Moments from MFW...Study of Egypt 9/19-9/23/11

WEEK 5 - Creation to the Greeks, Mummies and Pyramids:

We have really been enjoying our study of Egypt in it's earliest history.  We are learning the books of the Old Testament and during this week we are also studying mummies and pyramids.  My historian is loving this study!  He is especially interested in all of the efforts kings took to preserve their bodies.  Several times both of my children commented on how important they thought they were from the size of their tombs, and how little humility seemed to be a part of Egyptian life for a pharaoh!

We enjoyed a science project, which we began this week, but will continue watching in the weeks to come.  This was done to expand on our study of how well the Egyptian people preserved the bodies of the dead in order to avoid mold and decay.

First...we took three slices of bread.  Then we labeled three baggies "plain", "antibiotic ointment", and "toast".  We put one slice of bread in the "plain" baggie, without doing anything to it.  We spread antibiotic ointment on another slice and slid it into the appropriate baggie.  The last slice was toasted and slid into it's baggie as well.  All baggies were sealed and we placed them on the hutch to watch daily for several weeks.  My children made a hypthesis in their science journals according to what they believe will happen to each slice of bread.  Here are the slices of bread and my daughter's science journal:

Their favorite activity, by far, was building a pyramid.  I was really surprised at how much they enjoyed this activity, since they wanted to just build them out of the paper patterns rather than out of another medium.  My little girl really enjoyed decorating the walls of her pyramids with images she thought might have been found inside.  My son preferred to draw the bricks on his for a realistic effect; however he stowed a surprise inside.  Prior to "sealing" his tomb, he cut a small pharaoh out of paper and colored him inside his sarcophagus.  He placed him inside the pyramid where he had drawn the chambers into the walls.  Then he sealed the pyramid to "protect" his tiny king from robbers.  He really enjoyed knowing he had secretly stowed a pharaoh in his pyramid.  Here is a photo of the pyramids after they were completed:

Currently, we are in week 6; learning about Job, Abraham, Sarah, Lot, Hagar, and Ishmael.  Hopefully we won't be as terribly delayed in posting about week 6 as we were in week 5!  We have been pretty busy.  We are reading through Tanglewoods' Secret and very much enjoying this beautiful story and how it depicts salvation for a child.  My son began construction on a Lego ziggurat this evening, just for fun!  What fun it is to see them enjoying about the history they are learning about during the weekly study!