Speaking of Ancient Egypt...

That reminds me...the last time we did a study on Egypt, we also did the Ten Plagues. We had so much fun! I think I say that every time, but we really did! I didn't have a blog back then, soooooooooo since I have one now, I will post from an email I shared with others to help them out who would teach the chapter after me and for you .

We are really enjoying this chapter-
I just went to a suggested site with my children and we heard so many different
frog sounds! I didn't know that they could make so much noise:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/tracker/

When I began the lesson about frogs we read about it in the Bible and while the
children were writing I went downstairs and put small pieces of construction paper
all over the lower level of the house- so as they went down for lunch they were
greeted by "frogs". I forgot I had done it, until they went down for lunch
and began screaming and yelling. I asked what was wrong and my four year old said,
"Mommy, there are frogs every where!" - they were, I put them in the fridge,
the freezer, the bread, the cereal, the top of the stove, the floor, the table-
you name it, it was there. If we lived during that time, I doubt if they would have
survived this plague.   We have a tadpole and they began talking about what if he
multiplied and was all over the house, the yard, the city, ect.

For the water being turned to blood, without them knowing, I put food coloring
in some bottled water. I asked them to get me some water from the pantry and they
looked sooooooo confused when they came back with red water. That began our lesson
for the day- I couldn't pay them to drink it.

We covered the plague of lice the other day- on a site I saw where it was suggested
to get a whole punch and take the dots of paper and put it on a wide piece of clear
tape and wear it for a while. The lice was the paper and tape did itch, so it got
the point across.

Now they get up in the morning and have been asking for plagues!


Oh and here's the site with things to with the plagues:

A fun activity to represent the ten plagues can be reenacted. Ten days before Passover
begins, do something in your home to represent each one of the ten plagues. Here
are a few examples. Be creative and make up your own symbols.

1. Nile waters turning to blood --put red food coloring in the water glasses at
the dinner table, in the bathroom sinks, in the dog's water bowl, and anywhere else
you can think of.

2. The frogs--Use green construction paper to cut out roundish frogs with thin green
legs. Bend the legs to make the frogs look as if they are jumping. Put them everywhere,
in cereal boxes, in the shower, refrigerator, drawers, etc.

3. The lice--Use a hole punch to make many small white "dots" out of plain
white paper. Scotch tape them on your body and leave them on for a few hours. The
appearance and irritation will make you think of itching lice.

4. The flies-- Use clear scotch tape to tape pepper or small "dots" of
black construction paper in different areas of the house, the windows, the bathroom
mirrors, etc.

5. Disease afflicting the Egyptian livestock--put stuffed animals in different areas
of the house, upside down.

6. Boils--Use a hole punch to make many small red ÿdotsÿ out of red construction
paper (or cut out circles). Cover each other with boils by scotch taping them on
your body and leave them on for a few hours. The appearance and irritation will
make you think of the boils.

7. Hailstorm--Put ice cubes around the outside of your house, the porch areas and
on the outside window sills.

8. Locusts-- Use brown construction paper to cut out oval-looking locusts. Put them
everywhere as you did the frogs (you'll even think of some new places to surprise
your family).

9. Darkness--Tape brown paper bags over all the windows, draw all draperies to keep
it dark in the daytime, or don't turn on any lights in the evening.

10. Put red ribbon on the sides and top of door post of your house to avoid the
death plague. When the neighbors ask what the ribbon is for you can witness to them!

Our Study of Ancient Egypt

We are covering Ancient Egypt again, but this time more in depth. We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and saw an Egyptian tomb and took pictures of and in it. Inside they explained and showed to us the process of making a mummy. It was pretty neat. While the children were working on projects for their lapbooks, I read out loud to them:

• Croconile by Roy Gerrard


• Hat-Shepsut, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine M. Andronik


• I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting


• Who Built the Pyramid by Meredith Hooper


• Ten Little Mummies by Philip Yates


• The Box Car Children, "The Curse of the Mummy"

Some great helps to me were:

The Usborne Traveller Books- Pharaohs and Pyramids- My 11 year old (as of today- Happy Birthday B.) really enjoyed looking through this book and reading all the little captions. Our booklets and pictures for our lapbooks came from History Pockets. Here's a link where you can look at it page by page: http://www.realread.com/pageview/browse.cgi?site=41906611&book=155799904X

I used "Ancient Egypt" for my older ones in the 5th & 6th Grade and for my kindergartner, I used "Ancient Civilizations"- the section on Ancient Egypt.

Here are some good links that I used:

http://www.iwebquest.com/egypt/ancientegypt.htm

http://www.guardians.net/egypt/kids/

http://www.kingtutone.com/kids/

To make a cartouche out of your child's name: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/cartouche/cartouche.html

http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/Egyptlife.html

I recieved this book free from www.wowio.com - It had about 130 pages "Ancient Egypt Projects you can do Yourself" Very, very good.

We enjoyed ourselves and will post pics of our lapbooks next week.  Until then...here are some pics and some of the things we did.

Our Study of Egypt

The Crayon Box Song

When I was just a little child no higher than your knee,
My mother bought a box of crayons, just for me.
I picked them up and I opened them up and I looked way down inside,
And the colors there reminded me of Jesus when He died.

O...Red is the color of the blood that He shed,
Brown is for the crown of thorns they laid upon His head.
Blue is for royalty! Within Him did dwell;
And yellow is for the Christian who's afraid to tell.

I colored and I colored 'til the crayons were all gone,
And though I am much older now, the mem'ry lingers on.
And when I see a little child with crayon box in hand,
I tell them what they mean to me and hope they'll understand.

O...Red is the color of the blood that He shed,
Brown is for the crown of thorns they laid upon His head.
Blue is for royalty! Within Him did dwell;
And yellow is for the Christian who's afraid to tell.

Afraid to tell of a Saviour who died on Calvary,
He died for lowly sinners just like you and me;
And someday soon He's coming back to be our King,
And the colors of the crayon box we will sing!

O...Red is the color of the blood that He shed,
Brown is for the crown of thorns they laid upon His head.
Blue is for royalty! Within Him did dwell;
And yellow is for the Christian who's afraid to tell.

So, don't you be a Christian, who's afraid to tell!

written by: William V. Mason

Memorials

In chapter 3, we are learning about Memorials- this based off when the Lord told Joshua to have the children of Israel to take 12 stones and put them in the middle of the Jordan River after the children of Israel crossed over as a memorial for what the Lord had done for them. It appears that the Lord allowed the river to be held up like an invisible dam and waited until the stones were in place before allowing the water to return to normal.

For our field trip we went downtown and took a look at a very large memorial right here where we live- Monument Circle. I hadn't been there in a while but we really did enjoy ourselves- the next time we will stay longer because we will be studying the Civil War in the next volume of Weaver.

Here's some pics:

Thank You, Lord for the Children's Museum!

We recently finished chapter 2 of Volume 3 about Espionage. In the Bible we were covering Joshua when he sent the spies to Jericho. Thankfully, at about the time of our study, the Indianapolis Children's Museum opened a new exhibit on Spying. We had a really good time and it was perfect for the lesson.

Some places we went had nothing to do with the lesson, we just went for the fun of it. I took the kids down to the Egyptian section and found out when I got home that we would be covering Egypt again along with Hieroglyphics! I know it was the Lord that sent us that way. I did buy some papyrus paper for the kids to see and color on. I didn't realize how long it took to make that kind of paper.

My favorite was when we learning about navigation & maps-not my hot topic. I prayed and prayed and it appeared that God did not hear me ( notice I said appeared). Well, I was to tell my children what a sextant was and how to use it-HUH?!?!?  I knew the museum had a planetarium with a show about star navigation, so off we went. To my pleasant surprise there was an exhibit about you guessed it- Navigation and Maps!!! Prayer Answered. Everything that was in our curriculum for the chapter, was right before my eyes, for each child at their grade level- that would be pre-school thru 6th grade.  At the very end of the exhibit to my amazement was a Sextant!!! It was neat and there was a computer next to it to show the kids what to do and how to operate it.

Here's the website: http://www.childrensmuseum.org/

Here's some pics:

First ones are of the MAPS exhibit with the sextant

 

 

Pic of my 4 year old writing something in his spying notebook-what it is- I have no idea, but it must have been important! Funny!

My oldest son looks like he ran into an unexpected visitor!

My Middle son next to an Egyptian Tomb with Hieroglyphics.

Two of my kids in the Pyramid

This is soooooo true...

If you give a Homeschooling Mom a cookie, she'll want the recipe.
She will plan a complete unit study on the History of Cookies.
The family will take field trip to a farm and see where we get eggs, milk and grain.
At home they will make butter out of milk.
The children will want to start grinding their own grain.
Mom will purchase a Bosch Universal Kitchen System.
She will remember she will need a new list of cookbooks.
So, she will order "An Introduction To Whole Grain Baking w/ CD", "Desserts", "The Cooking With Children CD", and "Lunches & Snacks Cookbook" by Sue Gregg, also "Whole Foods for Kids to Cook".
Mom orders a 100 lb bag of wheat berries.
Now she will grind her own wheat grain into flour.
The children remember the farm field trip and knowing they can't possibly get a cow so they beg for a few chickens.
So, to a trip to the library to research how to build a chicken coop and to how to care for chickens.
On the way out the door Mom sees the book, "Chicken Tractor" by Andy Lee & Pat Foreman.
They stop by the Feed and Seed to pick up materials and ask where to purchase the chicks.
There the clerk tells them about egg that can be incubated.
He sells them a book on hatching eggs, eggs, and incubator.
At home Mom and the younger children set up the incubator while Dad and the older children build the chicken tractor.
Back to the library to pick up gardening books and more books on chickens.
The oldest daughter now starts a business grinding flour for the her friend's families.
While her younger sisters are selling homemade cookies to their neighbors.
The boys have started building a new chicken tractor because they want more eggs for breakfast.
That cookie that started this all, the homeschooling mom's three year old ate it.

by Sher Birmingham, wife to Bill
Successfully at Home Business, School, and Cooking