Ancient Egypt Week 2

This week we wrapped up our brief study of ancient Egypt. While working on our map Olivia noticed the Red Sea, and actually remembered that God had split it when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt. This sparked an impromptu study of the story of Moses' life. (I have to see if the library has the 10 Commandments movie on VHS!) This in turn lead Olivia's attention to what did Pharaoh's wife look like and how did she dress. So I thought we'd see how the girls looked as Egyptian women. ( I found there to be a fine line between looking Egyptian and gothic...maybe I'm just no good at makeup.)

We learned about mummies, specifically King Tut. The kids were amazed at all the rituals that went along with someone's death. They still can't understand why all the belongs, food etc. were put in the tomb with the mummy. Lindsey wrapped it up nicely "when you die you go to Heaven with God and Jesus...they already have stuff for us in Heaven so we don't have to carry a bunch of heavy stuff." This of course, started us on another discussion about how not everyone goes to Heaven, based on their own choosing. Again, looks of amazement were on both faces...why would someone NOT want to go to Heaven?
We also made our own little mummy for grins and giggles. We used a $1 "barbie" doll, a roll of toilet paper and some water. After each layer of wrapping, we'd mist the mummy lightly and then wrap again. Then we set her aside to dry. Knowing that the Egyptians were big on ointments and perfumes for their dead folks, we also opted to spray on some "Pumpkin Spice" linen spray...so she's smelling quite tasty.

Interestingly enough, I later found a dead Egyptian (Olivia) in the living room, being mummified by her sister.

We finalized our lapbook and finished assembling it as well. If you'd like to see resources for Week 1, click here.

Books we used:

Mummies Made in Egypt, by Aliki
Into the Mummy's Tomb, by Nicholas Reeves
Clothes & Crafts in Ancient Egypt, by Richard Balkwill
We're still chugging along in our core lessons. Reading, writhing and math are progressing nicely. Olivia has announced that math is her favorite subject in the whole world. This is certainly good news considering the rocky start we go off to in the beginning.

Lindsey has been spending lot of time working on number recognition, as well as putting them in the correct order.

Olivia finished up her Awana book for the year. My plan was to go back through the review sections again. Her class leader instead took it upon herself to get her the new review book ($8) and write her name in it, in ink, before consulting me. So I guess there will be no slowing the pace in this area for a bit. Lindsey is just plugging along doing her weekly verse with the class. She only has two more patches to go and she'll be finished with her 2nd year Cubbies!
Practicing for the performance awards has been fun for Olivia. It's also been eye opening for me. The instructor sent home a CD so the can practice at home, and let me same I was stunned watching Olivia. There are 3 different dances she'll be doing and she's so graceful and pretty when she dances! I'm also really happy to see that she is paying attention to the music, and the timing and quickly realizes when she's going too slow or fast and adjusts accordingly. Simply amazing!
Co-op was a typical day. Nothing super noteworthy, just muddling through.
Guess what?? We had NO snow, rain or high winds this week. The temperatures soared into the high 50's and we went outside to start preparing for the spring! We clipped dead things from the flower beds, spread some compost on the garden and....played in the snow that still covers half of our garden, seriously.
Our state requires an end of the year assessment of each student. You can either submit a nationally recognized standardized test, or a portfolio or have an evaluation letter written by someone who holds a current teachers certificate or a Master's Degree. I opt for the standardized test, just so there is less room for disagreement between myself and the school board. I ordered Olivia's standardized achievement test on Monday. I'm hoping it comes in the mail this week, and then we can get if out of the way next week and have one more thing off our things to do list!
I hope your week was productive, or at least non-catastrophic! To see how everyone else managed, head over to the Weekly Wrap Up!