Notes from the Trolley Station

Oct. 8, 2008

Ancient Egypt Unit & Simple Machines

We've almost finished our unit study of Ancient Egypt! Since I had the summer to prepare for our fall units, I took the time to gather all the materials we might use for this study into one kit. It included any worksheets or instruction sheets in a white folder that he could decorate himself, a few of the books we used ("Pyramids," a book about the discovery of King Tut's tomb, and "Mummies in the Morning"), materials for making the game Senet, materials for making a "Pharoah Fruitenkhamen" (a mummified orange), and ingredients to make a salt dough cartouche. It was all pretty simple, nothing glorious, and Keegan loved it. Even though the books were ones we already owned and ones he had already looked at, presenting them in this manner renewed his interest and he spent the next 2 days looking through them. He couldn't wait to get started on the mummy. I had to keep resisting my urge to do things "in order," to at least learn the basics about Ancient Egypt first (where was it, that life revolved around the Nile, that the rest of Egypt was desert, that this was the land of Moses and Joseph, etc.), and just go with his momentum. At the same time we started this unit, it was time for Keegan to begin building a Lego project to enter in our local county fair. He decided to create a pyramid, and with Daddy's help built a really neat structure that opened up to reveal a sarcophagus and Indiana Jones inside. The outside of the pyramid was covered with various Lego people working on or studying the pyramid. Batman was sweeping the side, while Robin held a magnifying glass to examine the building. It was really neat to see how Keegan took a plain pyramid and personalized it, yet really demonstrated a basic understanding of how archaeologists studied pyramids and the tombs within. The salt dough cartouche seemed like a fun project when we started, but in the end the dough never dried and we were never able to paint it. Keegan enjoyed writing his name in hieroglyphics, as well as translating a secret message written in hieroglyphics. We also watched several movies about Ancient Egypt, including one put out by the Discovery Channel that examined different periods in Egypt's history and included some reenactments, as well as a video about the Nile River and life along the Nile. I found a great book at the library called "Who Built the Pyramid?" This vibrant book presented a variety of characters (all men) claiming to have built the pyramid - from the pharoah who commanded it be built, to the foreman who oversaw its construction, to the artist who carved the writing, to the water boy who carried water to the workers, ending with the new pharoah who oversaw his father's burial and the closing of the pyramid. It demonstrated some of the complexity involved in constructing a pyramid, and gave a glimpse at some of the non-royal people of Egypt. This study coincided with our reading of Exodus. It helped provide context for understanding Moses' experience there, as well as for understanding the significance of declaring that God is the one and only God. Next year, we'll move into the New Testament and do a similar study of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. As part of this unit, we also studied simple machines. We used a book called "Wheels and Levers" to inspire some experiments about simple machines. Keegan's favorite part of this study was watching the "How Things Work" videos on screws, wheels, pulleys, etc. One of the nice things about homeschooling is that you can manipulate the materials you work with to fit with your personal views. One of the experiments we did was to make butter by hand (shaking cream in a jar) and by machine (using a mixer). The lesson plan I was using was trying to make the point that machines help us do work. However, in this case, I was able to extend that further by pointing out all the work involved in both methods. When making the butter with a mixer, we then had all the mixer parts and a bowl to clean up. Much more work than simply pouring off the buttermilk and storing the butter in the jar! Yes, machines help us do work, but in some cases they actually cause more work!

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