World Traveler's Day~Iceland

Our homeschool co-op group schedules a fun monthly activity called World Traveler's Club. Each month a parent or two organizes a visit to another country. I've done Australia last year with another co-op mom and husband team, and last week I did Iceland by myself and had lots of fun, too.

First the kids made Viking Turf Houses, and then the kids shared their volcano project/presentations. We followed that with my reading an Icelandic Folk tale called, "Flumbra" where I had the kids participate with fun props. Our last activity involved eating some Icelandic style food, such as "Blood Pudding" (red colored strawberry yogurt), "Love Balls" (Mini-donuts), and dark rye bread.

Here are some pics from our day:

Volcano presentations: Cryo-Volcanos

Volcano Presentations: Cone and Fissure volcanos

Volcano Presentation: Mud Volcanos

Volcano Presentation: Super Volcano


Jackson discussing Sub-glacial volcanoes

"Flumbra" An Icelandic Folk Tale

For our Homeschool co-op's World Traveler's Day this week, I am sharing what I have learned about Iceland. One simple and fun way I'm going to do this is with a book called "Flumbra", which is written and illustrated by an Icelandic author and her artist. The story behind the main moral of the story shows, in a folkloric way, what Icelandic people believe cause their unique and powerful geological land turmoil, including volcanic eruptions, glaciers, land slides, and earthquakes. Icelandic people have many beliefs that surround Giants and Little People, such as Elves, Fairies, and Trolls. "Flumbra" is based on those beliefs.

Flumbra, An Icelandic Folktale, by Gudrún Helgadóttir
Illustrations by Brian Pilkington
Minnesota, Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1986

Ari is a little boy who lives in Iceland with his pappa, and Ari is afraid of giants -- especially the ones who might steal naughty children and carry them into the mountains! One day, Ari asks his pappa to tell him a story about giants. In his pappa's story, we learn all about Flumbra, the gentle giantess, who falls in love with a lazy giant, and has eight baby boys! What happens to Flumbra as she learns about love, being a mother, and traveling with her giant children helps Ari never to be afraid of giants again. A wonderful read for both humor and reassurance.

For the reading, I have gathered up or made items to help make the story more interactive and fun, too. I'll have a paper volcano with red volcanic rock, beans in a bottle to shake for the earthquake, some small boulders to shake for the landslide, a tiny stuffed sheep from Australia to sit in a "Giant Troll's hand, and a very large icicle to resemble a glacier.

I also got motivated to create some of my own artwork from the amusing pictures in the book. The troll faces have such texture and character that I was called to do a quick pen sketch of Flumbra's face.

The book "Flumbra"

The page that called me to get out some paper and a pen to create a quick ink sketch.

I left out the birds and added a few details and made a couple changes to make it mine. I really liked how my Flumbra turned out.

Iceland Volcano Project~Sub Glacial

At our house we've been studying Iceland and it's unique geological landscape, the geo-thermal terrain, including volcanoes, earthquakes, glaciers, landslides, geysers and hotsprings. Much of Iceland's electricity is produced by the harnessing of these amazing powers.

This week I am hostessing our Homeschool co-op's World Traveler's Club day on Iceland. I am really excited about it! I am planning an interactive reading of an Icelandic Folk tale with fun props, an art project building Icelandic Turf houses, and tasting some Icelandic foods, such "Blood" Pudding and Astar Pungar "Love Balls".

Most of the kids will be participating by choosing a particular volcano type and choosing how they want to present it.
Jax and Jem have chosen Sub-Glacial volanoes and created a volcano out of modeling clay and submerged it in water, froze it, and plan to melt it a bit when they do their presentation. A subglacial volcano can devastate a very large area, such as they do in Iceland. When the volcano erupts, large amounts of ice melts and the pressure from the steam and lava lift up the polar ice cap "glacier" until finally a huge fast flood gushes out and destroys everything in it's path with ice chunks and boulders as large as houses getting caught in the wild torrent of freezing water!

Before the water becomes a glacier.



After the water is formed into a polar ice cap.



And here's a model of a Turf House that we created. The kids will also be making these during World Traveler's Day. I was given a whole bunch of Girl Scout 'freight' boxes that I turned inside out and then cut off the top flaps and made a door and windows with. Then we decorated with markers, crayons and Easter grass 'turf'.

Iceland has never really had trees, unless we count the 3-5' tall willows that grow like uncommon shrubs. So, building houses using boulders and volcanic rocks with grass or turf for a roof just made sense for good insulation and the availability of mostly natural found building materials. This type of housing was the original Viking and Norse style of farm house. Today most homes are made more in the style of simple modern 'Ikea' and have wooden walls and brightly colored metal roofs. But Turf houses can still be found in the countryside, as farm musuems, and in use as hostels.

Costa Rica~WTC

Another fabulously fun and educational World Traveler's Day with our Albuquerque Homeschool Co-op group! Our friends, Laura and Karen were the hostesses this month. Laura offered up her warm, cozy and friendly home to all of the families and Karen shared a wealth of information about one of the unique places that she grew up in Panama and Costa Rica.

Laura sang a fun song about visiting Costa Rica while rainforest sounds beckoned in the background. All of the children chose a special animal to showcase and they were all so fascinating and engaging to listen to. The artwork and information they shared was most impressive, too. But most of all, the support and kudos they gave each other was the most heartwarming of all.

Jackson gave an impressive oral report about a Central American cat called the Margay, which is one of the very best acrobatic, arboreal cats in the world. Margays even hang upside down by one foot, just for fun. Jackson spent hours working on his gorgeous Margay painting. He was so focused on it and I am quite impressed with his art skills.

Jeremiah was full of interesting facts about the Ocelot, one of our most favorite of all cats, and maybe even of all animals. We even have a 5' tall painting of one in our bedroom that was painted by a friend. When researching this cat, Jeremiah became very upset upon realizing that Ocelots are still being killed for food and fur, even though they are considered threatened. He would be such an amazing, sensitive activist as he becomes outraged and sad about any type of injustice. Jeremiah spent a couple hours on his ocelot painting and it is very beautiful. I am so proud of him.

I brought along a couple of our guinea pigs to talk about with the children, as guinea pigs are members of the Cavy family, which means they are related to Agoutis and Capybaras, which live in Central America. The kids were thrilled to pet and hold them, and our piggies were pretty good sports about it, too. Maybe they knew in some small way that they were being PR ambassadors for their species?

Laura had a nice set-up outside to create rain forest terrariums with living plants and small plastic animals for realism. Karen showed us how to make little burritos filled with cafe fresca, or farmer's cheese, then wrapped in banana leaves and baked. Yummy! We also enjoyed tasting tropical fruits and snacks, such as fried plantains, which are much like french fries in taste and in popularity as a snack in Central America.

After the presentations, Laura invited us to linger and visit while munching pizza, drinking beer and chatting together. Monica, another dear friend, who we don't often see as much as we'd like, because she lives in the East Mountains, surprised us all with a special visit, which just added the 'icing' to this wonderful day.

This is the type of day that reminds and reconfirms why our family chooses to homeschool our children.

Australia Day~World Travelers Day

Sharon and I, with the help of her native Aussie husband organized this month's World Traveler's Day 'Aussie Day' for members of our homeschool co-op.
They brought a large map and flag of Australia, as well as some Aussie money. They also shared a favorite snack of those from down under: Vegemite on toast. Some of the kids liked it....most of the adults didn't. It was very salty and I don't see me rushing to eat more of Vegemite anytime soon.

Jenna preferred to create her didgeridoo art on her arms instead of the cardboard. Made sense to me, but probaby would have looked better if it had been permanant marker though. As it was, the stuff smeared all over her and me and was a blurry mess rather quickly. Maybe we will try Henna soon. I know she will like that.

The kids brought their passports and stamped their Australia pages with crocodiles or Oz sheep. I wore my old Docent Vest that I wore back when I was a volunteer for the Rio Grande Zoo. It truly felt like 'Coming Home' again wearing the zoo vest and walking about one of my favorite places to be in New Mexico.

Didgeridoos and Emus

I was in charge or organizing the craft and I also read a cute books called Edward the Emu, too. We made Didgeridoos using Native Aboriginal Art to describe journeys and experiences translated on our cardboard didgies. The kids seemed to like this, especially my own interpretation on my Didgeridoo.
We also took a tour of the zoo to see the Australian animals, like the kangaroos, emus, lorakeets, koalas and the echidnas (which were off view for breeding).
I brought along some stuffed 'real fur' koalas and kangaroos borrowed from a fellow homeschool friend, too.

China Day~World Travelers Day

Our Homeschool co-op Moms hostess a special event each month called, "World Travelers Day". Each month we learn about a different country through the culture, people, art, food, and fun. This month was China Day and was held at Laura's house. Laura even dressed the part, too. She is in the picture above with her son, Quinn.

The kids also learned the importance of kites and then created their own. They played obstacle course games related to the Olympics and the ate delicious Chinese snacks and food. All the kids bring their passports, too, so they can have them stamped with that country's unique stamp. My kidlets look forward to these monthly travels, and so do I.