Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

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

Ancient Phoenicia MinibookModern Day Lebanon

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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.

Phoenicians Ancient Civilization

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.

Ancient Civilization Lapbook

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.

Ancient Phoenicia Craft Roundup

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.

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Look at this fun boat made by the kids at Creekside Learning..They also made purple dye. Pic. Att: Satori Smiles) Over at Satori Smiles they used an expired bag of frozen blueberries to make the dye.

Glass Blowing Lapbook

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

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Ancient Phoenicia MinibookModern Day Lebanon

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

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.

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

HOW TO GET THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS II LAPBOOK

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS UNIT MINIBOOK ON THE BABYLONIANS & HAMMURABI

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I have the next minibook ready for the Ancient Civilizations Unit.

This 3 tab book is about The Babylonians & Hammurabi. We took a little longer on this book because I wanted the boys to compare men’s laws to the superior laws of God.

Like my other mini books, I have a few facts if you want to use them and one copy that is blank if you prefer to add your own facts and content.

The Babylonians & Hammurabi Minibook

Here are some links you might find useful:

Edsitement. Has a large fleshed out section on questions and background information.

Highlighting a few features about each of these civilizations keeps it from being too overwhelmed with details which was my goal on doing this unit.

Ancient Civilization Lapbook Collage

I always plan on the folder where the minibooks go.

It doesn’t mean this is the only way to arrange the books, but I created this to show you where I intended that the minibooks be placed. Today you have up to  book  5.

Updated: The lapbook is now complete!

HOW TO GET THE FREE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS II LAPBOOK

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

Hugs and love ya,

 

For my newer readers that missed the previous minibooks, I am linking those below:

Free Minoan and Mycenaean Minibook for an Ancient Civilization Study

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Our year end co-op is always worth the time that it “distracts” me. Making a Roman shield and helmet compliments of some free cardboard and an easy costume equals a memorable day for Tiny. I promise to share all the easy how-to tips in upcoming posts.

But now that its May–YIKES– that means curriculum planner updates are coming soon too.  Hold on to your britches as I switch between topics in the upcoming weeks like my home management binder + my unit study printables + adding in my curriculum planner updates and yes I even have another giveaway coming up.

Free Minoan and Mycenaean Minibook for an Ancient Civilization Study

My year end co-op is finished, my New Bee workshops are done for the year and I am feeling all energetic and zippy.

Okay—-well almost because the kids said they could use a day or two to sleep in and my house still needs to be put back together. Just sounds better if I say the kids need it.

Today, I want to share with you the next minibook in our ancient civilization unit because we did our own lapbook too while we did the Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods.

On a side note: I was excited after searching high and low for some great clip art that I actually found some to purchase. You have to love those folks making donations to the Dynamic 2 Moms site because when they donate, I buy for you. I always try to be sure they get a Thank You from me.

Our reading focused on the Minoans and Mycenaean. The Minoans settled on the island of Crete at the same time as the rise of Mesopotamia and Egypt. This civilization too has royal palaces and paved roads.

In Minoan culture, bulls were significant and vaulting off the back of bulls was a sport. The Mycenaean were skilled at using gold, built the first Greek empire and were highly civilized even though all around them were barbarian tribes.

That is enough to understand about each culture if you are trying to keep it simple. I like simple.

This next minbook is a layered book about the Minoan and Mycenaean and all you do is staple on the side. As I have time you know I like to create minibooks that have text and create another set that is blank in case you want to fill in your own information. This one is no different. I have text on one set and the duplicate set is without text.

This allows you to use it with both, older and younger children, or to use the information given if you are in a bind for time. We do a lot of writing so I keep our minibooks easy because the focus is on the delight of learning not on penmanship. However, if you are working on penmanship you will enjoy having them blank. As you can see, lots of ways to use all of my minibooks

You know I told you that this lapbook is going to have many different civilizations in it. When I first started homeschooling, I focused on one civilization at a time and I still like to do that, but too after going through them with each kid or each year, sometimes its nice to have a quick glance at one time.  I think it helps younger children to get a panorama of history and its equally important for my older sons because it serves as a review. One reason also is if history is not your first love like it is for us, then looking at each ancient civilization with not so much detail keeps it from becoming overwhelming. I can’t imagine people not wanting to study history their every waking minute. Just saying.

Hugs and love ya,

Update: This lapbook is now complete.

HOW TO GET THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS II LAPBOOK

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

Break for Nature Luv

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There really was another reason I couldn’t finish my spring cleaning.  We got to the back porch and discovered a nest down between the cushions of the chair.

Baby Bird Nest

I know I have seen nests in some crazy places. Makes you wonder what a bird finds appealing about a certain place. In between the back and seat cushion of our chair is not a safe place in my opinion, but it sure made for a grand view for me and the kids over the last few weeks.

Baby Bird Nest

It wasn’t long before we had babies.  I thought it would be easier to take pictures but the mom and dad were quick in bringing back food. So we had to shoot pictures quickly. They had their mouths opened quickly.

nature

By the next week, they grew quick too but we were able to get as close as we wanted to. We noticed this week that they probably knew we weren’t mom and dad now.

It was just a few more days before we saw them ready to leave the nest.

We knew it because of the great amount of chirping coming from mom.  This baby managed to leave the porch right to the grass and had to take a break. I don’t know who enjoyed this more, me or the boys. He is so cute and we loved being so close to him without handling him.

nature Break

Then it got up on the wall and found the corner. It took momma to come find him so he could leave the corner. He couldn’t figure how to get to the trees but finally figured it out. Amazing how they can cling to almost nothing, but the tiny ledge of a brick.  I finally got to clean my back porch but waiting those few weeks for our bird watching was more fun.

It didn’t take long before the kids and I decided it was too hot to be doing cleaning now.

nature break during homeschool

So we invited over my niece and spent a good amount of time in the pool. So this is how we will be starting our school days during the summer.  I highly recommend starting your day off like this.

Hugs and love ya,

Cursive Copywork Free Greece Poetry Printable

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I have a fun freebie today. It is cursive copywork free Greece poetry printable. Also, look at my page Practical Homeschool Writing Curriculum from Pre-K To High School for more tips.

I have done many things wrong when I first started homeschooling, but I have done a lot right too.

I tell my workshop new bees that writing or penmanship has always been the hallmark of a well educated man.

Cursive Copywork Free Greece Poetry Printable

One right thing was choosing the beautiful Calvert cursive to teach all of my sons. I know that a lot of public schools and homeschoolers are moving away from teaching cursive, but I am not one of them.

Maybe that is not so true today but if you want to peek into the past, you have to know at least how to read cursive to understand historical documents. I think reading cursive and writing cursive go hand in hand.

Too though I feel the time comes when you need to teach your kids typing skills.

Boys especially benefit from knowing how to type because they seem to struggle with learning how to write more so than girls. 

Penmanship is a time consuming skill to teach.

Between the struggles of a child and the time needed to teach, a lot of educators give up on it. However, I feel in homeschooling we do have the time to teach those skills.

Choosing Calvert script at a time when I had not a clue of what I was doing ended up being one thing that helped me not to struggle so much in this area.

After having taught Mr. Senior 2013 how to write in cursive, I just taught the other boys after that. I did venture out into other writing programs but came back to Calvert.

I came back to Calvert School cursive because it is a simplified cursive.

By the way, Calvert script is specific only to Calvert. They no longer sell it as a separate program and I believe the leader in cursive simplified cursive has gone all digital. (awful)

It is unique and I wished more people knew what a beautiful font and cursive it is. Too, it is neither D’Nealian or Getty Dubay but again a type of cursive used only by them.  However, I still base my teaching of cursive on the Calvert script as the gold standard.

Cursive Copywork Free Greece Poetry Printable

It is simplified because it teaches manuscript uppercase letters and cursive lowercase letters. I like the fact that it is free of the superfluous loops found on the traditional Palmer method.

Too, it is just plain pretty and simple as you can see from the chart above.

By the time Mr. Senior 2013 was in second grade, I knew how to teach cursive as you can see from his writing above.

My middle son struggled more because I ventured off into other writing programs. {Mea Culpa} That was the dumb thing I did but again he is fine. Kids are pretty hardy and let you know real quick what is not working for them.

Because I still feel like the same way as I did when I first started homeschooling about the importance of cursive, ALL of us will do copywork sometimes.  Me included. I keep a notebook beside my bed for me.  I never tell very many people that I pen a line or two also. 

Oh, I don’t write cursive as much as I use to. I use to write all their copywork out because the cursive font is not one you can find on computers or among fonts to purchase, but not so much anymore.

Copywork doesn’t take a long time and it’s a way of storing exquisite words in your mind and heart.

The benefits of copywork go beyond learning how to write. It gives you an overflowing amount of words and thoughts too. Especially when I do copywork from beautiful literature, I find it very satisfying and it leaves a lasting impression. Just a little each day is restoring.

MORE CURSIVE HANDWRITING TIPS

So when doing our unit study on Ancient Civilizations, I had prepare some copywork for Tiny.

I have hunted for a font that was similar to Calvert and came pretty close with the one I used in this copywork below. All of my sons know the Calvert cursive font but I still like to get pretty close.

The font is a little more slanted than I like but again close enough. The poem is Greece by Robert Frost. It is one of his more obscure and early poems. 

I like it because it’s by Robert Frost, one of my favorite poets. But also it gives a glimpse into his early writing and it shows his interest in history and idealization of heroic figures.

I thought this would go along with our Ancient Civilization unit so we are trying to commit this to our memory. Here are the beautiful words. Download your copy at the bottom.

ANCIENT GREECE POETRY FOR COPYWORK

They say, “Let there be no more way!”

And straightway, at the word,

Along the Mediterranean shore,

The call to arms is heard.

Greece could not let her glory fade!

Although the peace be in sight

The race the Persians was arrayed

Must fight one more good fight.

Greece! Rise triumphant.   Long ago

It was you proved to men

A few may countless hosts o’ver throw:

Now prove it once again!

Cursive, copywork, studying the classics and the co-op have all been on our mind lately.

What about you? Have you figured out the penmanship quandary yet?

HOW TO GRAB THE FREE GREECE POETRY COPYWORK PRINTABLE

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!