Friday, November 18, 2011
Wheel of Time - Week 11 - Medieval Book Discussion
It is time for our book discussion for the medieval time period. I'm sorry to say, that I think we were the only ones who had even started a medieval book - except in the case of Noah - he always seems to do what is asked. As we began class, we talked a litte bit about some of the environments and atmosphere during this period then started right in on the craft. I thought having them make a lapbook for the medieval time period would sumarize it fairly well, so that's what we did. I had made a few copies of castles, famous people, and shields for their use and cut them out. But the rest of their creation was entirely on their own. I let them look through whatever resources I had (knights coloring book, castles, cathedrals, & the Story of the World Activity Book) & I made copies of anything they wanted in class on whatever color of paper they requested. It kept me pretty busy but I think they had an enjoyable time. One of the comments I heard just made my day. Quote "This is the best class ever".
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wheel of Time - Week 10 - 13th Century BC
This was another century where I just wasn't finding much to report. Of course, there was a significant event (Moses) but it seemed to be the only one. Weird.
And as luck would have it, I had a minor surgery this week and so I couldn't even go to class. My daughter, Austen, was good enough to step in and substitute for me. And even on a day that she was giving a huge presentation in her Shakespeare class. So from what I understand, she told them the story of Moses for this century, then made a hangman game. Girls against boys. She put a phrase, well... lines representing letters, up on the board, and if the team answered the event or other information regarding the picture drawn, they earned the right to guess a letter. Once they figured out the phrase - they used the rest of the time just playing hangman. So the kids got a fun way to review what we've learned, Austen got some leadership experience, and I got to stay at home with the intent of resting and recooperating. At least that was the idea.
And as luck would have it, I had a minor surgery this week and so I couldn't even go to class. My daughter, Austen, was good enough to step in and substitute for me. And even on a day that she was giving a huge presentation in her Shakespeare class. So from what I understand, she told them the story of Moses for this century, then made a hangman game. Girls against boys. She put a phrase, well... lines representing letters, up on the board, and if the team answered the event or other information regarding the picture drawn, they earned the right to guess a letter. Once they figured out the phrase - they used the rest of the time just playing hangman. So the kids got a fun way to review what we've learned, Austen got some leadership experience, and I got to stay at home with the intent of resting and recooperating. At least that was the idea.
Wheel of Time - Week 9 - 17th Century
Before class, I had e-mailed that I would give a small prize to whomever would like to hand in a written report of their presentation. My own children were eager to do so since they saw (and coveted) the prizes I had for the participants. There were several written reports, several verbal and even spontaneous presentations. I think every student stood up to share something at this point.
Our 17th Century timeline entries began with the Dutch Golden Age. The fine arts were at the highest point as well as industry. The Baroque Cultural Movement needed a little explanation but some were aware of Baroque type music from their private instructions. The Scientific Revolution was at its peak during this century. But on the down side, The General Crisis that was mostly caused by conflict between protestant and catholic faiths, kept the nations in an almost constant state of war. It was also during this conflict that brought about the King James Bible as well as the Jamestown Colony (John Smith & Pocahontas). Two pretty amazing things that were done in spite of a pretty rotten king. The last thing we discussed was the Mayflower Compact that took place with the puritans trying to prepare a safe environment for their children to grow up in.
Our activity was a simple one of coloring a puppet to glue on a paper sack, but unfortunately, I forgot to buy the paper sacks. Oops.
Our 17th Century timeline entries began with the Dutch Golden Age. The fine arts were at the highest point as well as industry. The Baroque Cultural Movement needed a little explanation but some were aware of Baroque type music from their private instructions. The Scientific Revolution was at its peak during this century. But on the down side, The General Crisis that was mostly caused by conflict between protestant and catholic faiths, kept the nations in an almost constant state of war. It was also during this conflict that brought about the King James Bible as well as the Jamestown Colony (John Smith & Pocahontas). Two pretty amazing things that were done in spite of a pretty rotten king. The last thing we discussed was the Mayflower Compact that took place with the puritans trying to prepare a safe environment for their children to grow up in.
Our activity was a simple one of coloring a puppet to glue on a paper sack, but unfortunately, I forgot to buy the paper sacks. Oops.
Wheel of Time - Week 8 - 1000 BC
By now, most of the kids are getting a little tired of the Wheel of Time landing on something in Ancient History and we were getting some groans that it happened again. After a few presentations were given, we did a simulation to learn some history organizations. I dumped several containers of colored pencils, crayons, and markers on a table. Then I invited all of them up to the table to organize all them some way. After they did it one way (I think sorting by color), I told them to organize them another way. So they separated the different mediums. Again, I told them to organize them another way. This went on several times until they didn't think they could organize it any differently then they had before. We brainstormed a little and found at least one more way before I put them away. Then I compared the colors to the different ways in which historians organized all the information they found.
I pointed out the obvious one that we use the most frequently - TIME - Millenia, Centuries, Decades, Years, Months, Days, Hours, Minutes, & Seconds. Then I pointed out how to organize in TIME-ish manners (relating to a specific time trend but not limited to our calendar) - Dispensations, Caeculum, eras, epochs. The still understood periods that depicted a CHANGE IN THINKING worldwide - Ancients, Medieval, Rennaissance, & modern. Then I introduced an organization by DEVELOPMENT - Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. I handed out the timeline picture depicting the collapse of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Similarly we discussed how history was organized by it PROGRESS or PROSPERITY - Golden Age vs. Dark Age. Here I hand out the timeline picture depicting the Greek Dark Ages when the mycenaean civilization died out and transitioned into city-states. We discussed how PEOPLE were often the organizational method of choice - such as Culture (polynesian/Hispanic), or Religion (Jew-Gentile), or Nations, Families, or Tribes. I handed out the pictures of King David (David & Goliath), King Solomon (Solomon's Temple), and the Division of Israel. Finally we discussed how RULERS were often the method used to organize history - Such as Dynasties (Shang), Kingdoms (Israel), Empires (Roman), or labels (Victorian period). I explained how Zhou Dynasty was during this time period.
I have to admit, this concept of how historians organize all the facets of events from the past was new to my understanding as well. I actually enjoyed teaching this one because I got something completely new from it.
I pointed out the obvious one that we use the most frequently - TIME - Millenia, Centuries, Decades, Years, Months, Days, Hours, Minutes, & Seconds. Then I pointed out how to organize in TIME-ish manners (relating to a specific time trend but not limited to our calendar) - Dispensations, Caeculum, eras, epochs. The still understood periods that depicted a CHANGE IN THINKING worldwide - Ancients, Medieval, Rennaissance, & modern. Then I introduced an organization by DEVELOPMENT - Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. I handed out the timeline picture depicting the collapse of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Similarly we discussed how history was organized by it PROGRESS or PROSPERITY - Golden Age vs. Dark Age. Here I hand out the timeline picture depicting the Greek Dark Ages when the mycenaean civilization died out and transitioned into city-states. We discussed how PEOPLE were often the organizational method of choice - such as Culture (polynesian/Hispanic), or Religion (Jew-Gentile), or Nations, Families, or Tribes. I handed out the pictures of King David (David & Goliath), King Solomon (Solomon's Temple), and the Division of Israel. Finally we discussed how RULERS were often the method used to organize history - Such as Dynasties (Shang), Kingdoms (Israel), Empires (Roman), or labels (Victorian period). I explained how Zhou Dynasty was during this time period.
I have to admit, this concept of how historians organize all the facets of events from the past was new to my understanding as well. I actually enjoyed teaching this one because I got something completely new from it.
Wheel of Time - Week 7 - 3rd Century AD
When the wheel landed on the 3rd Century AD, I was surprised to find that there really wasn't much going on during that time period. It really wasn't looking good for the Christians at least. In America, the End of the Zion people takes place as the peace that prevailed for almost 200 years after Christ's visit is replaced with pride and separation. In Rome, the Christians begin holding their meetings in the dug out Catacombs beneath the city so that they can not be persecuted for their beliefs.
After discussing these events to the Students, we found a secret symbol that they would use if they were in the same predicament as the christians. Since the story wasn't very long, I used the rest of the time playing a review game. I had previously put each of the timeline pictures in a container and so had them take turns pulling one out. If they could tell me the story just by looking at the picture, they got a point. If they could tell me the century it occured, they got another point. If they could tell me what country it occured, they got another point. I used this opportunity to have them color the world map in the beginning of their timeline and to color code it with the timeline pictures. Most of the kids did fairly well so that was like a pat on the back.
After discussing these events to the Students, we found a secret symbol that they would use if they were in the same predicament as the christians. Since the story wasn't very long, I used the rest of the time playing a review game. I had previously put each of the timeline pictures in a container and so had them take turns pulling one out. If they could tell me the story just by looking at the picture, they got a point. If they could tell me the century it occured, they got another point. If they could tell me what country it occured, they got another point. I used this opportunity to have them color the world map in the beginning of their timeline and to color code it with the timeline pictures. Most of the kids did fairly well so that was like a pat on the back.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Wheel of Time - Week 6 - 18th Century
Up until now, we've only studied centuries during the ancient period - Before Christ. So to make the jump to the 18th century gave an interesting perspective on recorded history. Each country has major events that seemed to build on each other. But it was way too much to try and cover it all in one hour.
To add the the chaotic overkill, I and my baby were sick. Most of the kids had a presentation to give, which was fabulous, but it took up a large portion of the class time. So as I talked about what was going on in the world during that span of 100 years, I was rushed to try and hand out the timeline pictures, give a very brief accounting of the stories, as well as give instructions for the craft.
I considered locating my family history names for during this century to show the students how to include personal and family history with stuying history, but as I began to list what names I had available, I filled an entire page of names before concuding it wasn't going to work in that format.
In our Religion category, we learned about John Wesley who founded the Methodist Church.
Under Inventions - I focused mostly on James Watt, who invented the steam engine; Eli Whitney, who invented the cotton gin and the interchangeable parts for guns; and James Cook for discovering Botany Bay in Austailia.
Cultural category was loaded with musicians: Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, & Hayden. And also authors including Jane Austen, Daniel Defoe, Johnathon Swift, John Newton, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Goethe, Voltaire, & Gibbon.
And finally under political, we learned about the American Revolution, the French Revolution, & Catherine the Great.
And that's only what I decided to focus on. There was so much more information but I just couldn't do any of it justice. Our craft wasa simple making a US flag out of construction paper. Simple - yes, but for some of the kids it made the whole class worth it,
To add the the chaotic overkill, I and my baby were sick. Most of the kids had a presentation to give, which was fabulous, but it took up a large portion of the class time. So as I talked about what was going on in the world during that span of 100 years, I was rushed to try and hand out the timeline pictures, give a very brief accounting of the stories, as well as give instructions for the craft.
I considered locating my family history names for during this century to show the students how to include personal and family history with stuying history, but as I began to list what names I had available, I filled an entire page of names before concuding it wasn't going to work in that format.
In our Religion category, we learned about John Wesley who founded the Methodist Church.
Under Inventions - I focused mostly on James Watt, who invented the steam engine; Eli Whitney, who invented the cotton gin and the interchangeable parts for guns; and James Cook for discovering Botany Bay in Austailia.
Cultural category was loaded with musicians: Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, & Hayden. And also authors including Jane Austen, Daniel Defoe, Johnathon Swift, John Newton, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Goethe, Voltaire, & Gibbon.
And finally under political, we learned about the American Revolution, the French Revolution, & Catherine the Great.
And that's only what I decided to focus on. There was so much more information but I just couldn't do any of it justice. Our craft wasa simple making a US flag out of construction paper. Simple - yes, but for some of the kids it made the whole class worth it,
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Wheel of Time - Week 5 - Ancient Book Discussion
I encouraged all the kids to read a classic book of their own choice that took place during the ancient time period. And then we would join together for a discussion - not on the same book, but the sameness of the lifestyles of the books we read. We chose to read 'Archimedes and the Door of Science' since we started it awhile ago in math and never got around to finishing it. It also made studying Archimedes in the 3rd Century BC seem like an extended study - so they got a little depth with their bredth.
Class began with everyone showing their book that they read, and briefly telling the plot or points of the story. Then we discussed what seemed to be common among all these stories and how these commonalities placed them in the ancient time period. We also contrasted what was different - not so much different from ancient culture to ancient culture, but different from our time to that time.
I outlined, briefly, what doctor DeMille did in his Cycles from the Classics CD. Comparing nomadic to agrarian in whatever category the kids chose - food, clothing, housing, education, gov't, communication, transportation, etc. I'll be brutally honest - this class was not as successful as the ones where we have engaging stories or interesting activities, but hopefully, again, it gave them perspective.
Class began with everyone showing their book that they read, and briefly telling the plot or points of the story. Then we discussed what seemed to be common among all these stories and how these commonalities placed them in the ancient time period. We also contrasted what was different - not so much different from ancient culture to ancient culture, but different from our time to that time.
I outlined, briefly, what doctor DeMille did in his Cycles from the Classics CD. Comparing nomadic to agrarian in whatever category the kids chose - food, clothing, housing, education, gov't, communication, transportation, etc. I'll be brutally honest - this class was not as successful as the ones where we have engaging stories or interesting activities, but hopefully, again, it gave them perspective.
Wheel of Time - Week 4 - 400 BC
You could tell some of the kids were getting a little discouraged that the wheel of time always seemed to land in Ancient History. I personally love ancient history and so I'm alright that 4400 years out of the 7000 on the wheel are yellow (depicting ancient time period).
We studied 4th Century BC this week - just a century before of what we had studied two weeks ago. It was kind of interesting to go back to add the details of what happened before - rather than teaching chronologically. But I'm convinced that this approach has brought about so many interesting insights and elevated perspectives from history that I'd never noticed in a chronological approach, that I'm grateful I'm offering it to my children, as well as the other students. The focal highlights I picked this time include:
Socrates - Funny thing is, I had just finished reading Plato's Trial and Death of Socrates the prior week in my Great Books class. It really opened up my understanding personally of these great minds.
Plato -Socrates student and Aristotles Mentor
Aristotle - Ironically, Alexander the Great's Mentor
Euclid - Associates with the great minds of Athens. I put a sign above the door which read "Let no one ignorant of Geometry enter Here"
Alexander the Great - The kids liked the story of Beucephalus being afraid of his shadow.
Pharos Lighthouse - One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world
Book of Jarom - If I can find the exact centuries in the scriptures, I want to include them to correlate the histories.
Since most all of the century focused mostly on the great minds and philosophy of Athens, and even the spread of those ideas through Alexander, I decided to set up the classroom as Athens, Greece. I set up a table of wares for sale at the open market, even buying foods that they would have eaten in Athens (grapes, goat milk, ww bread, figs, dates, olives-which I actually forgot to bring-, fish, & goat cheese. We discussed what home life was like and what the children did in Athens and how their schools taught them. We briefly talked about the temples built to the Greek Gods and Greek mythology. How the men spent their days in discussion of philosophy and debate. How the Athenian government (true democracy) differed from what we claim as a democracy. How their courtroom operated - relating the trial and death of Socrates. And how they drew in the sand and thought, and thought, and thought. I'm not sure it came across as powerfully as I had envisioned it, but I think it went alright. At least it broke up what seemed to be a developing monotony.
We studied 4th Century BC this week - just a century before of what we had studied two weeks ago. It was kind of interesting to go back to add the details of what happened before - rather than teaching chronologically. But I'm convinced that this approach has brought about so many interesting insights and elevated perspectives from history that I'd never noticed in a chronological approach, that I'm grateful I'm offering it to my children, as well as the other students. The focal highlights I picked this time include:
Socrates - Funny thing is, I had just finished reading Plato's Trial and Death of Socrates the prior week in my Great Books class. It really opened up my understanding personally of these great minds.
Plato -Socrates student and Aristotles Mentor
Aristotle - Ironically, Alexander the Great's Mentor
Euclid - Associates with the great minds of Athens. I put a sign above the door which read "Let no one ignorant of Geometry enter Here"
Alexander the Great - The kids liked the story of Beucephalus being afraid of his shadow.
Pharos Lighthouse - One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world
Book of Jarom - If I can find the exact centuries in the scriptures, I want to include them to correlate the histories.
Since most all of the century focused mostly on the great minds and philosophy of Athens, and even the spread of those ideas through Alexander, I decided to set up the classroom as Athens, Greece. I set up a table of wares for sale at the open market, even buying foods that they would have eaten in Athens (grapes, goat milk, ww bread, figs, dates, olives-which I actually forgot to bring-, fish, & goat cheese. We discussed what home life was like and what the children did in Athens and how their schools taught them. We briefly talked about the temples built to the Greek Gods and Greek mythology. How the men spent their days in discussion of philosophy and debate. How the Athenian government (true democracy) differed from what we claim as a democracy. How their courtroom operated - relating the trial and death of Socrates. And how they drew in the sand and thought, and thought, and thought. I'm not sure it came across as powerfully as I had envisioned it, but I think it went alright. At least it broke up what seemed to be a developing monotony.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Wheel of Time - Week 3 - 22nd Century BC
A pattern was beginning to take shape as we spun the wheel. I would search all my resources, list what I considered the highlights (which was probably too much, but I found it all so fascinating that I didn't want to leave anything out). I'd spend hours reading up more details on these highlighted points trying to own them enough to share with the class. On Sunday nights (or Monday mornings if I forgot) I'd send out an e-mail to class members so they would have two days to study and prepare a presentation. Then I'd find pictures to represent what I studied, shrunk them, copied (a lot of) them, and add a caption - print, cut, & paper clip.
This week was on 22nd Century BC - or 2200 BC to 2101 BC. It still takes me a little while to wrap my mind around how that works, but I think some of the kids are catching on to the concept. The highlights that I made timeline pictures were the following:
Aridification (who'd of thought climate would be interesting in the past - but it contributed to the end of some great kingdoms).
Old Kingdom Ends - Egypt and it's monumental time period of pyramids and mummies declines and passes during this century.
Middle Minoan Period - Bull jumping, King Minos and the Minotaur, First known civilization on Crete.
Epic of Gilgamesh - The very first fairy tale (that I think was dripping with tidbits of truth - half god, the flood, seeking immortality, etc.)
Biblical Flood according to Hebrew Calendar - It was so interesting to see the differences between calendars and how our history is mostly chronologically dated rather than specific dates. I don't believe the flood took place during this century, but it was interesting enough to see the discrepencies in histories that I wanted to share.
I couldn't find a good activity for the kids to engage in during class - in fact I was quite frantic about it all week. I finally decided on them playing the dot game to create a maze like the one under King Minos Palace to find the Minotaur and then draw a picture of how they envisioned Enkidu. But the stories of King Minos and the Epic of Gilgamesh were so enthralling to the kids, that I forgot the need to engage them in an activity - I barely remembered to pass out the dot game/maze that I had created. I love it when I can see the passion and interest in their eyes which is so different than the 'how are you going to entertain me today' look that is so common in kids today.
This week was on 22nd Century BC - or 2200 BC to 2101 BC. It still takes me a little while to wrap my mind around how that works, but I think some of the kids are catching on to the concept. The highlights that I made timeline pictures were the following:
Aridification (who'd of thought climate would be interesting in the past - but it contributed to the end of some great kingdoms).
Old Kingdom Ends - Egypt and it's monumental time period of pyramids and mummies declines and passes during this century.
Middle Minoan Period - Bull jumping, King Minos and the Minotaur, First known civilization on Crete.
Epic of Gilgamesh - The very first fairy tale (that I think was dripping with tidbits of truth - half god, the flood, seeking immortality, etc.)
Biblical Flood according to Hebrew Calendar - It was so interesting to see the differences between calendars and how our history is mostly chronologically dated rather than specific dates. I don't believe the flood took place during this century, but it was interesting enough to see the discrepencies in histories that I wanted to share.
I couldn't find a good activity for the kids to engage in during class - in fact I was quite frantic about it all week. I finally decided on them playing the dot game to create a maze like the one under King Minos Palace to find the Minotaur and then draw a picture of how they envisioned Enkidu. But the stories of King Minos and the Epic of Gilgamesh were so enthralling to the kids, that I forgot the need to engage them in an activity - I barely remembered to pass out the dot game/maze that I had created. I love it when I can see the passion and interest in their eyes which is so different than the 'how are you going to entertain me today' look that is so common in kids today.
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