Our History and Vocabulary

My Facebook newsfeed is testimony to the excitement associated with the first few days of a new school year.

I think homeschooled students and teachers also feel the excitement of a new school year.

This week begins our third week of the school year.  So far, we have been diligent to keep up with lessons and lesson planning.  I have not done much lesson planning the last few years (due to a curriculum that came with plans), so this is a big deal for me.

As I mentioned in this post on our plan for this year,
we are doing an in-depth study of Scotland.  

What have my students done so far?

The first week, I had them make a salt map of Scotland so we could refer to it in our discussions and so they could get a better feel for the topography.

These photos show their finished salt map.  Obviously, we had to have the discussion about Scotland being connected to England; it is not an island as depicted here. 

I think the physical map should give them a better idea of the Firths, Forths, and Lochs and how explorers and invaders would have used them to their advantage.

SALT MAP DOUGH RECIPE
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
2 TBSP cream of tartar

Mix all ingredients together in a medium saucepan.  Heat on medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thick and satiny.  Let cool to room temperature.  Store in plastic ziploc bags.  

This recipe was more than enough for our project.  My students painted their finished product, but you could add food coloring to the dough and use it for play clay or other projects.  This does air dry over time.

In addition to this hands on project, my students read in the selected history texts.  For literature they chose one of James Herriot's books:  All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, or The Lord God Made Them All.  

They learned that James Herriot is a pen name.  Did you know that?  Each of my students chose a different book and read it over a two week time period.  They are required to keep a list of new words to add to their vocabulary study.  These are the new words they encountered in their reading: 

estuary
elegiac
cruciate
pedunculated
lugubrious
convivial
asperity
strath
punitive
insidious
bonhomie
percolate
fenestration
vulcanised
demyelination
castigated
parsimony
scion
inprimatur
doughty
predilection
apposite
talc
contretemps
vituperation
ululation
fusillade
natty
paroxyism
excoriating
besotted
purulent
soporific
assiduous
insouciance
salacious
blandishment
seraphic
illicit
pettifogging
desultory
moribund
papilloma
ebullient
asepsis

As you might expect, some of these words are medical terms and some are rarely used, but they found more words than I expected them to find.  If your students needs some new vocabulary words, choose some of these.

How is your new school year progressing?