Just sharing a few things we did with our Mystery of History lessons this past week.  I've said this before but here I go again... the beauty of this curriculum is that we can all study the same topic together (not too mention it's Biblically sound and has very little teacher prep. time)  Here's a little photo show of some of the things we did:

 Studying Ezekiel we read through the story of "them bones" found in Ezekiel chapter 37.

My 6 yr. old spontaneously drew this picture to go along with it....

Then we read of God giving Ezekiel his message on a scroll and Ezekiel eating it.  Off we went to make our own edible scrolls (flatened bread) and of course we added some honey since this is how Ezekiel himself describes a scroll from God!  (Ezekiel 3:3)

This is DS6 working on his scroll -

We also reviewed the life of Aesop (lived same time as Ezekiel) and read some of his fables.  This time DS6 had an assignment of re-enacting one of the fables with puppets.   (pretend the raccoon is a fox!)

The fable he chose to act out was "The Donkey, the Fox and the Lion".  My older kids had to either re-write one of the fables in their own words with an illustration or make up their own fable.

Maybe you can tell I enjoy teaching History from this book.  Next year DD14 will be in 9th grade and studying on her own using Streams of Civilization (not positive on this curriculum yet).  The boys and I will finish MOH Volume 1 and then the plan is to move onto Mystery of History Vol 2. which begins with the life of Christ.

     One of the great perks of homeschooling is that I get to learn right along with my kids!  So many times I wish I had this type of education growing up.  :-)  History never seemed this appealing to me when I was a in school!  I can't recall ever doing any hands on type activities.

  This past week we had a "Who am I?" History review.  For each historical person that my children were able to recall something about they got a chocolate chip.  (best treat I had on hand at the time!) Even after the first child had a turn, if someone could name a different fact they would get a chocolate chip also.   I purposely did not review anything with them ahead of time nor did I tell them about the "pop quiz" before hand.  The review included people we have studied since the start of the school year.  (Using Mystery of History Vol 1.)

Below are a few that stumped them.... can you remember who they are? 

Who was King Minos?        

Who was Hagar?

Who was Ramses II?                                                    

Who was Rehebaom?

Who were the Aryans?

   I'm a bit behind in my blogging and I'm going to try and catch up in the next few days.  First of all I'd like to show you a photo of the map of Egypt my DD13 made with cake and frosting!  That's one way to make Geography more fun...

     The big blue line down the middle is - you guessed it - the Nile.  A bit exaggerated, I know, but she was working with frosting remember. 

      This was an activity she did for Mystery of History.  We were invited to a homeschooling family's home later that day so we were able to share it.   The cake was one, regular, Pillsbury cake mix poured into a 11 x 15 pan making it thinner than normal but giving her more surface area to make the map.  This project was a nice change of pace, of course it helps that she is 13 and could accomplish without my help.

   The lesson talked of the Great Hall, built during Ramses reign.  For those of you enjoying Mystery of History here are 2 links with great photos.  The first one has a picture of the columns in the great hall and you can move it around and get a 360 view.

                       NOVA, Columns of the Great Hall
                                          and
                                 Karnak, Luxor

     And just another History tidbit, in addition to the Mystery of History Vol. 1,  I have been playing Diana Waring's audio CD "True Tales - Ancient Civilizations" for the kids some mornings.  We have enjoyed learning all the fascinating extra details that go along quite well with what we are studying in History.  My 10 year old son voluntarily takes notes - WOW!  She refers to what sounds like some very interesting books that I hope I can find through inter-library loan.   I appreciate Diana's enthusiasm, she puts plenty of fun in her presentations.   She's also a homeschoolblogger!