Unit Study: 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games .. a great idea!

HT: MaryM ... now here's a GREAT idea from "That Artist Woman" that incorporates drawing/sketching, creative game-playing and the Olympics all in one ... I've added it to our ever-growing Unit Study post but just thought I'd also mention it here. 

Looks like a wonderful Mardi Gras-day project (after the dentist visit of course).  What are you doing with the Olympics?

Unit Study: 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games

We'll be starting our unit on the Winter Olympics/Paralympics starting tomorrow with the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver.  Since the Olympics go from February 12-February 28, and the Paralympic Games go from March 12-March 21 ... we'll be quite busy immersing ourselves in the games: geography (where is each medalist's country or state, etc), math (charting the medals, graphing the times, estimating, etc), science of the Arctic region, snow  and climatology and meteorology of Vancouver area, history and culture of the Inuit, the Games, the medalists', story-writing and crafting, art studies and other things.

Here are a few of the resources we've compiled for our unit ... please feel free to comment if you have any others you've found ...

Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games' Unit Study Resources

Activities:

• "bobsled and luge runs" out in the yard (with time trials)
• choosing a county to root for during the Games -- incl a report at the end about the country and athletes with charts of the medals, results, etc.
• making our own igloo
• making our own Inuksuk using the book, The Inuksuk Book, but using cornstarch "clay" instead of rocks
• making our own soapstone (using bar soap) carvings using the book, The Art of the Far North, for ideas and examples.
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
• this VERY cool project that pulls in art AND the olympics (HT: MaryM) from That Artist Woman

Books -- Winter Olympics:

• The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition by David Wallechinsky
• Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics by Sue Macy
• Frozen in Time: The Greatest Moments at the Winter Olympics by Bud Greenspan
• The Winter Olympics: An Insider's Guide to the Legends, the Lore and the Games by Ron C. Judd

Books -- Paralympics:

• Athlete First: A History of the Paralympic Movement by Steve Bailey
• Fighting for Gold: The Story of Canada's Sledge Hockey Paralympic Gold by Lorna Schultz Nicholson
• Paralympic Sports Events (Winter Olympic Sports) by Robin Johnson

Books -- Vancouver and Canadian Inuit Culture:

• Art of the Far North: Inuit Sculpture, Drawing and Printmaking by Carol Finley
• Let's Go to the Arctic: A Story and Activities about Arctic People and Animals by Charlotte Ford Mateer
• The Inuksuk Book by Mary Wallace
• The Inuit (True Books : American Indians)by Andrew Santella
• The Inuit of Canada by Danielle Corriveau

Internet Sites:

• A2Z Homeschool -- Winter Olympics Unit Study
• Amanda Bennett's Unit Study
• Canadian Olympic School -- Teacher's Resources
• Homeschool Share's FREE lapbook helps for Amanda Bennett's unit study
• Inuit Culture and Customs
• Inuit Ornaments -- detailed directions for making Inuit-based ornaments
• The Inuit Way: A Guide to the Inuit Culture (pdf booklet)
• Kaboose -- kids' craft, games and activities for the Winter Olympics
• KidsTurnCentral -- online resource listing
• Legends of the Inuit Peoples
• NBC Coverage of the Olympic Games
• Team USA: Olympic Facts and Figures
• Vancouver 2010 site
• Vancouver 2010 site: schedule and results
• Vancouver 2010 site: teacher resources
• Winter and Kids: Vancouver
• Winter Olympic 2010 Printables and Activities
• Winter Olympics for Kids (UK site)

Television:

• Modern Marvels: Winter Tech -- Thursday, Feb 11 2000(EST) History Channel
• Opening Ceremony -- Friday, Feb 12 1930(EST) NBC

Videos/DVDs:

• Arctic Tales
• Cool Runnings
• Eyewitness: Arctic and Antarctic
• Ice Worlds (Planet Earth)
• Miracle

We'll round out our school days with Lenten activities including as-often-as-possible-daily Mass and readings on Lent from the Saints.

Review: The Winter Olympics: An Insider's Guide to the Legends, the Lore and the Games

The Vancouver (Canada) 2010 Winter Olympic Games start in 14 days on February 12th.   We are planning a unit study to coincide with these games and have I found an amazing book resource: 

The Winter Olympics: An Insider's Guide to the Legends, the Lore and the Games is the perfect "spine" for building a unit study, using during the games, and accessing after the games are over.  Written by veteran Seattle Times columnist Ron C. Judd, this book is amazingly readable while still being packed with information, statitstics and information for armchair-athletes and sports-historians alike.  Judd, who has covered every Olympic game (winter and summer) since 1998's games in Nagano, Japan has created a source book with:

• historical, background information about the Winter Olympics from the first in 1924 (Chamonix, France) through the Turin Games of 2006 (including personal experience of tracking down information about the first Winter Olympic which wasn't an Olympic until two years later!)
• a sport-by-sport guide to the Games: 
• the rules of each game, where (what kind of field) the event occurs, how one wins, what equipment is needed, etc.;
• historical background for each event -- the high- and low-lights of the past;
• information about the best atheletes [note:  for detailed specifics for every Olympic match-up, the author recommends referencing David Wallechinsky's The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics] and/or the North American best in each event;
• how Vancouver will be handling each event (where and any other pertinent information)
• scattered throughout are past columns written by Judd for different Winter Olympics to give a historic feel of "you were there" proportions

Judd is particularly well-suited to author this book that we'll be using:  he is a veteran sports-journalist, living in the Seattle area (120 miles south of Vancouver), enjoys winter sports and has been to the venues as a sports-enthusiast (mountain-climbing and hiking the area) and is an excellent writer.  The book opens with a descriptive essay describing the journalist's experiences in Nagano -- the endless, over-packed, media buses driving three hours to a venue only to turn back without a story because the weather was too warm ... or too cold ... or too foggy ... or too much snow had fallen -- the writing is sports-journalism at its best.  This is a living book of the first water!

Later in the book, Judd describes Vancouver's anxiety while waiting the July 2003 morning for the announcement from the IOC about who would get the 2010 Olympics -- the majority of Vancouverians wanted these games.  Judd details the excitement tinged with trepidation as the time passes with no word from Prague.  Finally, Vancouver was named the winner -- with a small voting margin of 56-53 -- to beat out South Korea for the honor of hosting the world in 2010.  Millions of dollars later, Vancouver -- the largest, most metropolitan city ever to host a Winter Games -- is poised to greet the world and show their stuff.  Judd gives great detail about each of the venues and locations where the 5000+ athletes/officials from the 80+ countries will compete for Olympic Gold for the 15 days in February (Feb 12-28); these sites will again be used a month later for the Paralympic Winter Games in March (another part of our overall unit study).

We're excited about our unit study and I'm thrilled to find a one-stop, spine for using with our study. 

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I'll give other resources we'll be using in a post specifically about our study, but would be remiss if I didn't mention one of the ways we'll "live" the Olympics:   Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (on the Wii).  We have found that the Wii is a great way to experience different sports and the Mario/Sonic game promises to add quite a bit to our Winter Olympic 2010 experience.  Fun, active learning at its best! Want to join us?

Budget: belt-tightening just a bit more

Dh and I have a running battle with our budget ... in the words of Mr. Micawber from David Copperfield (played to perfection by Bob Hoskins in the excellent BBC version): 

He [Mr. Micawber] solemnly conjured me, I remember, to take warning by his fate; and to observe that if a man had twenty pounds a-year for his income, and spent nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence, he would be happy, but that if he spent twenty pounds one he would be miserable.

Well, we'd rather be happy than miserable. 

So, we have to belt-tighten just a bit more ... trying to shave off the monthly budget (and keep it UNDER budget) is not hard, but does take some additional strategies and willpower (and I'm pretty good at the strategies, not so good at the willpower part!).

What are we doing?

• by making and baking our own sandwich bread; we are saving almost $50 per month while also getting a better food-product for the kids and warming the house with the oven.  Besides, making the bread not only gets out my agressions but is building my upper-body strength.
• by saving our credits from Amazon to buy resources for our home-school unit studies; for instance, I just ordered The Winter Olympics: An Insider's Guide to the Legends, Lore and Events and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games with our credits.  See, everytime someone orders a resource from Amazon that I've linked, I get a small (REALLY, REALLY small) commission ... but the commssions add up and I didn't have to pay anything for our upcoming Winter Olympic Unit Study!
• by baking cookies, brownies and other treats from scratch; again, we're saving probably $10-15 per month by not buying the already-made or packaged mixes for treats.  When Lent starts, we'll wipe out this category completely (well for Monday-Saturday; Sundays we can indulge!).  Again, the kids are getting a better, healthier option and we're heating the house.
• by putting the thermostat down to 66 and using the gas-log to take the chill off the house in the morning.
• by designing and knitting gifts for various folks; as I knit a gift for someone, I always say a prayer for the recipient.  So, not only is the recipient getting a unique gift, they are also getting the benefit of the prayers said.
• by grocery shopping every two weeks, avoiding the pre-packaged and sticking to the staples -- flour, sugar, milk, butter, eggs, cheese, etc.  It's amazing how much I can shave off our monthly grocery bill by avoiding the seductive pre-packaged stuff.  And, again, we're eating better.

Some of the other ideas I have "cooking" include ebaying some of my knitting books -- many of which are now collector's items but are just collecting dust -- and my unused home-education resources.  I have some amazing books, supplies and resources I've collected over the years ... but if we're not using them, what's the point?  Someone will get a great deal and we'll get a bit of cash ....

I'm also trying to do a better job of submitting knitting designs to publishers ... I won't ever make a fortune with my knitting but it's a way I can bring in a little bit of income, using the gifts God has given me.

So what am I missing?  I don't do coupon cutting -- too often the products are those packaged, name-brand products we don't use anyway.  Is there a great budget-saving tip you want to share ... please post in the comments and I'll do a follow-up with all the great ideas.

Hugs and prayers for all of us that are feeling the pinch of the economy ... may it make me a better steward of our resources!