SOTW 1 - Chapter 4

In chapter 4 we learned about Mummification and what they believed in the afterlife. We also learned more about Pyramids.

Hands on learning

Looking at the photo above is some of the things the kids did.
Making mummies, building a pyramid with lego, fooling around with some bandage and making edible mummies.

They made the bandage mummies above using pipe cleaners as the skeleton and just wrapping some bandage around it, added some googly eyes for fun.

Making the edible mummies: We made pizza dough, rolled it in long thin strips and wrapped it around some Viennas (sausages). We used chicken Viennas. You could basically use anything you wish. 

Here is the pizza dough recipe:
200g plain white flour (I used normal cake flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
150ml hand-hot water
1 tbsp olive oil

Mix flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. Add warm water and olive oil in middle. Mix to a soft dough. Knead for about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic let it rise for 45 minutes. When ready knead again for 2 minutes. In a preheated 220 degree oven bake for 20-25 minutes.

This recipe makes yummy pizza, just add tomato sauce and your toppings of choice. If you want to make 2 decent size pizzas double the ingredients.


Watch this video explaining of the mummification process.

Below you can watch a funny animated movie about the Pyramids (ok... it is has nothing to do with this lesson, but it is so extremely funny - had to share)

In this BBC production of Building the Great Pyramid you experience the story of the people behind the pyramids. A great movie. The movie is broken up in 6 sections, ensure you link up to youtube to view all 6. It is really a must watch and very touching. Below is part 1.

If you want to get a 3D look at the Pyramids at Giza you have to look at this site. It is the most amazing 'tour'. (Make sure you have very good internet connection for this one to work) also see on the same site Khufu Reborn

Here is some hands on paper crafts and art to make and do:

Click on the image to take you to the page

Great Pyramid of Khufu

Sphinx

 

Pyramid Book

King tut Pastel Resist

3D Ancient Egypt Lapbook at Practical Pages, scroll down to get to Egypt. 

Interactive sites and additional readings:

On this interactive site, you can read all about the burial process I read it in the book of the dead, there are games to play and loads to learn. (highly recommend this site)
Discover more about Ancient Egypt at the National Museums Scotland
Explore The Royal Tombs of UR
Explore Ancient Egypt
Birmingham Museum - Ancient Egypt
 
Online games:
On the Horrible Histories site is two games that can be played Mummy madness and  Tomb of Terror.
On BBC - History is another game Pyramid Builder


Below is a nice Photo Infographic about the Great Pyramids

We also read the book Tutankhamen's Tomb. It is a fascinating pop up book that we bought at the local Bargain Books.

With every chapter we do from SOTW I create a copywork page, it includes a narration piece from the activity book in both English and Afrikaans for them to complete.

There are hundreds of resources, crafts etc to explore, I have only listed those that we looked at and done.

Happy learning.

Blessings

Maryna

SOTW - Chapter 3 The First Writing

The discovery of the first writings is a very interesting subject. One can only image what the explorers must have thought when they saw it for the first time.

Here is a nice site about how writings came to be.

HERE (as in the picture above) is  a short lesson that explains to you how to make a 'coutouche' with your name written in it, it explains how the sounds work and there is also some art activities.

Here is another site about the writings and an online typewriter. You can type out your name and print it out. Look towards the bottom in this link for the 'typewriter' Here is a screenshot of my name as per the 'typewriter'.

Even though this study is very interesting I have to admit I became very frustrated in my search for hieroglyphic alphabets. I managed to find several on the internet, but there were some difference between the symbols in some letters. Therefore I really am not sure which are the true and correct alphabet.

We used what we could find. The kids used the above typewriter to make some coutouches of their names. They used oil pastels on sugar paper.

Matthew's name

Makayla's name

Some fantastic documentary films by BBC about the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the Hieroglyphics can be seen below. The films are quite long, but it is told in a story format. It is very interesting how they started to dig deeper into the meanings of these symbols. It is really worth looking at it. My children were hooked from the get go and also finished the second film in one sitting.

The first video here below is about the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. I suggest that you watch the films in this order as I placed it here. The film story is based on the same characters and one basically continue from the other one. 

In the second film it continues to show how they discovered the aphabet and how they were able to read what was written. The second film could also be watched as a stand alone film if you do not wish to watch the first one. 

We managed to find these films at our local library, I was lucky to find them on Youtube and be able to share with you. This is really a must watch. 

Happy learning and discovering.

Blessings

Maryna

SOTW - Chapter 2 Egyptians on the Nile River

We continued our study of Story of the World. Last week we learned about the Egyptians who lived by the Nile River.

In this chapter the kids learned about two things:
The floods of the Nile River and how important it was for the farmers. Also the myth of why it flooded every year.
They also learned about the two kingdoms and how they become one. Also how it came about that King Narmer wears a double crown.

The activity book had a suggestion of a craft where they make a model of the Nile River.  The kids worked very hard in shaping their paper-mache and waiting patiently for a few days to dry before the big painting starts. When they wanted to start the painting they found that an army of bugs moved into their models. Needless to say the models ended up in the garbage. So no final project there :(

The photo below is a moveable model of King Narmer. It can be downloaded HERE. There is an option for a coloured figure or a black and white figure so the kids can do their own colouring.

In the video below you can see how the two Kingdoms became one.

A very interesting video explaining about Narmer and his Palette.



The kids made some artworks of King Narmer using oil pastels. .

Makayla's artwork

Matthew's artwork

On Artfactory you can find various Egyptian artworks that you can do.

Here is a nice Egyptian memory game that you can download and print.

I trust that you can find some of the projects and downloads useful in your Egyptian studies.

Blessings

Maryna

SOTW - Chapter 1 - Earliest People

This week we studied Chapter 1: The Earliest People from Story of the World.
 
The children learned about the Nomads. What they ate, where they lived and how their houses looked like. They also learned how these Nomads become farmers and settled and developed villages.

Here is a look at a video From Nomades to Farmers.





After the more 'formal' lesson they started their activities. Here they made their own unique cave paintings (rock art).

Makayla's rock art

Matthew's rock art

Make your own rock art like this:
Take coloured paper and press it in a ball in your hand. Open it up. It give texture to the paper and a rock like appearance. With black paint let the kids do basic outline shapes of their figures. Then with an almost skintoned like colour let them fill the shape. After it is dried let them outline the black outlines with a reddish-brown paint colour. Let it dry and admire.

Here is a nice behind the scenes video of the cave painting scene from the movie The Groods while the film was being developed.

While I read the chapter to the kids they coloured in a picture of a Shaduf. A Shaduf is an implement they used in that era to gather water.

The kids made their own versions of a Shaduf.

The pictures below: The top one is a large scale one made by both of them. The branches was old broken off pieces, the pole in the middle is a swimming pool net. In the net was some bricks for the weights. Front a rope and that tied to an old bucket.

The pictures below that one: On the left is Matthew's smaller one. To the right in the garden Makayla's smaller one. The bucket was made from an egg carton. The last picture was the colouring picture as found in the Activity guide.

I never liked History at school. Now I enjoy it just as much as the kids. To be honest we never even studies world history the way the kids do now.

Make history exciting and share your projects.

Blessings

Maryna

SOTW Vol 1 - Introduction Archaeology

Introduction - Story of the World Volume 1 we are told what History and what Archaeology is.

This is how we did the lesson: First I read the introduction on what is History, Historian, Archaeology and an Archaeologist. Our home language is not English so I also explain to the kids what I have read in our native tongue even though they do understand.

On another day we looked at the videos below, did some writing in the little booklet I made further down and did some fun activities.
 
In this video clip you can see what an Archaeologist do as a career guideline.

In the next video you can see a full episode of Bill Nye the Science guy on Archaeology. The kids loved this video.

I made these little booklets. You can download it here.

In this little booklet they need to write the meaning of what is History, a Historian, Acheaology and what is an Archaeologist. They had to write where they made their discovery. After each activity they had to draw what they found. On the first drawing page they had to draw their findings from their hard 'stone' dig. The second drawing page, what they found in the soil. They only brushed the top part of the soil from the item and had to leave it in place and draw it out. Normally a real Archaeologist would also draw out in which grid he found what. The last drawing page they had the draw the items in more details after it was cleaned. In the last two pages they had to list their items and also explain what they learned about the people or place where they made the discovery.  

Below is just an example of what the kids did. Their books are in our home language which is Afrikaans.

Now lets have a look at some fun activities - time for the big dig.

Their first excavation was done from this hard 'stone'. Hubby made two forms for each. You mix some Crack Filler or Plaster of Paris into a nice thick consistency.  Put your items inside, leave it to dry. It need to become really hard.

This is what our hard stones looked like.

This is what they discovered inside.

The next dig was in the garden. We visted my folks and the garden soil space were very limited. (My dad got the most beautiful garden, so could not venture in there) I buried the items not too deep and made a grid with some yarn/rope.

Here is what they have found in their excavation. I would have loved to add some broken pottery pieces, but did not have any on hand. The idea would be for them to put it back together again. Maybe next time ;)

The kids had to work in their booklet after each activity before they moved on. They absolutely loved doing this. 

While the kids do their dig, you can explain to them what conclusions one can make when certain type of objects are found.

Happy learning.

Blessings

Maryna

Frustrations to deal with

Being a homeschool mom does not mean I am a superhuman. It means that I too go through struggles and times of confusion and even frustrations.

I have been looking at some Curriculum ideas for History for next year. I am busy doing my planning and want to make sure things run smooth for us. Or well at least me being in control.

I have found some beautiful products from Answer in Genesis for the History portion I was looking for. I like what I see but... yes this is a big BUT ... the expensive cost, well for me here in SA it is. Yes I understand it covers quite a few years so I can really accept that, my problem is the shipping fees and then still having to pay taxes too once it gets here.

Bummer... feel one can't seem to win. We are limited by what is available around in SA from various bookstores or suppliers. I wish to use what will work for us, don't want to use what everyone else in SA is using. Not that I am being difficult, I just want something that speaks to us.

So now the search continues.

Alternatively I can use various reference books and build my own curriculum... this can be so daunting at times, so much planning to do. For once I actually feel like just getting a nice book and work with it from front to back. Don't think I am asking too much.

Alternative options for History I have been looking at was Mystery of History or Story of the World. Been looking at samples, reading reviews. Well just don't know what I will go with at the end. 

I History really that important I keep on asking myself?




Hope your planning goes smooth.

Blessings

Maryna

Planning our weekly program

As homeschool moms we all have our way of doing things. Some have elaborate planning pages, files, excel sheets etc. Others simply pick up the parent/teacher guide and follow what you need to do next. And then there are those who just go as the day takes them. 

This is what we normally do:

We do two language programs, one for English and one for Afrikaans (our home language). 

Afrikaans: For our home language program which came in the form of worksheets and we have license to copy, so I would copy the unit that we are going to work on for the next week or two. This will mean that both my kids have the necessary worksheets to work on. We are doing main focus on spelling and learning grammar rules. For those who are curious, we use the Clever werkkaarte by Macmillan. For anyone wanting to do this, you have to be able to speak and read in Afrikaans to teach your kids the correct pronunciation of the words. My comment about these Clever worksheets: There is aprox 38 worksheets per unit and there are 12 unit/ sets. I initially was very sceptical due to the price mostly. We eventually got them and we just love them. My kids spelling improved drastically and even their reading picked up wonderfully.

 

English: We learn English as a first language and not a second language. We started very late with our English program, only seriously started this year, but the previous years we did do other work here and there. We are doing Adventures in Phonics by Christian Liberty press and are busy with the Level A book. We will be starting within the next few weeks with the readers that you have to buy with the first level.  My comment about AIP.  Love, love, love. I really like how every letter is introduced, beginning sounds, where it is in the middle. There is loads of review of the words, pictures of the words, fill in the missing sound etc. We also use a little book where they wright new words down. There is a flashcard set that you have to purchase additionally for level A. I have not really used that, I just write the words on a whiteboard and they say and act out what the word is. They love doing this. I am totally amazed how fast they pick up the words. You can preview this book HERE in google books.

Mathematics: We always start our day with Mathematics. Our reason for this is, the brain is still very awake and fresh and they can focus better. We use to do a South African program called Prac Math (in our home language). It is really a great program. But, yes I have a but. There is no good foundation and review per method. This means that within a month or so, they totally forget what they learned. So after much thought and research we moved over to the American program Math U See.  Every day we will just pick up where we left off the previous day. We are currently at Beta level. Even though my kids have done almost everything in the Beta series, they needed to learn the English terms and get to know how the program is presented. My comment about MUS: Initially I was very scared to use it as the program is in English. Wow, how surprised was I. My kids picked everything up so quickly and they absolutely love the method and working with the blocks. There is nothing negative I can say about MUS at this stage. The kids love it and I love it. I just wished we started using it a long time ago.

History, Geography, Science etc: We use Konos. I read through the character trait we are busy with and then select the activities we want to do for the week. I get the necessary reference books from the library. Our local library does not have any of the books they recommend, but I just get whatever else I can find on the subjects. I also do an internet search. I find pictures, videos and anything that will be helpful for us to cover that topic. Most important we use the Bible as our pillar. My comment about Konos: When we first started using it, I was very overwhelmed and confused. But after asking for some guidance I became calm. Now we tackle it one thing at a time. One should not look at the entire Volume (file) as a whole, but just look at the character you are working on now. Konos is fun and very hands-on. You can view my page Konos.

Art: As I am a very artistic person, we do crafts and arts whenever we feel like it. I use anything from ideas that pop up. Reference books, the internet and then the best resource ever, Pinterest.

Most of the days we do everything. We do not have set times that we work, but we normally do try and start by 8 or 9 in the morning and continue until we are done (with breaks in between). Art is the only thing we do not really do everyday, but in a sense we do, as everything creative is art :)

So no matter what methods you use enjoy it. There is no one size fits all. We all have our own ideas of what we want to do and what we want to accomplish.