The Week of the Rather Nasty Fieldtrip ~ Collage Friday

It was quite a relaxing week around our house.  We did do a little bit of math, science, Bible, writing and history.   The kids also spent a ton of time playing our new favorite resource:  Rocket Math - a great app I put on the iPad.  Factor in the holiday, a day away on a field trip, and I'm not quite sure where the week went!  


I do have some exciting news:

  Homegrown Learners will be moving TOMORROW!    

I don't think there should be too much upheaval, but if you subscribe by email or Google Friend Connect you will need to resubscribe.  You can read all about the transition in a post I wrote earlier this week.  


Also.... more exciting news:

PicMonkey now has a photo collage option!   I LOVE PicMonkey - it's free and if you want to make great collages it is easy.   

Click to read more ...

Explorations in Antiquity - A Fabulous Field Trip!

Have you heard about the new Field Trip Blog Hop?     I'm excited to be linking up today... we had probably the best field trip EVER (well, LOCAL field trip, that is!) this past week and I can't wait to share it with you!

As part of the summer VBS program at our church  ~ Paul's Journeys ~ (have you read my story about our church... it's a story about trusting God!), a group of 50 youth and adults journeyed to The Explorations in Antiquity Center in Lagrange, GA.   It is essentially a living museum of life in ancient times.    Wow -- we learned SO MUCH!    


In addition to the bonds being formed between all ages at the church...

I got a chance to be with adults and middle/high school youth (while the younger children went to a Bible Land Adventure Camp) and learn about life in ancient times.  We sat under a real goat's hair tent and got a glimpse into the life of a shepherd.  We made our own bread and played instruments.  

The children participated in an archaeological dig, unearthing real treasures and artifacts!  

Ever since we began Volume 1 of The Story of The World, Miss B has had a bit of an obsession with archaeology.   Can you tell she was in heaven doing this dig?? 
 

Here's my junior paleontologist, also enjoying himself.   This dig comes on the heels of an obsession with dinosaurs!

Here's Miss B listening to one of the guides, and also showing off her Giant Chambered Nautilus fossil!  

Finally, a group of youth from the "lookout", making sure the village was safe!

We finished the day with a trip to Dairy Queen and lots of silliness in the van on the way home.   It was a perfect way to spend our day - learning and forming bonds with our church family!

Immersing Ourselves in History - Monsters, Demons and Winged Beasts, OH MY!

Thesues and the Minotaur

We continue to make our way through The Story of the World, Volume 1. I like to keep track of our journey here ~ it is impossible to blog enough about it, however, because we spend so much time with history now. The book selections in the activity guide are wonderful, and my children are loving working on their Ancients notebooks. This WORKS for us!

After a trip to a museum at Emory University last weekend (to see an exhibit entitled "Monsters, Demons, and Winged Beasts: Composite Creatures in the Ancient World"), we are using a resource my son picked out in the gift shop. Yesterday, while reading Chapter 18, Life in Early Crete and the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, he played with his awesome new toy:

The maze activity sheet with this chapter is wonderful ~ we won't be forgetting how Theseus slayed the minotaur and how the Aegean Sea got its name, that's for sure!

This entire "Mythical Realms" tube is wonderful for our studies the next few weeks. It keeps a very active six year old engaged in the stories and allows him to internalize the material.

My favorite purchase was the book, Greek Myths, which is perfect for the younger child. It is a retelling of eight classic myths in comic-strip format - perfect!

We have this book ready to begin as our read-aloud:

As always, I have looked ahead several chapters and reserved many of the recommended books from the library. We keep them in a basket in our family room. I also set out books from our personal library to along with what we are studying. I love it that we can immerse ourselves in history using The Story of the World!!

Can you share any resources or thoughts about SOTW? If you don't use SOTW, what is your favorite history curriculum resource?

*image courtesy of About.com