Egypt!

We have begun our second term of history with a study of Ancient Egypt! First we made a salt-dough map of Egypt so we could look at and feel what it is like while we study it (it's not my creativity, so don't be impressed - it's just our curriculum!). I enlisted Matt to help with the initial shaping of the map, and then we had to wit about a week until it was dry enough to paint. This week, we have added brown for land, green for the fertile areas, and blue for water. Tomorrow, we will label the map and see where everything is. It has been fun, and the girls have really enjoyed creating it!





We have also begun map studies of Africa, listening to our geography songs CD and identifying countries in Africa. So far, we have identified Egypt, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, as well as the Mediterranean and Red Seas and the Pacific Ocean. Hopefully, we will add a country or two a week, but we'll see. How many do they need to know at this age? I picked the ones we did because Matt has been to Kenya, they saved money for orphans in Uganda, and we have a friend from Soutah Africa. We'll see how many more we get to. The good news is, they can identify the continents and oceans, so that is pretty good for this age, I think!

We have greatly enjoyed reading from our book for the term, Boy of the Pyramids, by Ruth Fosdick Jones. It certainly has brought Egypt to life, and we have learned a lot about this country!

Yesterday, purely for fun, we built sugar cube pyramids (something I read about on another blog). They enjoyed the building, but I suspect that their favorite part was eating a few at the end! I like these food-based crafts! Next week, we are going to try mummy hotdogs! :)