Ancient American Civilizations

This week in history we are studying ancient American civilizations.  We began our study with the nazca culture which flourished from the first to eighth centuries AD beside the dry southern coast of Peru.  The Nazca culture is renouned for their large geoglyphs.  The geoglyphs of Nazca or "Nazca lines" are a series of geometric shapes, miles of lines, and large drawings of animal figures (some as large as a football field) constructed on the desert floor in the Nazca region.  The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks or orcas, llamas, and lizards.

According to Wiki: The lines are shallow designs made in the ground by removing the  reddish pebbles and uncovering the whitish ground beneath. Hundreds are simple lines or geometric shapes; more than seventy are designs of animal, bird, fish or human figures. The largest figures are over 200 metres (660 ft) across. Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but they generally ascribe religious significance to them, as they were major works that required vision, planning and coordination of people to achieve. Here is an example of a monkey geoglyph.

As part of our study T designed and drew his own geoglyphs.

We also briefly studied the Olmec culture which were an ancient Pre-Columbian civilization living in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico.  The most familiar aspect of the Olmecs is their artwork, particularly the aptly-named colossal heads.  As no known pre-Columbian text explains them, these impressive monuments have been the subject of much speculation. Once theorized to be ballplayers, it is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rulers, perhaps dressed as ballplayers. Infused with individuality, no two heads are alike and the helmet-like headdresses are adorned with distinctive elements, suggesting to some personal or group symbols. There have been 17 colossal heads unearthed to date.  According to Wiki the heads range in size from the Rancho La Cobata head, at 3.4 m high, to the pair at Tres Zapotes, at 1.47 m. It has been calculated that the largest heads weigh between 25 and 55 tons.

The heads were carved from single blocks or boulders of volcanic basalt, found in the Tuxtlas Mountains.  Here is an example of an Olmec Head.

T constructed his own Olmec head out of playdoh.

We plan on studying ancient American civization more in depth in the coming weeks.  T seems especially interested in them due to their close geographic proximity.

Mazes, Minotaurs and Minoans

This week in history T studied life in early Crete. He was especially taken with the myth of King Minos and the Minotaur. He built a maze out of legos and used a string to mark the path out just like the hero of the myth Theseus. We used the suggestion in the SOTW AG and built a Minoan ship. To construct our Minoan sailing ship we used this wonderful tutorial from Ikat Bag. Our Minoan sailing ship is even complete with a black sail. According to legend Theseus was supposed to put a white sail on his ship if he had successfully slain the Minotaur. Alas, poor Theseus forgot to change his sail and returned home donning a black sail. His father King Aegeus was so distraught over his son supposed death that he flung himself into the sea. To honor his father’s death Theseus named this sea the Aegean Sea. We have had a blast reenacting this myth. All week I have overheard T engaging in fierce battle against the Minotaur and sailing home victorious....there has even been a dramatic suicidal death plunge scene using a lego mini-figure. T is enthralled with this period of history. We have begun reading D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and it is a hit so far. This history smitten Mama is thrilled to see T so engaged in the stories of the past.

Weekly School Round-Up

I guess since this is partially a homeschool blog I should do at least one homeschool post a week...so here goes.

Math
T continues to excel in math. We have mastered addition and subtraction facts up to twenty and have moved onto basic multiplication. I wasn't surprised to see that T quickly grasped this concept. I found a helpful hint for teaching multiplication..instead of stating 3x4 we say 3 "groups" of four. This works well since multiplication is just a quick way of adding the same number "multiple" times. This verbiage should make the jump to division much simpler. T will be able to visualize the groups within each number.

History
This week we have been covering ancient Asian history, specifically civilizations from China and the Indus river valley. T constructed a typical Indus valley home, complete with it's own well and Lego mini-figure. He was intrigued by this civilization since it seems to have mysteriously disappeared. His bedroom is beginning to look like an archaeological dig site with all of this ancient architecture strewn about. Science
We are still studying the systems of the human body. We covered the respiratory and digestive systems this week. Our respiratory lab involved breathing for a "Giant". T had to inhale through the nose, travel down the esophagus into the lungs and oxygenate red blood cells. Next he moved the RBC to the heart where it was pumped to the giant's foot and exchanged for carbon dioxide. The RBC was then pumped back to the heart and the carbon dioxide was exhaled by the lungs and out the esophagus exiting through the giant's nose. The children really enjoyed this and my three year old was able to tell her daddy at dinner that red blood cells carry oxygen:) As a result of his digestive system lab T learned that his digestive system is 21 feet long and it takes three days for his food to travel through it. You can only imagine the fun my 6 year old son had discussing his food "waste" and how it exits the body.....um how many times can you say poop in one school day?

All of our curriculum choice this year seem to be a hit. We have finally hit our groove...just in time thrown off kilter by the excitement and bustle of the holidays.

Weekly School Report

It has been a busy week here at the academy for wayward children:) The kiddos have a yucky virus so we were unable to do our weekly nature walk....but we were able to keep up with the rest of our studies. Here are a few of our projects.

T is studying the circulatory system and this week we focused on blood composition. To illustrate the various components we made a blood model. We used Karo syrup to depict the plasma, red lentils for red blood cells, dried garbanzo beans for white blood cells and blue dyed rice for platelets. This lab was really cool...and sticky!

In history this week we are focusing on the Babylonians. We studied up on Hammurabi's code of laws and T decided to make his own code of laws for his room. The drawing is a depiction of him issuing his decrees.

We also covered Babylonian architecture specifically ziggurats which are terraced pyramids of successively receding stories. T made a replica of a ziggurat using some recyclables and painted it reddish brown to resemble mud bricks. He of course had to add a Lego Indian Jones and a golden idol for authenticity. The ideas for these projects came from our Story of The World Activity Guide.

All in all considering how sick we were I think it was a very successful week....I really was hoping to call in a substitute this week but apparently that's not an option for homeschoolers;)

History Report

"A generation which ignores history has no past and no future." Robert Heinlein

T seems to be following in his Mama's footsteps and is thoroughly engrossed in ancient history. We are using The Story of the World Vol.1 with Activity Guide this year and so far we are all enjoying it. Ancient Egypt is by far T's favorite subject matter to date. We are in the process of mummifying a potato...will post pics upon completion. After studying Sumer we made cuneiform tablets of our initials.

We also created Sumerian seals after studying the first Sumerian dictator Sargon. In ancient Sumer very few people knew how to write their names. Instead, they made special seals they embossed into wet clay. T used a Lego (of course) to make his seal.

I am looking forward to creating more of these art projects throughout the year. T loves to see his completed works...it is really inspiring him!