…And we are back to the dinosaurs while I sort out pictures for blog posts and proof others. Company, end of summer and back to full day school have slowed me a bit… but I promise to continue catching up! 

#3 on the Dinosaurs.about.com’s list of the top 10 weirdest dinosaurs is the VERY long necked dinosaur Tanystropheus. In fact, scientist believe that its neck is as long as it could be without the dinosaur completely defying physics!!! While not technically a dinosaur this archosaur was found in the Triassic period in Europe and the Middle East. It is actually thought that it would have used its head and neck much like a fishing line.

Our videos! First… Dinosaur Safari (Late Triassic) Clip #11: Tanystropheus by Kyle Hartman.

And the second, Tribute to Tanystropheus by ArchosaurKing.

And now our links:

• Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
• Jurassic Park Wikia HERE
• ReptileEvolution.com HERE
• BBC HERE
• The Big Zoo HERE
• The Pterosaur Heresies HERE
• Prehistoric Wildlife HERE
• Wiki HERE
• And our colouring page… it is off of deviantArt HERE thanks to the artist HyphenatedSuperHero HERE.

OH MY GOSH they are so young in the picture at the bottom of the post… which means this is a LONG belated post but at the same time I squeeeee at the adorableness… so that makes it all cool, right???

Another day another dino another herbivore from the Cretaceous period. The Struthiosaurus is an armoured dinosaur that was the smallest of the ankylosaurs (found to date). Found in Europe it is quite the impressive prey… well armoured, and low to the ground… not an easy target.

Out of the book

Our video included an image of our dinosaur but was not overly educational otherwise.

Annnnddd the link list:

• The Dino Directory HERE
• Cool Dino Facts Wiki HERE
• Find the Data HERE
• Dinosaur.about.com HERE
• deviantArt and Hyrotrioskjan HERE
• Wiki HERE
• The Natural World  has our colouring page (first image) HERE
• Our book… Neovenator and other European Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon HERE
  

  Together

We covered Christmas in a new way… we found some lapbooks and some mini units and worked our way through some interesting topics. I feel like I should include some of the links and a brief overview of what we used:

• The history of Wassailing…. this was a booklet topic in our lapbook series and something that we had never discussed. You can find a good link HERE. Most of these are from the site WhyChristmas.com
• The history of the Christmas Cracker. We had these one year at my mom’s and they were a hit. You can find this one HERE.
• Holly (and Ivy). Greens and their part in Christmas is actually rather interesting. Read some more HERE.
• Christmas presents. Why do we give presents? HERE
• Just what DO kids leave for Santa around the world? This was an especially fun one for the boys who laughed at some of the ideas. We may just have to leave something different out next Christmas ourselves! This article is from the site Mother Nature Network HERE.
• Christmas in Sweden. This was a suggestion from our lapbook… the diversity of other Christmases is amazing and one I think we need to focus on more. Our own traditions are fun but to implement some others… could be an adventure! Back to the WhyChristmas.com site HERE.
• The history of the Nativity plays. Why are they so popular and universal? HERE
• Saint Nicholas Day in Europe. Another unique tradition. Link thanks to TimeAndDate.com HERE.
• Mince Pies, a British tradition. Link thanks to Project Britain HERE.
• The history of Christmas Cards… I don’t know why but I enjoy these histories of ideas. And Christmas Cards was interesting. Link thanks to WhyChristmas.com HERE.
• The history of Christmas Stockings thanks to ChristmasWithLove.com HERE.
• We had to go to Wiki for a couple topics… Christmas Trees (HERE) and the Star of Bethelehem (HERE).

Useful materials:

• Christmas Symbols… a lapbook you can purchase from Currclick HERE.
• I could not find out Candy Cane unity that we originally purchased from Currclick up for download but this lapbook from Homeschool Share looks like a fun one that we will have to try out for ourselves another year. HERE

I know this is super brief compared to other entries but I especially wanted to share the webpages we found with all the somewhat obscure knowledge the kids found entertaining! For books… well sky is the limit! We do have our family favourites of course but there is so much out there that is informational at the libraries!