Day Eight: The Way We Roll

Diving into A Long Walk To Water from longitude and latitude lines, prime meridian and hemisphere talk, was a welcome switch of gears. Everyone snuggles in cozily when I sit back and begin reading about Nya's struggle to dig in mud to find water and Salva's narrow escape from a lion. My kids have to pay attention when the story alternates between 1985 and 2008, but they don't mind. Somehow, hearing about the lives of children close in age to them keeps them captivated.

 

A unit study that I had planned to take until February has sustained us up until today and will continue to become a life-long journey, I suspect. We understand many more cultures now and I believe this is what pleases Jesus: loving our neighbours. Dispelling the stereotypes was less of a challenge for my children because we know so many Africans and their stories. Everything about Africa fascinates us and I pray one day we will all plant our feet on the reddish soil or sandy dessert or grassy plains of that great continent.

Today we cracked open 10 Days In Africa, an amazing game that teaches skillful maneuvering around the continent, not to mention the country names and their placement. It was tricky to catch on at first, but once they got the hang of it, things ran a little more smoothly :) 

We'd already memorized Africa's countries by singing along to Geography Songs. We also mapped the countries, but remembering their placement was well practiced during the game.

Clementine always ends up walking across our game boards or even sitting right in the middle of them. Comic relief during a highly focused game :)

Flowing with flexibility on a topic we love and carrying it on beyond what was planned is a good thing, in my estimation. I lingered at the Canada/Africa table at the homeschool convention and caught the attention of Donna Ward, who was eager to share her favourites with me. As a result, I picked up a few extra items to add to our study. I'm thankful I did. Not always sticking with the program for every subject or study is the way we roll and it makes our learning richer.