Year Three

The boys spent a week of their summer vacation time in a play put together by the Missoula Children's Theatre group. They performed a wonderfully rehearsed version of Sleeping Beauty. Check them out. They travel around the world to help communities build their children into colorful performers.

This school year started with a field trip. We actually took the field trip prior to the start of our official school year, but since it fit in so well with our first unit study, I'm claiming it as a field trip. Our first unit was on the Middle Ages. Just before moving away from Turkey, we took a trip to Antioch. Between our base and Antioch was a small Medieval style castle with a mote around it. It wasn't open since we got there late in the day, but we were able to peek inside the gates into the open courtyard. We also took a climb up onto the top of the gatehouse and saw the 'potty' that hung over the edge of the mote.

The kids very much enjoyed looking over the edge. It drove me crazy. I'm always afraid something might come crashing down and they'll go down with it.

After we returned to the States, the kids tried their hand at making a castle. My brother picked up a huge load of refrigerator boxes at a warehouse and they put them together in the back yard of my parents' house. A great battle ensued.

I'm pretty sure the dog won.

Once we started the 'official' school year (I say official because I believe that learning doesn't quit in the summer months), we had a great Medieval feast involving turkey legs, bread bowls, wassail and song, hot cross buns, bread pudding, a potato juggler, some wonderful Medieval music found on iTunes, and some very talented recorder players.

As you can see, Ethan devoured his turkey leg in fairly short order.

Once again, costumes were a part of the deal, with everyone from grandparents to aunts, uncles, and cousins playing along. We rattled some closet doors in search of proper wear.

After the feast came the games. We had jousting in the yard, but since we had no horses, the Lord of the Castle and the Surveyor of Ceremonies played the part.

I found a wonderful Medieval Castle model for David to make. It was a lot of cutting. Usborne does it right, though. It was a well made model, pretty cheap to buy, and very detailed. It even had a 'potty.'

I found some other fun additions for our curriculum at the home school convention this spring:

History of Costume Series: Medieval Costumes Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney

Knights in Armor Paper Dolls by A.G. Smith

Draw and Write Through History: The Vikings, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance
Fun, free castle stuff for kids: http://www.castles.org/index.htm
More castle stuff for kids: http://www.rencentral.com/kidskingdom/onceuponatime.shtml

Since Ethan finally hit the 1st grade, I started him in on the Christian Cottage Unit Studies as well. Instead of having the two boys in the same unit, I started him at the beginning with Roots and Relations. Here is his model of a cell. See post on Our First Year for what's in it.

We also started a fun art program this year. Another Usborne Book! They have several awesome art books available, of which I have two. I love them. The kids seem to enjoy the activities as well. I added a mosaic lesson to the book to start the year as a review of Greek and Roman art styles.

They did a wonderful job of patiently pushing their stone tiles into air drying clay.

David chose to make a design of a raft and a sea monster. He and I were reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne at the time, and it quickly became a favorite.

After putting together the globe puzzle he got from his Aunt for his birthday, he made sure to locate Reykjavík and point it out.

David's next unit study was called Bread of Life: Biomes, Birds, Bugs, and Bodies. We used our Teaching Tank, a wonderful home school tool that I think every family should have, to watch some plants grow both up and down. I should have taken more photos of the stages.

We also had fun making a life sized chart of the digestive system. I had David lay down on a big sheet of tag board. I traced his body and then he drew out the organs, colored them, and labeled them.

We ordered tadpoles for our Planet Frog. (see post titled Villain of the Moment, Hero of the Day) We're still watching them grow.

We also went through a lot on food chains, eating healthy, biomes, and plant parts.

While David was knee deep into plants, bugs, and body parts, Ethan was working through his Light and Matter studies. We pulled out the periscope that David made two years ago and fixed it up. We also got as a gift a fun kit that helped out with some of the concepts.

ScienceWiz Light Experiment Kit

David moved on to an Astronomy unit and made a nifty model of the solar system.

It only cost $10.00 at our local craft supply store. He typed up some short reports that he did on each planet and added them to the model. We're thinking about entering it in the State Fair art competition this summer. I also put up some fun solar system window clingers. All three kiddos have enjoyed looking at them. I read a really thought provoking excerpt from The Witness of the Stars by E.W. Bullinger. It outlined the original meaning of the zodiac - the Gospel written in the stars. Definitely worth a read! (There's a short excerpt in All Through the Ages: History Through Literature Guide by Christine Miller...it's one of my most recommended resources.)

The kids also had some fun with our National Geographic Star Planetarium.

Ethan then moved into the Early Civilizations unit (which we're still working on currently). We've had a chance to refine some of the activities I did with David in his first year to make them a bit better. I have yet to figure out a good way to make a wax sealing ring. Any ideas? Oven baked clay doesn't work. The wax sticks to it.

The oil lamp was much easier with oven baked clay.

We did a repeat with the little Phoenician boats.

Ethan tried a new Egyptian craft. He made a makeup box out of cardboard. He did a fabulous job of painting it.

We tried our hand at mummification at this BBC site and made another shaduf.

Our first year, we tried making ancient coins out of cardboard. This year, using oven baked clay, they looked much more realistic.

Something to try for next time: Make a ziggurat out of sugar cubes and sprinkle brown sugar over the top.

Then we went for the big-time and ordered a beautiful Tabernacle model kit from The Tabernacle Place. They have a step-by-step tutorial on how to paint it for better details. I printed off the free Sunday School lessons from the site and we learned a ton. It required a lot of adult supervision and help, but was definitely worth the time we put into it. I was having a really hard time with the paper model included in our curriculum. It was pretty flimsy and, after all the work put into it, was sort of disappointing.

After David finished the Astronomy unit, he moved into the Mediterranean Region and is revisiting a lot of what we learned in the Early Civilization unit. He's studying a lot of Israeli history. It has worked out wonderfully. Both boys are working together on some projects while David has a chance to look more deeply into some of the meaning. They both worked on the Tabernacle and we had a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean feast that fit into both units. I'm hoping we can all work together on some timelines as well.

God works in such wonderful ways. As I've been home schooling, things have fallen into place so beautifully. They are not things that I could've orchestrated so well. As David came up on the close of his Astronomy unit, I realized that we would be looking at Israel next. We happen to have a very close friend who is a Messianic Jew. She is quite versed in the Jewish culture and their holidays, feasts, and festivals. I asked her to look through the unit prior to our starting it. As the time approached, she pointed out that Passover and Easter were also approaching. The first section of the unit covers Jewish holidays. One of the first things that the unit study suggests is to have a Passover meal - a Seder. The chapel that we attend asked my friend to put together a Seder, but because there wasn't enough interest from the general population, she ended up doing it for our Bible study group instead.

The timing was perfect. Our two boys and another family of girls learned the Ma Nishtana (four questions) in Hebrew to sing for the meal ceremony. We found an mp3 recording online that helped us learn the proper pronounciation. I heard them wandering around the house singing it for weeks. It was a beautiful and eye-opening experience. I'll add photos and possibly a video when I get them uploaded.

David is currently working on making a miniature succoth with the hopes that it can be used for his army men in the future.

We also started a dreidel, but I can't find the drill, so it'll have to wait a few more days. I'm hoping I can find the time to try out a recipe for Potato Latkes and put together the inexpensive 'potato' menorah over the weekend. Next week we move on to Northern Africa!