International Day

One of our homeschooling groups (yes, we are involved in more than one) had an International Day event on Friday. The idea was for each family to research a Middle Eastern country and present information about the country to the rest of the group. The idea was great, but not many people signed up to do research on a country, so the “international-ness” of the day kind of fizzled out.

I have to admit that I did not sign up to research a country. We have a lot on our plates right now, and we’re having enough trouble completing all of our usual housework and schoolwork without adding to it. I usually jump right into events such as this, but I’m bushed right now.

Well, the event morphed into a presentation put on by one of our homeschooling moms about Middle Eastern belly dancing. It was GREAT! She taught the kids the history of belly dancing, when it came to the US (which was during the World’s Fair in Chicago in the 1800s), and showed us an Egyptian and a Turkish dance. It was wonderful.

I was so proud of my kids for sitting nicely through the show, participating in different segments of the presentation (I did too!), and thanking the mom for the show. Most of the other kids were playing with toys and running around the room (which was in the library), so seeing my kids behaving so well (which they usually do) was awesome. I was sure to tell them how proud I was of them on our way home. Positive reinforcement encourages further positive behavior.

Not knowing what food item to bring to International Day (yes, we were asked to bring food from a country, not necessarily a Middle Eastern country, but food nonetheless to share), I racked my brain Friday morning for a dessert item from another country that I could bring. I usually try to bring a dessert when asked to bring something to an event…any event. I love dessert and it is usually what I am most comfortable making. After ruling out most of my standard dessert choices (where do brownies come from anyway?), I settled on Challah. Although not necessarily a regional food, it was an ethnic food and Israel is in the Middle East (score!).

To make a long story short, Challah is egg bread and I forgot to add the eggs until I had started the bread rising and saw the eggs on the counter. So I tore apart the dough, shoved it all back into the mixer with the kneading hook, and thought positive thoughts. Believe it or not, the dough came together nicely and I think it might have been my best Challah to date. The homeschoolers loved it and it made fabulous French toast on Saturday.

I’d love to see us have another International Day. Maybe we could choose a European country or an Asian country to represent next time and hopefully I won’t be so busy and will be able to more fully participate.

International Day is a great idea for a homeschooling group. Do you have any events that your homeschooling group has created? I’d love to hear about them.