This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Ancient Egypt Read Aloud Books – 2nd Time Through
We are pretty relaxed/eclectic homeschoolers, but one subject we’ve continued to approach in a more orderly manner over the years is history. We start at the beginning of time and then work through all of history to the present day. Rinse and repeat!
As I’ve stated many times in past posts our main approach to learning history has been through reading living books. This has been a very rewarding way to learn history and has helped me and my kids have a more full picture of history, rather than just learning and regurgitating important dates.
This year we have also added in The Mystery of History as our spine. It’s been a nice addition for us!
This past fall we started the whole history cycle again beginning with Ancient History. And we just recently finished going through Ancient Egypt for the 2nd time. (Here are the activities we did and books we read the first time we studied Ancient Egypt four years ago.)
History Timeline
For the past four years we’ve put all significant historical events on our history timeline (we did this using butcher paper and having the kids draw the events on the paper.)
Having fun with our giant timeline on butcher paper
Since we started the whole history cycle again this past fall, I decided we’d change it up, so instead of drawing historical events on butcher paper, I bought each of the kids their own timeline book. They are really enjoying the timeline books so far!
Big sister (9th grade!) is actually taking world history (using this curriculum) at a local co-op this year, so she doesn’t typically join in on our read-alouds, but she IS doing the timeline book with her younger brothers.
Three different interpretations of King Tut
List of Ancient Egypt Read Aloud Books (2nd Time Around)
Here are the books we did as read-alouds for Ancient Egypt this year.
The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone
Unwrapping the Pharaohs: How Egyptian Archaeology Confirms the Biblical Timeline
For purposes of this blog post, we’ll say Early American History covers the landing of the Pilgrims (1620) through the early 1800s.
Some key events that took place during these years include: the Pilgrims coming over from England and colonies eventually getting established, the birth of a new country and the Revolutionary War (and the French Revolution), and the establishment of our new country’s government (constitution and government).
There are so many books that cover this time period. We use mostly living books. I’m only including books we read but there are so many to choose from!
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Reference Books/Biographies
We purchased many of the following through Beautiful Feet Books, specifically their Early American History packs, and Amazon.
A Child’s First Book of American History by Earl Schenck Miers and illustrated by James Daugherty. This is a nice big book with big print and cool illustrations that focuses solely on American History. Good for all ages.
Fearless by Elvira Woodruff (Not pictured. Also not specifically American history but takes place in England in 1700 – and so it was neat to read a book taking place at the same time in a different part of the world.)
Homeschooling and salt dough maps go together like peanut butter and jelly. They are the ultimate hands-on way to learn geography AND history. But they can also seem like a daunting activity, especially if you are averse to a mess. Have you ever made one? A salt-dough map that is, not a mess! 😉
Before I had ever done a salt dough map I had made them out to be much more complicated than they were. Then we did our first salt-dough map while studying Ancient Egypt. It was a wild success!
Recently, while studying Lewis and Clark’s expedition, the thought of doing another salt-dough map seemed like a great idea. We could map out their expedition, even showing the different terrain they had traversed over. And so we made another one! I don’t know why I waited a few years to do another salt-dough map, as they really aren’t that difficult and the kids love them!
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you.)
Here is how we made a Lewis and Clark salt-dough map, using items we had in the house!
We needed something for the base. Not overcomplicating things we used a large cereal box and cut an opening flap using a utility knife.
We went online to find a map of the United States. We printed out the size we wanted (we just did the one-pager!) Then my younger son colored the back of the map using a black piece of chalk. We then flipped it over and traced the outline of the map (we actually traced a little bit beyond the outline of the map, because we wanted it just a tad bigger…). Now we had the outline of the map on the cereal box base! Don’t be like me and overthink this part. It does not have to be perfect!
We mixed up the salt dough: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water. (If it’s too sticky you can add more flour; if it’s too dry, add more water). Mix and knead it for a few minutes.
Before letting the map dry, we stuck toothpicks into the main locations we wanted to highlight on the map (we used a timeline from this book to help us pick those locations.) We pulled the toothpicks out right away, but the holes were there for when it dried. We labeled our toothpicks at this time, but you can do it later too.
*Then we let it air dry for 48 hours.*
6. Next we painted the map. We used the same physical map of the U.S. (linked above) to help guide us in how to paint it.
7. We then stuck our labeled toothpicks back into the salt dough map.And here’s the final product!
We studied the Reformation and the Renaissance at the same time. While working up a list of all the books we used to learn about these time periods, I realized it might be helpful to note the differences and similarities between the two periods.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Two different movements happening at the same time
While these two time periods happened simultaneously, they are very different from one another. This is a point that many know. However, if you are studying this for the first time with your kids, it may not be as obvious to you. The Reformation was a religious revolution, and the Renaissance was a secular movement and had to do with the revolution of ideas. The book that I leaned on heavily as a resource to understand these differences, and I highly recommend, is “How Should We Then Live?” by Francis Schaeffer.
Both movements followed the Middle Ages
Both the Renaissance and the Reformation followed the Middle Ages, a darker time of not as much growth. The printing press did not exist in the Middle Ages, and books were not readily available. Literacy rates were below 20%, with mostly the wealthy having access to education and books. During the Middle Ages, people did not have ready access to Bibles to teach themselves scripture, or to other books to learn new things. This was soon to change during the time periods of the Renaissance and the Reformation.
The Renaissance – a secular movement, “rebirth” of ideas
The Renaissance and Reformation were both leaving “tradition” but did so in different ways. Renaissance, which literally means “rebirth” was a secular movement focusing on new ideas, music, art, philosophy, etc. The Renaissance introduced us to the idea of humanism, that is man is at the center of his universe. Obviously, humanism is directly at odds with the Bible. This is one way the Reformation was markedly different than the Renaissance.
The Reformation – Gettings back to the basics of the Bible
Ultimately the Reformation was about getting back to the basics of what the Bible said. When we think of the Reformation, we often think about the Roman Catholic church splitting into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. For me personally, when I think of the Reformation I picture Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to that door. It’s important to note the Reformation already had stirrings for quite some time before this. My favorite book from the book list we used was Morning Star of the Reformation. It is about John Wycliffe who lived from 1320-1384 (long before Martin Luther!)
The Printing Press – a common denominator for both movements
While these time periods were very different from one another, they did have some similarities. They were both leaving tradition and both were heavily impacted by the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press around 1440. Below is a list of books we used to learn more about these time periods.
They are so many great gift ideas for a child with dyspraxia. Gifts that will help them build skills AND have fun at the same time!
Find some of our favorites below!
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Building/STEM Toys / Builds hand-eye coordination and imagination (often a strength of dyspraxic kiddos.)
Twister / Great for learning right/left directions and developing balance.
Balance board / A fun way to practice, you guessed it, balancing!
Trampoline/ Provides HOURS of fun. Helps kids develop strength, balance and coordination. If your kids are little, you can find small indoor trampolines. We did that for many years before we graduated to one like this:
Sit n spin / Great for little ones to develop their core muscles and balance.
Bop it! / Helps kiddos develop a faster processing speed. Often kids with dyspraxia have a slower processing speed.
Pop-beads / Helps with hand strength and dexterity.
Story Cubes / This gift idea focuses on one of the strengths often found in kids with dyspraxia – imagination and creativity!
Ring toss / Good for developing hand-eye coordination.
Nerf ball / A non-intimidating way for an older child to practice throwing and catching.
Magnetic darts/ Good for developing hand-eye coordination and overhand movement.
Badminton / Great for practicing hand-eye coordination and team play.
Table Tennis / Good for hand-eye coordination and a little competition.
Jump rope – Good for developing strength and coordination. My kids have found the beaded jump ropes to be easier to use (especially when just starting out!)
Bag Toss – Good for developing hand-eye coordination and throwing skills.
I love all things Christmas – the lights, the music, the food, and the festivities! It is my favorite time of year. And yes, I do start listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving – I just love it. 🙂
Yesterday was the start of Advent. The word “advent” stems from the word adventus which means coming or arrival – referring to Christ coming as a babe in a manger and his eventual coming again. Something which should give us great hope!
Our family has many Christmas traditions, such as decorating the tree, baking, giving gifts, the Jesse tree, etc., but one of our favorites is our Advent read-aloud. We have found a series of books we love. And this year we are reading the 4th and final book in this Advent series.
We started this series in 2015 when our oldest was in 2nd grade. It is always one of the highlights of the season for us and helps to get and keep our hearts focused on the reason for the season.
Note: These books are historical fiction, and like any historical fiction book, the author has done research to give you a good idea of what life was like during that time and includes true facts, but many creative liberties are also taken.
These advent storybooks, all by Arnold Ytreeide, are listed below. The books intertwine with one another which creates an even more interesting storyline.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Ishtar is the son of a Persian wise man and adventures across the desert, following the star to Bethlehem.
How to read through the books:
Ideally, you start the 4th Sunday before Advent and read a section each day. But really, you can modify it to work for your family! Sometimes we have days where we can’t all gather and read at the same time, and so we’ll read two sections the next day. Sometimes we read it at night and other times during the day. Each chapter ends as a cliffhanger so the kids are always excited to read more.
The books all have between 150 – 200 pages and the recommended age is 8+. The books can be intense at times, so keep that in mind for sensitive readers.
This year we have an 8th grader, a 6th grader, and a 2nd grader. Below are our curriculum picks for the 2021-2022 year.
This year I used Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace by Pam Barnhill while planning and found it to be helpful in organizing and prioritizing our goals for the year. As the kids get older, there are more opportunities for things to get involved in, and the ideas in this book helped me form a framework that has allowed me to see more clearly what activities to say yes and no to.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
I take more of an unschooling approach to writing with this kiddo. She does write often on her own, mainly fan fiction. She also writes for her creative writing class at our new co-op. As a natural writer, she loves to write and does best when she does so in a real-life setting that has a purpose.
We are doing a couple of different book clubs this year. This has been a great fit as she has been challenged to read books she wouldn’t normally read and also has the joy of getting to discuss them with others.
We are continuing to use Writeshop which has been an amazing fit for this kiddo. It’s the perfect combination of fun and structure and we’ve really enjoyed using it. Writeshop includes grammar practice, presented in a colorful way. 🙂
We also do creative journal entries and have introduced some dictation this year (Dictation is when I read a few sentences from a book that he’s reading on his own and he has to copy what he hears into a journal.) Dictation is a gentle and natural way to practice spelling and punctuation/capitalization.
Reading/Language Arts:
Explode the Code – After many years, he just finished this series. 🙂
Book-wise, this kiddo usually has a good idea of what he wants to read. He spends a couple of hours a day reading, and these are some of his favorite series.
Math:
Masterbooks math – This is our main math curriculum for this child.
Math-It – He does this once a week to stay on top of his math facts.
Making friends with numbers – We discovered this fun workbook this past summer and it’s been a great resource for extra practice with multiplication facts.
Music
Piano lessons
Choir and recorder/drums/ukelele class through a local music academy.
The Good and the Beautiful Math – I received this at a discounted price last year and he enjoys it so we’ve continued to use it!
Math-It: We use this for daily math facts practice
STEM:
Kiwi Crates – Every month we get a kiwi crate in the mail and it is always a highlight for this kiddo.
For Everyone:
**The following subjects we do together during our “morning time”. We generally do Bible and History every day, and then loop/rotate the other subjects. This helps me stay sane! 🙂
Bible:
Picture-Smart Bible – We are almost done with the new testament, and will be moving to the old soon.
History:
Living Books exploring U.S. History. We plot the major events on our timeline as we go. Most of our books were purchased through Beautiful Feet Books – New Early American Intermediate Pack. We also got some from the middle and high school packs.
Guest Hollow Anatomy – This has been a lot of fun so far. All three kids are enjoying it (I pick and choose from both the junior and high school curriculums.) We especially love the hands-on projects!
Latin:
Getting Started With Latin by William E. Linney, though rather plain, has been a great fit for us. The pace at which the lessons move has worked really well.
Art:
Living Art Lessons – The boys and I are working through this book. It is pretty much an open-and-go art program and we are really enjoying it. We just finished up learning all about ‘lines’.
I often get the question, “Do you have any suggestions for Christian book series?” And while I am not aware of ALL that’s available in this genre, I do have some series that have been a hit in our household!
Some of these books are not explicitly Christian, but have strong Christian themes or are heavily influenced by Christian thought.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
These beloved books by John Bibee have been around for many years! The first book of this eight-book series was written in 1983 and is called the Magic Bicycle. Until recently, these books were hard to find. But recently they have gone into print again and you can easily find them on Amazon. The Spirit Flyer books are full of adventure and Christian allegory. My son LOVED these books.
The Growly Series follows the adventures of a young coming-of-age bear named Growly. They are not specifically “Christian” books but are wholesome, well-written, and will captivate the adventure-seeking reader. There are five books in this series. The first three books comprise the “Growly Trilogy”. These include Begin, Widewater, and Morning. You could also choose to start with either the 4th or 5th book, as stand-alone books.
My 11-year-old son is in the middle of reading this series right now and cannot put them down! These books follow the adventures of two young rabbits, Heather and Picket. While not specifically Christian, there are Christian themes throughout the book – friendship, redemption, sacrifice to name a few! This nine-book (and growing!) series is considered to be a favorite among many readers, and lots of families love it as a read-aloud.
Jenny L. Cote has masterfully crafted the genre of Christian Historical Fiction. The first series: ‘The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz’, includes two books and takes you through many of the events that take place in the book of Genesis, from an animal’s point of view. 🙂
Then her next series: ‘Epic Order of the Seven’ continues the journey of Max and Liz – starting with the birth of Christ, and then moving through the New Testament. And following that, their adventures cover the American Revolution (basically starting another series within a series!) We are anxiously waiting for her next book which is to be released next year in 2022!
This captivating series is perfect for animal lovers AND history buffs! When we are studying history during our morning time, I am often impressed by how much history my son has already learned from these books.
If left to her own ways, my daughter, who loves to read, would settle in on modern fantasy books alone. And so, we came up with a compromise that worked quite well last year (her 7th-grade year.)
I created a list of books that I’d like her to read by end of 8th grade. I had her choose a book from that list each month for independent reading. These were in addition to her other favorites that she reads… and re-reads. 🙂
Most of these books started off slow for her but were appreciated by the time she got to the end.
The books on this list can be read by boys or girls, and also kids younger or older than 7th grade. These just happen to be the (assigned) books she read during her 7th-grade year.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Historical Fiction Novel that takes place in 12th century Korea. I had hoped to do this one as a family read-aloud for the Middle Ages, but we did not get around to it, so I was glad she picked this one!
This classic children’s fantasy novel was written in the 1800s and has stood the test of time. Written by George MacDonald whose works inspired and influenced C.S. Lewis.
And inspire your child to become a learner for life!
In her book “Teaching from Rest”Sarah Mackenzie references the quote, “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” She goes on to say “…but we must remember that a fire does indeed need to be lit, and then stoked, or else it will burn out.”
In this post, I lay out some practical ways you can stoke the fire.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Recognize the spark.
Before you can stoke the fire in your child’s learning, you have to first recognize what sparks their interest. For some children, their interests are much more obvious. If it’s not so obvious, ask yourself: What motivates them? What types of things do they get excited about? If they had loads of free time, how would they spend it? Consider the ways they are “smart”, as that likely could shine a light on what their interests may be.
Provide resources and opportunities.
The easiest (and cheapest!) way to provide resources is using your local library. Find books on the topics of their choosing. Show them youtube videos relating to their interest. Are there classes (online or in-person) they can sign up for that will help them grow and learn more? Are there simple things you can buy (or find for free) that can cultivate their learning?
Ex: Some kids love taking things apart… You could find old appliances/computers for them to do so.
Provide time.
Allow time in your schedule to give them space to explore, wonder and create. What does your day look like? Is it scheduled to the hilt? If so, consider paring back a little to give margin so they have more breathing room to explore and dive into their interests. More time also allows for more conversations that can cultivate a culture of curiosity and wonder.
Help them set goals.
Goals give us something to shoot for. It can move us out of a place of laziness/complacency to action. Are there goals you can set with your child to help them grow? A goal could be as simple as completing a project related to their interest or taking a class to grow their skills.
Expose them to a variety of subjects and topics.
I think this point is especially important for those kiddos whose interests aren’t as obvious. By giving a buffet of learning, we can see what interests stick. During Covid, we started to hike more as a family. My son, whose previous interest (for YEARS!) was weather, became very interested in maps, hiking, geography, and state parks as a result.
Tie it into the other subjects when possible.
Now, this is obviously not always possible. But when you can, tie their interests into other subjects. Are they interested in cooking? Then find out what foods they ate in different periods of history and what they eat in different parts of the world. Minecraft (or any building activity)? Have them create builds related to what they’re learning. Drawing/art? They can draw pictures related to what they’re learning about history/other topics (Chalkpastel.com is great for this!)
You get the idea.
Give them opportunities to teach others what they know.
In his book, Passion-Driven Education, Connor Boyack refers to this teaching of others as the protégé effect. The protégé effect is an idea introduced by Roman philosopher Seneca. Seneca said, “While we teach, we learn.”
This could be teaching to younger siblings, or family members, or friends. It could be formal or informal. The point is when you teach something you learn it on a different level. It propels you to a place where you really know and own the information.
Ask what they would like to learn about.
This is simple, but you could just ask your child what they would like to learn about. Chances are you already know, but you may be surprised!
