We have started viewing the “Young Indiana Jones” series which was recently released on DVD.  I remember seeing these on television as a pre-teen/teenager and loving them.  When I found out they were coming out on DVD, I thought they would be perfect to use as an introduction to study topics. 

DVD-1 Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt:

1. Watch the DVD and Documentary Extras
2. Read Usborne’s section on Ancient Egypt(or other age appropriate books from the library)
3. Visit an exhibit about Ancient Egypt(The following are available in Denver Area)
   1. WOW Children’s Museum In Lafayette(Egypt:  Mysteries and Puzzles)–this was great!
   2. Denver Museum of Nature and Science  (Fantastic Display with 2 mummies and interesting video, teaching resources available at their website)
   3. Denver Art Museum  We like to go on Free Days, the first Saturday of Each Month–this is the most child friendly art museum I have ever been too! 
4. Mummify a Chicken
5. Do Egyptian Activities

For a Charlotte Mason type activity, we decided to create our own fall wreath from organic materials found on a nature walk in our neighborhood. Armed with buckets, Emily and Camille spent an hour riding bikes and scooters up and down the sidewalk, buckets banging their legs, looking for beautiful leaves to use on our wreath. They also collected crabapples from the ground next to a crabapple tree and cool pieces of bark.

Today, we cut a circle from a big piece of cardboard(a GREAT way to incorporate Math and show its value to Art: we decided what diameter we wanted the wreath to be, divided that by two(to be the radius of the circle), measured a piece of yarn that size and tied it to a pencil. The other end of yarn was attached to the center of the piece of cardboard. We learned that the diameter of a circle is twice the radius.

After cutting the cardboard piece out and cutting an appropriate sized hole in the center, we used a hot glue gun(well, I used the hot glue gun) and attached a layer of leaves to the cardboard. Then we used the other things we found(berries/bark/etc) to add dimension.

Husband was unsure about the “plan” before we did it and was pleasantly surprised at how nicely it turned out.

Not bad for a free art project! Learning points we touched upon included:

• Deciduous and Coniferous Trees
• Geometry–radius/diameter/circumference of a circle
• multi-media art–creating dimension and texture

With the help of Scholastic’s Thanksgiving Website and Plymoth Plantation’s Website, we are currently studying about THE REAL happenings of the Mayflower and Plymoth Colony.  I really love Scholastic’s interactive site, and found a lot of information on books to check out from the Library that would compliment online information.  Emily(8) and Camille(4.5)  are both participating in the unit study.  Emily is supplementing what we do together with reading Dear America: A Journey to the New World-The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple. 

Below is our daily study plan:

• Day 1:  On the Scholastic site, explore “Voyage on the Mayflower” and “Tour the Ship”
• Day 2:  Read the Passenger Interviews\Make your own Picture Postcard\Create a Personal Timeline
• Day 3:  Jobs on the Mayflower\Learn Parts of the Ship and what they are for(see lesson plan for grade 3-6)
• Day 4:  Learn about the Mayflower Compact
• Day 5:  The Wampanoags
• Day 6:  The Wampanoags:  Traditions and Culture
• Day 7:  Daily Life of the Settlers
• Day 8:  Was it *really* the first Thanksgiving?  Myths and Facts
• Day 9:  Arts and Crafts from the 1600’s