For a change of pace, we’ve spent the past two weeks studying New Zealand. Our starting point was Knowledge Quest‘s Around the World studies. After skimming through the material there, we hit the library. . .a bit disappointing. We checked out all four books on New Zealand they own (all children’s–there is a huge gap in the adult non-fiction section); we also checked out a general “Australia, Antarctica, and the Pacific” book. If you’ve ever tried to read the various series of children’s books (countries, states, animals, etc) you already know that the newer books may have better pictures, but the text is still quite dry. Yawn. The only literature we found set in New Zealand was a picture book, The Moas, written and illustrated by Katie Beck. Compared to other picture books it’s mediocre–but compared to the other New Zealand books it was the hands down favorite. 
If anyone knows of a good movie set in New Zealand, I’m all ears. The only one I could find was Her Majesty, which I enjoyed a couple years ago–but I knew my pack of boys would not be impressed. Instead I requested the documentary with the least amount of negative reviews. It was definitely heavy on the tourism side of the country but it did give us a better look at the scenery. We also searched YouTube and found footage of the kiwi bird as well as the All Blacks rugby team performing their traditional haka.
We didn’t do any crafts, unless you count the maps included in the curriculum. But we did spend some time searching online for recipes, and yesterday had a New Zealand-ish dinner. No pictures as it was fraught with technical issues, like the undercooked leg of lamb. Which meant we ended up eating dessert first while the meat went back in the oven (and Twirly Girl’s mashed potatoes got cold). And about that dessert. . .Drama Boy and I made a pavlova, which baked up quite lovely. Then it crumbled to bits when I tried to remove it from the baking sheet. Drama Boy found a recipe for a complicated topping that included chocolate and chestnuts–and then we put kiwi fruit on top of that. It was quite yummy, once we managed to put it all together. 
We wrapped up our studies with a written assignment, length based on age and ability. Note to self: Drama Boy hasn’t turned in his essay yet. Twirly Girl wrote about the three kiwis: the bird, the fruit, and the New Zealanders. Boy Genius wrote about the varied scenery, and Bouncy Boy (with the help of his human pencil, a.k.a. Mommy) chose to write his paragraph about the Maori.
Next stop: Scotland. . .
