Tag Archives: history

Seven Ancient Wonders ~History

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“Voyage to the Pharos” is a great historical fiction.

We used all of the other books as a reference.

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“Brick Wonders” was my favorite book for learning about the Seven Ancient Wonders!

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I had the boys look at the pictures of the books version of Ancient Wonders and then build their own.

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The Seven Ancient Wonders of Lego Land!

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The Statue of Zues and the Colossus of Rhodes.

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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

 

The boys really liked building these!

It helped them feel invested in the structures also so they wanted to learn about them.

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Their “Big Book of History” had a really good idea.

They had them write out a tour guide brochure for the Ancient Wonders!

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I had them document on this map what countries the ancient wonders were as well to go with their tour guide.

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Heavener Runestone Park, Heavener, OK

On our way back home from the Ouachita National Forest we stopped by the Heavener Runestone Park.

It is no longer a state park, the city runs it.

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I visited the Heavener Runestone as a child while visiting family in the area so this place is always a bit nostalgic for me.

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The path to the Runestone is only about 200 yards but filled with beautiful scenery.

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As a child, I enjoyed all of the steps the best!

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Although I would not travel very far to just come to this park I would definitely recommend stopping while in the area.

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The Runestone is unique and filled with history.

I like discussing controversial history like this with my boys.

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There are other short nature trails you could take while there as well.

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You could stop by on your way to the Ouachita National Forest/Talimena Scenic Drive like we did or visit the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center.

If you are coming from the Tulsa area you could stop at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge on the way down.

There is a lot to see in Oklahoma so get out there and look!

The Greeks and the Olympics

 

 Along with our study of the Astronomy, we were also learning about the Greeks and the first Olympics!

 

The Greeks and the Olympics ~daniellehuddlestonphotography.com

If you are looking for a great interpretation of the Odyssey for kids then check out Mary Pope Osborne’s (author of the Magic Tree House) “Tales From the Odyssey”.

I chose a story from this version to compare to another adult version I had already.

I have to admit that I have not really read the Odyssey before but I really enjoyed comparing the two with my boys.

They are starting to get to such a fun age to teach!

 

The “YOU CHOOSE Ancient Greece” was of course a big hit.

My boys get so much from these books!

They do all the scenarios trying to see what will happen and learn so much history while doing it!

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I have really liked this video series for kids, “Ancient Civilizations” this one was on Greece.

It is easy to understand and has nothing bad in it.

It might give you a butterfly and rainbows view of each culture but the boys and I discuss the downsides so that is okay.

The Greeks and the Olympics ~daniellehuddlestonphotography.com

We looked up what people in Ancient Greece might have eaten and that is what we had for lunch!

This was so much fun!

They had Fig Newtons in Ancient Greece.

Didn’t you know that?

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Sometimes you have to wing it when your store does not carry figs…

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I used the Lesson Plan on The Magic Tree House Classroom Adventures site to get some ideas for our Olympics.

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We decided to wear clothes instead of being authentic.

Clothing works better for pictures.

All I did for their tunics is cut a hole out of a rectangle of sheet and tie it with a rope belt.

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We did:

Discus

High Jump

Javelin

The Stade (race)

Wrestling

The Greeks and the Olympics ~daniellehuddlestonphotography.com

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I made a crown out of morning glory vines for the winner.

We did not have any Olive Tree branches lying around.

Since there are only two of them I had them wear it after every victory instead of waiting until the end.

The Greeks and the Olympics ~daniellehuddlestonphotography.com

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The victor of the Javelin!

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The Greeks and the Olympics ~daniellehuddlestonphotography.com

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The Stade.

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stade

wrestling

This one was not on the site but my boys had already read that there was wrestling so they insisted it be a part of our games.

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They saw right away why clothing was a problem.

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I don’t see why they did not include this in the lesson plan.

What?

You don’t want the children wrestling in school?

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We watched these events on the Olympics site to compare and get an idea of what it is supposed to look like.

 We don’t always get to do so much hands on for our history but it was so much fun!

I think the boys are going to remember the Greeks.