Around the World in Eighty Days - Unit Study Day 2

I would have loved to have made rhubarb and gooseberry tarts for the kids, to start out our lesson today (it's one of the things Phileas Fogg had for breakfast on the day he started his journey), but there is not a canned gooseberry to be had on the western side of Montana. Gooseberries do grow well in Montana, but will not be ripe for a couple of months. So, while we did receive a very nice invitation to pick as many as we like on the property of one helpful store clerk, that will have to wait until they are in season. Instead, I'll break down our study up to today, below.

Read chapters 4-8 in Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Vern.

Vocabulary - conscientiously, chary, susceptible, ensconced, stupefaction, aberration, espoused, minutely, plied, quay, scrutinized, panorama, importunate, visaed, indispensable, rogue, inscribe, itinerary, stipulated, wont, volubly, fob, defiant, impenetrable, cogitating, and equanimity.
Again, you can find worksheets to go with these words at www.lessontutor.com/ees80printPT1.html.

Math - Create a chart to match Phileas Fogg's hoped for time schedule against his actual time schedule, as he moves through the story(something like the log Mr. Fogg keeps himself).

Take a moment to discuss world time zones. There is an excellent, kid friendly, site for this at www.time-for-time.com/zonesworld.htm.

Geography - Trace out Fogg's route from London to Suez on a world map. We used the Around the World in 80 Day's map from www.wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days_map.png.

And, as we listed Fogg's stops on our chart above, we added country information to the cities (this gave us a chance to discuss changes that have been made to the name's of cities such as Bombay - which is now Mombai, as well).

Project - World cookies (just to set the mood). Instructions for these can be found at www.chiccookiekits.blogspot.com/2009/04/sweet-earth.html, or you can just figure it out from the pictures below. The idea is to end up with a cookie that looks like the world from outer space. I put the frosting on, and let the kids swirl it for effect.

We also started watching Michael Palin: Around The World in 80 Days, a travel series put out by the BBC. It has some very good shots of the Suez Canal, and gives a modern take on the problems of world travel.

Finally, this would probably be a good time for some story starters such as, "What would I pack for a trip around the world?" or "How would we go around the world today?" Quite frankly, I have given up on creative writing for now, because the children are far to busy playing Whist to be bothered.

It's great to be a homeschooler.