Our daily Sri Lanka activities have come to a halt as we preparing to go. Joe has finished work, the suitcases are out and we will soon be on our way! There were a few things we didn't get to (I was a little over ambitious when I was planning this project:) but I am sure we will experience and learn about them when we reach Sri Lankan soil.
1. Have a Sri Lankan meal (my mouth is already watering...)
2. Drink Ceylon tea
3. Learn about rice and how it is grown
4. Learn about the birds of Sri Lanka
I won't be posting again until we get there but I will try and update every few days with pictures and stories... depending on the internet situation!
We spent a few days working on Sri Lanka animals for the kids scrap books. Eli chose to learn about Leopards and Asian Water Buffalo, Micaiah chose Mugger Crocodiles and Golden Jackals and Eden made a collage of pictures of animals.
Today we learned about the major religions represented in Sri Lanka. I used this site to teach the kids about Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam and compare them to what we believe as Christians. We also used a pie chart to depict the breakdown of religions in Sri Lanka and discussed percentages... throwing in the math!!
Buddhism - 70%
Hinduism- 15%
Christianity-7.5%
Islam 7.5%
Well, not real rupees becasue we don't have any yet but I printed a copy of each denomination and hid them around the house for a fun hunt. They then glued them into their scrap books.
The rupee is the currency used in Sri Lanka. 1 Bermuda Dollar is currently worth 126.68 Sri Lanka Rupees.
That's the Sinhalese greeting in Sri Lanka. Today we learned about the languages of Sri Lanka. The official languages are Sinhala and Tamil and English. I am hoping the kids will pick up some Sinhalese phrases during our time there.
Today's challenge: Learn about cinnamon and make a cinnamon scented craft.
I found some information on Kidipede about the history of cinnamon:
The best kind of cinnamon comes originally from an island south-east
of India called Sri Lanka. It's the inner
bark of a small tree that grows there. There's a more common kind, that
most people think isn't quite as good, that grows wild all over China
and other parts of East Asia (it's the Chinese kind that we mostly get
in the United States). We know that people were using cinnamon on their
food at least as early as 2700
BC, when Chinese texts first mention it.
Because cinnamon doesn't grow in West
Asia, Europe or Africa,
people from those places imported cinnamon from India and East Asia. People
in West Asia were probably using cinnamon by about 1000 BC - the Bible mentions cinnamon as one of the spices Moses
used. Cooks valued cinnamon because it helps to preserve food and keep it from going bad.
We watched this video about cinnamon production in Sri Lanka:
We finished the lesson by smelling, touching and tasting both cinnamon sticks and ground cinnamon and then we used the ground cinnamon to make scented sachets.
Instructions for Cinnamon Scented Sachets
1. Decorate coffee filters with markers
2. Fill coffee filter with ground cinnamon
3. make the coffee filter into a little pouch and use a rubber band to hold it together, keeping the contents secure.
and Voila... easy peasy! Now you have a little sachet to make your drawer or anywhere else you choose smell cinnamon-ny!!
Sri Lanka is an island nation, located off the coast of India in South
Asia. Sri Lanka is bordered by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, and
the Palk Strait, which separates Sri Lanka from India.
Today's task:
Find and mark Bermuda on the map (our starting point)
Find and mark Sri Lanka on the map ( our destinations
Draw a line between the 2 points.
Stick your map in your scrap book.
After that we looked online to find the distance between the 2 countries...
We are homeschoolers so you know we turn everything into an opportunity to learn! This is not just a family vacation but school in another part of the world. In order to prepare the kids and also to have a fun way to count down the days until we leave I created a countdown chain and scrapbooks for the kids.
Every day someone will take a link off the chain and read instructions written inside. There will be something to do, read, taste or research pertaining to Sri Lanka. The kids will have a chance to start putting information into their scrapbooks which they will also take with them to document their adventures. Hopefully we will have fun, learn lots and avoid the the inevitable questions of "how many days until we leave? " or "Are we going today?"
I guess this first post should explain the purpose of this blog... and the title! We have been given the awesome opportunity as a family to travel to Sri Lanka... the country of my mother's birth. We are overwhelmed by the way God has blessed us as we never dreamed this would really happen. We will be traveling half way around the world, staying for a month and hopefully will explore the treasures of this beautiful land. The last time I was there was 13 years ago and from what I have seen through pictures and heard from friends, it has changed..A LOT! I am so excited for my husband to see the country I fell in love with on my first visit at the age of 12, and excited for my kids to learn a little about their heritage. Making it more special is that my parents will be there too. The kids will get to spend time with Ma in the country of her birth.
So what's this about elephants and monkeys?
We have been talking about Sri Lanka for a couple of months now... even before we were sure this trip would happen. I was telling the kids how I rode an elephant the last time I was there and how we would be able to when we go to Sri Lanka. This was met with varying levels of enthusiasm, but the funniest response was from the 2 year old who exclaimed "I want to ride a MONKEY!"
Join us as we countdown the days till our journey and then come along with us as we share pictures and stories of our adventure... which may include elephants and monkeys, who knows?! ;)
We played hang man again...
