Pictures of Our Trip to the Monastery

We finally made it out of the ancient Roman empire and we are now in the Middle Ages.  Knights, peasants, vikings, and Monks etc.  I thought it would be appropriate to take a field trip to a monastery to learn more about Monks and hopefully look at some old hand written books.

Here are the boys at the monastery.  
The Anchor is pretending to be a monk.

I really wanted to get a picture of a monk, but I was afraid I might interrupt their prayers or something, so I turned into a monk paparazzi.  Here's what I got:

Monk robe behind the stair rail...

Monk behind the bush...

Monk in the distance...

The back of a monk...

These two are too loud to be monks and I don't know why The Anchor is saluting.  

Didn't expect to see a bison at the monastery, but we did.  

They had all sorts of dead, stuffed animals in their museum.  

And a replica of the crown of thorns that Jesus wore on the cross.  

These are from the Mount of Olives.

We also noticed lots of crosses everywhere.

On the walkways...

 And on the buildings...

The nice lady in the gift shop told us that we could ask the librarian to see the special room where they keep the old books.  They did let us into a temperature and light controlled room and let us explore on our own.  She even said we could look inside the books if we were careful.  Some of the books were over 500 years old!! (They have a vault with books that are even older than that, but we were not allowed to go in there.)  This was by far the most exciting part of our trip.  

Here is an old Bible with a wooden cover...

Ritual for the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany 1728

There was not way to open this book without breaking the seals.  It reminded me of this verse in the Bible:   

"Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals ; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.  You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God ; and they will reign upon the earth." Revelation 5:9,10

Handwritten song sheets...

You could see the shiny gold the monks used to decorate these letters.

This was The Free One's favorite Bible.  

It was made of wood and was very heavy.

We also liked the super fancy velvety Bibles...

It was so quiet and serene at the Abbey, I didn't think it would be appropriate to be snapping pictures of everything.  There are so many more things we saw that I don't have photos of.  After our tour we rested a while in the coffee shop where we bought some coffee, hot cocoa, and treats.  All in all it was a lovely, peace filled field trip.  I would highly recommend a trip to a monastery.

You can take a virtual tour of this one online here:   http://www.mountangelabbey.org/

How To Build A Roman Road (Hole) In Your Backyard.

We've been stuck in ancient Rome for awhile and we just can't seem to move on.  There is just so much to learn:  E tu Brute, vina vida vici, Roman Gods, and of course, the birth and life of Jesus!  

It's been such and exciting time period that we just keep digging in...literally.  Really!  Like with a shovel in our back yard.  

We were learning about how the Romans built their roads and The Free One, in true Free One fashion, jumped up put his shoes on and ran into the garage.  I was still sitting there wondering where he had gone when I spotted him in the backyard digging a hole in the dirt with a shovel.  I opened the door and asked, "What are you doing?"  "I'm building a road!" he answered.  I thought, "OK, why not?"  

So here is how you build a Roman road (hole) in your backyard.

1.  Dig a hole in the dirt with a shovel.
2.  Fill it with sand from the sand bags you use to weigh down your car in the winter.
3.  Never mind your white tennis shoes.

4.  Smooth out the sand with a garden spade.

5.  Find some rocks and throw them on top of the sand.

6.  Don't even think about digging up any of the weeds that are growing up through the bark dust.

7.  Mix up some water and dirt to make mud.  This will be use as "cement."
8.  Mix some of the "cement" with some gravel that your dad just recently spread out on the driveway and pour it on top of the rocks.



9.  Jump up and down about ten times with your tongue sticking out of your mouth because you're so    excited that you're almost done with your road.
10.  Mix the rest of the cement with sand and gravel together and pour that on top.

11.  Be sure you have sat in the dirt at least one time so that your pants look like they've been working hard.
12.  Finally, gather some of the broken bricks that you hammered off of your front porch last summer when your mom wasn't looking, and lay them on top of the hole.

And that's how you build a Roman Road!

Click on this diagram below to visit a site with lots of information about how the Romans built their famous roads!

Ancient Chinese Secret, Eh?

We just finished a unit on ancient China.  In addition to the online lessons from our K12 curriculum, we checked out a ton (ok, maybe only 10-12) of books on China from the library.  

 We learned about how silk was discovered and made:

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/clothing/silk.htm

We learned about how rice is planted and harvested:

http://www.asia-home.com/china/rice.php

 We put some water in the bathtub and pretended we were rice farmers.  We even constructed a water wheel like the ones the Chinese people would use to irrigate water from the river.  We used cups, lincoln logs, string, tape, and rubber bands.  We got really, really wet!

We learned about the Chinese zodiac.  Check out these fun pages:  http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/chinese-new-year/chinese-zodiac.html

http://www.artic.edu/taoism/diag-zodiac.php

We learned about the Great wall, the mysterious forbidden city and some of the major emperors of China's vast and fascinating history.

Here the boys are practicing some Chinese calligraphy characters with watercolors.

And for our grand finale we spent an afternoon at some beautiful Chinese gardens.  We stopped to have some tea, juice, and cookies at the Chinese tea house.  

The Free One is drinking Mango juice from this cool cup they brought it in.

Tea is much better when shared with friends.  My good friend from college joined us with her little baby.  See the man in the background?  He was playing the most beautiful, peaceful music on this Chinese instrument.  Does anyone know what that is called?

The teapots and cups were so pretty!

The Free One pouring himself a cup of tea.

One of the beautiful bridges we got to walk over.

The boys are peeking over a garden wall in front of some wooden calligraphy panels.

The Anchor standing in front of a waterfall.  This was the only picture I could get of him smiling.

Posing in front of a pagoda, on a zig zag bridge.  The Anchor could not keep his tongue in his mouth.

There's the tongue again.  And the tea house in the background.

The Free One is trying to push his brother's tongue back in so we can get a normal picture.

It's pretty much a lost cause. 

Obviously, we had a super, fantastic field trip to the Chinese Gardens.  Every bit of it was wonderful except for a few minutes with a very grumpy rude volunteer worker.  But we didn't let that get us down for long (click HERE to read all about it)

We had a great time studying China.  Next stop in History:  Rome!

Betsy Ross

We knew we were going to be able to see Betsy Ross's house while we were in Philadelphia, so we did a lesson on her before we went.  It is not known for sure whether or not she made the very first American flag, but she is credited with it since she was a very well known upholsterer at the time and a friend of George Washington.  

The picture is outside of Betsy's house.  They didn't allow us to take pictures inside.  The guard at the door pretended like he really knew Betsy.  He said she was taking measurements at the governor's house to make drapes as a surprise for his wife.  Which was funny because we had just met Betsy in her basement workshop.  Hmmm...   Yes you can meet Betsy as she works in her sewing room and she'll answer any of your questions.  

There are many lapbooking and unit studies you can purchase including this one http://www.homeschoolshare.com/by_resources_betsyross.php

but here is a free one that has lots of good ideas http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/united_states_flag.htm  

And you know I like free!

http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/, has lots of fun information you can use to create your own lesson or unit.  You can take a virtual tour of her house, learn about her life, look at a picture gallery of how the American flag looked at different points of time, and learn flag etiquette including the proper way to fold a flag.  It is a wealth of American flag information for your young budding vexillologist.    

We borrowed this amazing book by Charlie Samuels from the library.  It has so many interactive fold outs and colorful graphics.  It's like a big super professional lapbook.  There are a couple of pages devoted to the first American flag and to Betsy Ross.  We used a huge fold out flag as a pattern to make our own and there were also instructions on how to make a five pointed star with just one cut.

Here is the Free One holding up the flag he made.  I just gave him the materials and he followed the pattern and went for it!  He learned how many stripes and stars there should be and what they all represented.  I did have to help him with some of the stars since the folding was somewhat difficult for such little stars.  I love how each star looked different. 

Click to learn >>>>  how to make a 5 pointed star with just one cut.

If you ever take a trip to Philadelphia I recommend the Betsy Ross House tour.  The boys had fun playing in her kitchen and pretending to make turkey pot pie and best of all they got to meet Betsy Ross in person!  

Now that's living history!

Big Timeline; Big Worldview

I think it is wonderful for children to know about their own city, state, and country.  It gives them a sense belonging.  They realize that they are an important part in their community.  But, more importantly, they ought to know that their small community is not the center of the world.  Nor is their place in history any more significant than the thousands of years that have passed.  In fact, knowing that their lives are but a blip on the timeline of history can bring tremendous perspective to their little beings.  Anyone who has done any amount of traveling might agree that we Americans hold too high a view of ourselves.  Don't get me wrong, I love America.  I support our troops and take pride in our stripes and stars.  I am ever grateful of the foundation and sacrifices that our forefathers have laid down in order for us to live the American way of life.  However, I am acutely aware that there are many people across the globe in many countries who are just as important and loved by our our creator as we are.  I want my children to know this and take interest in people from many different cultures in many different parts of the world and to appreciate the vast history that the whole globe has to offer.  

As a result I am teaching my children history from the very beginning from a global perspective.  This year, in order to chronicle our journey through time I have made a timeline that is literally longer than our house.  The first event we put on our timeline was "God Created the World."  

The next two events we put on our timeline were my son's birth dates.  I had them walk from the beginning all the way to the other side of the house to the time they were born.  I think they got the idea that there is a whole world of history that has occurred before they even existed and that's exactly what I want them to understand.  Here is a video of the boys running back and forth from the very beginning to the time of their birthdays.  The quality is poor, but I had fun editing and putting music to it.  The rest of this post gives information on how you can make or buy a timeline of your own.

Making the timeline:  

I made it out of extra poster boards I got for free.  I cut the poster board into 8 1/2 inch strips, then scored and accordion folded them every 11 inches to made standard 8 1/2 X 11 inch squares.  I then taped the strips end to end with sturdy masking tape so that the whole thing folded up into one thick book.  

Dating the timeline:

I left the first four pages dateless and labeled it "In the beginning," because there are things in the Bible and in early ancient history that are debatable as far as exactly when they happened. For example:  Can someone tell me why Noah's Ark is dated after the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt?  That just doesn't make sense!  I started dating at 3000 BC and made every page equal one century until 1 AD.  Then I changed to fifty years per page.  At 1900 I made each page 25 years since I figured we would need more room for the events in the last century.   I used a yard stick and colored Sharpies to make the line down the middle using different colors for each millenium.  

Timeline figures and other resources:

You can get free printable timeline cards from Hannah's homeschool helps (hannah_hs_helps) yahoo groups.  She graciously provides printable cards for many events throughout history.  You will need to sign up for a Yahoo groups account, then ask permission to join her Yahoo groups.  It took a little bit to figure it out, but it's well worth it.  Her timeline resources are found under Files > History > SOTW4 Timeline pics.  They are made for use with the Story of the World books by Susan Wise Bauer.  (I highly recommend!)  Also, Homeschool In the Woods has pre-made timeline pictures you can order along with a host of information on how to make and use a timeline.  Check it out!!  Classical Conversations sells timeline history cards, although I don't know how big they are.  Sonlight also sells timeline figures and they even sell a blank timeline book called The Book of Time if you would prefer a timeline in book form.  Their figures are made by Homeschool in the Woods specifically for their curriculum.  If you want more information about timelines, I suggest visiting A Book In Time.  They have a video that explains how to make your own timeline book and an extensive list of timeline products and resources.  

Teaching Boys the Bible (Part 3): Egypt and the Exodus

In this unit we focused on ancient Egypt.  We learned about how Abraham's great-grandson, Joseph, was sold by his brothers and was taken as a slave to Egypt.  After many interesting events, he became a leader in Egypt and his whole family joined him there.  They became the twelve tribes of Israel.  Four hundred years later we find them in the book of Exodus as slaves to Pharaoh.  That’s where Moses came in and was sent by God to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go!”  There is so much more to this fascinating time of history.  If you’ve never read it straight from the Bible I highly recommend it!  (Read it online here:  Genesis 37 - Exodus 15)

I am privileged to have a sister who actually lived in Cairo for a few years.  She and other family members have brought back items for us such as small drums, a papyrus painting of the Tree of Life, papyrus bookmarks, a hieroglyphic decoder, Egyptian alphabet cards, miniature pyramids, and other souvenirs.  

Here are some of the activities we did:  

• I let the boys discuss what they saw in our "Tree of Life" painting and what they thought it meant.  Then we learned about what it symbolized.  This painting and information about it can be viewed at:   http://www.lost-civilizations.net/ancient-egypt-egyptian-art-architecture.html

• We went to an exhibit on the mummies of Egypt that just happened to be at the science museum.
• Learned how people were mummified.  The boys were especially interested in how they pulled the brains out of the nose, so it also because a bit of an anatomy lesson.  Bonus!

• We read Flat Stanley The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery by Sara Pennypacker.  This was a super fun book, the boys loved it.  There is a teaching guide for this book here:  http://www.flatstanleybooks.com/downloads/FlatStanley_TeachingGuideEgypt.pdf

• We located Egypt and the Nile River on the globe.
• Made a Sun Clock kind of like this one:  http://www.sciencekidsathome.com/science_experiments/sundial-1.html

• We decoded a hieroglyphic messages and wrote our names in hieroglyphic symbols

• We put together puzzles of a Nile crocodile and a camel with a palm tree (from Egypt).

• We reenacted the Plagues while we read about them.

• We watched the Prince of Egypt.  It helped bring the Exodus story to life.

• Ate Matzo Ball soup when we were learning about the passover.  We used Streit’s mix that you can probably find at any grocery store.  It’s actually very good and we’ve had it several times since.

Here are the books we read:

Hieroglyphs, the Code Quest by Sean Caller  *This one was fun because the pictures were great, there are hieroglyphics throughout the book that you can decode and there is a CD for more decoding fun on the computer.

Digging Up History:  Archaeologists by Judy Peterson

The Great Pryramid by Hazel Martell

Egyptian Pyramid by Gillian Clements

Flat Stanley-The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery by Pennypacker

Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Giblin *We saw a replica of the Rosetta Stone at the museum and and the boys were super excited about it because they remembered it from this book.

In the Days of the Pharaohs by Milton Meltzer

Next Unit:  The Children of Israel (promised land, prophets, kings)

If you haven't read about our previous two units visit the "Class Time" page.

Teaching Boys the Bible (Part 2): The Rise of Civilization

Ziggurat:  click for picture attribution

Sumer, Babel, and Ur, Oh My!  Unit two covered the rise of civilization from Genesis 10-12.  After the flood recedes, Noah's descendants multiply and start building cities, towers, and civilizations that we have evidence of today!  Click Bible Archaeology to read about the discovery of Abraham’s homeland, Ur, by Sir Leonard Woolley.  There are also pictures of statues, jewelry, and ziggurats!  This unit was absolutely fascinating to me since this ancient Biblical cities are part of modern day Iraq.  This link has more information on rise of civilizations.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures of this unit, but here are just some of the activities we did: 

--We looked at pictures of ziggurats (see one above), then created our own mazes on paper.  You can even make your own maze online here.

--We created a coil pot, added handles and painted them to make a nice home made present for grandma’s birthday.  Click here for a tutorial on how to make a coil pot.

--We didn’t do this Coil Pot Game, but I think it would be a super fun thing to add.  

--We built a block tower as high as we could.  Then tried to build a tower together using only gibberish noises.  (Like the tower of Babel)

--I buried items in the sand box and the boys carefully “excavated” them using spoons and small paintbrushes.

--Read and discussed library books.

Note about library books:  Some of our best learning experiences occur on the couch looking over a borrowed book.  I go through the books slowly and let the boys ask lots of questions.  If they see a picture or hear something that catches their attention we stop and talk about it or even get up and put it into action!  If the book is too wordy I just read the picture captions.  If we want to learn more we look it up on the internet or just let our imaginations run wild.  I suggest letting books be more of an interactive experience rather than a just-sit-down-and-listen experience.  

If your library is small (like ours) and doesn't have a great selection of books, check to see if it is connected to an inter-library system online.  I am able to go online and reserve books from other (much bigger) libraries in our county.  They will even deliver the books to my local library and notify me when my books have arrived.  This saves me so much time!  I can just browse the books online by subject at my leisure.  I get enough books for us to read one or two each day.  Just be sure to reserve them a few weeks before the unit starts : )  

Next Unit:  Egypt and the Exodus

Teaching Boys the Bible (Part 1)

Teaching and the Bible are two of my biggest interests.  Then, when my own kids are added into the mix, I feel like the president of the United States couldn't have a more important job.  I want my kids to understand how the big picture of God's plan fits in the scope history.  That's why we study history chronologically starting in Genesis.


The year before, we learned about each day of creation one by one using AOP's Weaver Curriculum as a guide.  We also memorized Genesis 1: 1-27.  This last year we moved on through the Old Testament using Diana Waring's Ancient Civilizations & the Bible.  She has a lot of great ideas which include songs, games, science experiments, skits, crafts and much more.  Here are the some highlights from the first unit.

Here is The Free One making fossils.

Unit one included Creation, Adam and Eve, The Fall, Cain and Abel, and the Flood.  Since we had already studied creation in depth, I used this section as a review and spent a little more time on dinosaurs.  We took a walk outside and the boys collected things like leaves, seed pods, sticks, and rocks.  They also made fossils of shells and the footprints of their toy dinosaurs.  We used modeling clay, let it dry, then sealed it with shoe polish to observe the prints better.













Here is a big dinosaur floor puzzle they put together.





We also took a day trip to nearby gardens that have a dinosaur digging sand pit.  The boys found a T-Rex!

The Anchor digging out some dino. ribs.

The Free One unearthing a T-Rex skull.

Here, Mr. Incredible and the boys are using a roly measuring thing to find out how big Noah's Ark was.  We used a nearby soccer field, measured out the dimensions of the Ark and posted someone on each corner.  We also measured out how big elephants, hippos, and other animals are so we could compare them to the size of the ark.  I was amazed at how big it was!

This video shows us on each corner of the ark.  I'm the one with green shoes : ) 

The next unit will be about the rise of civilizations.