Into Egypt

DH and I decided that it might be a good idea to try out some of the various curriculums to see what works best for us before we commit to buying one. Most of the ones we've been looking at have a week or more of free samples available online.

The girls and I started Week 1 of the sample curriculum from Tapestry of Grace today. Yesterday after church we spent the afternoon at the library, and came home with tons of books on Egypt. I told the girls yesterday that this week we would be visiting Egypt in our imaginations.

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With guests Friday and Saturday, a birthday party Saturday, and church and the library on Sunday, I ran out of time to do much preparation. So today we basically did a bit of an overview, looking through some of the books and picking out interesting points to look at.

We reviewed oceans and continents, talked a little about the Nile river and the basic geography of Egypt, and why civilizations tended to center around water. We read a little about the culture of ancient Egypt, and briefly discussed everything from their architecture to their beliefs to how they did their shopping.

We read bits and pieces of several different books together and the girls browsed through others on their own. I had thought the books might be a bit too dry, the topics too advanced and the wealth of information a bit overwhelming for their ages. But it wasn't. They each found several books that interested them from the huge stack. M&M's favorite was a book about an Egyptian cat. AJ sat down and read straight through a book on the Nile River and Geography From A to Z on her own. Both of them also read parts from other books on Egypt, and would have kept going if I hadn't called them to dinner.

One thing we had enjoyed reading about was the barter system used for commerce in ancient Egypt, so for dinner I had a bit of a brainstorm. I gave AJ a plateful of sliced cucumber (fresh from our garden) and three butter knives, M&M three pieces of oven-friend chicken and three forks, and Baby E three little dishes of potato chips and three spoons. (We were limited on the starches and produce since we were avoiding fructose and trialing sucrose today.) The girls had to "barter" with each other to end up with a complete meal and the appropriate silverware. They loved it.

By the end of the day, the kids had learned quite a bit about Egypt. So had I. Even Baby E enjoyed looking at the books and maps.

I think we'll easily spend the planned three weeks "visiting" Egypt. I'm more worried that we won't be able to spend as much time as we'd like on each area than that we'll run out of things to study before the 3 weeks are up.

This week we'll focus mainly on the geography, the river Nile, the animals native to Egypt, and ancient Egyptian culture and daily life (being aware that this was the culture in which Moses was raised). Next week we'll learn about the Pharaoh's role as ruler, the pyramids and tombs, mummies, the Egyptian religion, Moses, and the Children of Israel. I think the third week focuses mainly on Egyptian mythology, relating it to the Ten Plagues and the Exodus.

Interwoven among all that, we'll be doing things like making salt maps to learn geography basics, doing writing assignments, studying the arts and crafts of ancient Egypt, etc. I'm not sure if we'll start math, grammar and science this week or wait until after Labor Day to do that.

Today felt more like playing and exploring than like "doing school."

M&M told her daddy, "We went to Egypt in our minds today. But right now I'm still in Egypt in my mind."

AJ said, "When I grow up, I'm going to go and live in Egypt."

We can all hardly wait to do more of our study tomorrow. We're going to start our salt maps, learn more about the Nile, and try to find or make some food that ancient Egyptians might have eaten.