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Ancient Civilization Unit = Ancient Greece + Ancient Rome

June 30, 2013 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I am finishing up the last of the minibooks for our Ancient Civilization Unit. My goal in doing this unit study was to quickly cover some of the ancients and get Tiny familiar with them.

When I first started the 4 year history cycle with my older boys, I found that I covered a wide variety of topics . Now I prefer to cover less topics, but in more depth. As much as I love our study of history I have accepted the fact that it really is just a few short 12 years you have to cover any subject. There is just no way you can cover all that you like or want to.

Also though because we have covered a lot of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, I decided it would be better for Tiny to know a few names. So I have a mini fact card for Plato for Ancient Greece and a mini fact card for Caesar Augustus when studying Ancient Rome.

Minibooks 7 and 8 are ready for download. There is a pocket for each fact card and they are glued on the right flap.

Download here the pockets for Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

You know I told you back about a month ago when the boys made the Celtic cakes that for some reason they were so enamored with them that they chose to put that as their last minibook in the lapbook. You can add that too or include some other hands-on activity that you like.

Here are the prior lapbooks we did for Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome that round out this unit study.

Go here to grab my Free Ancient Greece Lapbook.

Click here to grab my Free Ancient Rome Lapbook.

Seeing the need to cover some subjects a little faster so you don’t lose the momentum through the years, I am so excited about our present study using the curriculum from BrimWood Press

We got interrupted on our study when hubby had his procedures, but we are getting ready to get back on it.

The main thing I am giddy about is that how in a short time you can cover so much. From the site: “ In fourteen lessons, What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization builds a mental timeline of 5,000 years of history and an understanding of the historical contributions that shaped Western Civilization. This guide and its literature companion Calendar Quest will revolutionize the way children learn history. “

BrimWood Press history and worldview curriculum for homeschool

Western Civilization Study by Brimwood Press

I am almost finished with it and will be doing a review on it, but have fallen in love with the fact that you don’t have to take a whole year to cover one era in history.

You now have all the printables for the Ancient Civilization Unit. I will be sharing a few more hands-on things we liked for this unit too.

Hugs and love ya,

Taking a Hit Doesn’t Mean to Quit– Homeschooling Through Crisis

June 26, 2013 | 10 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I REALLY missed you, but hubby had 3 procedures done in the last 8 days at the hospital. Since I have been MIA this past week, I guess you probably figured that out.

Taking a Hit Doesn’t Mean to Quit-Homeschooling Through Crisis

Though we have not started on what I wanted to do for summer schooling and I still have my treasure trove of things to share with you, I can say that many times during our journey we have encountered unexpected sickness, trials and flat out tragedies. I don’t think you ever get use to being off what you have scheduled, but I can say that it gets easier to cope with when something unexpected comes up.

Preparation and planning are key to coping with stressful times. I’m certainly not saying we have any control over things happening, but we do have control over how we respond.

Though everything from my school to home to business to blog needs attention, here are some things that help me muddle through a bit of rough times.

1. Circumstances Are Temporary.

Even if a sickness is long term, it is ever changing. When my sister was in the ICU and then had to be cared for long term we had opportunities to school together with her girls. The boys loved having two more kids to add to our day and it made for a nice change. Focus on the positive things. If it’s a sickness, focus on the fact you are aware of it and can deal with it.

2. Taking a Hit Doesn’t Mean To Quit.

Now that I am back home, I have lots of assignments to muddle through, but in all of my tragedies that have hit me I have never felt like it was time to throw in the towel and go back to public school.

Homeschooling is a “lifestyle”change and it is the BEST for my family regardless of what life throws at me. This is the time to readjust, slow down, change our pace or schedule, but it doesn’t mean we have to quit or give up.

At the risk of sound too cliché, homeschooling with all the ups and downs has proven to be worth all the effort I have put into it. I have learned that the hard time will pass, but you don’t want to pass up having time with your children afterwards.

3. Don’t Hold Back Tears.

I have shed a few of them this past week and it helps my boys to see the fragility of life. How precious it is and how grateful we are for every day health.

Life among the ailing and sick for a week helps you and your kids to keep all things in priority through your journey. Tears are an emotional release and a positive way to respond to small changes we have to make in our lives.

4. Homeschool Preparedness.

Living near the Gulf Coast, we have to be prepared for the hurricane season that just arrived. It may sound a little dramatic to compare this to homeschooling, but it really is similar. If you are human and you homeschool, it is just a matter of time when a storm hits your house.

Having something in your homeschool bag helps to pass the time more quickly while still learning and having fun.

Here are a few things we took in our bag to the hospital over the last week as we sat around with friends.

We love anything from the Treasure Chest Series though many of them are hard to find, but we took the Ancient China (Treasure Chests)with us to the hospital for some doodling and fun.

Anything from the Fandex Family Field Guides has been a lifesaver for me over the years. They are interactive, fun and educational when you don’t want your kids on the iPad all the time.

Bringing along a geography book we could read aloud and practice the terms I had created and put on a O ring helped to pass the time too.I love Wonderful World of Geography by Brenda Runkle. Did you get the printables on the O ring? If you missed them, grab them here.

Remember, keep it easy on yourself.

Pushing through on new stuff or curriculum while you have your plate full caring for other things bring stress. This is the time to pull out your old work.

We took a couple of our older lapbooks to review while we were waiting at the hospital. Because the kids had not seen this information in about a year or so, it was all fresh and exciting and a GREAT WAY to add in some review.

I sure missed you. We are home and hubby is recovering and I am so excited about getting back to sharing with you. Remember, storms brew in homeschooling, but calm always follow if you prepare and stay positive.

Look at some of these other helps:

Hugs and love ya,

Ancient Phoenicia Minibook = Modern Day Lebanon

June 16, 2013 | 3 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The Phoenicians were famous seaman and founded colonies all over the Mediterranean Sea. When we studied the ancients this time, I tried to focus on making it matter by tying it to its modern day location which is Lebanon. Though the boys enjoyed reading about Beirut and understanding that Beirut is the capital of Lebanon, I think they enjoyed it a little more when we made the glass blowing connection. After we studied it last time, we focused on the Phoenicians craft of glass making.

Because I like to keep my units with some hands-on activities, I collected a few activities about Ancient Phoenicia at the bottom of this post. That way we both have some resources when we review this again.

Today, I also have the next minibook on Ancient Phoenicia. It is a tab book and I have a map included in this download that glues on the inside and a few facts too if you want to use them.

Download Phoenicians book here.

It is book 6 and it goes placed at the top right side. We did revisit our glass blowing lapbook to make it somewhat hands-on.

I rounded up a few other hands-on ideas because it really makes learning about any topic a bit more lively. Even something simple is more memorable than a worksheet.

(Pic. Att: Creekside Learning)

Look at this fun boat made by the kids at Creekside Learning. Click here to go there.

(Pic. Att: Creekside Learning)

They also made purple dye. Click here to go there.

(Pic. Att: Satori Smiles)

Over at Satori Smiles they used an expired bag of frozen blueberries to make the dye. Check out the fun here.

My glass blowing lapbook ties in with this unit too. Click here to go there.

The Phoenician alphabet. (Picture Att: Design With Type)

I could see making a code of some sort to make this more interactive.

(Pic Att: Love Learn Play)

Over at Love Learn Play there is a 6 page download with resources and some copy work.

(Pic Att: The Artful Parent)

The Artful Parent has some beautiful ideas for doing some glass activities that would make studying this topic take an art trail. Click here to go there.

Then some links we marked/found helpful.

Reviews & Quizzes for Story of the World Volume 1. A helpful resource that has multiple questions to use for review and that is interactive.

History of the Phoenicians

Quizlet has some flashcards.

I hope some of these ideas help to spark your creative ideas or add to enrich your study about the Ancient Phoenicians.

Hugs and love ya,

Review of Go Fish For Ancient Egypt by Birdcage Press

June 10, 2013 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Games lubricate the mind and body.” I agree and so that is why I am so excited to tell you about the fun we have been having with Go Fish For Ancient Egypt by Birdcage Press. I am especially excited to use it because it tied in nicely with our Ancient Civilizations and Ancient Empires study.

I was delighted from the moment I opened the box not just because playing games makes learning come alive, but also because of the beautiful and appealing playing cards. I was impressed too with the quality and durability of the cards because we plan on using these again.

The boxed set contains 36 color playing cards and a 34 page fact book. I wanted to let you know that the cards do cover the Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Egyptians. Everybody feels differently about how to explain pagan Gods and Goddesses of any ancient culture in their school.

I prefer to introduce them so that my sons are aware of how their beliefs affected the every day lives of the Ancient Egyptians. However, introducing and actually studying and learning their beliefs are two different concepts. Playing Go Fish For Ancient Egypt, I feel, is a way to quickly introduce topics that you don’t want to cover deeply in your everyday study of history or that you are not going to spend time learning about.

There are basically 6 cards in a set to cover 6 topics which are Gods, Goddesses, Symbols, Pharaohs, Mummies and Afterlife.

What I liked too about the cards besides the eye catching artwork and pictures is the tidbit of information at the bottom of each card.You will find one or two sentences about the picture on the card and beneath those sentences are the answers for the other objects or persons found in that set. For example, if you had the Ramses II card in your hand which is set 4 Pharaohs, then reading at the bottom it is easy to see that Akhenaten, Amenhotep II, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and Tutankhamun are the other pharaohs listed in the set.That is a clever way to teach repetition and aid in memory. Having fun or learning is hard to tell the difference in this game as it should be.

Another true gem about playing games and especially Go Fish is that it can be played by any age. Any age from K to adult knows the object of the game which is to find sets. For younger children who cannot read, the picture about Ancient Egypt is key to remembering which card his partner has.

For the older kids, they will not only recognize one of the topics but read the few sentences about it. It can’t get any easier to learn about history than that. Whether you are a history lover or abhor history, it is easy to be won over by this card game.

The 34 page fact book was a nice added feature to the card game. It is a small book jam packed with interesting tidbits about Ancient Egypt. One part in the book we plan on doing next week is how to write like an Egyptian or should I say draw like an Egyptian. It is just an added bonus to the game that is already fun, but gives a little more background on each theme. Mr. Awesome read it aloud to all of us and as he and Tiny were playing together.

I want to admit another prejudice of mine and that is many times I prefer physical games over digital games. I love all my techie devices and the boys do too. But physical games bring a spirit of camaraderie in our school day that you can’t really get when you connect to digital games. Most of us homeschool so that we engender sibling togetherness and games like Go Fish For Ancient Egypt make it easy to foster family time.

I always encourage any homeschooler, new or seasoned to not get out of balance by collecting only curriculums or workbooks and not adding in quality educational games. We need to let go of the thinking that learning should not be fun or is not meaningful unless we are sitting at the desks pounding out a writing lesson. Break the cycle and add in quality games.

I can’t help but share a few other games from Birdcage Press because I am so over the top about all of their products.

They have games on art, wildlife & nature, air & space and history. I think my only complaint, appeal, plead would be add to more history games. Of course as history lovers, the boys and I could never get enough of games like that, but I could imagine ones on the great empires like Ancient Greece and even modern U.S. history.

I have been swooning over what might be my next purchase: The Renaissance Art Game.

I encourage you before you make your final curriculum selections for next year to add in card games. They not only stir the heart and soul, but can be done by all ages as you learn valuable skills together.

Thank You Wenda O’Reilly and staff for a delightful educational product!

Switching gears here, but can you believe it is the 3 day countdown at Circle of Moms contest? Thank You for your votes. It means a lot. Can you take just 5 seconds today and vote? Click on the Circle of Moms and look for my blog button.

Product Name: Go Fish for Ancient Egypt. Card Game & Book Set

Website: Birdcage Press

Price: $10.95

Ages: 7+.

Type of Product: Physical Card Game – Museum Quality Cards

Customer Service: My cards arrived promptly as promised. Customer service was prompt and excellent.

Hugs and love ya,

All product information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

How to Make Smokin’ Hot Egyptian Pillars Out of Cardboard

June 7, 2013 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Ideally I wish everybody would have a Cynthia as one of their co-op leaders, but since that is not possible, I want to share one idea that came of out of her creative little mind for our co-op. Besides being a great friend, she is so talented at coming up with ideas that keeps the fire for fun stoked in our co-ops.

It was her idea to have two 8 1/2 feet Egyptian columns and they came out so beautiful because of her hard work.

The strengths she brings to a co-op is an excellent example of what I talked about in my 5 Days of a Homeschooling Co-op. Prep the learning environment and the kids will have fun and learn at the same time.

Here is her supply list:

14 – 5 gal. buckets
2 rolls duct tape
6 sections of clean bendable cardboard large enough to wrap around buckets (each about 4 ft. wide x 3 ft. tall )
paintable wallpaper samples cut into strips (optional)
chalk pastels
paint
Elmer’s glue
spray can of matte finish for protecting chalk pastels
large heavy rocks that will fit in 2-5 gal. buckets
2 pieces of wood cut to serve as caps for tops of pillars
2 hooks for banner
tape measure, ladder or chair

And here is her explanation of how to make them.

1. Find a picture of Egyptian pillars to use as a guide for colors and patterns.

1/2

2. Decide how tall you want the pillars. We used 7 buckets stacked on top of one another which made each pillar about 8 1/2 ft tall. You can adjust the height by using more or fewer buckets.

3. Remove the metal handles from all of the buckets.

4. Fill the bottom bucket with heavy rocks. This will give the pillar stability.

5. After the bottom bucket is full of rocks place another bucket with the open end on top of the open end of the bucket with the rocks in it. Use duct tape to secure the two buckets together tightly right around the outside of the buckets where the open ends are placed together. Be generous with the duct tape and go all the way around the buckets perhaps even a couple of times for strength and stability.

6. Place a third bucket on top of the first two so that the bottom ends are against one another. Use duct tape to secure them together tightly where the two bottom ends meet. Don’t forget to go all the way around the buckets with the duct tape once again.

7. Continue placing and taping the buckets together in the same manner as the first and second buckets alternating (open end to open end, bottom end to bottom end) as you go up until you have reached the height you desire.

8. Decorate each section of cardboard. There are many ways this can be done, but we used chalk pastels which we sprayed with matte finish for the bottom two sections and paintable wallpaper sample strips for the top section. After the wallpaper sample strips dry, glue them to the top cardboard section. Or instead of wallpaper sample strips you can easily continue decorating the top section with pastels or paint.

9. Once everything on the cardboard is dry attach the bottom section to the pillar. We taped ours together at the back with duct tape as well as double-sided duct tape between the cardboard and bucket to give it extra strength. Be generous with the duct tape so the pillars don’t come apart.

10. Place the next section of cardboard right above the one on bottom and duct tape it in the same manner as the first.

11. Attach the last section of cardboard with duct tape above the second one in the same way as the first two.

12. Now you are ready to cap the pillar. For a cap we used a board cut a little bigger than the top of the bucket. We also nailed another board a little smaller than the opening of the bucket to the bottom side of the board that serves as the cap. This anchored the cap inside the bucket so that it would not fall off.

13. To hang a banner or something else between the pillars install hooks into the middle of the edges of the caps.

In another post, I will share how Kelley made that beautiful banner.

I love the fact she used discarded wall paper books and buckets. Simply ask your local paint store if they have any supplies like that they are discarding.

Our study of the Great Empires won’t be easily forgettable because of her hard work. A little cardboard, imagination and diy creates lasting memories.

Thanks Cynthia for such an amazing job. I hope this inspires you with an idea or two to keep activities fun in your co-op or just through the summer.

Are you going to give it a try?

Use this idea with my Ancient Civilizations Unit Study and my other unit study, Ancient Civilizations II.

Hugs and love ya,

Welcome

Ancient Civilization Unit = Ancient Greece + Ancient Rome

Taking a Hit Doesn’t Mean to Quit– Homeschooling Through Crisis

Taking a Hit Doesn’t Mean to Quit-Homeschooling Through Crisis

Ancient Phoenicia Minibook = Modern Day Lebanon

Review of Go Fish For Ancient Egypt by Birdcage Press

How to Make Smokin’ Hot Egyptian Pillars Out of Cardboard

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