Category Archives: home schooling

How to build an igloo: was the snow house designed in part to protect against polar bears?

Posted on December 31, 2021 | Comments Off on How to build an igloo: was the snow house designed in part to protect against polar bears?

When I came across this fascinating National Film Board video from 1949 on how to build an igloo, it reminded me of a conversation I had with a colleague about whether the design of the Inuit snow house was originally developed in part as protection against marauding polar bears?

Such a dome of tightly-fitted snow blocks, when properly consolidated with a thin layer of ice inside, must have been virtually impenetrable to even the hungriest bears – and defendable at the narrow entrance tunnel. The image below is from Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island around 1865, which lies within the boundaries of the Davis Strait subpopulation of polar bears.

A link to ‘How to Build an Igloo‘ is included in my free ‘Arctic Sea Ice Ecosystem Teaching Guide‘ for home schooling found here. The igloo film is 10 minutes long and suitable for all ages.

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Posted in Book promotion, home schooling, Polar bear attacks

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#Homeschooling2020: Polar Bear Facts & Myths is an excellent resource for learning a second language and prices have just been reduced

Posted on April 13, 2020 | Comments Off on #Homeschooling2020: Polar Bear Facts & Myths is an excellent resource for learning a second language and prices have just been reduced

For all of those parents and grandparents struggling to keep school-aged kids occupied and learning while stuck at home during the coronavirus lock-down (and looking ahead to the summer months!), how about using my Polar Bear Facts & Myths book to practice a second language? The book is short (<800 words), the topic is compelling, and the text is simple. As well as the original English, it's also available in French, German, Norwegian, and Dutch – all translated from English by native speakers. Prices have now been reduced on all versions of this title and several others (note it has taken Amazon two weeks to implement these changes).

FM polar bear day 2017 graphic 1_crockford

Purchase two copies (one in your native language, the other in the language the child has been learning), and let them work their way through. This approach makes it easy for kids to tackle this task on their own. For Canadian kids who must take French, this is an excellent way to brush up on their French reading skills while learning about polar bears and the Arctic. Similarly, for a large number of European kids, it’s a chance to practice their English reading skills.

When they are done, you could 1) ask them to find a polar bear picture online and write a caption in their second language; 2) send me a question that the book hasn’t answered and I will respond on this blog, in English! Other links below.

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