Our Cup of Tea: Netherlands

Thursday, 13 May 2010

Geography: Netherlands

Isaac spent 2 weeks learning about Netherlands back in January, just after visiting that country in person! Here's a look at what we did:

Week 1
Monday: Introduction to Netherlands
"Western Europe Song" from Geography Songs
Locate Netherlands on world map and globe
Where is the Netherlands? minit book from Homeschool Share
Pocket Atlas, p. 16-18
Family Picture Atlas, p. 38-39
Passport--Flag sticker and date stamp (passport from Guesthollow)
Discuss difference between Netherlands and Holland (Netherlands is the official name of the country, while Holland is the name of just one province of Netherlands.)
“Intro to Netherlands with Matt Lauer” videos

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Tuesday: Netherlands Facts
Capitals, large cities, land and water borders
Flag page (Homeschool Creations)

Discuss government, royalty, currency, climate
Dutch Royal House website

Geography from A to Z: lowlands, bay, river
Discuss dikes, canals, and artificial harbor (Rotterdam)
Read The Boy Who Held Back the Sea

Wednesday: Focus on Tulips
Tulip minit books from Homeschool Share (another one here)

I had hoped to examine a real tulip bulb, but it didn't happen.
Read “The Pink Tulip” story online
Read Hana in the Time of the Tulips

Thursday: Focus on Windmills and Other Symbols of Netherlands
Windmill craft from DLTK
Video clip on windmills (Matt Lauer)

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Read Katje the Windmill Cat
Symbols of Holland tab booklet from Homeschool Share

Discuss native costume and wooden shoes

Friday: Fun Day
Eat bread with butter and sprinkles...

and stroopwafels (my favorite--I brought back a lot of them)!

Play Dutch games we purchased in Netherlands

Practice speaking Dutch (We taped our Dutch friends trying to teach my husband Dutch...it's NOT easy! However, Greg's attempt was quite hilarious!)
Read Hans Brinker

Week 2
Monday: Focus on WW2 era in Holland
Begin reading Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels Den
Report on Corrie ten Boom house

Clips from movie The Hiding Place (particularly the parts where the Jews were hiding--I did not choose to show him the concentration camp parts at this age)

Tuesday: Focus on WW2 era in Holland
Read The Story of Anne Frank
Anne Frank video clip

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Read Boxes for Katje
Continue reading Keeper of the Angels Den

Wednesday: Focus on Dutch Art
Learn about Delft pottery
Study Rembrandt and Van Gogh:

Vincent van Gogh Gallery website
Choose a Van Gogh painting to copy; sketch
Continue reading Keeper of the Angels Den

Thursday: Focus on Dutch Art
Finish Van Gogh painting

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Continue reading Keeper of the Angels Den

Friday: Concluding Activities
Read Around the World in 80 Tales, p. 100
Notebook page Netherlands (Country Fact Sheet printable from Homeschool Creations)

Finish reading Keeper of the Angels Den

Resources and books we used:

Amazon.com Widgets

Isaac in Netherlands: Wooden shoes and windmill in Haarlem, ice-skating, and eating oliebollen on New Year's Eve!

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

Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Field Trip Chronicles: Netherlands!

Okay, so this was more like a family trip than a field trip, but it counts as a field trip too! I'm a bit late on this post, as we went after Christmas, but I'm finding it difficult to keep up with everything!

We'd been hoping to take a family trip to mainland Europe for quite some time, and our friends in Holland encouraged us to come stay with them, so we finally took them up on it! This was the kids' first trip to mainland Europe, and my 2nd trip. Greg is usually the one who gets to go (more affordable for one person), and he's been to Ukraine 2x, Romania, and Netherlands 2x (not counting this trip) on mission trips. So the kids were thrilled to go somewhere different. Well, Isaac was thrilled to visit a different country, and Moriah was thrilled because our friends have a little girl her age. We chose to drive, via the ferry from Dover, England to Dunkerque, France, and we drove through Belgium to Rotterdam, Holland. One purpose of the trip was to see our friends and also to attend the first service of their new church plant, and the other purpose was just to see some of Holland. There is SOOOO much to see in Holland, and we were limited on time, so we didn't get to see everything on this trip that we wanted to see (like the Anne Frank House), but here's a photo journal of what we did:

1. Highlight of the trip for Isaac was the ferry ride itself! It was neat seeing the White Cliffs of Dover from the boat, but the rainy day weather didn't make for a good photo.

2. Kinderdijk--This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing 19 windmills. We also saw the pumping engine used nowadays to drain excess water from the polders.

3. Haarlem--We visited the Corrie ten Boom house/museum and just explored the town.

4. New Year's Eve and Day--We enjoyed eating oliebollen, playing with sparklers, and watching the best fireworks display we've ever seen (from a 3rd story window). The fireworks went on all day but increased at midnight and carried on until 2:00 a.m. On New Year's Day, we went ice-skating with our friends...well, Greg and the older two kids skated--Gabriela and I didn't!

Typical Dutch breakfast...bread with sprinkles!

5. Wageningen--We went to this town to visit my cousin's son who is studying at the university there. He's from Nicaragua, and this was actually the first time I'd ever met him!