Sunday, June 27, 2010
Lord of the Rings Literature Study
If you are looking for a nice resource for exploring Tolkien, check out the free Lord of the Rings literature study at Houghton Mifflin. These are high school level, in depth unit studies that go well beyond what happened in chapter 4 type questions. Instead they explore the nature of myth, quest, free will and fellowship, good and evil, and what makes a hero.
Monday, June 21, 2010
More Hiking in Yokosuka
I tend to pick up tourist brochures, even when they are mostly in Japanese. Often they will have a map that I can figure out by matching it with the names of the train stations. Or it will have a website that I can use a translation program on to get more info.
This weekend, we were exploring Kannonzaki Park, a park that I've been hearing about the whole time we've been here, but hadn't made it to. It has a big roller slide, which is a slide made out of box rollers that you slide on using a piece of foam or cardboard or carpet square. It was so fast that we adults were having to brake ourselves on the side to slow down a bit.
Anyway, I found a great guide to the park at the Rest House across from the parking lot. It had a very detailed map that was labeled in both Japanese and English. I found the same guide in the Yokosuka Natural History Museum and the Visitors' Center. The Kanagawa Parks site has more info on Kannonzaki Park. I use Google Translator and it makes the Japanese pretty readable, at least for meaning. (The Naughty Trail is really just the trail that takes you to all the play areas. Maybe it is some word that means rambunctious or something similar.)
I also found a series of cool guides at the Visitors' Center that had themed walks throughout the Yokosuka area. Turns out they are actually produced by Coco's a local curry place. Check out the guides marked Scap 1-6 here. This page of Yokosuka walks and trails also has maps of some nice trails like Takatoriyama, which is a place my kids have done a lot of rock climbing. Again, the map and guide are in Japanese, but I think I have figured them out. And even a map marked in Japanese is an improvement over the vague directions that I sometimes get from people. I'm looking forward to the trail around Taura, which seems to go up to the site where William Adams is memorialized. He was an inspiration for the figure of John Blackthorne in the book Shogun. That is the sort of place that I would end up walking past, having no idea what I was seeing.
Might even get me to try out Coco Curry.
This weekend, we were exploring Kannonzaki Park, a park that I've been hearing about the whole time we've been here, but hadn't made it to. It has a big roller slide, which is a slide made out of box rollers that you slide on using a piece of foam or cardboard or carpet square. It was so fast that we adults were having to brake ourselves on the side to slow down a bit.
Anyway, I found a great guide to the park at the Rest House across from the parking lot. It had a very detailed map that was labeled in both Japanese and English. I found the same guide in the Yokosuka Natural History Museum and the Visitors' Center. The Kanagawa Parks site has more info on Kannonzaki Park. I use Google Translator and it makes the Japanese pretty readable, at least for meaning. (The Naughty Trail is really just the trail that takes you to all the play areas. Maybe it is some word that means rambunctious or something similar.)
I also found a series of cool guides at the Visitors' Center that had themed walks throughout the Yokosuka area. Turns out they are actually produced by Coco's a local curry place. Check out the guides marked Scap 1-6 here. This page of Yokosuka walks and trails also has maps of some nice trails like Takatoriyama, which is a place my kids have done a lot of rock climbing. Again, the map and guide are in Japanese, but I think I have figured them out. And even a map marked in Japanese is an improvement over the vague directions that I sometimes get from people. I'm looking forward to the trail around Taura, which seems to go up to the site where William Adams is memorialized. He was an inspiration for the figure of John Blackthorne in the book Shogun. That is the sort of place that I would end up walking past, having no idea what I was seeing.
Might even get me to try out Coco Curry.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Hiking Near Yokosuka
Found another link today for hiking near Tokyo. This one has some easy/winter hikes and a smattering of others. What is really nice, though is that he has some references to topo maps, which I've been unable to find other places.
I'm itching to head out to Kamakura and do some hiking, especially since the hydrangea in Kamakura are in bloom right now. Maybe I can get more of the Daibutsu Trail in since this goes all the way up to Kita-Kamakura and I've only walked about 1/4th of it.
I'm itching to head out to Kamakura and do some hiking, especially since the hydrangea in Kamakura are in bloom right now. Maybe I can get more of the Daibutsu Trail in since this goes all the way up to Kita-Kamakura and I've only walked about 1/4th of it.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Yokosuka Homeschooling
If you're homeschooling in Yokosuka, a homeschooler moving to Yokosuka or someone in Yokosuka who's thinking about homeschooling, you might want to check out the new blog Yokosuka Homeschooling from Kanto Plain Home Schoolers.
The purpose of the blog is to be a gateway of information for homeschooling and life around the naval base in Yokosuka. It is a great place to find out about field trip ideas, life in Yokosuka, and homeschooling.
The blog is a group effort by several bloggers who are in Yokosuka, who are experienced homeschoolers, Japan hands or both.
The purpose of the blog is to be a gateway of information for homeschooling and life around the naval base in Yokosuka. It is a great place to find out about field trip ideas, life in Yokosuka, and homeschooling.
The blog is a group effort by several bloggers who are in Yokosuka, who are experienced homeschoolers, Japan hands or both.
World Cup Time
At our house, we're getting antsy for the beginning of the World Cup. Geography, probability, statistics, even a little bit of political history and foreign cultures just naturally flow from watching the games. Or at least that's what I tell myself.
I don't know if any of the early games will make it onto AFN. But a friend of ours sent me a link to the broadcast schedule for the Japanese channels. If there is an X it means that the game won't be shown on Japanese tv. For late-night TV 3:30 is dated the day before the date is written as 27:30.
If you're looking for more educational tie ins, I found a world cup soccer lapbook project template and some projects that you could fold into a unit study.
I may even have to get some movies to tie in with the games. Das Wunder von Bern for German studies and maybe the Pele/Sylvester Stallone movie Victory. Anyone have other movie suggestions?
I don't know if any of the early games will make it onto AFN. But a friend of ours sent me a link to the broadcast schedule for the Japanese channels. If there is an X it means that the game won't be shown on Japanese tv. For late-night TV 3:30 is dated the day before the date is written as 27:30.
If you're looking for more educational tie ins, I found a world cup soccer lapbook project template and some projects that you could fold into a unit study.
I may even have to get some movies to tie in with the games. Das Wunder von Bern for German studies and maybe the Pele/Sylvester Stallone movie Victory. Anyone have other movie suggestions?
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