Visiting Kenya
Every so often the resources I have found for our country studies deserve a post of their own. This is the case with what we have done with Kenya. While we have enjoyed most of the books we've read about the countries we've visited, these really stood out. Need I add that you don't need to be formally studying Kenya to enjoy these? They are just good stories to boot.
The books we've read are:
Kenya (from the Enchantment of the World series) by Micheal Burgan - Over the past year and a half, we've read a lot of middle/grade school non-fiction books about various countries. They are written by different authors, but all follow essentially the same script. Some are better than others. I can completely sympathize with the writers who write these books, because having done it, it can be a soul killing activity. Thus, I can truly appreciate a writer who makes the formulaic interesting. This book on Kenya was definitely one of the better written of all we've read through. I'm not sure I would recommend it just for entertainment, but if you are looking for a resource, this is a good one.
Mama Panya's Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary and Rich Chamberlin - This is a sweet story about a mother and son who travel to the market to buy supplies to make pancakes. Along the way, as they see their friends, the son invites them all to join them for their meal. The question about whether there will be enough follows the mother as she tries to stop her son from his endless invitations. At the end are pages filled with information about Kenya and the Kiswahili are at the end.
For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane and Ana Juan - In this story, a young boy is asked to watch his grandfather's cattle for the day. The boy, though, keeps finding different friends in his village to visit, always meaning to get back to the job he was given. It is a sweet story of forgiveness and family connectedness.
After we read these, at least one child announced that they love Kenya. The stories manage to convey the message that though we may live in different situations, there is really not that much difference between us.
We also watched a very cool television show this morning. In 2006 or so, PBS produced a series call Families of the World. It ran for two seasons, and each episode focused on a country, profiling two different families by following a child in the family through their typical day. Season 1 is not available to watch, but Season 2 is on Amazon Prime. Today we watched the episode about Kenya, and also started to watch some of the episodes that feature other countries we have visited. These are well done, and everyone enjoyed them. You can buy them as individual DVD's for each country (see the link), but they are fantastically [over] priced for 28 minutes. I will save my rant about price gouging in regards to educational materials for another time. I suppose they can get away with it since it is such an unique product. In the meantime, we will enjoy watching them on Prime while we can. G. in particular is fascinated by watching the lives of other children in different countries.
Tomorrow we will play the Kenyan game, Shisima. It is a double bonus in my book, since it can also be counted as a math/logic game, thus fitting into both unit studies at once. We will also have our Kenyan dinner this weekend, which will feature the pancake recipe that is provided in the Mama Panya book, as well as some talapia.
Of course, earlier in the week we added our Kenya map to our travel journals. I have been impressed at how well everyone can find the countries we have been to on a blank map. We also add a drawing of each country's flag to our journals as well. The masses were particularly fond of the Masai shield and spears on Kenya's map.
We will spend time writing about Kenya in the travel journals on Monday, and then pack up and leave Kenya for home. We continue to use our passports and immigration stamps, and their passports are getting rather filled up. D. even created a metal detector for everyone to walk through when we arrived last week. After Christmas break, we will continue our journey and head to Ghana.
___________
Liturgy post... All God
The books we've read are:
Kenya (from the Enchantment of the World series) by Micheal Burgan - Over the past year and a half, we've read a lot of middle/grade school non-fiction books about various countries. They are written by different authors, but all follow essentially the same script. Some are better than others. I can completely sympathize with the writers who write these books, because having done it, it can be a soul killing activity. Thus, I can truly appreciate a writer who makes the formulaic interesting. This book on Kenya was definitely one of the better written of all we've read through. I'm not sure I would recommend it just for entertainment, but if you are looking for a resource, this is a good one.
Mama Panya's Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary and Rich Chamberlin - This is a sweet story about a mother and son who travel to the market to buy supplies to make pancakes. Along the way, as they see their friends, the son invites them all to join them for their meal. The question about whether there will be enough follows the mother as she tries to stop her son from his endless invitations. At the end are pages filled with information about Kenya and the Kiswahili are at the end.
For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane and Ana Juan - In this story, a young boy is asked to watch his grandfather's cattle for the day. The boy, though, keeps finding different friends in his village to visit, always meaning to get back to the job he was given. It is a sweet story of forgiveness and family connectedness.
After we read these, at least one child announced that they love Kenya. The stories manage to convey the message that though we may live in different situations, there is really not that much difference between us.
We also watched a very cool television show this morning. In 2006 or so, PBS produced a series call Families of the World. It ran for two seasons, and each episode focused on a country, profiling two different families by following a child in the family through their typical day. Season 1 is not available to watch, but Season 2 is on Amazon Prime. Today we watched the episode about Kenya, and also started to watch some of the episodes that feature other countries we have visited. These are well done, and everyone enjoyed them. You can buy them as individual DVD's for each country (see the link), but they are fantastically [over] priced for 28 minutes. I will save my rant about price gouging in regards to educational materials for another time. I suppose they can get away with it since it is such an unique product. In the meantime, we will enjoy watching them on Prime while we can. G. in particular is fascinated by watching the lives of other children in different countries.
Tomorrow we will play the Kenyan game, Shisima. It is a double bonus in my book, since it can also be counted as a math/logic game, thus fitting into both unit studies at once. We will also have our Kenyan dinner this weekend, which will feature the pancake recipe that is provided in the Mama Panya book, as well as some talapia.
Of course, earlier in the week we added our Kenya map to our travel journals. I have been impressed at how well everyone can find the countries we have been to on a blank map. We also add a drawing of each country's flag to our journals as well. The masses were particularly fond of the Masai shield and spears on Kenya's map.
We will spend time writing about Kenya in the travel journals on Monday, and then pack up and leave Kenya for home. We continue to use our passports and immigration stamps, and their passports are getting rather filled up. D. even created a metal detector for everyone to walk through when we arrived last week. After Christmas break, we will continue our journey and head to Ghana.
___________
Liturgy post... All God
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