Geography Studies - Mount Everest

A few weeks ago, Crumpet saw a segment on PBS about Jordan Romero, a 13 year old boy who climbed Mount Everest. Crumpet decided he was going to climb mountains too, so I created a unit about Mt. Everest.

Apparently, Jordan Romero saw an exhibit about the Seven Summits Challenge. Serious mountain climbers try to climb the highest mountain on each continent, and Jordan decided he would like to try it. So far, he has climbed 6 of the mountains (he hasn't been to Antarctica yet). I took this opportunity to talk to Crumpet about the continents, and we marked the mountains on a world map.

Books we read for this study:
Mount Everest by Sarah De Capua : This was a great introduction to mountains and to Mount Everest for someone Crumpet's age. Very simple but it covered a lot of information.
Everest, a DK Eyewitness Book: This had beautiful pictures. We used it to check out the gear a mountain climber would have.
To the Top by S.A. Kramer: This was a biography of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first two people to reach the summit of Everest. It was written for kids, and Crumpet and I both enjoyed it.
We also watched a National Geographic Movie: Everest 50 Years on the Mountain : Crumpet actually sat through most of this movie, and it gave us a great idea of what it's really like to be on Everest (NOT fun!!). It was filmed with the sons of Norgay and Hillary, and it was interesting to hear their memories. The movie skips back and forth through history though, which was a bit confusing for Crumpet.

We did a little research about the animals and plants that live on Mount Everest and then Crumpet painted this picture of the mountain:
The bottom line is the tree line. Trees grow below this line, and there are lots of plants and animals. Above that, there are fewer animals and the ground cover is mostly moss and lichen. The snow line is at the top. The snow never melts here, and no one lives above this line.

After painting, we decided to climb Mount Everest ourselves. We packed a bag full of dried foods (I reminded Crumpet of our dried food experiments and the reasons it would be important to bring it on our climb). We brought climbing ropes, a tent, a sleeping bag, and "oxygen" tanks. We no longer own hats or mittens (sigh, our life is rough :) and oddly, Crumpet refused to put on 8 layers of clothes, so imagine that he's all bundled up in these pictures, with big spiky boots on!
Here he is, setting off for base camp:
We had to beware of the "Yeti" on the mountain... This poor cat is so abused - Crumpet spent a lot of time trying to scare the "Yeti" away. She just ignored us, as usual.
Stringing ropes to help us cross the crevasses.
Camp #2 being set up:
At last, we reached the summit!
We narrowly escaped the Yeti, avalanches, and oxygen deprivation, but we made it. And we had a blast. Every day, Crumpet asks to play Everest again. I LOVE homeschooling!
For more geography posts, visit Children Grow Children Explore Children Learn.

Preschool Week of 8/20

Homeschool this week was great. Parent Participation Preschool - not so much. On Monday, Crumpet flat out refused to go. A few weeks ago, he finally learned to get his own clothes off. I was so proud. On Monday, I was sorry I ever taught him, because every time I managed to get him clothed, he removed the clothes... So we called it quits and stayed home Monday. Wednesday, I took him to McDonald's for breakfast and then to school. It was much easier because we were already out of the house when school time rolled around. He was still pretty grumpy about being there though... Our theme at school was the color red, and the teacher had some really fun toys and activities set out for us to work with.

At home, we did great.
Phonics/Reading: Crumpet FINALLY knows the alphabet! And, Crumpet started reading this week! Very exciting stuff. I knew he was close, so I had planned to start our McRuffy reading program with him this week. We zoomed through the first 10 lessons or so, trying to get him caught up to the point where kids read 3 letter words. We also read a new book from Progressive Phonics.

We discovered an incredible library story hour at our nearest Hawaii state library. The storyteller reads a few stories, but he also plays music, dances with the kids, and puts on puppet and shadow puppet shows, as well as telling stories with a felt board. Then the kids make crafts. Really amazing. This week, Crumpet checked out The Three Bears and The Three Little Pigs. I said "You know we have these stories at home, right? Do you want to just read our copies?" Crumpet replied "No, Mom. I like to read new versions and find out who the author is." I guess he's preparing to get his doctorate in literature...

Math/Science: Both lessons were about measuring and length this week.

Geography/History: A few weeks ago, Crumpet saw a segment on PBS about a 13 year old boy who had climbed Mount Everest. He decided that he, too, would climb mountains. This week, I did a unit on Mount Everest. It was so much fun, and I learned a lot too! I'll write a separate post about our mountain climbing adventure.

Culture: We went to a beautiful Buddhist temple with Japanese gardens over the weekend. Crumpet had lots of questions about it all, and I found that I know very little about Buddhism. Time to do some research!
Nature: We went snorkeling and saw some amazing starfish, an eel, and lots of sea cucumbers. Crumpet doesn't snorkel, but he can see a lot just standing above the water here because it's so shallow and clear. He was obsessed with petting every sea cucumber he found.
We had a really great week and hope you did too! For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations.