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Wednesday’s Around the World ~ Athens, Sparta, Manasseh and The Powers of Mesopotamia

Written by Joy
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Wednesday’s Around the World ~ Athens, Sparta, Manasseh and The Powers of Mesopotamia

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.

 

2013, homeschooling, Wednesdays Around The World, , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday’s Around The World ~ Ancient Native Americans

Written by Joy
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Wednesday’s Around The World ~ Ancient Native Americans

Welcome to another week of Wednesday’s Around The World.  This week the lesson I am highlighting is about the Ancient Native Americans. It is lesson 48 in the Mystery of History: Volume 1 book.  While I have been enjoying studying about people in ancient times and they are calling this lesson the Ancient Native Americans, I am truly excited that we have shifted to North America for a lesson.  I am so amazed that at the same time Hezekiah was ruling Judah, there were actually people living in what we now know as the United States.

The Ancient Native Americans have been labeled and put into 4 different groups.  The first group are known as the Paleo Indians.  They are the earliest known group.  Not too much is known about this group of Indians.  It looks like they moved around a lot, following the herds of animals for food and their skins.  They think they also had light weight tools because they did travel so much.

The second group is the Archaic Indians.   They seemed to be settled a little more than the first group, but staying in one place for a while.  They also dried some of their meat and grew grain for food.  They also had tools that they used for carving.

The next group is known as the Adena Indians.   This Indian tribe actually farmed their land.  They also made pottery to store the food they made.  The Adena’s are also known for their burial mounds that they built.

The last group is known as the Hopewell Indians.  They took the Adena’s idea of the burial mound and really went over the top with it.  Their mounds weren’t just the typical round mounds, they actually made it a work of art.  They would shape their burial mounds into different shapes.  Some are shaped into animals and are as long as 1600 feet!  That is truly amazing!  The Hopewell Indians were farmers who grew corn.  They also grew tobacco and made pipes out of the shapes of animals.

Some of these mounds are still standing today.  There is one in Ohio that is called the Great Serpent Mound and there is also one in Wisconsin that is in the shape of a turtle.  What is so wonderful about these mounds?  They have withstood the weather for for than 2000 years.

My kids enjoyed the activity we did for this lesson.  They got to play with model magic clay.  The suggestion from the book was to make an animal pipe using a straw and the clay.  However, the kids and I decided that they would make different animal shapes like they made the burial mounds out of.  My kids chose to make a bear, turtle and snake!

Turtle, Snakes and Bear Burial Mound shapes

While these were just simple small shapes, can you imagine making a burial mound 1600 feet long?  That would take a lot of digging and dirt moving!

We had several to link up last week and I thought I would share them with you today.

Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom had a lesson on The Call of Abraham.  They went outside and built an alter like God had told Abraham to do.

Deborah at The Paper Maid shares about the listening guides that you can find for Mystery of History: Volume 3 at the yahoo group.  Her boys will read their lesson and fill the pages out.  The lessons will sometimes include maps.  I did not know about this and look forward to checking in on this for my oldest daughter.

Lindsay from Bytes of Memory is talking about the Shang Dynasty and the Silk Secret.  Did you know that the Chinese people kept how silk was made a secret for over 3000 year?  She also has her son doing a neat little activity with yarn!

Be sure to stop by and visit these ladies.  They did a wonderful job sharing about their lessons.

Now for this weeks Wednesday’s Around the World link-up.  We would love to see what you learned this week!  Just follow the link-up below!

****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.

2013, homeschooling, Wednesdays Around The World, , , , , ,

Wednesday’s Around the World~ A History and Geography Link-Up

Written by Joy
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Wednesday’s Around the World~ A History and Geography Link-Up

We had a wonderful Christmas break and I was so excited to start school back on January 2nd.  I was excited that we would begin our history and geography so that I could do the Wednesdays Around the World.   We did begin school on January 2, except by evening time, my husband and youngest son had gotten sick.  Eventually, one by one, our whole family would be sick with me being the last one to get sick.  Hit hit me like a freight train on Monday night.  I have spent most of the day, Tuesday, in bed.  Since we have been sick and unable to do our schooling, I thought I would go over why I started Wednesdays Around the World and what you need to do to link up with us.

Wednesdays Around the World: A History and Geography Link-Up, came from my love of the history curriculum that I am using.   I started using Mystery of History in the fall of 2011 and immediately fell in love it it.  History has always been a favorite subject of mine, but I loved how it was written and put together by Linda Lacour Hobar.  I then started using the Illuminations program from Bright Ideas Press, who also publishes the Mystery of History.  They also have some great Geography curriculum that they publish as well.  The more my kids and I did the lessons with the projects and activities, the more I wanted to share with everyone else what we were learning.  That got me to thinking about doing a history link-up for those who love and use any of the Bright Ideas Press curriculum that they publish.  I contacted a couple of people I know from there and told them about my idea.  They loved it!   While they love my idea and support me on this, they do not have anything to do with the link-up.  I am doing this on my own with their blessings!

I started this link-up the week of Thanksgiving and then continued it until the week before Christmas.  We took a few weeks of for the Christmas season and I am ready to get back to sharing what we are learning in Mystery of History, Volume 1.

Who can link-up to Wednesdays Around the World?  Anyone who is using the history, geography or WonderMaps curriculum that is published by Bright Ideas Press.  This includes Mystery of History (all volumes), All American History, WonderMaps, The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide, Hands-On Geography, Cantering the Country and Galloping the Globe.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.  I want this to be a fun learning experience for everyone!

If you have started school and have a lesson, activity or project that you want to link up, I would love to see it as I am sure others do, as well!  Grab the button (although it is not mandatory) and just follow the instructions on the link-up below!

**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.


2013, homeschooling, Wednesdays Around The World, , , , ,

Wednesdays Around the World ~ a giveaway!

Written by Joy
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Wednesdays Around the World ~ a giveaway!

**UPDATE** Winner of the $20 store credit is Jenn from http://justusscotts.blogspot.com/2012/08/history-lesson-comedy.html!

Welcome to another Wednesday Around The World.  This is a link-up where we talk about and share all about our history and geography.  This is for those who use the history and geography that is published by Bright Ideas Press.  I hope you will join in!

This past week, because I was not feeling well, we did not do any of our history or geography.  There are times when my Fibromyalgia and Arthritis really cause me a lot of pain.  During those times, we just read a lot and do the basics of Writing, Math and Reading.   That is also why I am late in getting this post up.  So I do apologize for that.

Have you do any special projects or learned anything interesting in history or geography this week?  I would love for you to link up!

I thought I would highlight a couple of blogs who linked up last week.  Stacey at Layered Soul and her family are using All American History Jr.  They just finished a lesson where it was suggested they watch The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band.  Stop by to see how she used the movie in their homeschool.  Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom and her kids studied about the Spanish American War.  Be sure to stop by to see all that she did with her kids in teaching them about the war.

This will also be the last link up for the year.  We will be taking the rest of the year off for the Christmas holidays.  Our first link up of the new year will be January 9th.

However, before I go, I would love to have a giveaway.  The giveaway is for a $20 store credit for Bright Ideas Press.

If you have done a post using any of the Bright Ideas Press history or geography, please link up and your name will be in the drawing for a $20 store credit!

This giveaway will end on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012.  I will draw the winner 9:00 pm (MST).

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



2012, homeschooling, Wednesdays Around The World, , , , ,

Wednesdays Around The World: A History and Geography link-up~ Israel falling to the Assyrians and Hosea

Written by Joy
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Wednesdays Around The World: A History and Geography link-up~ Israel falling to the Assyrians and Hosea

Welcome to another week of Wednesdays Around The World.  Working through sickness in the family, we still managed to have several great lessons in our Mystery of History studies.

In lesson 45, we read about Israel and how they fell to Assyria.  By using prophets as His messengers, God had warned them to not sin.

2 Kings 17:13

13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

He told the people of the Northern Kingdom that if they continued to sin, they would fall to their neighboring nation.

Hosea 10:6

6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king.
Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

We talked about what types of bad things that the people of Israel were doing.  They worshiped idols, practiced witchcraft and set up pillars and wooden images.  So many horrible things!  God was very angry with all that they did, especially since they knew they were doing wrong!  God’s response was harsh, but well deserved.  While the Assyrians thought they won, God had actually allowed the Assyrians to take the people of Israel.

2 Kings 17:23

23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

What exactly happened?  The people of Israel were taken to the land of Assryia.  They were removed from the Promised Land and others were sent to live in the land that God had promised the Israelite people.  There were over 27,000 people that left the land God had promised them, because they disobeyed God.

This was a very good lesson, because it taught the kids that disobeying has its consequences.  If we continue to disobey we can loose what has been given to us.

Lesson 46 talked about the Hosea, the prophet that God sent to Israel to warn the people about their sins.  Not only did God use Hosea to speak to Israel, God also used Hosea’s life as an example.  He told Hosea to marry a harlot.  By doing this, Hosea’s life showed what God was feeling through pain and true love.  You see, God loves us so much and it pains Him so much to see his people disobey.

The activity that we did for lesson 45 was to show the children that the 27,000 were a lot of people.  The kids were to find 100 of an object.  Then we were to talk about how there were 272+ more groups of the 100 objects to equal the amount of people that had to leave the Promised Land.  The kids actually found 100 pennies, but also found a few dimes and nickels.  We were able to get a little math in while adding up to 27,000+.

The activity for lesson 46, we were to bake a cake.  Well half-bake it.  How disappointing is a half baked cake?  very disappointing because you can’t eat it!  The Israelite people disappointed God tremendously.

Hosea 7:8

8 Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;  Ephraim is a cake not turned.

counting pennies.

 

I also wanted to highlight a couple of those who linked up last week.  The first one is Judy from Contented at Home and How They Use Mystery of History.  I love how they switch things up just a bit to make it work for them.  The next one is Stacey from Layered Soul.  They built a fort using food items!

What have you covered in history?  Any exciting lessons or activities? I can’t wait to see what you all have learned about!

 

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


2012, homeschooling, Wednesdays Around The World, , , , , , ,