Hayden's 5th grade had to pick a country and do a huge end of the year project. Because I went to South Korea, Seoul West Mission, Hayden chose to do his report on South Korea.
First up was we had to make a country out of salt dough. It had to be three dimensional and contain every mountain, mountain range, lakes, streams, islands and topography of the country. I honestly do not think that Hayden could have picked a harder country for this assignment. South Korea has over 300 islands and in a very short distance goes from sea level to one of the highest points in all of Asia.
Of course, Hayden, being artistic and a perfectionist, wants to do over the moon projects. There is no second class assignments when big projects are involved. Knowing my stamina and Hayden's perfection, we decided to start right away on this massive assignment. We spent Friday night gathering supplies and designing and planning the projects out. No kidding, we spent ALL day Saturday working on his map. We rolled out the dough and began creating mountain ranges, elevations, islands and the lakes. Of course, Hayden had the fantastic idea that all of the words and key be written in English and Korean. There was no convincing him otherwise. He decided that was what he wanted and he was going to go for it.
Sunday before church, we continued to work on his project. More because we were having fun than a requirement to get it done. I had him start weeks in advance. We talked of missions, the people, my experiences and funny stories of how I messed up the culture. We did have fun creating this masterpiece.
Thomas explaining to Hayden how to achieve his desired outcome.
Love how much Bubba loves his dad.
I loved that Hayden did keep thanking us for being involved and helping him.
He was in heaven as the project started coming together. With each new element added, his face lit up as his vision began to come to life.
Along with having a massive detailed map of their country, they were also to create a travel brochure highlighting all the great adventures in their country. The grade was going to be based on how many people in the class would choose to visit your country after reading your brochure. With Hayden's artisitc and writing abilities, he picked some pretty catching word phrases that made the travel brochure pop. He used beauty, culture, ziplining adventures, shopping excursions and exotic food to convince people that choosing South Korea to visit would be a great idea. He did a great job.
Once the map and travel brochure were created, he then had to write a report on all the things he learned about South Korea. He had detailed out paragraphs on their economy, natural resources, people, cultures, history and overall fun facts. He drew the reader in and kept it educational and exciting at the same time. I was amazed by his writing capabilties and the way he held the reader's attention. He was supposed to have a two page report, but he could not narrow down the facts he wanted to include and turned in a four page report.
He was so proud of the finished product. I think he received the reaction he wanted when he turned in the map and travel brochure. The teacher and students were amazed at Hayden's level of detail and some of the elements that he included.
His idea was to create each main city with flags giving their English names on one side and their city names written in Korean on the other side.
Hayden amazed me on this project. With his IEP, he was able to do a modified assignment, with only a one page report, was told the travel brochure was optional and that he was just to do his best on his map. Hayden didn't chose to take the easy way out. By the time I started counting the hours Hayden worked on the project researching, talking about his ideas and actually sitting down and working on his masterpiece, I was in awe at the extensive hours that he put in.
He, or should I say, we, spent two complete Saturdays working on this project. Each day after school for two weeks we would look up facts and learn info on South Korea. He easily spent over forty five hours, outside of school working on this project.
Way to go, Bubba! I am so proud of you for having a vision and knowing that if you put hard work, lots of time and your best effort into this assignment that you could do whatever anyone else could. Not only did you do it, Bubba! You can do anything you set your mind to. This project is proof that hard work and dedication defintely pay off.
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