Tag Archives: history

History ~Sumerian Civilization

booksI really liked the “Ancient Civilizations for Children-Mesopotamia” DVD and will probably get more from this series.

gilgimeshThe Epic of Gilgamesh was a little too scary two years ago when we studied this last so I was pretty excited we got to read some of the stories this time.

The Last Quest of Gilgamesh” touched on the flood myth, which is what I really wanted to read about since it has many similarities to Noah’s Flood.

We are still finishing “The Golden Bull” but so far it is a really good read!

It is about two children in the city of Ur and when it describes the city and different parts of their life we look it up in our reference books.

It really makes that time period come alive.

pomAfter learning that they ate Pomegranates I bought one for the boys to try.

I found this really great tutorial on how to open them.

eatingThe boys liked it a lot!

messAs you can see from this boys face.

writingI had the boys try their hand at Cuneiform again also.

All you need is some Air Dry Clay, Pictures of what it looked like, and Chopsticks.

tablet2They used reeds to make the impressions for the real thing but I found the edge of a chopstick worked pretty well.

presstabletlookingCuneiformTabletsMy youngest really enjoyed making his!

He wanted to do more but I did not really want to use up all our clay on this project!

Because I am sentimental, here are some pics from when we did this project over two years ago!

oldest lasttime oldThe cuteness is a bit too much for me…

The Ice Age and Glaciers

booksIt can be difficult to find any information on the Ice Age from a Christian perspective.

I ended up buying “Life in the Great Ice Age” by Michael and Beverly Oard.

insidebookIt follows a young boy growing up at the end of the Ice Age from a biblical point of view.

It was such an amazing resource!

We leaned heavily on the Answers in Genesis site also.

glacierI did some searches for “Glaciers for kids” and came up with some interesting projects.

I cannot find the source for this one but it was a great idea.

You take a piece of ice(you can make some with bits of rocks and sand in them also) and slowly press it down and over on playdough.

Mimicking a glaciers movement.

movingWe read about what makes a glacier a glacier first and then did this project.

trailAfter we had done this we looked at pictures of valleys made from glaciers.

It was so much easier for them to see how the glacier could have carved it out after doing it for themselves!

Since my husband and I just went to Glacier National Park in September, I used many of my own pictures to talk about glaciers.

materialsThe boys were really fascinated with the cave paintings in the book so after reading what materials they used to make their paint we decided to try it for ourselves.

crushingWe used, egg white, orange juice, and coals from our fire.

crushing2The boys took turns crushing the coals into a powder.

makingpaintThen we mixed it all together.

cavepaint caveartThey tried to use pieces of grass to draw with but had better luck with paint brushes.

airblownMy oldest was really fascinated with the hand prints on the cave walls so we tried to recreate air brushing.

We used just plain straws but the boys are not good at keeping suction so most of the paint would come out and I think the opening needed to be smaller for it to spray.

sprayThey still had fun though and got the idea.

sprayerWe broke out the big guns and used a sidewalk chalk sprayer someone had given us a while ago.

handSuccess!

We studied the effects of ash clouds from Volcanoes also.

“Life in the Great Ice Age” had given that as one of their theories as to why the earth would have been cooler then.

There is a lot of evidence of increased volcanic activity during that time.

There is a lot of information and videos out there about that since we just had that big ash cloud in 2010 from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull.

Just looking at the pictures of how dark it was and how bad visibility was really helped that time period come alive.

hotAnother theory they brought up was that the ocean temperatures would have risen due to the waters from the deep coming up during the flood.

That would have caused an increase in evaporation and more rain or snow.

The colder temps with the increased snowfall would have caused more glaciers to form.

After reading that I asked the boys if warmer water evaporates faster than cooler water.

Since they were not sure we did an experiment.

I put two cups of water in a pot on the stove to heat on low and another two cups of cold just sitting out at room temp.

We than checked the amount in each every hour.

It was really easy for them to see that the hot water was evaporating very quickly.

I really enjoyed this study and learned so much!

How I introduced a love of history to my boys.

History is comprised of stories and I really enjoy stories.

I did not always enjoy history though.

I thought it was boring and filled with dates that I could not possibly remember.

What changed?

I was introduced to historical fiction.

How I introduced a love of history to my boys.

Early American history through, Gilbert Morris’s “The House of Winslow”.

Medicine in the 1800’s with, “Cheney Duvall.”

How I introduced a love of history to my boys.After marrying my husband I was introduced to Louis Lamour.

I can’t wait until my boys are old enough to start reading his books.

My interest in history came after I started reading books like these.

Suddenly I wanted to know if what I was reading was true.

I researched events and started really wanting to know what happened.

History textbooks left me frustrated and annoyed.

So when my boys were still toddlers I started out on my mission to instil a love of history in them.

I searched and searched for interesting picture books that just told a story.

I wanted it to introduce some history but mostly I wanted them to just enjoy it.

I started them on “The Great Big Wagon that rang: How the Liberty Bell was saved” by Joseph Slate.

It was a great book and told a really interesting story.

My boys are now 6&7 and have no clue history can be boring.

Because history if full of amazing stories and kids love stories!

So here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Start with a subject you are interested in.

I started with the Revolutionary War and Civil War because they interest me the most.

Are you a Jane Austen fan?

Find a story on that era in British History and start there.

If you are excited about it they will be too.

I have talked to so many people that like history because they had one teacher that loved it!

Revelutionwarbooks

2. Start with fiction.

Don’t start reading boring facts, read an amazing story of heroes and survival!

There are so many amazing people that did incredible things throughout history!

Even if it is not a real person they will still get the idea about what was happening back then.

sleeping inside

“The Sleeping Bear Press” tells great stories and their Alphabet State books are a great way to learn about the states.

thelast insidethelast The “Tales of Young Americans Series” have so many beautiful stories with gorgeous pictures.

starspangledbanner abe revelutionarywarjackThe Magic Tree House” by Mary Pope Osborne

imagineThe AIO Imagination Station books

3. Experience it.

Once you have introduced history through fiction make sure you bring it to life!

Dress up in period clothing(even if it is just a paper hat).

greeksMy boys dressed up as Aristotle

Re-enact an event through legos and toys.

greeksThe Trojan War with Legos.

civilwarbattleCivil War men.

Go to a History event.

shoot swordAt the Honey Springs Battlefield Re-enactment.

-Eat foods that they ate.

My boys and I made Corn Cakes after reading about them in one of the Little House books.pomWe ate a Pomegranate while learning about the Sumerian’s.

History is amazing and interesting!

Make sure you introduce that history to your kids, not the boring facts and dates!

Read here, to see how I tie together the subjects.