Egyptmania!

A Day Late But We Did a Lot!

Today is Sunday, and in case you are wondering, it is not the day after the last post.  I need to work on diligence and punctuality!  

History

Lu finished listening to Chapter 2 in The Story of the World on Friday.  Chapter 2 covers the beginning of Ancient Egyptian society starting with an explanation of significant geographical and ecological factors and moving through Narmer's unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.  The second part of chapter 2 introduced some of Egypt's mythology, discussed the Pharaoh's role in government and religion, and introduced the concept of mummification through an entertaining myth about Osiris being tricked by Set and ultimately rescued by his devoted wife Isis.  Lu enjoyed learning about Egypt that the topic has taken over the weekend as well, with every book and video dealing with Egypt that we can find getting pulled off the shelves (and the internet).  Lu was even motivated to pull out her modern-day atlases of Egypt and learn more about how Egypt is connected to other modern-day countries in Africa.  

History Resources used since Friday

Here is a list (not comprehensive) of resources we have used in our exploration of Egypt, Ancient and Modern:

TV

CyberChase Episode: Clock Like And Egyptian
Reading Rainbow Season 4 Episode 7: Mummies Made in Egypt
Digging for the Truth Season 1 Episode 1: Who Built Egypt's Pyramids - note: I would not recommend this one for young students after viewing.  The subject matter discussed the possibility that the pyramids were engineered by refugees from Atlantis, which is so far from the scientific pale that I felt insulted the entire time, but I was concerned that impressionable children might be deceived into giving credence to these wild theories and led from the safe ground of solid facts.  To be fair, the show (although giving the Atlantis theory undue consideration) did conclude by affirming the Egyptian origin of the pyramids.
Digging for the Truth Season 1 Episode 2: Nefertiti: The Mummy Returns - this one is better, with the premises reasonable and less insulting.  It was a bit boring for my 5 year old, however.

Movies

Mummies:  Secrets of the Pharaohs
Bud Abbot and Lou Costello Meet the Mummy - watched this one Sunday night on the last day of winter vacation.  Although I had to talk her through the plot, Lu thought all the slapstick hijinks were hilarious, especially the part where multiple "mummies" are wandering around bumping in to each other and no one knows which mummy is the real one.  A surprise favorite was the admittedly gratuitous inclusion of Peggy King singing You Came a Long Way from St Louis.  Lu turned to me and said with wide eyes and awe in her voice, "WOW.  That is a GREAT song."  When the movie was over she asked if we could replay two parts:  The mummy mix-up chase scene and the song.  

Apps

Time Builders - Pyramid Rising HD (game)
Mummy's Treasure (game)
Moses - Kids Learn the Biblical Story in an Interactive Adventure (story)  note: This one was a real winner!  Lu loved it and completed it but kept coming back for all the fun mini-games and activities embedded in the story.  There are lots of interesting details about Egyptian society and architecture and great illustrations (and action!) throughout.  And it was free!

Books:

e-book: DK Multi-Touch Pocket Genius Ancient Egypt  note: Another real winner for Lu.  She loved the brilliant photographs and brief, easy-to-understand descriptions.  This is a book she goes back to again and again, just soaking up the information and pictures.

Magic Tree House #3: Mummies in the Morning
Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Mummies and Pyramids  note: these books are designed to complement each other but can be too challenging for a five year old to engage independently.  We are slowly moving through them together.  I will let you know how it goes!

Visiting the Art Museum:  This well-worn book was used when we bought it years ago and has now been read almost into oblivion.  It is an entertaining story told with cartoon bubble dialogue and somewhat grumpy kids that takes a delightful trip through history in the guise of a Museum of Art.  We paid extra attention to the Ancient Egyptian exhibit, but enjoyed bouncing through this familiar world again well after we had passed the Egyptian pages.  This one made another appearance on Sunday night as a bedtime read-aloud.

Africa is Not a Country: A terrific resource on modern-day countries in Africa, but the information on Egypt is pretty sparse.  Lu especially likes the detailed map at the beginning of the book.

DK First Atlas:  I was really disappointed in the level of information provided on Africa in general in this Atlas (we sponsor a child in West Africa and are always looking for good books that describe the culture there) but the coverage of Egypt and the Nile was pretty good.  There is a two-page spread on pages 42 and 43 with detailed photographs of several sites around Egypt that Lu examined carefully.  There is also a helpful map of the entire continent that shows (unlike some of our other maps) how Africa and Egypt are situated in relation to Europe and the Near East.  This is especially helpful for us as we were trying to talk about how trade routes had a significant role in why so many advanced civilizations sprung up around the Mediterranean.

We also pulled maps and images from the internet (using google) and used a globe to help us understand how all these locations related to other places of interest.

Puzzle

Melissa and Doug Tomb of Kings 100 Piece Floor Puzzle - Fun for the whole family!  

Reading

Read by Lu

A Dollar for Penny
Assorted baby Books for Magpie
A very long grocery list (and all the labels at the grocery store) - Lu is my grocery helper.

Read Aloud

The Very Lonely Firefly
King Midas and the Golden Touch

Math

On Friday, Lu did nearly 3 hours of math!  She completed the skills labeled A.6 - Counting by tens - up to 100 and A.7 Counting tens and ones - up to 99 and mastered both skills with a perfect score of 100 after answering 103 questions.  

On Saturday, Lu spent 48 minutes mastering two skills in the First grade category.  She achieved a perfect score of 100 in both skills after answering only 66 questions total!  The two skills mastered were: B.1 - Addition with pictures - sums to 10 and B.2 - Addition sentences - sums to 10.

Adieu for Now?

Lu returns to the regular public school year tomorrow and our schedule will change dramatically.  I will miss this fun experiment in homeschooling and look forward to resuming in earnest during the school break this summer and again when we start up "for real" in one year.  I will try to check in with any homeschool projects we do during the regular school year, but Lu is often very busy with school, Mexican Dance classes, Tae Kwon Do, and violin practice, so I am not really sure how aggressively we will be able to pursue a homeschool schedule when she has so much on her plate.  Only time will tell!