Tag: 2013

I am really enjoying the Wednesday’s Around the World link-up.  Not only do I love history and geography, it also helps hold me accountable for our lessons.  Athens, Sparta, Manasseh and The Powers of Mesopotamia is what we have studies this last week in our  Mystery of History: Volume 1 book.

We began reading about The Rise of Athens and Sparta.  Sparta was a very strong city-state.  They trained men, women and even children to do battle.  They didn’t allow people in and out of their city because they feared their neighbors.

Athens was also a large city-state, but they were a little different than the Spartans.  They enjoyed cultural things.  They loved the arts! The people of Athens enjoyed music, drama and were even known for their love of pottery.  They decorated the pottery they made with all sorts of designs.

For our activity, we were to draw a design of our own on a piece of pottery.  I could not find a terra-cotta clay pot, but did find some that were already painted a solid color and fired.  I let the kids choose their color of pot and they also decided to use colored permanent marker instead of a black marker.  I love my kids imaginations!

Claire choosing her colors

Once they chose their pot and markers, they started drawing their designs.

being creative and making their own designs

Claire and Samuel both decided to draw trees and flowers on their pots.

finished pottery designs

The finished products turned out great!

Next we read about King Menessah, the son of Hezekiah.  We learned that he was nothing like his father.  He was a very bad and evil king.  The sins he committed were horrible, including using the Temple that Solomon built as a place for God, and he put his own idols to worship, in there.

We also see a change though after 22 years.  King Manasseh was captured by the Assyrian Army and taken to Babylon in hooks and chains.  While he was in prison, Kind Manasseh began to pray!  He really prayed to God.  God heard his prayers and forgave him.  Once King Manasseh was released, he spent the rest of his life trying to fix all that he did wrong.  He tried to turn his kingdom around for God.

The next lesson we studied was about “The Powers of Mesopotamia”.  Two groups, the Assyrians and the Babylonians were in Mesopotamia.  They were very similar to Sparta and Athens.  How?  The Assyyrians were like Spartans.  They didn’t trust anyone, and were very war-like.  They were terrifying to other places around them.  The Babylonians were similar to the Athenians.  They were very educated in math.  In fact, they created several things that we still use today!  The number of minutes in an hour and the number of degrees in a circle!  It is so amazing at how smart these people were with the little they had!

Now it is your turn to link up and share what all you have been learning about in history and geography!

****disclaimer~ This link-up is not officially affiliated with Bright Ideas Press but is my own project. I am a customer and fan.  This post also contains affiliate links.