The Educational Summer Vacation: Studying the Czech Republic

How do you give your kids structure during the long weeks of summer vacation? Some people do it by planning themed outings, some people do it by going to the beach every day, and some people sign up for summer camp. 

Honestly, my kids might prefer any one of those. But what I do is ask the kids to choose different countries in the world, and we spend a week studying and learning all we can about each one. You can read how it started here, or you can just start right here and read along with what we did this week: studying the Czech Republic.

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The Czech Republic, is also called Czechia. Historically, it was known as Bohemia. So this week was exciting for me because I've seen "Bohemia" in my family tree and never knew exactly where that was. I just knew it was... Europe. Ish.

Monday

We started by locating the Czech Republic on the big wall map. In previous years I made blank passport pages they could fill out with the name of the country and all its neighbors, the capital, and any rivers or mountains or interesting things they could see about it. But this year they didn't want to. (Free printable is here, though.)

The kids looked up the flag online and were relieved to finally see a country with no complicated crests... just straight lines they could make with a ruler:

As I was putting this up on the wall I asked my 10-year-old, "Is this right side up?" He answered "I don't know, let me Czech" and then laughed and laughed. And then he really went to go check because we couldn't remember.

Prague is the capital, and it's sometimes called "city of a hundred spires." It's a city known for its architecture and the famous astronomical clock in the center. (A video for older kids on how to read the clock is here.)

We watched this general overview of the Czech Republic:

And then we read a few books. First we read This is Prague by Olga Černá, and then we read The Three Golden Keys by Peter Sís.

After these two books, we came to the conclusion that the Czech sensibility is... different. I think it's kind of like how Americans don't really "get" British humor: it's not bad, it's just that we don't have the shared cultural understanding to make complete sense of it. And yes, I'm also basing my opinion on all the Franz Kafka (another Czech) I read in college as an English major.

Tuesday

Besides speaking the language of absurd surrealism, the people of the Czech Republic also speak Czech. It's widely recognized as one of the world's hardest languages to learn. 

We watched this video called 5 Easy Czech Phrases for Beginners:

Let me tell you, I loved how Zuzana really exaggerates and over-enunciates each syllable, goes slow, and breaks down every sound. Because a lot of language tutorials don't do this enough, forgetting that they might be asking you to hear and make sounds that don't even exist in your native language. Ten out of ten for CzechbyZuzka.

Fun fact: some Czech words have no vowels, like this famous tongue twister that goes "strč prst skrz krk." It means something like "put your finger through your throat." 

Using this children's illustrated Czech dictionary from the library and some Post-It notes, the kids labeled things around the house in English and Czech. I asked them to do five Post-Its and expected them to be bored by then, but they kept going and going.

I was finding Post-It labels for days afterward in random places.

Of course they wanted to label me, too.

And then the 14-year-old stuck a label on the back of her 18-year-old brother's head, who was busy playing video games. The label said "friend." I'm not crying, you're crying.

I got a book of Czech fairy tales with the intention of reading one each night to the kids, but it kind of didn't happen. I ended up just giving them the book today to peruse at their leisure.

Wednesday

The Czech Republic has a ridiculous density of castles, with Prague Castle being the largest ancient castle in the world. The kids spent a while looking at this Castles Cross-Sections book and then we watched a video on Czech castles and chateaus.

With that foundation, they set off to design and build their own castles in Minecraft. 

The 10-year-old made a castle with a library of floating candles inside and two sheep pens in the back, one with upside-down sheep and one with rainbow color-changing sheep. Here's a video tour:

The 12-year-old spent days contructing a walled castle complex on an island with a palace, an armory, a well, guard barracks, and a pool with a waterfall. And then, in a disappointing turn of events, he accidentally deleted it. That's life, I guess, and he got over it. But I still wish I had taken some screenshots first, it was actually impressive.

Thursday

Today we talked about the music of the Czech Republic. There is a lot to cover here, but we tried to scratch the surface, at least.

First, the polka. Supposedly the word comes from the Czech "půlka" meaning "half step." I remember being forced to learn the polka in middle school P.E., do they make kids learn to dance in gym anymore?

We watched this instructional video and gave it a shot: 

Classical music also has deep roots in the Czech Republic. I looooove the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (my 20-year-old is a violinist so I hear him all the time). 

Smetana's Vltava (The Moldau, in German) is also very famous. Bedřich Smetana wrote this in 1874 as part of a 6-movement piece celebrating his homeland, Bohemia. This movement is the most famous one. It tells the story of the Vltava, the longest river in the Czech Republic and it's really fun to listen to with kids if you tell them what they're listening for.

You can use this listening map or print out this AI-generated list of the movements:

1. The Two Springs: The piece begins with rippling, cascading flutes and clarinets that represent the bubbling Teplá Vltava and Studená Vltava (warm and cold streams)
2. The River: The two streams unite, and the main, sweeping Vltava melody—one of the most famous themes in classical music—swells as the young river grows
3. Forest and Hunt: The music transitions to a hunting scene, characterized by noble horn calls resonating through the dense woodland
4. Peasant Wedding: The river passes a village where a joyful, rustic Czech polka plays, signaling a lively local celebration
5. Moonlight / Dance of the Water Nymphs: The tempo slows and the strings soften to portray the moon rising over the water. Mermaids and nymphs dance and sparkle in the rippling moonlit waves
6. The St. John’s Rapids: The music grows chaotic, dramatic, and stormy as the river plunges into a rocky, churning gorge
7. The Vyšehrad Castle: As the rapids calm, the river broadens. The sweeping main theme returns majestically as the river flows through Prague, passing the historic Vyšehrad fortress
8. The Departure: The music fades into the distance as the river flows onward to join the Elbe River

Friday

At lunchtime we made bramboráky, Czech potato pancakes, using this recipe.

The Czech Republic is also the #1 consumer of beer in the world. I don't drink but I understand that there are different kinds of beer and Pilsner beer comes from the Czech Republic. So... I gave the kids some root beer to eat with their pancakes.

While they were eating, we watched a compilation of Czech-born players in the NHL making goals (there's officially a video of everything on the Internet now) because hockey is such a national pastime.

And then, because my kids are slow eaters, we watched a few episodes of a famous cartoon called Krteček, which is kind of like the Czech Republic's Mickey Mouse. (Back in the early days, before he talked.)

Saturday

Today we talked about WWII and how it affected the Czech Republic. We read Stars of the Night, about the Kindertransport that rescued 669 Jewish kids by sending them out of Czechoslovakia to the U.K. before the borders closed in 1939. 

The Czech Republic had a rough time. They had one of the longest occupations by the Nazis (6 years) and then came under the communist rule of the Soviet Bloc for another 41 years. 

Communism involves a lot of censorship, propaganda, and rules. Theater was heavily censored and directed by the government, if not outright banned, but puppet shows were mostly unregulated because they were seen as children's entertainment. That might be one of the reasons why Czech puppetry is on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. It's a long-standing Czech tradition.

We watched a video about it, and then followed this video tutorial by @MakingWithEmil to make a marionette using materials you can get at the dollar store:

I loved this guy, he was so excited about sharing the joy of marionettes with kids. It was too wholesome.

I was surprised, actually, by how long these boys were occupied with the marionettes they made. They're not exactly crafty kids, but this held their attention for a lot longer than I expected. In fact, this was a few weeks ago and my table is still full of marionette stuff.

The strings were really easy to get tangled, unfortunately. It helped once they realized that whenever they weren't using the marionettes they should hang them off the side of the table instead of just laying them down on top.

I asked them to put on a show for me and my 12-year-old made his marionette scale laboriously up the wall, hit the light switch, and then fall dramatically to his death. The 10-year-old wasn't too interested in making a show, he wanted to design and redesign his marionette, adjusting the strings and getting everything just right. Maybe eventually he'll be satisfied and then it can stop being our dinner centerpiece.

Our week studying the Czech Republic was a great week! From cooking to marionettes to classical music, we covered a lot of ground. And the boys even got extended mom-sanctioned Minecraft time, which was probably the best part of it from their point of view.

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