Independence Day and Countries

I've missed a few weeks. Here's a catch-up:

The week before the 4th of July Annabelle studied the American Flag, Jonah researched George Washington, and Grace learned about how we celebrate Independence Day.

Here are our projects for the week. Above is Jonah's fireworks scene. Below is Grace's. We used bright crayons to color the fireworks, then we painted black (or pink) to paint over everything to create the night sky.

We also made firework decorations out of toilet paper rolls:

Since Independence Day was on Sunday and we decided not to go to the parade or fireworks, we invited friends over Monday and did a mini bike parade and had hot dogs and watermelon.

For the next 2 weeks we studied three different countries.

Jonah picked China. For China we made chinese dragons and had noodles in a peanut buttery/soy sauce sauce. We learned that people in China eat long noodles on their birthdays to bring them a long life. But they celebrate birthdays only on the 1st and 10th and then every t0 years. Jonah liked telling about the great wall of China and how the people on the watchtowers lit the torch if they saw an approaching army.

Grace picked Egypt. She liked learning about mummies. I heard Annabelle and Grace arguing one night over whether or not the ancient egyptians left the heart in the body or not during the mummification process (they take out all other organs, but leave the heart). When I overheard them I thought to myself, "Our kids are so smart! And will have a huge advantage in school. What lucky kids." Grace also liked learning about the pyramids. Here are our pyramids:

Jonah's pyramid is in front, Olivia's is middle left, Annabelle's is middle right, Grace's is in back. We also made ma'moud - an Egyptian food like a tart with a nut/fig filling, and also hummus, which I learned was enjoyed in ancient Egypt as well as today. We discovered that the Nile river in Egypt is the river Moses was placed in as a baby in a basket.

Annabelle enjoyed learning about everyday life in ancient Greece. She discovered Greek gods, Greek olympics and the marathon, the Parthenon, and the story of the Trojan horse. We made Tzatziki, a dip out of plain yogurt, cucumber and garlic for tortilla chips or pita chips. Also zucchini fritters.

I was impressed with how willing the kids were to try new foods. And we have trained them well to not say bad things about the food except for "I don't care for any more, thanks." My favorite new food was the Greek cucumber dip. Yummy.

Tzatziki:

Peel and finely grate 1 medium cucumber (I recommend squeezing out some of the juice). Combine with 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1 TBSP olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.