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20 Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have 20 ancient civilization history coloring pages that match up to my units here on my blog. Also, look at my page Ancient Civilizations for more ideas. The coloring pages were free for a limited time, but I think you’ll still want them.

Sometimes the boys want to create their own covers for the lapbooks or notebooks from coloring pages.

I know with younger children, it can be hard to find history coloring pages based on everyday life.

20 Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages

But these coloring pages work well with middle and high school too if your kid still loves to color. I made sure they have no baby-ish looking clip art.

I have always tried to use museum quality coloring pages when the coloring mood did strike with my boys.

Ancient Civilization History Activities

First, look at these ancient history posts.

We have used various museum quality history coloring books through the years that have made a big difference in how my boys understood history in the early years.

20 Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus. You'll love adding these to your unit studies or notebooking.

I think clip art should be as real as possible and based on real events in history. They are not always easy to find. I wish I could draw my own history clip art, but you don’t want me to draw for you. Just saying.

Anyway, I collect the clip art as I find it.

Here is what the 20 page download contains. I put a few key words to explain each picture on the page. This way you can use the coloring pages as title pages too.

Learning History Through Coloring

Page 3: Ancient Egypt Court,
Page 4: Ancient Egypt Spinning,
Page 5: Ancient Egypt Life of the Royals,
Page 6: Ancient Egypt Battles,
Page 7: Ancient Egypt The Nile,
Page 8: Life Along the River – The Nile,
Page 9: Metal Workers & Crafts of Ancient Egypt,
Page 10: Egyptian Hieroglyphics,
Page 11: Egyptian Queen Cleopatra,
Page 12: Aztecs Floating Gardens,
Page 13: Aztecs,
Page 14: Aztec Life,
Page 15: Mayans,
Page 16: Ancient Greece Wedding,
Page 17: Ancient Greek Galley,
Page 18: Ancient Greece Crafts,
Page 19: Ancient Greece Bank,
Page 20: Athens,
Page 21: Spartan Warrior and
Page 22: The Vikings.

Grab your fun copy below!

20 Free Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Also, instead of me adding titles on pages or naming the pages, this allows you to use the clip art/coloring pages any way you want to.

Whether it is a cover page, notebooking page, journal page or just to enrich a topic, you have the flexibility.

20 Ancient Civilization Coloring Pages. Grab these AWESOME pages at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Also, you’ll want to download

Hugs and you know I love ya,

Homeschooling Stubborn Teens: Not for the Faint of Heart

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

While homeschooling through the years we confront with dogged determination many scenarios which makes us weak at the knees or makes our heart skip a beat. But, nothing comes even close to the enemy in our own midst – our sweet child turned stubborn, unmotivated, and seemingly lazy teen. Homeschooling stubborn teens is not for the faint of heart.

I’ve learned that although it’s easier to blame my teens for everything that went wrong, I too had to learn how to parent differently. As each of my sons reached the teen years, I’ve had to become more resourceful and creative in how I homeschool them.

I've learned that although it's easier to blame my teens for everything that went wrong, I too had to learn how to parent differently. As each of my sons reached the teen years, I've had to become more resourceful and creative in how I homeschool them. Click here to grab these SUPER helpful tips!

Avoiding drama in your house is not all together impossible, but you can curb it and cope with it by learning from my mistakes.

3 PARENTING TECHNIQUES FOR HOMESCHOOLING STUBBORN TEENS

Whether your teen has been homeschooled from the beginning, came willing to homeschool after many years in public school or had no choice, he wants choices now.

One/ Focus on the teen, not the school.

However, before you can get to choices, the number one mistake made by many homeschooling families is to focus on homeschool. Yep, wrong focus right now.

The teacher in us is ready to go, but the mom in us should lead right now. Problems, whether academic or developmental, signal something is wrong.

Although a teen can now vocalize that he hates math or writing and is seen as unmotivated, that’s only the result of what is going on inside.

Before assuming it’s a lack of motivation, step back, and deschool. You can’t move forward until you and your teen are both ready.

Coming into adulthood takes a toll daily on your teen and he needs you now more than ever.

Two/ Deschool now before it’s too late.

Look at ways you can step back, deschool, and focus. Move forward by stepping back instead of butting heads:

  • If he hates math, ask him which subjects he does like. Use that knowledge to plan a routine. For example, get the worst subjects out of the way at his peak time and in a place he chooses. Explain to him that he can make those choices, however, if he is not doing his math because he decided to lie down on his bed, then it’ll have to change. I had one son that just because he could sit on his bed, he was in the right mindset to do math which was a subject he hated. He did well and eventually later in high school, he moved to the table. Give him some choice. BUT, first take time to not do school while you question him (few questions in the beginning) about subjects he likes and doesn’t like. Help him to make a routine for the day he loves while satisfying your requirements.
  • Next, do something he wants to do. For us, it was skateboarding, bicycling and watching movies. I told my teens to not do school for a few days while they played. My teens praised me as the best homeschooling mom ever (ha, but I had a motive). Like all smart moms who want their sons to do well in academics, I knew that they had to see first that I was reasonable. After they played for a few days and I could see it winding down, I discussed with each one how to work in what they liked doing while balancing their academic load. It worked. They knew I was reasonable, but had expectations. Including them in the discussion gave them the control they wanted.
  • Focus on when the rebellion occurs. For example, I knew our problem was an over scheduling problem with one of my teens. The rest of the day he was pretty compliant barring a few bad moods. Over all, the sulking and back talking happened only during school. Stepping back and allowing my teen to rest gave me time to understand how many credits I wanted for middle or high school teen. I reworked his schedule. However, if your teen is complaining pretty much the whole day, then it’s a parenting or rebellious issue and homeschooling is getting a bum rap.

Three/ Over ambitious homeschooling can backfire.

It’s easy to say when your child is five or six years old what he will and will not do as a teen, but it’s quite a different thing scheduling for him at 15 or 16 years old.

While it may be true that a teen doesn’t have to love learning because work places or colleges don’t care if he does, it never worked when I told them that.

I’ve never made progress with my sons when I vented and I normally had nothing helpful to say when I lost it.

Pushing my sons to do college courses early while in high school, having them take jobs too early, and do heavier maths because they were hardworking could’ve backfired.

Stepping back to reaffirm that heart schooling was just as important as academics helped me to solidify the fact that homeschooling is a lifestyle. I want my sons to homeschool their sons because I believe it’s the best way to teach a child.

HOMESCHOOLING TEENS WITH THE FUTURE IN MIND

Homeschooling with a future generation in mind helped me realize that I wholeheartedly believe learning is a privilege.

Curbing my desire to sock it to my boys with their academic load while being teens helped us to not only lap up the precious teen years, but love every minute of it.

Sometimes the solution to a problem was to just stop. And remembering each teen is different helped me to see problems from each kid’s perspective. Can you relate?

What kind of problems are you trying to overcome with your teen?

When your teens are grown and look back at how you didn’t give up on them, all of the hard times will be memories. You’ll only see the beautiful man or woman thanking you. Your knees will then be weak for another reason – overwhelming happy emotion.

I've learned that although it's easier to blame my teens for everything that went wrong, I too had to learn how to parent differently. As each of my sons reached the teen years, I've had to become more resourceful and creative in how I homeschool them. Click here to grab these SUPER helpful tips!

Also, you’ll find these other articles super helpful. Don’t give up now. You’re almost there.

Hugs and love ya,

Hands-On Ancient Greece Study: Politics and Pottery

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have an Ancient Greece pottery and politics hands-on idea. Also, you’ll love my two Ancient Greece Lapbooks. Go here to Fun Ancient Greece Homeschool Unit Study and Lapbook and Free Awesome Ancient Greece Lapbook and Fun Hands-on Activities to grab both free lapbooks.

My boys have been in love with the Percy Jackson books series for years now.

It began with my oldest binge reading every single book and, soon after, my youngest was reenacting mythological Greek monster slayings.

Because they are older (ages 14 and 11) finding hands-on learning activities has been a bit of a challenge. The good news is, it’s totally worth it.

I find my boys are not only much more engaged in the material, but also retain so much more when we incorporate hands-on learning activities.

Because they already have a natural interest in Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece, this hands-on activity has been one of our most successful to date.

Ancient Greece Study: Politics and Pottery

An ostracon  is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or some other container.

In archaeology, ostraca refer to small pieces of stone or pottery that have writing scratched onto them.

Usually these pieces were broken before the writing was added – broken pieces of pottery were everywhere and easily re-used for writing. (Recycling in ancient times!)

Ancient Greece Pottery Activity

In Classical Athenian politics, when the decision at hand was to banish or exile a certain member of society, the citizens would vote by writing the name of the person on a broken piece of pottery.

If the citizens voted to do so, the person was exiled for a period of ten years from the city (this is where we get the term ostracism).

After convincing my boys that it was not an option to vote to ostracise one another, and reviewing the historic significance of ostraca, we set about making our own examples – complete with Ancient Greek writing.

Hands-On Ancient Greece Pottery Activity

For this activity, you will need the following:

  • A broken pot, or if none are available, air-dry clay to create your own ‘pottery pieces’
  • Tempura paint and paint brushes
  • A sharp instrument to carve letters (we used a ceramics tool, but many kitchen implements will also work)
  • Printable Greek Alphabet 

Our first step was finding broken pieces of pottery. In our backyard, this is not difficult to do as my sons enjoy a wide array of outdoor activities that may or may not break things from time to time.

Just in case, we also used air-dry clay to quickly create our own, easier to carve, “pottery pieces.”

Painting Ancient Grecian Pottery

After the pieces dried, we painted the pottery lightly, and then sanded it to make it appear as if the paint had worn off over time.

It was then time to carve Greek letters onto our newly formed Ostraca.

Using the sample printable, my boys experimented with greek lettering. We discussed the differences between our own and that of the ancients.

Making Letters in Greek Pottery

When we were all finished up, the boys and I were pretty impressed with the outcome.

Our pottery pieces really did look like something you might see in a book or museum.

To make it official, my youngest actually buried them and then dug them back up – not only to get them authentically dirty but to pretend to be an archeologist for the afternoon.

Ancient Greece Pottery and Greek Alphabet Writing

Overall, this hands-on activity worked well for us.

The chance to learn a bit more about Ancient Greece and politics in a new democracy was certainly educational (even for me) and the pottery activity made it so much more engaging and fun!

Hands-on History Ancient Greece Activity - Politics and Pottery. Bring the study of Ancient Greece alive with this fun hands-on activity. Your kids will love learning about the meaning of the broken pieces of pottery! Click here to learn about this fun activity and oh pssst learn a bit of history!

To learn more about Ancient Greece with the kids, try these other hands-on Grecian learning activities!

Written by Shawna at Not the Former Things.

3 Risks of Not Tracking Your Homeschool Lessons (Even If They’re Laid-Out)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I’m sharing 3 risks of not tracking homeschool lessons.Too, I have hundreds more free homeschool planner forms on my page Homeschool Planner.

I get asked all the time that if you’re using laid-out lesson plans is it necessary to lesson track.

My answer is always the same — YES. 

Tracking homeschool lessons is different than lesson planning although they are linked.

3 Risks of Not Tracking Homeschool Lessons {Even Using Laid-Out Lesson Plans}. Having tracked lesson plans from the beginning prepared me for record keeping in the higher grades, but there are other reasons. Check out these SUPER helpful lesson tracking tips! #homeschooling

Look at these 3 risks of not tracking your homeschool lessons even if you’re using laid-out lesson plans.

DON’T CONFUSE LESSON TRACKING WITH LESSON PLANNING

One/ Kids can advance to a higher level mid-year. You want to be ready.

I had one son who struggled with spelling consistently each year until middle school.

He jumped a whole year in our spelling curriculum and I was ready to pull the trigger because I was tracking his progress.

I was writing down the words he was struggling with, writing down the errors he was making in his usage, and having him review his errors.

Checking off boxes is not tracking progress, it just shows completion.

3 Risks of Not Tracking Homeschool Lessons Even if You Use Laid Out Lesson Plans. Scoot by and check out the AWESOME tips!

If you don’t track progress, it’s easy to fall in a public school mindset.

For example, instead of homeschooling for mastery or being ready to move to another level in a subject, you may think that completing a laid-out curriculum is key to mastery.

Don’t fall for the mindset that completing a laid-out curriculum equates with your child mastering concepts. It does not.

Tracking and writing out progress lets you see a true picture of what is going on each day. Completing laid-out lesson plans means just that. It doesn’t always mean success.

I’ve always referred to my well-written notes although I didn’t start off that way.

Two/ NOTHING can replace your well-guided tweaks to a lesson plan.

The second thing I’ve learned is to not forget one of the most fundamental reasons that brought me to homeschooling which is to adjust the curriculum to meet each of my kids’ needs.

When I track lesson plans, I can adjust them immediately to fit my sons’ needs for the current moment.

For example, early on I could tell that one of my sons was advancing quite rapidly in math. Instead of having him do all the math lessons, I would pick and choose the problems.

Other days I had him do only the odds or evens.

Tweaking lessons plans and tracking his progress while using a laid-out math curriculum, I knew he could maintain practice in whatever skill he was learning. But he could also move ahead.

If I hadn’t tracked his work in a lesson planner, it would’ve been very frustrating for him.

Early homeschool planners while I've been lesson planning and tracking for years.

Doing work that has been previously mastered is a turn off for kids who are advanced or gifted and can cause them burn out.

Then, as homeschool parents we wonder why our kids hate a subject that was previously loved.

Tracking progress on a lesson planning page you’re tweaking is key to looking back and planning forward.

Also, having a place to track your tweaks made to laid-out lesson plans reminds you of the progress your child is making or problems he is having.

Three/ Lesson planning and lesson tracking are inextricably linked when you need to view progress and when preparing for older grades.

Another reason lesson tracking is critical is because it prepares you for teaching the older grades.

It’s the difference between sailing effortlessly into teaching high school and drowning in feelings of being overwhelmed.

Lesson planning early on equals awesome record keeping in the older grades. See how over at seasoned veteran Tina Robertson's blog.

Doing both lesson planning and lesson tracking, the high school years were a cinch from a record keeping standpoint.

More important to me was that I had a good pulse on the skill level of my rising high school teen because I had journaled and tracked his progress along the way even while using boxed curriculum.

A teacher’s manual is a guide. Your lesson tracking is your child’s unique visual map of his strengths and weaknesses.

Through the years, it’s been easy to look back and read my notes on each child’s progress. Immediately I could adjust either my lesson plans I created or tweaked laid-out lesson plans.

PURPOSEFUL HOMESCHOOL LESSON TRACKING

I’ve come a long way since creating my own planners way back and I know you’ll really love my detailed and beautiful pages to use for either tracking or lesson planning.

Beautiful, colorful and detailed Glam It Up Homeschool Planner over at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(This is the Glammed Up Option – don’t you love it?)

You’ll gain some other valuable seasoned tips from these posts:

Hugs and love ya,

Hands-On Literature: Make Alice in Wonderland Easy Cupcakes

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Alice in Wonderland is probably one of my very favorite children’s books. It’s truly a great piece of literature.

And, while it’s often held up as a young children’s book, I think it’s a fantastic work for older elementary and middle school students to examine.

There are so many great lines in it. Some of my favorites are:

If you're looking for a fun and easy hands on idea to go with learning about Alice in Wonderland, your kids will love these Eat Me Cupcakes. Click here to see how to make them. Yum!

“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

“I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I am not myself.”

And the best line in the entire book: “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” (You could write a graduate thesis about all the possible meanings of that quote.)

Since the book is such a great story, I thought it’d also be fun to add a hands-on literature activity. So we made up some Alice in Wonderland Eat Me Cupcakes!

MORE ALICE IN WONDERLAND ACTIVITIES

See how to make these with your kids!

Hands-On Literature: Make Alice in Wonderland Eat Me Cupcakes

I’ll admit: I’m not much of a home baker. So I used a few shortcuts, namely, boxed cake mix and prepared frosting. You could always make this from scratch if you wanted.

But I wanted our cupcakes to be fun and that calls for Funfetti baking mix!

Alice in Wonderland Cupcake Supplies

I also wanted them to be bright and cheery, so we went with bright blue frosting and hot pink cupcake liners.

Here’s the actual supply list:

  • One box Funfetti baking mix (You’ll need the ingredients on the box as well: eggs and vegetable oil)
  • One can Funfetti Aqua Blue Vanilla frosting (I didn’t use the fish sprinkles.)
  • Colored cupcake liners
  • White sugar pearls
Alice in Wonderland Cupcake Batter

Just a tip here: I learned (from somewhere) that using an ice cream scoop to divide the batter makes it easier to make the cupcakes even. It totally works.

Alice in Wonderland Baked Cupcakes

We baked the cupcakes according to the directions on the box.

Frosted Alice in Wonderland Cupcakes

And then frosted them with the blue frosting. Now it was time to add the decorations!

Alice in Wonderland Eat Me Cupcakes

And that’s where the sugar pearls come in! We sprinkled a few of them over the cupcakes and, on one of them, we spelled out the words “EAT ME”.

When Alice finishes drinking the potion from the bottle with the label that says “DRINK ME”, she comes across a small cake with the words “EAT ME” spelled out in raisins. After she eats the cake, she starts growing and is soon too big to fit back through the garden door.

Making Alice in Wonderland Cupcakes

That didn’t happen with us, thankfully. And it’s important to discuss why children should never, never, never eat or drink anything just because it’s there. But we knew what was in these, so we didn’t have any reason to hold back.

Baking Alice in Wonderland Eat Me Cupcakes

Chomp! They were so, so good, too.

These were so fun to make and eat! If you wanted to really have an Alice in Wonderland party, you could have a tea party and serve these alongside. Just make sure no one acts too “mad” at teatime!

If you're looking for a fun and easy hands on idea to go with learning about Alice in Wonderland, your kids will love these Eat Me Cupcakes. Click here to see how to make them! Yum.

Looking for more ways to bring literature to life? Try these ideas!