My Unit Studies {Free Printables & Hands-on Ideas}

Snack Like They Did In Ancient Greece – Make Baklava (Delicious)

November 11, 2015 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Moving on to our next hands-on activity for our newest unit study which is Ancient Greece, we decided to look for something “delicious” to do.

We also have the book, TOOLS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS: A Kid’s Guide to the History & Science of Life in Ancient Greece (Build It Yourself), which is fantastic for hands-on ideas.

Tiny was reading about what the Greeks snacked on and some of the foods are still with us today.

Learning that the Ancient Greeks rolled out pastry real thin and made Spanakopita (spinach pie) or Baklava, we decided to try out a new recipe.

Deciding that Baklava sounded better to make because it would give us a sugar high, we opted to make it.

Baklava is a dessert made with phyllo, walnuts and honey.

I will warn you though that if you are a foodie blogger you might cringe at our substitutions and make do ingredients.

Living here in Ecuador some ingredients like phyllo dough are not even obtainable.

I read in one place on the internet when we were looking for a simple recipe that you shouldn’t even make it if you don’t have phyllo pasty dough. I am sure I am doing some awful foodie injustice.

Good thing I am not a foodie blogger because I would be fired from the hall of foodie fame deliciousness because we did substitute and make do with what we had.

Did I mention it came out super good and we had a ton of fun in the process?

Check out the ingredient list:

■phyllo pastry dough OR make it like we did. I used this easy recipe from Living in the Pie Life
■I had about 2 cups of walnuts at the house, but we could have easily used more.■About a teaspoon of cinnamon.
■We had some local honey – a small jar.
■Couple of sticks of butter melted.
■3/4 cup of sugar.
■vanilla extract to taste.

We made a well for our dough and added in all the ingredients.

We were so focused on getting this dough “right” that we forgot a few pictures.

But it came out perfect for us. We allowed the dough to “rest” and while it rested, we crushed the walnuts in a ziploc bag.

Then Tiny mixed the cinnamon in with the walnuts in a bowl and set it aside.

We also melted butter in a bowl and set it aside.

Our dough was less than perfect, but Tiny was pleased with it and so he started rolling it out.

We buttered every layer and that gave it tons of that light feeling and sweet layers. Butter fixes everything.

So he rolled out one piece of the dough and brushed with butter. Then he spread some of the walnut and cinnamon mixture on top.

He did that for a couple of layers. After that I cut through and made the diagonal slits.

While it was baking, we warmed some local organic honey and vanilla in a sauce pot.

After our baklava was baked, we let it cool down just a minute.

Then Tiny spooned the delicious honey sauce over the baklava and allowed the sauce to soak through.

Tiny shocked himself because our make do baklava was absolutely delicious with crusty and sweet layers.

It was a fun way to read some about what the Ancient Greeks ate and try a dessert too.

Hugs and love ya,

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Birthplace of Western Civilization Free 4 Tab Square Minibook

November 7, 2015 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have the second minibook ready for our Ancient Greece Unit Study.

Too, I am using the same fonts and similar style that I used in my first Ancient Greece Lapbook.

This way you can mix and match the minibooks from my first lapbook and this newest unit study to create a lapbook for your specific needs.

The minibook I have today is “Ancient Greece is The Birthplace of Western Civilization . . . .because”.

It has 4 lift tabs where information is added. You simply cut out and fold the tabs in and glue the title on the outside page.

Like most of my minibooks, I have facts for you and I created a blank minibook too with the download in case you want to add your own researched facts.

This minibook is part of the freebies that I hold back for my loyal followers and this Ancient Greece Lapbook is part of my email reader’s subscribers only.

I would love for you to follow me and give me the opportunity to help you along in your homeschool journey.

This is a Subscriber’s Only Freebie because I luv my followers.

Important: IF you are already an email reader, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

Though I love your emails, it can take a while for me to answer you.

1.) The private link to the subscriber’s only page was sent to you immediately when you joined my blog.

2.) Also, the link is sent to you at the bottom of EVERY newsletter. If you have been getting my blog posts, then check at the very bottom of one of my recent newsletters for the link.

Remember, if you are following along with us, do the minibooks and then just place in a ziploc bag until the end or close to the end of the unit study.

I normally show you a layout we do for our lapbook toward the end of the unit study.

I can’t wait to share the rest of our hands-on activities and the minibooks.

Hugs and love ya,

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 2. Ancient Greece Chariot

November 6, 2015 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, we made a fun and easy Ancient Greece Chariot to go with our Ancient Greece Unit Study.

Again, it was a project chosen by Tiny. And we had most of the things here in the house already.

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Make an Ancient Greece Chariot @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at our list of what we grabbed and then we added a few other things as we figured it out.

■ cereal box (this is what we used for the body of the chariot)
■ shoe box (we used this stronger cardboard for the “tongue” of the chariot)
■ two round lids (our round lids came from two juice bottles)
■hot glue gun
■ruler
■marker
■scissors
■utility knife
■foil (we used foil to cover the wheels and “tongue” of the chariot because it is what we had and we didn’t have to glue it). Use what you like to decorate the wheels. I see even that sharpies could have worked for a creative design on the wheels.
■brown paper bag (we used a brown paper bag to cover the body of the chariot, but any material you have that you like can cover the body of the chariot). Your child can even design an Ancient Greece pattern.
■straws or wooden skewers for the axle. We used straws because we have so many.

After we gathered our supplies, Tiny took the black marker and measured approximately 3 inches from the lower corner of the box and over about 4 inches.

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 2. Ancient Greece Chariot

He did the same for the other side of the cereal box. Then he took a ruler and connected the lines on both the front and back and on the side.

This way he could see to cut all the way around.

Ancient Greece Chariot Craft

This is how it looked after he cut it out. (The open side is the back of the chariot.)

Turning it on its side, he took the ruler and measured down from the top about an inch and measured in from the bottom about half an inch and drew a black line to connect them and cut.

You are trying to give the chariot that “slanted look” for a lack of better technical terms, like in this picture we found.

We couldn’t really curve the sides, so Tiny just did a slant.

He did this for both sides of the chariot.

The part he cut off for one side he just used as a template for the second side.

So this is how it came out and he was real pleased with it.

Then because he liked the look of a brown paper bag and we had it on hand, he used it cover the chariot.

Here your child could paint or add an Ancient Greece design.

You know I told you Tiny has his limits on artsy stuff he likes to do, so I don’t push him. I let him savor what he likes to do, but there are so many possibilities for designing the body of the chariot that would be fun to do.

Let your child decide how artsy craftsy he wants to be.

After he covered and glued the brown paper bag on the chariot, he drew a T shape design on the bottom to show where the wheels or axle would cross with the tong of the chariot.

Then he took the juice lids we had and I actually did this part, which was to use a utility knife to cut a small hole in the middle of the juice lid big enough for the straw to fit through.

If you are using a dowel or skewer, just make sure the hole on the wheel is big enough for it to fit through.

Then he covered the wheels with foil and poke the hole through the foil carefully.

Next, he stuck the straw through both lids to make the axle.

I didn’t take a picture of this part, but he cut a rectangle tongue out of the shoe box cardboard and covered it with foil too.

He then glued the straw axle right onto the bottom where he made the horizontal line and glued the tongue on the vertical line under it.

Cute, cute and Tiny was pleased with his work. It was another fun and hands-on way to learn about Ancient Greece.

Hugs and love ya,

Cajas National Park High Up in the Andes Mountains Part 2

November 1, 2015 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I shared a post about our day trip to the Cajas National Mountains, which are high up in the Andes Mountains.

We loved the visit to the mountains so much that we decided to go ahead and rent a cabin there and do some exploring.

The first thing we did was to grab an English speaking guide and hike one of the highest mountains there.

As you can see, just a 30 minute drive outside of Cuenca where we live and the weather is very cold. That is a part I really enjoy about living here because there are no seasons really.

We have spring every day and when we want a bit of fall-ish or winter-ish weather, we just go to the mountains or should I say higher up in the Andes.

We had to pose for this picture because though the mountain was steep and we constantly were on a slant, the view was so breath taking we paused many times to just take in the moment.

Behind us on the mountain are two waterfalls and the whole mountain is also very soggy and wet.

But we are also up above the tree line and so that limits what grows on the mountain.

Did I tell you my legs were so shaky after we got down off that mountain? But it was so worth it.

Of course, we had to go right to eating and because of the amount of energy expended not only at high altitudes, but with the hike, we treated our self to fried trout again and their exquisite desserts at the restaurant.

We got a fire going in the cabin and just sat back and watched the sun go down behind the mountains that night.

The next day we had a trip planned to an abandoned town, which was built in the early 1900s.

When History Stands Still

The town is part of the Cajas National Park property and it was a half way point during the early 1900s between Guayaquil and Cuenca for those traveling on donkey.

It really was kind of spooky in a way because it was all the sudden abandoned and things were just left in place.

There weren’t many buildings, but just enough to be a resting place to give weary travelers a place to spend the night.

There was the caretaker’s house, which had several rooms. This was one where weaving went on.

The chests or trunks were the way they traveled then.

And the scales hung on the wall so that food, grain and other things could be weighed for bartering.

Even in this part of the woods, liquor was illegal at one time. But like the U.S., they had their smugglers too.

They would use the container made of cow hide to fill with illegal liquor and put it under the donkey’s saddle to hide it and transport it to other places.

This owner and caretaker made hand made saddles and his tack and gear were all left in place where he worked on them.

You can see the original adobe walls and bed.

Too, the way a baby in those days was swaddled is shown here.

I enjoyed this room because this is the place the rich travelers would eat.

They segregated between the rich and poor class back then too.

I loved this chair because it was wrapped with ocelot, which comes from the Amazon rain forest.

As you can see the rich back then enjoyed ample space to eat, dine in and rest up from their weary trek.

This is the room where 8 or 9 people would sleep for the night.

They would lay mats, blankets, and animal hides on the floor along with a fire to keep warm for the night.

In the display case, you can see some of the original clothes that were preserved from this time.

But that is not all we did while visiting there.

There is the coolest abandoned gold mine that we went to also. I will show you those pictures next.

Hugs and love ya,

You can check out my other posts in my Living Abroad category as we have enjoyed living here in South America for a little longer than a year now.

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 1. Refraction and Ancient Greece and their Contributions Pull Tab Book

October 29, 2015 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

$Ancient Greece Unit Study refraction activity and Ancient Greeks Pull Tab book @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus$

Today, we did an easy science activity to begin our Ancient Greece Unit Study.

I have the book Classical Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in Ancient Greece and Rome (Hands-On History)

and so Tiny quickly opened it to find something he wanted to try.

He was reading about Ancient Greeks studying refraction.

We did this when the boys were little, but as is the case when you have younger children, they don’t remember what you did with the older kids.

This just means double fun for me because I get to do easy science activities again.

As the book brought out refraction is the way rays of light change when they pass from one thing to another that’s made of different material. That is what it means to have materials made of different density.

So this activity was super easy but cool and I love the fact that all 3 things were found in my house.

Ancient Greeks Studies Refraction – Easy Hands-on Activity 1

Here is the really short list of what you need:

$Refraction Activity 1$

■Pie or cake pan (dark coated, not glass or clear)
■Coin
■Pitcher of water

The activity is really easy. Tiny rounded up Mr. Awesome 2015 to help us.

Mr. Awesome placed the coin right next to the side.

While Tiny stood a distance away, so that the coin is hidden by the side.

$Refraction Activity 2$

Then Mr. Awesome poured the water slowly into the container.

$Refraction Activity 2$

As Mr. Awesome poured the water, it appeared to move to the center of the pan.

Of course the coin doesn’t move, it’s just that the light rays were distorted or bent as they passed through the water.

A bit of easy and quick science was enough to pique Tiny’s interest for the unit study.

Since that is the activity he chose to do first, we focused on reading about some Greeks and what they were famous for.

I created a giant pull tab book which is Famous Greeks and their Contributions.

Though there are many famous Greeks to focus on, I used the ones below and listed a bit of information about them.

It’s pretty easy to find information on the internet, but I am listing a few facts here for you too.

Aesop – storyteller; author of Aesop’s fables

Eratosthenes – geographer; first to describe the world as a globe

Euclid – mathematician; “Father of Geometry”

Aristotle – philosopher; student of Plato; tutor of Alexander the Great.

Archimedes – mathematician and inventor; calculated value of Pi; invented the lever; Archimedes Screw

For the giant pull tab book, just cut out all the pieces and write about each Greek on the box provided.

I have instructions on the minibook, but you will form a pocket with the two pieces and place the pull tab book inside.

I hope you like the first “little” giant pull tab book I have for our new unit study.

I have a sweet surprise for my email readers because I always hold something back for them and this Ancient Greece Lapbook is part of my email reader’s subscribers only.

I would love for you to follow me and give me the opportunity to help you along in your homeschool journey.

This is a Subscriber’s Only Freebie because I luv my followers.

Important: IF you are already an email reader, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

Though I love your emails, it can take a while for me to answer you.

1.) The private link to the subscriber’s only page was sent to you immediately when you joined my blog.

2.) Also, the link is sent to you at the bottom of EVERY newsletter. If you have been getting my blog posts, then check at the very bottom of one of my recent newsletters for the link.

Remember, if you are following along with us, do the minibooks and then just place in a ziploc bag until the end or close to the end of the unit study.

I normally show you a layout we do for our lapbook toward the end of the unit study.

I can’t wait to share the rest of our hands-on activities and the minibooks.

Hugs and love ya,

My Unit Studies {Free Printables & Hands-on Ideas}

Snack Like They Did In Ancient Greece – Make Baklava (Delicious)

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Birthplace of Western Civilization Free 4 Tab Square Minibook

This is a Subscriber’s Only Freebie because I luv my followers.

Important: IF you are already an email reader, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 2. Ancient Greece Chariot

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 2. Ancient Greece Chariot

Ancient Greece Chariot Craft

Cajas National Park High Up in the Andes Mountains Part 2

When History Stands Still

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 1. Refraction and Ancient Greece and their Contributions Pull Tab Book

Ancient Greeks Studies Refraction – Easy Hands-on Activity 1

This is a Subscriber’s Only Freebie because I luv my followers.

Important: IF you are already an email reader, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

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My Unit Studies {Free Printables & Hands-on Ideas}

This is a Subscriber’s Only Freebie because I luv my followers.

Important: IF you are already an email reader, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

Ancient Greece Unit Study. Hands-on Activity 2. Ancient Greece Chariot

Ancient Greece Chariot Craft

When History Stands Still

Ancient Greeks Studies Refraction – Easy Hands-on Activity 1

This is a Subscriber’s Only Freebie because I luv my followers.

Important: IF you are already an email reader, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

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