Geography: France

We did this study on France just before Christmas, so you can tell I'm way behind in my geography posting! Coming after this one is Netherlands, Norway, Japan, and Israel (which we've just started).

So here's what we did:

Week 1
Monday:
Located France on world map and Europe map
Read about France in 2 different atlases
Placed flag sticker in passport and stamped date
Discussed capital, large cities, land and water borders
Listened to "Western Europe Song" from Geography Songs (Kathy Troxel)

Tuesday:
Western Europe Song
Flag page (I got this page from Homeschool Creations--thanks Jolanthe!)


Discussed government, currency, religion, climate
Read about France on kids.nationalgeographic.com
Geography from A to Z: Read about mountain, river, cliff, valley, beach

Wednesday:
Review Western Europe Song
Country Fact Sheet for geography notebook (another great printable from Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations)

More information on these cool websites: woodlands and kidport
Read Look What Came From France This is my favorite book series on different countries. You can read my post on this series here.
Read book The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel With Louis Bleriot

Thursday:
Review Western Europe Song
Map page (printable from Homeschool Creations)

Read Visit to France by Jenny Smith

Friday:
Review Western Europe Song
Learn some French words, numbers, colors, phrases
Watch videos on French:




Week 2
Monday:
Children Just Like Me, p. 32
Children Just Like Me page (printable from Homeschool Creations)

Read Moi and Marie Antoinette

Tuesday:
Studied French artists Renoir and Monet
Websites: Intermonet and Expo-Renoir
Watched YouTube video on Renoir paintings:
WARNING: IF YOU WANT TO AVOID NUDE PAINTINGS, cover screen from 1:46 to 1:52, 3:15 to 3:23, and 3:56 to 4:09 on that video (I decided not to embed it here because of the picture that shows after embedded...just follow the link if you want to see the video).

This one is a documentary on Monet:

Chose one painting (from either artist) to copy...NOW I remember why I took so long to post about France! Isaac took WEEKS and WEEKS to finish this painting. He hated doing it. It didn't help that we don't have the best art supplies. We had to make do with cheap kids' watercolors and regular paper.



Wednesday:
Listened to Paris music CD
Studied Paris and Eiffel Tower

Explored The Official Site of the Eiffel Tower website, including Follow Gus: Children's Tour of the Eiffel Tower and a 360 degree Panoramic visit of the Eiffel Tower.
Played games at the same website: Hector at the Eiffel Tower
Click here for some old photos of the construction of the Eiffel Tower (scroll down).
Made a paper Eiffel Tower (There's from Group Publishing and one from Papertoys.com--Isaac did the one from Group.

Read Madeline books

Thursday:
Watched the movie Ratatouille
Ate some chocolate mousse while watching the movie!

Watched a video on truffles at National Geographic Kids (click on video)

Friday:
Read from Around the World in 80 Tales, 104-106 “The Miller’s Son”
Read Perrault’s Cinderella (Marcia Brown illustrated version)
Looked at other bookmarked websites: ambafrance, oxfam, and time for kids
Listened to the National Anthem of France
Watched the movie Madeline (NOTE: There is one scene I prefer to skip. I recommend that you preview it first. It is a cute movie otherwise.)

Our Resources:
I forgot to mention when I posted this before that we actually went through France not too long after we did this unit! We took the ferry from Dover, England to Dunkerque, France, and then it was only a short drive through France to the Belgium border (our destination was Netherlands). We really hope to go to Paris someday--that would be cool! Here's a picture of us in Dunkerque, France waiting for the ferry (really the only France pics we got):

I'm linking this post to "History and Geography" at All Things Beautiful.