Multicultural experiences

I am really enjoying our study of different countries this year with Nadia. We started with North America, then moved to South America, and we are now in the middle of our study of Europe. Next up will be Africa. Paul works with Nadia on learning to identify the countries on the map. Preparing the different recipes has had its ups and downs. I end up having to eat the majority of many of the dishes because no one else wants to eat it, and I don't want to waste the food. There have been times though that the kids have wished I made more of the food, such as the chocolate mousse recently. We won't have any trouble during the week we study Italy because we eat plenty of Italian food on a regular basis - lasagna, manicotti, stuffed shells, spaghetti (or rigatoni) with meatballs, pizza, etc. We live in a rural area, which means it's not very culturally, racially, or ethnically diverse, but I still have been looking for multicultural opportunities.





Last night Paul took Nadia to a multicultural Christmas party hosted by the program where Nadia took Spanish in the summer. They offer Chinese, French, and Spanish classes (some for children and some for adults) throughout the year and also offer ESL classes for those learning English. Last night they had crafts and foods from various different countries. We have been listening to German cds from the library this week in preparation of our study of Germany next week, which is perfect timing as my parents are planning to come up and spend a day with us next week (for Ian and my dad's birthdays). My dad spoke German and French growing up and then majored in German at Princeton.
This morning I took the kids to Bucknell to hear a woman dubbed the Celtic Storyteller. She grew up in France and was telling the kids how she celebrated St. Nicholas Day in France as a child, which was perfect timing because we studied France this week. At the end of the 45 minute program they had gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate. Ian used lots of green sprinkles on his (green is his favorite color).

This coming Thursday afternoon I plan to take the kids to Camp Susque. They have a Christmas Around the World program each December, and this year the country they are focusing on is Germany - perfect timing! We are usually ahead of schedule with the chapter books I am reading the kids so right now we are enjoying The Wheel on the School, which takes place in Holland, a country we haven't studied yet. I had planned on reading Hans Brinker, but I think I'll save that until they're a little older.