The Royal Diaries & Tapestry of Grace

The Royal Diaries, like Dear America, is another series of historical fiction books with a target audience of 8-13 year old girls. However, unlike the Dear America series which is written based on the accounts of fictional girls in America's history, the girls that The Royal Diaries are written about are women of royalty all over the world. Some of the books were made into TV movies and are available on Netflix.

Following is a list of the episodes that are available on Netflix, along with a link to the actual book.

• 57 B.C. Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, by Kristiana Gregory 

• 1466 Isabel: Jewel of Castilla, Spain,by Carolyn Meyer

• 1544 Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, by Kathryn Lasky

Tapestry of Grace Year 1 - Rosh Hashanah

Here's another long overdue post from co-op last year. Rosh Hashanah! 

We went to a nearby lake and talked about the meaning of Rosh Hashanah. One of the moms brought a shofar and we took turns trying to blow it. 

We ate Challah Bread with honey and apples,

and threw our bread crumbs into to "sea" to
symbolize God's forgiveness of our sins.

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalms 103:12) 

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19) 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Unit 1 - Challah Bread

Flash Back to March 2012 - We made Challah Bread in co-op. Here are some pics!

People of the Interior

The People of the Interior section of All About South Africa (South African History) would fit into Tapestry of Grace Y1.

Before I started with Tapestry of Grace, a friend and I did some homeschool unit studies on South Africa with our 6 children. Now that I am using TOG, I would do one of two things. First, South Africa has 40 weeks in their school year, while TOG only does 36, so I could take a week away from TOG here and there and add in a week of SA History. But if my year is too busy, I would just take the time to read the section in All About South Africa and add one of the books to read, if I have it.

Ideas to Incorporate:

• Learn some Tswana
• Make South African flag from beads
• Make Samp and Beans
• Make Ndebele homes
• Mark people groups on wall map

Field Trip:

Lesedi Cultural Village (Gauteng)

Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History (Gauteng)

Tsonga Kraal Museum (Limpopo)
Botshabelo (Mpumalanga)

Links:

Tswana People of South Africa
Shangaan-Tsonga
Seed Bead South African Flag Pattern
Ndebele
More Ndebele

Books to look for: 
I have had some success in finding SA books by watching on bidorbuy.co.za, and don't forget to check your local library!

The Ndebele Art & Culture by Aubrey Elliot
Abantu by Martin West and Jean Morris

The Nguni Speakers

The Nguni Speakers section of All About South Africa (South African History) would fit into Tapestry of Grace Y1.

Before I started with Tapestry of Grace, a friend and I did some homeschool unit studies on South Africa with our 6 children. Now that I am using TOG, I would do one of two things. First, South Africa has 40 weeks in their school year, while TOG only does 36, so I could take a week away from TOG here and there and add in a week of SA History. But if my year is too busy, I would just take the time to read the section in All About South Africa and add one of the books to read, if I have it.

Ideas to Incorporate:

• Make a Zulu shield out of fake fur and wooden skewers
• Make an African Drum
• Make Mealie Meal Bread (see recipe below) or Pap, and serve with chicken and pumpkin
• Learn about Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi
• Learn about Nguni cattle
• Study the Iron Age
• Place a picture of each of the people groups on the appropriate place on a South African map
• Talk about the roles of women and men in the Nguni culture. Have children dramatize.

Field Trip:

Lesedi Cultural Village (Gauteng)
Guests are divided into smaller groups and taken on a guided tour of our five homesteads: Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho, Ndebele and Pedi

Recipe:

Early South Africans were mostly hunter-gatherers. They depended on foods such as tortoises, crayfish, coconuts, and squash to survive. The practice of modern agriculture was introduced by the Bantu, natives of northern Africa. They taught inhabitants to grow vegetables such as corn ("mealies"), squash, and sweet potatoes.

It is customary for children to eat from the same dish, usually a big basin. This derives from a "share what you have" belief which is part of ubuntu (humane) philosophy.

Mealie Meal Bread (I got this recipe years ago - not sure where I got it from!)

1 ½ cups Milk
2 cups Mealie Meal
1 tsp Salt 
4 tbsp Butter (or Margarine) 
3 Eggs, beaten 
2 tsp Baking Powder 

Heat 1 cup of the milk and then blend the other ½ cup of milk together with the mealie meal. Then add the mealie meal, salt and butter to the cup of hot milk and mix well. Cool and then add the beaten eggs and baking powder. Blend well and turn in to a greased loaf tin. Bake at 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 for 30 to 40 minutes.

Links:

The Xhosa People
The Zulu People
Nguni
Nguni Cattle

Iron Age 
Traditional African Clothing
African Jewelry
Swazi
African Farmers

Field Trips:
Lesedi Cultural Village (Gauteng)

Books to look for: 
I have had some success in finding SA books by watching on bidorbuy.co.za, and don't forget your local library!

Zulu Traditions and Cultures by Aubrey Elliot
The Xhosa and their Traditional Way of Life by Aubrey Elliot
Looking at the Zulu by Roger and Pat de la Harpe
Looking at the Xhosa by Roger and Pat de la Harpe
The Abundant Herds: A Celebration of the Nguni Cattle of the Zulu People by Leigh Voigt

The San and the KhoiKhoi

The San and the KhoiKhoi section of All About South Africa (South African History) would fit into Tapestry of Grace Y1.

Before I started with Tapestry of Grace, a friend and I did some homeschool unit studies on South Africa with our 6 children. Now that I am using TOG, I would do one of two things. First, South Africa has 40 weeks in their school year, while TOG only does 36, so I could take a week away from TOG here and there and add in a week of SA History. But if my year is too busy, I would just take the time to read the section in All About South Africa and add one of the books to read, if I have it.

Ideas to Incorporate:

• Read the section on San and the KhoiKhoi
• Learn about nomads.
• When reading the sections on KhoiKhoi Houses, The Strandlopers, Hottentots Holland Mountains and The KhoiKhoi are dispossessed, locate the areas referred to and mark one of them on a map of South Africa with a picture of a KhoiKhoi hunter.
• Read creation account from Genesis and make a creation wheel.
• Re-create a miniature model of a Khoi home with plaster of paris and brown paint.
• Learn about and practice rock art.
• Study about Ostrich.
• Have ostrich steaks or game for dinner.  Make a fire and sit around it and eat.
• Make a San hut with long grass.
• Locate the Kalahari on the South African map and mark it with a picture of a praying mantis. 
• Study the praying mantis.
• Make a reed flute

Links:

South Africa History Online - Arrival of KhoiKhoi

Creating Your Own Rock Art

The Khoi Hut

Creation Wheel
Bushmen
San Bushmen
Praying Mantis

Field Trips:

Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History (Gauteng)

The National Cultural History Museum explores South Africa’s cultural diversity in various permanent and temporary exhibitions. Exhibitions include rock paintings and engravings of the San people; thousand year old Iron Age figurines from Schroda in the Limpopo Province (described as "the best known artifacts indicating ritual behaviour in the Early Iron Age"); the Art Gallery presents an overview of South African culture through time, using cultural objects, crafts, sculpture and paintings and an exhibition on Marabastad is a true example of a cosmopolitan and fully integrated rainbow nation before apartheid. Visit our new shop. 

Books to look for: 
I have had some success in finding SA books by watching on bidorbuy.co.za

The Far-away Valley by Jenny Seed

Men of Men by Candy Malherbe

These Small People by Candy Malherbe

The New Fire by Jenny Seed

The Cave by Peter Slingsby
Nama Kwa’s Garden by Mary Clanahan

Come Over to my House by Theo Leisig