The Green Collection

Yesterday we went to see the Green Collection of ancient texts and artifacts at the Mabee Center at Oral Roberts University. The collection belongs to the Green family who founded and owns Hobby Lobby, and they allow the collection to be viewed by the public. They had it in Oklahoma City last year, but we weren't able to go then, so we were very excited that it was coming right here to Tulsa.

There was also a lecture scheduled for the morning, but the speaker's flight got delayed so it was cancelled. I was so disappointed since David and I were going to have a little "date" morning out.

So, we came up with plan B. I hate when things change. I'm not a spontaneous person, unless it involves buying and eating chocolate, so any time plans change it just throws me for a loop. But, I was able to regroup and we decided that plan B would be to drop Brittany off at work and take all the kids to just view the collection (and it was free.)

About six years ago we took the kids to see the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at The Discovery Place in Charlotte, North Carolina. Most of the kids were pretty young then, and as much explaining as I tried to do about what we were going to see, I think the kids though we were going to see some sort of dead animals or bugs.

Anyway, since the scrolls are in such delicate conditions, they are under lock and key and blue lights. I found them to be quite fascinating-looking at something that someone else held in their hands so long ago. But, I don't think the kids thought they were quite that fascinating. I think they enjoyed weather forecasting in the museum and the IMAX Nile movie better.

This time around I tried to keep reminding them, "Remember when we went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls? This is like that."

Blank stares.

"Are we going anywhere else after that?"

Sigh.

The Green Collection has some facsimiles of a few of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some middle age texts and Bibles, and some first, second and third century texts, along with some cuneiform artifacts and quite a few other things. I thought it was definately worth going to see.

History Resources: Ancient History

Getting ready for a study of Ancient history? Check out these links.................


Bible History:
These are great printables for a Bible Times lapbook, or you could also use these for a History Notebook section on Bible Times.

Timeline of Biblical History

Expelled from Paradise

Research on the Story of Joseph
The Plagues

Moses

Exodus Pharoah Research

A Blank Map

Israel in Egypt


Egyptian History:
Find out what your name looks like on a Cartouche for your study of Ancient Egypt.

A Map of Ancient Egypt

Anything and everything Ancient Egypt

Printables

Lapbook and Lapbook




Ancient China:
Chinese Inventions

Map of the Silk Route

A China Lapbook

Anything and Everything Ancient China



Greece and Rome:
Here's how to dress in a Greek Chiton or a Roman Toga.

Greek Coloring Pages

Greek Notebooking Pages

Greek gods Coloring Pages
Comparing Athens and Sparta, and information on the two.

Here are two free lapbook/unit studies for Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome.

You wouldn't want to be an Egyptian Mummy or a Roman Gladiator!


This is an enormous list of all kinds of links by time period. There are a lot of interesting You Tube video links.

Counter Cultural School has great pictures, recipes and ideas for making a feast after your ancient history study- Egypt, Greece, Roman, Mayan, Indian, Medieval, Vikings and more. There are also ideas for costumes, games and decorations.

Some Ancient Activities from Ellen McHenry

Lots of Information About the Roman Empire

Make a Roman Mosaic

A Roman Menu

Activities for Ancient Rome from BBC

Roman Coloring Pages

Roman Printables

Roman Timeline



Vikings:
A Viking Lapbook

A Viking Map

Viking Ships on You Tube

Daily Life of Vikings

Runes, Runes, Runes, Runes, and more Runes


Ancient Americas:
An Aztec Notebooking Page

An Aztec Numbers Worksheet

Everything Aztec

Mayan Calendar Activity

Very Nice Aztec Color Pages

And More Very Nice Aztec Color Pages

A Map of World Empires in 1492

How to Tie Information like a Maya

How to Keep Records Like an Inca

Information The Inca Empire

My American Girls

Bethany and Brooke made a special treat for our study of the 1900’s.
They made these Jam Flags from the Molly Cookbook ………….




They also made Eleanor Roosevelt’s favorite dessert of Angel Food Cake. We put pink strawberry clouds on top from a recipe in a book, “Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride”.

Thanks for Serving Our Country!

What better way to start our study on World War 2 than to have the privilege of meeting and listening to an eyewitness? Arles Cole came to speak to homeschoolers about his experiences as a World War 2 and Pearl Harbor Survivor. He was such a nice man. He said that God spared his life so many times, because God’s purpose for him was to tell his story and give glory to God.

He was on the USS West Virginia in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. He carried Doris Miller to safety (remember Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character in the movie?) after Doris was knocked unconscious when the bombing started. Mr. Arles went on to serve on other ships in eight more engagements before the war was over.

We used to live in Pearl Harbor housing when David was in the Marine Corps and I’ve been to the Arizona Memorial. It is quite a sobering thing to see. And now to be able to meet someone who was actually there and bring a personal aspect to the story is just such a neat thing to me. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been this excited to meet a Hollywood star.

“Showing Our Colors” is the book he wrote to share his story. He didn’t bring any of his books with him, but I ordered one from him and can’t wait to read it.




Mr. Cole's story and video can be seen here.

I Can't Believe It's Butter!

The older boys and the younger kids are studying 1800's American History this year. I've been reading Little House on the Prairie to the younger kids and we decided to make butter.

First, take a little cream......

Then, take a jar with a lid. We didn't have a glass jar, but we did have Daddy's hunting thermos.....

After you shake, shake, shake.........

Yummy, creamy, butter!




They like it!

History Links

BBC has an online game for World War 1


Here is some good information on the Oregon Trail.


My Wild Frontier is an online pioneer game.


Learn about Cher Ami, a carrier pigeon from World War One. Check out the rest of the site for great information and booklets, including one on the Medal of Honor, and Inaugural Addresses of all the Presidents.


Leslie, The Contemplator, has some very good selections of time period music for your history studies.


Music from the Civil War era.


Here is a neat Civil War soldier supply activity.


National Geographic has a nice site about the Underground Railroad.



This Monticello site has some neat things for Thomas Jefferson, and an online tour. Also, it has lots of stuff about the Lewis and Clark expedition.



These are some cute historical paper dolls.


This is interesting-a collection of presidential recipes.


Plimoth Plantation has a neat kids page for learning about the Pilgrims and Wampanoag.


I love this Kids and History site. Take a tour through Paul Revere's virtual museum or through 1607 Jamestown. (And great activities for both!)



Early British Kingdoms has tons of information on what else? Early British Kingdoms!

History Resources

I cover history for our homeschool about the same way as science, except instead of topics, we cover time periods. I decided thatI would break our studies down into a five year rotation (like science). The five time periods are: Explorers through 1700's American History, 1800's American History, 1900's American History, Creation through Ancients, Middle Ages/Renaissance to Explorers. Now, I do cover a bit of world events when we are covering american history, and I chose American history first since we start our rotation in the third grade and I think American History is easier to understand at that age since we live here and can see the history around us. I also wanted to make sure we were grounded in Bible truth before delving to deeply in ancient gods and such.


I collect material and plan just the same as I do with science in my Science Resources post. Say if I am planning out my1800's year, I will print an 1800's timeline off of the internet, then pick and choose what topics I want to cover. Then I gather all my material and write it up. The first few weeks of my 1800's curriculum looks like this:


Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) 1

biog. Jefferson "A Picture Bookof Thomas Jefferson" by James Giblin
www.monticillo.org (virtual tour/day in the life)
write a biography
rubbing of a Jefferson nickel


Johnny Appleseed (1801) 1

Biog. Appleseed "Johnny Appleseed: A Tall Tale" by Steven Kellogg
JE Gibbons "The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree" by Gail Gibbons
Johnny Appleseed puppet printout
Discuss why apples? nutritious, easy to grow, versatile; examine different apple varieties and products from apples. Examine center seed "star".
Draw an apple tree in each of the four seasons and a short biog. at bottom of page.


Louisiana Purchase/ Lewis and Clark (1804-1806) 2

Complete History book pg. 126-131
978 Bow "The Back of Beyond: A Story About Lewis and Clark" (long book-read only certain parts)
biog. Sacagawea "Sacagawea: Her True Story" by Joyce Milton
www.nationalgeographic.com/west (virtual journey)
http://www.usmint.gov/ (view coins and printouts)
-Divide a paper into six sections and write one important fact from the purchase and expidition into each


The numbers next to the titles are how many weeks I plan to cover that section. Especially for accountability, I'm saying that I have planned 1 week's worth of work to be completed in that section. I've also included the call numbers for the books I'm using so I that when the time comes I can just request them and go pick them up at the library. Now, of course you don't have to cover the same topics, nor do the same sequence of events or chronologically. You can follow this method and choose what topics you prefer. When I wrote up this curriculum, we were doing more of a "notebooking" style of work.


When you want to purchase History materials here are some good companies:
Rainbow Resource (They sell everything homeschool!)

Knowledge Quest (very good for geography also)

Hold That Thought

Home 4 School Gear

Homeschool in the Woods


Here are some websites that have good resources:
http://www.historyplace.com/

http://www.worldatlas.com/

http://www.laurasprairiehouse.com/

http://www.50states.com/

http://www.cyberbee.com/wwho/index.html

http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad

http://legvi.tripod.com/castroromani/index.html


http://www.teacheroz.com/

http://www.teach-nology.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children/ration/ration_intro.shtml

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

http://www.wholesomewords.org/

http://www.abc.net.au/arts/wingedsandals/

http://www.si.edu/

www.yourchildlearns.com/geography.htm

http://www.americanheritage.org/ (free lessons cd)