One of the perks of homeschooling for sure is that you get to go off on whatever tangent you want to at any given time. Last Thursday I was giving Margie a bath and her coconut-scented shampoo reminded me of when I was in Hawaii (I think my sunblock was scented maybe?). I told her so and we started talking about it a bit. And then a bit more. And then I got out the book I have on Iolani Palace and showed it to her. And then I got out my photo album and we looked at that, comparing it to photos in the book and other photos online of Diamond Head, Waikiki Beach and Hanauma Bay.
Looking at the Iolani Palace book took us on a brief tour of the history of the islands - from the time of Kamehameha I anyway, right up to the imprisonment of Liliuokalani and a bit on British and US rule. We discussed (as we so often do) how the Europeans decided what they thought was best for the native Hawaiians and really didn't ask for opinions on the matter. Imperialism is a sick thing.
Anyway, around this time, I pulled up YouTube.com (I LOVE the internet) and we watched the Muppets do the "Hawaiian War Chant." We also listened to it, and to "Hawai'i Pono'i" on my CD of Hawaiian Music (and discussed the difference between traditional tribal music and music with Western influence).
Lunch time! Lucky for us, we live in San Diego with a lot of cultural diversity so we went to L&L Barbecue for lunch. At least I think this is not common to all of the US, but what do I know? Anyway, Plate Lunches may be heavy on the Western influence, but that doesn't make them less Hawaiian. (Let me pause right here and say we also talked about Spam and how Hawaii is the state that consumes the most of it and listened to my Save Ferris song about it - I was rocking the resources on this one!) I ordered Chicken Katsu for the kids and I got the Kalua Pig because I figured it was the closest to traditional and I wanted the kids to try it. No go. They would not touch it. They barely touched the chicken and anytime the breading came off it, Elliott would whine and ask me to fix it. Like I can fix that. I would have rather gone to Da Kines because it's our favorite Hawaiian Place, but I know my kids well, so when they did not eat their food, we just slipped next door to Subway and got cheese sandwiches. Oh the nutrition!
After a brief nap in the car and a romp at the playground, we came back home and turned again to YouTube.com, this time for a trip to the Tiki Room. It is, of course, a favorite of ours whenever we visit the Magic Kingdom, but this time I used it as a Springboard to teach about the Hawaiian Religion. I'm not sure how accurate Walt's version is, but at least Pele is real.
At some point during the day we also discussed some basic vocabulary and looked at maps of Hawaii. And probably a lot of other stuff I am forgetting.
We wrapped up the evening with an interview designed especially for this blog where Margie recapped all the bits she'd learned and pointed out Hawaii on the map for you, but sadly, YouTube will no longer let me upload videos as long as this one (only six minutes) so you don't get to watch it. I may try to get a shorter one later. But then, I may not. Because I am busy and sick and this house isn't gonna clean itself.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about our Tour of Hawaii! Aloha!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
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