New wall decor

Even though we read the Story of the World chapter on Greek Gods a bit ago, the library was a bit slow getting us a copy of The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki. We got it last week while Kutey was sick. I read it to Kiddo while Kutey was napping. We were planning to read part of the book because Kiddo wanted to play outside. Kiddo was enthralled, however, so we finished the whole thing.



After we read the book, we made a chart. It took the place of making a family tree, at least for the time being. I typed up blurbs about all of the gods and goddesses featured in the book--some of which we knew about, some of which we didn't. Once they were typed up, I cut them out. I did a lot of the preliminary work. Once that was done, however, it was all up to Kiddo. We started with two large sheets of construction paper, but it became apparent that would not be large enough. So I pulled out a piece of poster board my sister had found and donated to our school. Much better. I helped Kiddo lay everything out, but he decided where things were going to go. There were lines talked about, but he never drew any of them in. Instead, once it was laid out, he got out the glue stick and glued everything in place. When it was dry, we mounted it on the wall in the dining room, where it has been entertaining us during meals. It has been a great memory tool!

Carving like the Ancient Greeks...almost

When we read Chapter 24: The Wars of the Greeks in Story of the World, Vol. 1, one of the things we discussed was the peace time advances the Greeks made, particularly the advances they made in art and architecture. We talked about carvings that looked real: muscles in arms, folds in fabric, etc.

Then Kiddo tried his hand at carving. Using a bar of Ivory soap, a butter knife, a skewer, and a stick from those crazy silly scratch off craft things.



He made a robe, cauldron, and wand from Harry Potter. Obviously the scale is a bit off, but it was the process that mattered...

The Greek Gods

In history this week we have been studying the Greek Gods. Kiddo has a fair amount of interest in this area, so it has been a fun week! After we read our chapter in Story of the World, Vol. 1, I asked Kiddo to read "Gods of Olympus."

I picked this book up at the T*rget Dollar Spot a bit ago, knowing that Kiddo was interested. It was a perfect fit for this chapter! It also worked well as the first test of a new system we are working on. I'll share it once we get a few more kinks worked out. I used it as "guided reading," where I get to pick what he reads. He reads a lot these days, but sometimes I need him to read something more specific to what we are studying. And it worked! Not only did he read it, but he liked it. Whew.

After he read the book, I asked him to draw a picture of the home of the gods. He set to work, and finished it in record time. Then he picked out LEGO mini-figurines to represent each to the gods in the book. Once you have picked out LEGO mini-figs for each god, what's left to do? Oh, right, build Mount Olympus out of LEGOS!

Paper mache failure

Last week when we were learning about the Minoans and Theseus and the Minotaur, we also learned about Thera, an island near Crete. Apparently a volcano erupted on the island then caved in on itself causing the island to sink into the ocean. One of the suggested activities for the chapter was to make an erupting volcano, you know, the baking soda and vinegar kind of volcano. I never did this project as a kid, so I thought why not?

I sent hubby to the store to get supplies, which might have been a mistake. He came home with paper mache mix. The box boasts: JUST ADD WATER! Sounded easy enough. I read the directions 1 part mix to 1/2 part water. I began to get skeptical after pouring the cup of water into the 2 cups of mix. It was still really, REALLY dry. I added a bit more water, but it didn't improve. Hubby is far more of an optimist than I am about these kinds of things. So we plunged ahead.



We built the crude structure and stuffed it with newspaper wads. Then we attempted to put the paper mache, um, goop?, onto the structure. I lost faith very quickly. It wasn't working. Hubby was more optimistic and kept going while I was wandering about trying to figure out what to do to make it better. I came up with nothing. The kids and Daddy finished the volcano and we set it aside to dry--it said it would need a day.



3 days later, it was still wet. And worse, it was cracking apart, leaving holes where the vinegar and baking soda mixture will likely seep in and cause the whole thing to collapse.



Paper mache volcano--failed. Next up? Homemade clay volcano. Maye that will work better?

The Minotaur's maze and Theseus--Version 2

After reading The Hero and the Minotaur, Kiddo determined that he needed to build a new maze for the story. The picture in the book had a maze on different levels; Kiddo's original model was only one level. The book is also much more detailed from the beginning, so Kiddo wanted to add more to the scene.

He started by making a ship, because Theseus sailed from Athens to Crete.


He also built the bronze statue that guards the entrance to the port.


Finally, he and Daddy built the maze.

Much more involved than the previous model.


He even included the princess in this model, if you look carefully, you might see her! That was, of course, Kutey's favorite part.

Theseus and the Minotaur

This week in history we studied the Minoans. I say we, because I am not sure my history study prior to homeschooling included study of the Minoans.

Part of this study was the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. One suggested activity for this was to build a labyrinth with the Minotaur at the center, a model of the maze the minotaur lived in. I chose to skip the clay and cardboard, and kiddo made one out of LEGOS. You should have seen his excitement when I gave him the assignment. LEGOS + History=excitement.

I gave no direction. He went upstairs and happily built, I stayed away until he brought me the finished product.



He was limited by the size of base we have in this particular set of LEGOS. If we are going to continue building things like this, I think I should get a larger base, or at least a few bases that can be combined into one larger base.



I love how Theseus is standing in the entrance, holding his sword and a "torch". There is a grey piece near his feet that represents the ball of wool. The Minotaur is actually D*rth Maul. You go with what you've got!

Books for Ashurbanipal's Library

I loved the idea of making books for Ashurbanipal's Library to go along with Chapter 16 in Story of the World, Vol. 1. We have talked about libraries before, when we studied Ben Franklin last spring we learned about the invention of the lending library. Learning about how libraries in general came to be was another piece to the puzzle.



We made our books on Monday when I had extra kids, so I put together five books. If it had been just my kids, I likely would have made kiddo do more of the folding and punching. In the interest of flow, however, I did that part first, while I was sitting at the table with the older two doing their math and writing.



Because the other 3 aren't there when we read the chapter (usually), I summarized who Ashurbanipal was and why we were making books. We also explained that he was the first to pull writings together into one place, or to compile a library.



Then I gave the kids each a book and they had at it. The younger kids were done quickly. The older kids spent a bit more time. S wanted to leave a few pages blank so she could add to it later. L folded his book into a tiny square because it was a secret book with a page for you to sign each time you read the book. Kiddo made a dragon manual*. Kutey's book was about machines.



I LOVE that this activity had Kiddo actually writing something. Yes, his writing needs work. Yes his spelling needs work. But he actually wrote it without being asked. Everyone else just drew pictures. He wrote in his. I made sure to compliment him on it, to tell him how much I loved it, especially the first page where he took his time and wrote a lot.





I also LOVE that Kutey was excited about this activity! She really put some thought into what she was drawing. She can tell me all about the 2 machines in the book, but I especially like her drawing of a person reaching for the machine.



*We recently watched How to Train Your Dragon. Hence the interest in dragons. A nice break from Star Wars! It was a fun movie.

Building the Nile Delta

This year we are working our way more deliberately through The Story of the World, vol. 1. Kiddo longed for map work (he digs maps of all kinds), but I somehow never found the time to do them with him. He also loves hands on stuff (really, what kid doesn't?), and the activity guide for SOTW has lots of ideas. Why didn't I do this before? No answer. We are doing it now, though, and Kiddo is enjoying it immensely.

One of the ideas for the study of the early Egyptians was to build a model of the Nile Delta. Kiddo loves reading about Ancient Egypt. He has talked about it for over a year. He KNOWS the Nile. He was thrilled with the idea of building a model of the delta. THRILLED. I have a tendency, though, to not do things unless I have the perfect equipment. It is something I am working on, particularly this year. And Kiddo is helping me. When I said I wasn't sure we had everything we needed, he asked what we needed, headed out to the garage to find everything, and came back declaring we had what we needed. Yep, not getting out of it this time!

We bought an aluminum pan, 3 inches deep, and filled it with potting soil. The kids had a system for doing this. Kiddo shoveled in the dirt, Kutey patted it down. So fun to see them working together! They decided who was going to do which job, and then cooperated flawlessly to finish the job. One of the reasons I love homeschooling is the relationships the kids build with each other.

We had to dig rocks out of the landscaping around our house to put in the river bed, but Kiddo was more than willing to do the work, just to finish the project. We used some grass repair kit leftovers from a couple of years ago when we had our driveway redone (Kiddo knew it was in the garage. I did not. He was determined to do this project today!) The rocks at the one end represent mountains. The grass seed will sprout once we "flood" our model.