: "A lot of famous artists come from Holland." That's what the right side of our display board shows.At the beginning of the program, each child was given a passport. They filled in their personal information, and then they took notes about each country. At the end of their presentations, each family gave everyone a sticker from their country. The children put these in their passports. I was very proud of Ray's attentiveness throughout the presentations and of how hard he worked in his passport. He drew a picture for each country, usually a picture from an object or the display board. They may seem like simple drawings, but at dinner last night Ray told his dad what each picture was and how it related to the corresponding country. I was amazed at what he learned and remembered!It was difficult for Adam to listen to a full hour of presentations, but he ended up putting some fun geography puzzles together with some help from his friend John Paul.After all of the presentations, we got to sample foods from all of the countries. We brought windmill cookies! (That's Adam's arm in the picture reaching for a second English scone!)

International Day was very fun and educational, as was the whole month of geography studies. The boys made playdough landforms, compass roses, world maps, and United States maps in their class.

At home we're also doing a year-long geography theme. We started out with landforms and continents and oceans. For the past six weeks we've learned some basic geography and history of North America. Now we're moving on to Europe. We're going to study the many beautiful Christmas traditions of European countries. More on that soon!