Touring Italy

In our little homeschool this year, we are studying world geography.  We are making our way through approximately one continent per month, choosing several countries on each continent to study a bit more closely, although there is so much to learn, it feels as if we are barely scratching the surface (we are).

Last week, we had a grand time "touring" Italy!  Here are some of the things that we did:

• Discovered the many things that had their origins in Italy.  You knew about pizza; did you know that cookies and pretzels came from Italy too?  The piano and musical notation?  Mechanical clocks, the radio, and eyeglasses?  (Look What Came From Italy gave us the scoop.) 
• Learned a few basic Italian words: grazie, ciao, gelato, signore, signori...amore (thank you, Dean Martin).
• Read C is For Ciao: An Italy Alphabet.  I love the books in this series.  The short four-line poem per letter will satisfy the younger set.  But there is loads of fabulous information in the sidebars to interest older readers (and their mothers). 
• Labeled a map of Italy (from Uncle Josh's Book of Outline Maps) with mountain ranges, rivers, major cities, and surrounding bodies of water.
• Sang "Southern Europe" from Geography Songs by Larry and Kathy Troxel.
• Made a page of Italy for Bekah's geography notebook.
• Read The Year I Didn't Go to School, a true story about an American family who toured Italy with their own small theatre company. 

• Ate Italian foods. (Oh yeah!) We had chicken piccata.  We ate a meal at Olive Garden (Dad's suggestion...I didn't argue).  And on Saturday, Bekah made "Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti" and "Pepperoni and Fresh Mozzarella Paninis" from Emeril Lagasse's cookbook for kids, Emeril's There's a Chef in My World!: Recipes That Take You Places.

This week...on to Czech Republic and more happy travels!