Travel Around the World in 80 Days Challenge

This lesson series is about travel. We will be using Jules Verne's novel, Around the World in Eighty Days to facilitate our learning experiences. As much as possible, our learning during this unit will revolve around the themes of travel and geography. Why is that? Well, I heard a rumor that someone is getting their passport in order to go out of country to actually see the REAL world...can I hide in your steamer trunk, please? Talk about the ultimate field trip...

In any case, I have several goals for this unit.

1. To finish off your study of World Geography for the year with a BANG! A review of the countries' locations and capital cities is worked into this study, as is map work, another essential of geography.
2. To introduce you to Science Fiction and get you comfortable reading novels that are out of your usual scope of self-selected usual genres. Jules Verne is the "father" of Sci-fi, so this is an excellent place to start our Summer Reading and Listening Challenges.
3. To further develop your abiltiy to self-monitor your work. For homeschooling to be effective at your grade level, you must be able to schedule and progress through your work without constant supervision.
4. To get you involved in real discussions about works of literature (via our FB group page, goodreads, and live discussions), and to encourage a lifelong love of reading and learning and reading to learn.
5. To further develop your skills with today's technology. I want you to find areas at which you excel, and those that you need to work on, and become more proficient in both.

The journey begins with one step at a time...here we go!

• Sign in to listen to Around the World in 80 Days on My Audio School. You may count this as the first entry for your Listening Challenge. I recommend doing this during lunch hour or at night time, unless you find you have lots of extra time during the day.

• Watch Michael Palin travel around the world in 80 days on Cosmo (this is a show from 1988...the filming is of an actual trip he made.) There are seven episodes, so plan when you will watch them. You can decide to watch them all at once, or watch one a day.

• Download Seterra for free and practice your World Geography each day. I'd give it fifteen minutes a day minimum.

• More practice at Owl and Mouse...try the World Monuments and World Features puzzles.
• Doing this once or twice a week, until you get them all right, is enough.
• Look up anything or any place you don't know ON YOUR OWN (in other words, don't just click until you find the right location...look it up). You may wish to mark some of these places on your map (see below) so you will truly remember them.
• Here is one good World Atlas resource you can use for this search.

• Print up a world map and follow Phileas Fogg's path with a green line and Michael Palin's path with a red line.
• Mark major landmarks and monuments such as the Sahara, the Alps, the Pyramids at Giza, etc. This is something you can work on while listening to the book.
• You can use the print version of the novel (link available below) to check any specifics about places he saw and/or visited/traveled through (or look up "Phileas Fogg's travel itinerary/path" using Google).

HERE ARE TWO MAPS YOU MAY USE (or find another you like better):

• Choose a rectangular view map HERE.
• Choose an oblong view map HERE.

• Read about map basics at My Teacher Pages.
• Learn more about maps at MS Nucleus (all pages)...then...

• Make a map of your backyard and hide something fun for your siblings (ask your mom what you can hide).
• Mark the treasure on the map and stand back and watch the fun.
• Save the map for me to see (add it to your binder).
• Make sure it has all the needed elements of a map on it (title, compass rose, key, etc....you may need to use an actual compass to know how to orient your map properly).

• You can find a very nice print version of the book HERE, if you need to look anything up to check information, find quotes to use,or maybe you would just like to read it...
• You may want to access this book when you are writing your "article" or essay as described below.
• Of course, you may also secure a print copy from your home library, or the public library, if you prefer to hold a book in your hands (like I do). Just make sure it is an unabridged version, please.
• You can also check the Guttenberg Project to see if there is a version you can download to an e-book reader, if you like. You can get a free Kindle plug-in for your laptop or desktop computer at the Amazon website, and they may have a free copy of the e-book, as well. Many classics are free on Amazon and other sites.

Jules Verne

• Understanding HISTORY is important for understanding any written work. To fully understand why Jules Verne's novel was so incredible in his time, you must see for yourself what his time was like. First, please go to Wikipedia and read about this extraordinary author, the man who pioneered the genre of Science Fiction. Then read a more detailed biography HERE.

• Proceed HERE or HERE to print up a chart to fill out (or you can make your own table on a word compatible document, or handwrite on, if you prefer). As you read, I'd like you to fill in what you learn about the time period during which Jules Verne lived and wrote on Wikipedia and THIS ONE, as well as the one HERE, (all kind of plain, but infomative). You can look for more interesting sites on your own. This is what I could find quickly. Once you have filled out the information for the late nineteenth century (remember, when referring to centuries, the century is always one more than the numbers at the beginning...ie. the twentieth century was the years from 1900-1999, not the years from 2000-2099....this is because the first century was the years 0-99, NOT the zero-th century...lol), please fill out the information for the twenty-first century in which we live. Add this chart to your notebook when you are finished filling it in.

Before moving on, reflect upon these questions:

• What was the author's time like technologically speaking? Politically speaking? Culturally? What is OUR time like in those areas? How are they the same and/or different? 
• What do you think Jules Verne would think if he was able to jump in a time machine and see your world today? Do you think he honestly believed the things he wrote about were possible? 
• What are some of the amazing things he made up that became real? Do you think all of his predictions will ever come true? Why or why not? 
• What effect did his extraordinary imagination have on his world, in your opinion? What effect did it have on writers who followed him? 
• How do you feel about imaginative stories like these? Do you think they are useful, or just a waste of time? How do you feel about science fiction in relation to your Christian worldview? 
• Does the fact that you "know" how the story ends (ie. you have read the Bible and know about the end of the world according to Revelation) make it easier for you to read cataclysmic and/or futuristic novels or harder (less interesting)? 
• You do NOT have to write any of the answers to these questions down. These are just some ideas for you to consider. 
• If you come up with anything interesting during your ponderings, please post on our FB group page. 

• Just for fun, join Postcrossing today and send out your first postcard this week. Please post on the group page where your postcard is heading.
• It will take a few weeks for you to get one in return, but I think you will like this. Recipients usually prefer colorful postcards, and often appreciate pretty stamps. It costs about a dollar to mail. 
• Make sure you get your parents' permission, and have your Mom come up with a different than usual name, if she wishes. We used Blessing Farm for ours.

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Now, before we move on to the final project, let's briefly discuss descriptive writing. 

• Have you ever heard the saying, "Show, don't tell?" One way to show a reader what is going on is to use descriptive word choices. What types of words are describing words? Yes, adjectives definitely describe. They modify nouns or pronouns. What else? Did you say adverbs? Yes, adverbs describe by modifying verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Verbs can also be descriptive. You can use a verb such as "walked" to tell that the boy walked up the hill. Or, you can use an adverb to modify the verb and say, "The boy walked laboriously up the hill." Is that creating a more vivid word picture for you? Another way to say the same thing is to use a more descriptive verb and say, "The boy struggled up the hill." Either one works. If you are writing copy for a newspaper, you'd probably want to use the descriptive verb because words are always used sparingly in news articles.

• To practice this descriptive writing, please go HERE and print up this cluster graphic organizer. Choose a BORING adjective you often catch yourself using, such as "good" (I call these "nickel" words), and write in in the center circle. Then go to Thesaurus.com and type your boring word in the search bar. Choose a few of the more "silver dollar" descriptive words listed (make sure you are writing ones that convey the same meaning as you intended) and write them in the spaces provided on the chart. Look at your list of eight new words. Wouldn't you rather use one of those "silver dollars" than a "nickel" next time you write? Do this exercise with an adverb (effectively instead of well), an adjective (vermillion instead of red) and a verb (leap instead of jump) to see similar results.

• Likewise, you can fall into the trap of using BORING, not very descriptive nouns. Why use the word "dog" when you can be more specific and use the word Weimeraner or Sheltie? (both breeds of dogs) Or even more descriptive would be "The brindle Boxer wiggled frantically when she saw her owner." (brindle is a color type) Print up this organizer and practice with a common noun of your choice, moving to a more specific noun, then adding some interesting adjectives to finish it off.

• As you work on the assignment below, keep your lessons on descriptive writing in mind. Once you have written a rough draft, please take it to a partner (your friend, your mom) and ask that person to circle or highlight any "nickel" words you need to fix, then look them up using the online thesaurus or a print copy before completing your final draft. You will see that your writing becomes more vibrant and interesting when you improve your word choices.

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Now, onto the BIG project!

• As you are reading, keep track of Phileas Fogg and Michael Palin's journeys by using a timeline such as the one HERE and/or keeping a journal of their travels in a composition notebook (or on a sheet of notebook paper in your binder or a chart such as this sequential graphic organizer). 

• When you are done with the book/audio/video portions of the lesson, please do one of the following:

1. Write a detailed and comprehensive news release telling about the results of one of the journeys (Phileas Fogg's or Michael Palin's). Here is a worksheet to help you organize your article(s). Use a publishing program such as Word or Open Office to make it  look like an actual newspaper's front page. Add pictures (right click and save image) from the Internet to make it look real. Use columns, a tagline, and a  font such as Times New Roman. Please be descriptive and give a complete summary, while sharing a bit of human interest from either the novel or TV show. You may choose to have a headliner story, plus several smaller articles about more specific events you enjoyed. This should have content equal to a full front page of a newspaper, so it will be two actual typing paper pages (as if the paper was folded). You will need to email me an attached Word file on the due date.

2. Using a publishing program, make a detailed brochure for one of the places both travelers visited. Use enticing pictures from the Internet and be verbally descriptive. Look up current points of interest at the location and make me want to visit it TODAY. You may reference it as being somewhere the men visited, perhaps revealing your knowledge of parts of the story. Use a tri-fold brochure format, please. This should have content on both sides. You will need to email me an attached Word-compatible file on the due date.

• HERE are directions for making one in Word.
• A good example of one is HERE.

3. OR you can start a travel blog, to tell of Phileas Fogg's travels. Use blogger to start it...making a free blog there is easy. They even have travel templates. Have at least one initial entry to tell the background of the story (why traveling), and five posts from different locations, with pictures and maps, as appropriate. Write as if you are Phileas Fogg (ie. use first person). You may wish to include a final entry saying you made it back, but do not give the ending away (suggest interested readers check out your journal entitled...if they want to know how it turned out). Be creative. You should stick to the story as much as possible, though you may flesh out a few of the ideas, create dialogue and thoughts, but do not change the story. You must post a link to the completed blog for everyone to visit on the due date.

4. If you prefer, you may make a video timeline of events using PowerPoint or a similar program. You will need to record a narration of the events OR type your description of the events as text on each slide. Remember, the objective here is two-fold. Show me you read/listened to the entire novel and show me your understanding of descriptive writing. You can include as many slides as you like, but do not have fewer than ten to fifteen. You may add appropriate music or be as creative as you like. Please attach the file to an email, and send it to me by the due date.

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Additionally, here is the "daily work" you are responsible for during this project:

• Check out my Sermon Sunday post about Guardrails by Andy Stanley HERE. You can find a current link for the Guardrails series online here and listen to one each day for Bible time (try to listen to three of them this week, then three next week). Print a Sermon Log from my website and write down any important points. Your notes do not have to be long, but if you want it to count, you must at least write down what you got out of it in a few sentences, the date, and title/speaker of the sermon. Tex, you have your workbook for days that fall when you have already listened to those sermons.
• Do math every day. Use Time4Learning for this. Stick to the schedule you made last week.
• Time4Learning Language Arts:  On the Level 7 screen do Vocabulary Skills and Think Alouds.
• For Science: On the Level 6 screen do Technology. Austin, you have your workbook, too.
• For History: On the Level 6 screen...Both of you do Maps, Globes, and Geographic Tools. 
• Do vocabulary at Big IQ Kids for 15 minutes a day.
• Watch the Brain Pop Video of the Day each day.
• Don't forget to log in at Book Adventure and take a few tests on books you remember well. It's a contest to see who can earn the kids a 6-month subscription to Highlights first...that's 2000 points. Surely you have read enough books (and remember them well) that you can get at least that many...Just don't take quizzes recklessly. You only get two tries. 
• Draw something in your Nature Notebook at least once each week. Go OUTSIDE to do this. Maybe take lunch and sit outside on a quilt and find a bird or tree you like. Write its scientific name, its common name, its habitat, where you saw it and when, and anything else you find interesting. If you do not feel like drawing this week, you can also do a leaf rubbing, press and tape some flowers onto a page, outline a natural object and fill it in, or tape in a photo you took. 
  
  
  20 minutes to half an hour once a week is enough for this. Enjoy yourself. Please. :-) You can see some examples of Nature Notebooks at the Handbook of Nature Study site. Feel free to explore a bit and get comfortable with the idea. There are free downloads of printable nature study pages if you are more comfortable with the idea of printing one and doing it that way (you can fold these and tape them into your composition notebook). Figure out what you like best.
• Sign up with Goodreads and build up your book list with books you have read already. Look me up on Goodreads and "friend" me. You can add a goodreads bookshelf to your blog.
• Read your Reading Challenge book(s) whenever you have extra time. Go outside to read whenever weather allows. Work to meet your own goal.
• Always do your chores BEFORE relaxing. Thanks.
• Make sure you have your Reading Challenge Log, Sermon Log, Audio Challenge Log, and Books I Want to Read Someday Logs all in a binder. The goal is to keep very organized so we know what is going on and can show what we have accomplished (because it will be a lot!) Keep the schedule you made for math in there and check each lesson off as you do it to show your mom (you may wish to print this from the T4L site). Tuck your Nature Notebook and a pencil into the pocket, as well as your book, and you are ready to go!!

*That should keep you busy! If you do all of this (as you should be able to do), you will have learned a LOT over these two weeks. It is up to you to make sure that ALL of your work gets done by a week from Friday (that's the 20th). 

I posted a checklist of work that is due for this unit for you to refer to on our FB group page. Have you been interacting with other students there? Please do!

**Reminder: The Bookmobile comes Wednesday, May 11th at 11 am to Blessing Farm. CANCELED

The new date is Thursday, May 19th around noon. 

***When you have finished ALL of your work and shown your mom what you did, reward yourself by watching the 1989 version of Around the World in 80 Days with Pierce Brosnan on Netflix Instant Download. Have a movie night, complete with popcorn and games. 

****You might also want to find one of the other novels from the Voyages Extraordinaires series written by Jules Verne, such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, or Journey to the Center of the Earth to read, listen to, or watch. Please let me know if you do choose to watch or read another of these ahead-of-their-time novels. I'd love to hear what you think of them.

I hope you enjoy this lesson's theme of travel...it should get you in the mood to go somewhere soon!

Blessings,

Blessing Academy