Anicient History - Tower of Babel & Sumer

For ART HISTORY we began a study of Pieter Bruegel and his painting above "The Tower of Babel.  For a brief study, I would suggest this site.  For a more in-depth study I would suggest this book "What Makes a Bruegel a Bruegel?" by Richard Muhlberger.  After a brief introduction, the book proceeds with analyzing (on a child's level) a painting per chapter, with interesting background and detailed zoom in.  We started reading this book this week and the boys are really enjoying it; his paintings are fascinating.  We are taking our time to enjoy and reading only one chapter a day.  I expect it will take us two weeks to finish.

Our READ ALOUD book for this week was "The Secret of the Royal Mounds: Henry Layard and the First Cities of Assyria" by Cynthia Jameson.  This was a wonderful piece of historical fiction/living history.  Chris read the boys one chapter a night and left them begging for more (literally).  The book is fast paced yet very detailed with much to expand upon; we had discussions of geography, customs, modes of travel, science, etc. as we read through the book.  You may want to pre-read for the littlest ones for there is some gory details discussed but not glorified.

ANCIENT HISTORY: We did this week's study over four days but it could easily be compressed into three.

DAY 1:  2242 BC Tower of Babel

• REVIEW:
•  Take the World Map and the “Noah Tree” created last week and color the world based on where the descendants of Noah’s sons settled (one color for each of his sons).
•  Sing “Song of Noah” to tune of “Bring Them In”.  The boys liked this as much as the "Silly Song" from Week 1.  It is clear I need to try to incorporate a song each week.

• Read Genesis 11:  1-9
• Discuss the passage
• What happened? narrate the passage 
•  Ask the name of the structure? (Trick question bible doesn’t name the tower) 
•  Where was it built? (Land of Shinar/Fertile Crescent)  Two possible locations are in the city of Nimrud in Iraq next to Tigris River (If you do this on Google Earth you can actually see the excavation site) and under “Tower of Ishtar” in Mari, Syria next to Euphrates River.  Locate these on a map.

• Read “The Puzzle of Ancient Man” pgs. 68-74 (Tower of Babel)

o   Discuss why did they built the tower

o   Discuss why God confused their language

• Read “Victor Journey Through the Bible” pgs. 16-17

o   Discuss what the Ziggurats looked like, what materials were used

o   Introduce Pieter Bruegel’s depiction of the Tower of Babel

DAY 2:  2242 BC Tower of Babel

• REVIEW:  Have students narrate what they learned about Babel

• Read “Tower of Babel” by Jon Taylor (22 pgs.)

o   Compare to the biblical account, what did they add or leave out?

• History Pockets “Mesopotamia”

o   Ziggurat Pop-up Book

o   While they are coloring Take moment to review how different cultures histories confirm this date: www.answersingenesis.org/go/peleg

·        
DAY 3:  c.2200 Sumerian Civilization in Mesopotamia

• REVIEW: ACAB “Acting Up” Play pg. 32  This was a very simple skit about the Tower of Babel but the boys absolutely adored it, they kept wanting to practice and presented it twice to their father when he got home.  I will be looking for more skits to add to our History study as well.

• As an Introduction to Sumer read “Everything You Need to Know About - World History” by Zeman pg. 3

• Read “You Wouldn’t Want to be a Sumerian Slave” by Jacqueline Morley

o   Discuss two different accounts of Sargon, why are they different?

o   Discuss cultural ideas vs. Bible

o   Discuss cultural ideas vs. today

·         
 DAY 4:  c. 2200 Sumerian Civilization in Mesopotamia

• Review:  Narrate what they learned from “You Wouldn’t Want to be…” book.

• History Pockets “Mesopotamia”

o   Make Puppets

o   While they are coloring read read a version of the Epic of Gilgamesh (J 398.2)  This is the most harmless and concise version I found:  http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/gilgamesh.html Have children narrate the story back to you.  I was surprised to find my boys listen better when their hands are occupied. Their narrations were much more complete.  I will keep that in mind when reading in the future.

• MAP TREK:  Map #3 (Mesopotamia) Include possible locations of the Tower of Babel.

• While they do map work read about Sargon and discuss similarities to bible stories. http://history-world.org/sargon_the_great.htm

• Mark Timeline

We finished the week with a MUSIC study of Peter and the Wolf (I chose the version narrated by Captain Kangaroo and Conducted by Strokowski). Before starting the music, I read them a brief biorography and summary from this site while they made finger puppets from this site. Then we began to listen to the narrated version of the piece. The idea was to use the puppets as we heard each character's instrument(s). However, we ended up making hand motions for each as we went along and bouncing around the room doing the different hand motions. The boys want to continue listening to this piece, so we will mix it up with listening to the narrated and the non-narated version through the next week and see how well they do as narrators.

As an alternative you could watch the old Disney version on Youtube. However, I think it best to just have them listen the first time so they can form their own vision of the piece.

Curricula Choices for 2012-2013

For ease of teaching, in many cases I have my two oldest children doing the same or similar material, I just expect more from my older son.  Not only is this easier for me its seems to sit better with them, I get less of the "but he's...." both from envy (they'd rather do that) or resentment (why doesn't he have to do that).  Sometimes the answer simply has to be because your older or younger but I like to avoid conflict when I can.

HISTORY:  This curricula I have created myself for this year, and have posted previously my intent, process and now have a separate page for tracking out progress above.  I'm excited about all the living books I continue to find.  Many more than were on my original "Ancient Books" post.  We do this as a family, if Titus is awake I make sure to have extra sheets for him to cut, glue and color as he sees fit.

Our history curricula will also double as Readings, Geography, Bible, along with Art and Music History study.   However, I do plan to go a little deeper in each subject.

BIBLE:  Our plan is to read through the Hulburt Study Bible this year.  I try to read this to them at breakfast.  It is a nice way to start the day that we all seem to enjoy.  This Bible has 168 chapters that are designed to encompass the main points of the bible in one continuous story.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

• Writing:  I plan to continue having them write regularly in their journals.  However, this year I'm going to take it a little farther on alternating weeks.  One week will just be journal entries.  Then the next week we will use the writing methods taught in "On Teaching Writing" by Jennifer Crider to edit and expand on one of their entries from the previous week to create finished work.
• Grammar:  We have chosen to use KISS GRAMMAR this year.  It is a free online curricula created my a University of Pennsylvia professor.  It had rave reviews, takes a living books approach and its free (the second grade books are free online too).  We have been simply doing a lesson a day, two/three days a week for now with Jared.  Lance I'm still working on what to use.
• Latin:  After much debating I have chosen "Prima Latina" for their Latin program.  I chose it for a number of reasons; the DVD to help teach, the emphasis on teaching English grammar along side and the claim that I need not know any Latin myself.  I have the materials and have reviewed them, they suggest just two days a week so that sounds reasonable.  However, I think I'll wait till our friends are back in school in August to start.
• Copy Work:  For this I plan to use the Bible and the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson.  The 1930's version of "A Child's Garden of Verses" illustrated by EulAlie was suggested as one of the best, so that's the one I'm using.
• Narration:  It seems only appropriate to use Aesop's fables for this task this year.   That said I am still debating over which version to use.  I may use a couple different version, I'll share them as I go.  I do not know if I will formally try to type their narrations for documentation purposes or use something else to document comprehension.
• Reading:  We are doing so much reading with our History curricula and the bags full of books the boys pick up each week from the library I haven't decided if I'm going to do a formal Reading curricula or not.  If I do it will CLE Reading, since I already have, I really like the stories and the boys have not minded the workbooks in the past. The workbook aspect goes against my push for CM focused home school but I worry about tracking their comprehension as I stated above.
• Spelling:  We will continue to use "All About Spelling";  Level 2 & 4 to begin.

MATH:  This is an easy choice; CLE Math Grade 5 and 3.  I have researched this subject ad-nausea and have found no better curricula for content or the boys enjoyment.  We will also work to complete XTRA Math and Life of Fred (for my older son) this year.

SCIENCE:  Since they would be learning the Latin names of constellations in "Prima Latina" and we are studying the Ancients I decided to study Astronomy this year.  I chose Apologia's "Exploring Creation with Astronomy" for a couple of reasons.  It appears to follow a CM Approach, and it comes in complete packages for ease of use.  You can buy the box with everything you need to do all the experiments (which I did) and they have introduced "Junior Notebooking Journals" that have all you need to complete a great Astronomy notebook by year end that's geared for the elementary years.  They suggest doing this two days a week to finish by year end, so I am hoping that we can make the time for Chris to do this with the boys at night or on the weekends.

ART & MUSIC:  The boys continue their piano lessons and I hope to really follow through with Mona Brooks book this year.  However, the majority of the year will be projects linked to our history curricula.  I have chosen to follow the "study a picture and an artist" for a while approach.  I'm trying to link them in some way to what we are studying in history but the links may be loose some weeks.  The important part is the boys really enjoy this approach.

As of this week we are only doing History, Kiss Grammar, Journals and Math.  Next week our friends go on vacation so I might start easing in another subject each week.  I hope to be at full speed about mid-August when public school starts again in the part of the world.

If you are looking for something to directly complement Classical Conversations or just some alternative choices my friend Brandy has a large variety to choose from on her blog.

He's growing up too quick! Make him stop!

Titus  has been growing up way too fast lately.

It started in mid-May when we went to the bike store to buy a new bicycle for our friend's five year old daughter Sophia.  We were talking with the salesman when suddenly we see Titus is riding around the store on the bike we were considering for Sophia.  The result, of course, was to buy not only Sophia a new bicycle but Titus a new 16 inch bicycle too.  And the Mighty Titus is only three.

Riding a new bigger bike that could go faster would seem enough, but not for the Mighty Titus.  On the first day riding his bike from home, he wanted to go down the stairs like his brothers.

A few weeks later, he then wanted to try riding his bike without training wheels.  At this point, it was no surprise he did pretty well.  The only thing stopping him from keeping them off is a couple inches of height to allow his feet to reach the ground so he can start and stop on his own.

He is not only fearless on the bike; he continues to be fearless in the water.  This summer he is also taking swim lessons with Coach Hanif.

Then the day Auntie Susie leaves, he pulls out the Aerobed and tells me he wants to sleep with the big boys.  I said "alright".  He drags the bed into their room and we set it up.  The whole time in my mind I'm thinking he'll be in here 15 minutes tonight but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I was wrong, he has not slept in my bed since.  We moved the beds around a little.  We put him in Lance's place because it has bumpers from being the old top of a bunk, and we moved Lance under Jared's bunk bed.  We also moved Titus' real mattress in from our room.  Wow, I forgot how nice and big our room looks with just one king bed instead of a king and a twin.  That said, I do miss him curling up with me at night and was a little sad at first.  However, its much better for him not be woken up each time Amber feeds anymore.

Now that he's been sleeping with the big boys, he suddenly started wearing underwear too.  Before he chose to just be naked all the time. Despite frequent pleading that he at least keep shorts on, he always came out of the bathroom naked.  Now he actually comes downstairs dressed in the morning.  Which is usually more than I can say about his big brothers.

Finally, he's determined to start playing Rookie baseball (skipping T-ball) and as you can see he's becoming a rather good hitter.

As you can see, for Titus, simply riding a new bike just wasn't enough growing up for one summer.

Thankfully, he's still Titus; mighty, wonderful and still saying the cutest things....

On our way to horseback riding the other day, as we pass the Bobcat Dealership, Titus yells....
         "I want one of those!".
           I respond "What would you do with it?"
          He quickly responds as if it was obvious
           "Ride it around the parking lot."  Fair enough.

And on another trip home, Titus says...

"Amber looks like a dog."
I respond gently,  "Girls generally don't like to be called dogs."
Titus thinks and responds inquisitively "Cats?"

Ancient History - The Flood & Ice Age

This is our second week plugging through my history curricula.  I'm pleased to say things went a bit smoother this week, having adjusted things quite a bit the first week. 

To see the entire timeline or what we've done previously click the dates of interest on the "Ancient History Timeline and Curricula" page above.

READ ALOUD BOOK:  In the Days of Noah by Snellenberger

MUSIC:  Holst’s “The Planets” 

ART:  Noah’s Ark by Edward Hicks 

DAY 1: 2302 BC The Flood

• REVIEW:  Get those animals out again (or let the children act like an animal and have the other children guess the animal first) and play a game about which animals were on the ark and how many (make sure to include aquatic animals, and sheep etc., so you’ll have varied answers).

• Read “The Puzzle of Ancient Man” pgs. 45-50 (Nimrod’s Kingdom)

• “Map Trek Vi: Ancient World”(MAP TREK)*: Map #1 

o   Take a moment to remind them this is a map of the world post flood.

o   Look at this “Rodina” wall chart

o   Discuss how the world possibly started as one land mass called “Rodina”, split in half crashed back together into “Pangea” during flood and then split apart again. 

o   Note how the continents fit together like puzzle pieces, especially Africa and South America.

• Finish reading “In the Days of Noah” Boys kept wanting more so we read over the weekend and now they want to read it again.

• Mark Timeline

• Listen to Holst’s “The Planets – Uranus, the Magician” and discuss

DAY 2:  2302 BC The Flood

• REVIEW:  Timeline; Have students narrate what they’ve learned.

• ·Read “Puzzle of Ancient Man” pgs. 51-56 (Nimrod’s Kingdom)

• ·Read “Noah’s Ark” by Jerry Pinkney

o   Compare to biblical account

o   Discuss the illustrations.

o   Get out some water colors and black ink.  Have the children try to draw a picture of an animal or the ark in the same style.

•  Watch “Flood Geology” by AIG  Part 1 & 2: (29 min.)   

DAY 3:  c. 2300 to 1600 Ice Age

• REVIEW:  Draw what the earth would have looked like after the flood. Why many animals on the Ark would have had trouble surviving after the flood (i.e. large dinosaurs).  Talk about all the tales across the earth about dragons and the flood.  (Reading ideas in Part 2 of “In the Days of Noah”**)

• Using a globe (or Google Earth) show the outline of where the original seas used to be (shallow areas along the coasts) during the Ice Age, and where the “fountains of the deep” erupted, ie. crack around the globe.

• Read “The Puzzle of Ancient Man” pgs. 57-66 (Bronze Age Explorers)

• Discuss the “Piri Reis Map” and its implications. 

o   Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS4eDmhkj8M

o   Main point is to see how perfectly the modern map and Piri Reis map match up.

o   Discuss how their presuppositions stop them from even considering their assumption of “billions of years” is wrong. How this is the same mentality that caused no one but Noah’s family to be on the Ark.

• Mark on Timeline

• Listen to Holst’s “The Planets – Neptune, the Mystic” and discuss I must admit I was surprised when I played the entire symphony and the boys were yelling out the different planets.

DAY 4:  Descendants of Noah

• REVIEW:  Narrate what they remember about Nimrod

• Read Genesis 10: 8-12

• ACAB Unit 2 Discussion Questions

• Discuss how Nimrod would have been able to create cities like Babel and Nineveh so quickly after the flood.  Discuss the 10% theory, how we used to have more in our brains, God gave Adam and Eve all the knowledge they needed, we’ve lost that knowledge over time.

• Illustrate the dilution of knowledge:

o   Take a cup, put one drop of blue die.  Say that was Adam when he perfectly reflected God’s image.

o   Add a drop of yellow to represent sin and how Adam no longer fully reflected God’s image.

o   Start adding water to show years of separation from that perfection and sin has diluted our bodies and minds.

• Mighty Oak project: 

o   Go on a nature walk and pay close attention to the trees.  How the branches grow and how the look when they’ve been cut off or broken.

o   Get art supplies out to draw family trees.  Discuss how the trunk of the tree cannot form without a man and woman.  In this case Noah and his wife form the main trunk.  Then draw three main branches for each of Noah’s sons.

o   Focus on the nations that developed from his different sons.  Use page “In the Days of Noah” pg. 56-57**, Table of Nations or Line of Noah

• MAP TREK:  Map #2 – Noah’s Descendants

o   Expand upon the different geographic features For instance, my boys were interested in origin of the seas names.

o   Discuss why or why not the Garden of Eden would still exist  Additionally, I had the boys color coordinate the sons of Noah and draw lines showing where their descendents migrated.

 

DAY 5:  Archeology  You could do this any day really, its just nice to give them a background to Archeology before we start digging into it (Hee, Hee).

• Read about Archeology:  There are a number of options here.  I was looking for a simple book to introduce the highlights.  We chose “Archaeologists Dig for Clues” by Kate Duke.  It has a heavy evolutionary world view but think of it as an opportunity to discuss with your children how those presuppositions taint their scientific conclusions.  How it narrows their thinking because they assume people lived primitively since they lived long ago. 

• Set-up Sandbox dig for the kids.  Get together supplies like tooth brushes and sifters to dig for clues in there section of the sandbox.

* Map Trek: I used this set of maps for the simple reason I got them for free during a special last year.  I like that they are in *pdf format so I can carry around the answer key on my ipad to work with the boys.  However, you could just as easily use the CC maps or any simple map of the middle east.

** "In the Days of Noah" is a great living book about the day of Noah, but that's only the first part (literally).  The second half of the book is a great resource, it includes facts, timeline and question answer section about all things flood related.  For those concerned about fictionalizing and expanding upon a biblical story I suggest reading the introduction of the book that explains why they wrote the book and then discuss that with your children before reading (its what we did).

Trip to All Kids - Part 2

The trip to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg is "Part 2" of the story in a couple of ways.  It's the second entry of my blog regarding this and our second trip to this hospital.  Jared spent three weeks there after he was born and as a result, I have avoided any trips to the West coast of Florida since. That time in my life has too many stressful memories.

Our second trip to St. Petersburg did not go as planned but I believe it went the way it was suppose to go.

The plan was to leave for St. Petersburg early Thursday, July 12th for Jared to be admitted the day before the procedure for what is called a "Drug Wash".  During a catheter ablation, the electrical signals of the heart must be mapped to find the faulty path. In order to do this, an SVT is induced. Since Jared's drugs are meant to stop SVTs, all his medications needed to be flushed from his system. For this to happen, we were instructed to stop his medications on Thursday morning and it was decided it was best to admit him as soon as possible just in case.  We also had made arrangements to stay at the Ronald McDonald House as soon as we knew what day we would be arriving.

On Wednesday, I called (as instructed), to confirm our reservation at the Ronald McDonald House and was shocked to find out they had no availability. This sent us scrambling for a Plan B.  Being Summer in St. Pete, hotels were hard to find and not near enough to the hospital.  We realized that our only real choice was to divide and conquer.  Chris and I have never really been separated, much less our whole family; this was not an easy decision but in the end it was the right decision. The new plan was for Chris to drive over with Jared and for me to stay here with everyone else.  Having only one car, once we started this plan we were committed.

The next challenge was figuring out when they needed to arrive Thursday.  This too was a bit stressful as  it wasn't until after lunch Thursday that they told us a room would be available at 4:30pm! Thankfully, Jared didn't have any issues being off his drugs and this extra time together as a family was spent playing games, watching Le Tour, and doing artwork.

Chris told Lance he was "the man about the house" while he was gone and Lance did an awesome job.  He was proactively helpful, patient and kind.  His positive attitude really helped sweet Titus not worry since he was a bit confused about where everyone was and when they were coming home.

Chris and Jared left at 2pm and on the drive over they hit a number of traffic jams which extended the trip by 45 minutes.  This was the first confirmation we made the correct decision, as this would have stressed our carsick prone Lance and baby Amber too much.  They had given themselves extra time by leaving early and ended up arriving right at 4:30pm.

The new All Children's Hospital complex in St. Petersburg was completed just over two years ago. Ground was broken and building started right around the time Jared was there seven years ago. The new complex is just around the corner from the old location. Chris said the hospital was really nice, as was their room which was clean and quite large which included two chairs, two TV's and a sofa. One TV was large and just for the patient and one small one was by the sofa and for the parent. The "TV" was more of a computer monitor, as the patient could play games, watch movies, even surf the web and use instant messaging.
From their window, they could see Tampa Bay and Tropicana Field (home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team).

Being an ICU room and seeing all the gadgets, tubes, and switches on the walls it was definitely better the mighty Titus wasn't there.  Jared had pizza and Doritos for dinner; we figured what ever he wanted.  He and Chris had some great bonding time that night.  Jared slept well, but poor Chris didn't sleep much on the pull out sofa. Hospitals are not the place to find a good night's sleep - too many people moving about and alarms sounding.

Back at the ranch, we hung out at the house until they arrived safely and were settled.  We then headed over to Miss Mae's house for dinner.  After eating, we all went for a long walk. Our walk tired the kids out and ourselves.  This helped settle everyone down for the night time routine and getting to sleep that night.  We did prayers over FaceTime with Chris and Jared. Having our iPhones has been a life saver; throughout the three days away, Chris and I were in constant contact via texting, pictures, and FaceTime. Plus when driving, I can see where he is using the Find My Friends app.

When Friday morning arrived, Jared was still all smiles.  He is such a tough and courageous kid.  He rarely complains about the IVs or the masks.  The nurse said he was even laughing as they put him under for the procedure.  The doctor was able to map the offending nerve, zap it and the surrounding area to reduce the chances of any additional faulty electrical pathways.  It was in an area of the heart that is particularly thick and hard to get to.  The procedure, in total, took over four hours and the doctor was completely wiped out when he talked to Chris after the procedure. The doctor was great, as were all the nurses and assistants. The doctor even took the time to speak with me at length after the procedure via phone.

Jared just after the procedure

After the procedure, Jared had to lay flat on his back with his legs straight for the next 12 hours.  With the numerous movies available on the TV and in combination with his iPad, Jared was more than thrilled to watch shows all day. Jared did fantastic and followed instructions well.

We need a bigger boat!

Jared slept well again that night, but with nurses coming in to monitor Jared's condition all night, Chris' sleep was interrupted much of the night.  I've always believed hospitals are the worst place to recover.  Saturday was a day of hurry up and wait to be released. To pass the time they built Legos and played games together on the iPad.  They finally got the go ahead to home in the afternoon and arrived at our door around 5pm. Chris decided to drive home a different way, over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to avoid Tampa. It only adds about 20 minutes to the drive and Jared was thrilled to drive over such a large bridge.

To keep things as normal as possible, we went to swimming lessons on Friday. Since Chris had the car, I decided to try Amber out in the bike trailer. It worked well so Saturday I went all out (or overboard depending on your point of view).  I decided Lance, Titus and I should bike around the lake, which is a 4.5 mile round trip from our house.  I knew Chris had taken Titus before on his bike but what I didn't know is that I pushed the pace a bit more than Chris does, oops!  Lance didn't tell me this till we got home.  But my goal of making sure they got the wiggles out was accomplished. Titus was completely wiped our for the rest of the day. Very unusual.

When they arrived home, Jared looked exhausted as did Chris. They were quite the motley crew.  Between the lingering effects of the anesthesia and drug withdrawal, Jared was rather spacey for the next couple days, which was disconcerting for his parents. During his stay in the hospital, the threat of Jared having a stroke from the procedure and also his condition was discussed.  Finally when I couldn't take it any more, I had him read, recite some math tables to make me feel more comfortable it was all just withdrawals.

In addition to hopefully taking care of the SVTs, Jared's drugs were reduced down to one - Digoxin. I hope this will provide him more mental clarity and less sleepless nights (side effects of the other drugs).  

What to do next is a matter of opinion. The next step(s) in his treatment are: having another procedure to plug the atrial hole in his heart, which is what makes him "blue", and/or a valve replacement. The doctor that performed his procedure assured us his associates in that specialty were quite capable and we should think about doing something in the next few months.  However, when we spoke with Jared's cardiologist here in Orlando, he indicated that the next step would be to go to the Children's Hospital in Boston and only when the time was right. He has been in contact with Boston since Jared was a baby and the prevailing thought since his birth was to do something invasive only when absolutely necessary. We pray that they can come to an agreement that is the best for Jared and his future.

I am forever thankful for our friends the Paray's who having been hanging out with us or us with them since Chris left.  They fed us, entertained the boys and kept me company the last two days. It made a difficult situation much easier.

We serve a mighty God and I am thankful for His love and Grace, not only has he healed my son but he's taught me to lean more on Him when everything is out of my control.  Thank you all for your prayers!

Doctor and the Aquarium - Part 1

About three weeks ago, Jared had two SVTs in one week.  That was unprecedented frequency and led to use having to drive to Tampa two days later to see an Pediatric Electrophysiologist (EP) under the recommendation of Jared's Cardiologist. Bonus goes to anyone that can say "Pediatric Electrophysiologist" 10 times without pausing. :-)

We went as a family and arrived right on time and, of course, the doctor's office was running about 45 minutes late. :-)  The kids all behaved exceptionally well.  The office had toys in the lobby and then they were given their iPads in the examination rooms.  We went from the initial stats collection room, to the ECHO room, and finally to the examination room with the EP Doctor.

The doctor gave us hope that he could remove the cause of Jared's SVTs.  Up to that day we had little hope it would be treated because of a complication with another Cardiac condition he had.  The procedure was thankfully not surgical but instead utilized catheters and a process called ablation to remove the faulty electrical pathway.  He explained that there was a success rate of 85% and if the SVTs should return, the catheter ablation can be repeated.  We made the choice to schedule the procedure as soon as possible, as not proceeding would risk Jared's life. An upside was the doctor's assurance that his quality of life would improve and the dropping of two of his daily drugs. Regardless, it was not an easy decision.

Afterwards, we wanted the kids to have some fun too and on our way home we stopped at the  "Florida Aquarium".  This is a great place to visit during the hot Florida "winter" (otherwise known as summer). Amber was sleeping in the stroller when we arrived and missed the picture.

Lance's favorite parts of the Aquarium were the gators and the sharks.  

Jared liked the Touch Tank best.

Titus' choices were the gators and fish in the mangroves.  However, I really think he liked the dry ice projector best since he kept running back and forth through it.

Amber clearly liked the main aquarium.

Part 2 of this story is the actual procedure and a three day trip to St. Petersburg which began on July 12th.

Ancient History - Creation to The Flood

It is my desire to teach my children that the bible IS history, not a separate fanciful subject. I want them to know God is real and so is his word.  It is true and can be trusted completely from the first word to the last.  I want to show them how the bible is supported by the findings of secular man, logic and science. 

This is a tall order for the elementary years apparently.  I've jumped the gun and bought Middle School curricula in the past hoping I could simplify it but it didn't work. The solution was of course to create my own curricula.

Additionally, as I mentioned in a previous post, I could not find a pre-made timeline that met all my needs.  I decided to start creating my own timeline a few years back.  I finished tweaking this timeline last month. I spent this month working off this timeline to create a history curricula for the boys.

This turned out to be a much bigger task than I had imagined. It took the whole month and I still have not completed the last part of the timeline curricula.  Currently the curricula is over 35 pages long. I don't think I've ever written anything this long; remember I like numbers better than letters.  However, after a month of researching and tweaking I was getting burned out and decided to keep our school date start of Monday, July 2nd.  The only way to truly test the curricula is of course to use it.

Thankfully, I am not a person who has a problem with change.  The first week of using my curricula led to a lot of changes, in timing and even in materials used.  Below is what we did, with comments in red of what worked and what did not.  Overall, I would call the week a success because the boys are enjoying learning and ask about doing History work.  More importantly they seem excited about learning, which is all I ever wanted because when you're excited about something you really learn.

*Note in most cases I was able to find the DVDs we have online for free viewing and and have included the links.

READ ALOUD BOOK:  In the Days of Noah by Snellenberger

MUSIC:  Holst’s “The Planets” I’ve included them in the daily schedule below as an idea how to introduce them this month.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzLjg-e9bYg&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DfnE7zalDDi01NYqtdHvJH

ART:  Noah’s Ark by Edward Hicks http://gardenofpraise.com/art2.htm

Dates		People/Events
B.C. 4004		Creation
		The Fall in the Garden
3874		Cain & Abel & Seth - The Godly Line
2302		The Flood
2300	1600	The Ice Age
2242		Tower of Babel
c. 2200		Sumerian Civilization in Mesopotamia
2109	1703	Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Pharaoh Menes (Dynasty 1 -11)
1900		Pharaoh Cheops/Khufu Builder of Giza Pyramids

 DAY 1 – 4004 BC Creation

• Read Genesis 1-2:3
• “Ancient Civilizations and the Bible Elementary Activity Book” by Diana Waring (ACAB) Unit 1 Discussion Questions
• Hand out 7 index cards to each child.  Ask them to write the number 1 t o 7 (one number per card) on the opposite side tell them to draw a picture about that day of creation and these simple words:

o   Day 1:  Day & Night

o   Day 2:  Heaven & Earth

o   Day 3:  Seas & Land        

o   Day 4:  Sun, Moon & Stars

o   Day 5:  Creatures of the Sky & Sea

o   Day 6:  Creatures of Dry Land & Man

o   Day 7:  God Rested

• ·        Here’s an alternative “Creation Memory Pegs” with coloring pages for each day which may be really useful with younger children.
• While drawing listen to:

o   Play Holst’s “The Planets – Mercury, Winged Messenger” Before we listened we discussed briefly who the god Mercury was and I asked what they thought the music would sound like as a result.  After listening we talked about if it sounded like they expected, could they imagine him running about?  The boys liked this piece

o   What in the World (WIW) Disc 1 Track 2  “Creation” (7 min.) This was too mature, my boys didn’t get her sarcasim.

o   True Tales (TT) Disc 1 Track 2 “Dates for Creation” (10 min.)  They got more from our discussion afterward where I explained things than listening alone.  I’m realizing they prefer active listening, ie. Discussion over listening to audio lecture

• Watch “Created Cosmos” by Dr. Jason Lisle  This is not their first time watching this video, each time we watch it we are all in awe.  It is so beautifully done and really puts the size in perspective the boys can understand.  I had hoped to do some art with it but we didn’t get a chance.

DAY 2 - 4004 BC Creation

• REVIEW:  Use the index cards from yesterday to play two different games.

o   Order Up:  Using the Picture side, have the children put the days in order and then turn them over to check if they are correct.

o   What Happened?  Call out a random day and see if the children know what happened.  This could be incorporated into a game of “Mother May I” where the children get to move forward only if they answer the question correctly.

• Read “In the Days of Noah” pgs. 4-7  After much debating I guess I chose well, the boys are so liking this book that they ask me to read more each day.
• ACAB Silly Songs pg.  13  The boys absolutely adore this song and have asked to sing it every day since.
• ACAB Marvelous Maze pg. 11  Boys liked this maze, but my boys like any maze.
• Mark on Timeline  Since my 7 and 9 year old are doing this together I’m expecting more out of my 9 year old and requiring him to write out the points on the timeline in addition to gluing the pictures.  Ironically my 7 year old has chosen to write out the names also.
• Play Holst’s “The Planets – Venus, the Bringer of Peace” and have kids move to music

o   Briefly discuss who the god Venus was, what they think piece will sound like

o   After listening talk about what the piece sounded like vs. their expectations and what instruments were used to achieve that sound.  They liked this piece also.

DAY 3 - Fall in the Garden

• REVIEW:   Days of Creation

o   Play Adam Name Game:  Get animals you have around the house or a book with lots of different animals in it and discuss what you might have named the animals and what day they were created.  We didn’t do this they have the days down pat and wanted to sing the "Silly Song" again.

•  Read Genesis 3
• ACAB Unit 1 Discussion Questions
• “Act It Out” – Jared came up with this great idea to act out Chapter 3, we had so much fun we did it again for daddy when he came home.  Jared was God and the Serpent, I was Eve, Lance was Adam and Titus the serpent crawling on his belly at the end.
• Read “In the Days of Noah” pgs. 8-11
• Mark on Timeline
• Play Holst’s “The Planets – Mars, Bringer of War” and discuss (see above)  Lance thought it sounded like Star Wars and Titus disliked it so much he kept telling us to turn it off.  Jared said he could hear when the “bad guys were caught”.

DAY 4:  3874 BC  Cain, Able and Seth – The Godly Line

• REVIEW:  Timeline and Days of Creation w/ Silly Song
• Read Genesis 4 & 5
• ACAB Unit 1 Discussion Questions
• ACAB Coded Message pg. 9  The boys did not enjoy this so we stopped.
• Read “In the Days of Noah” pgs. 12-15
• Mark on Timeline.
• Play Holst’s “The Planets – Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” and discuss.  Boys really liked this piece Titus was jumping and dancing around.  Very “happy” music.
• Listen to:  We listened to these but this will be the last day.  The boys sat quietly and did their best to listen but it’s clear they don’t enjoy it.  I noticed that most of the commentary is quoting from “Puzzle of Anicent Man” by Donald E. Chittick.  This is an awesome book about OopArt (Out of Place Artifacts) and other archaeological issues as they relate to the bible.  So from now on I’ll just read from the book so we can pause to discuss as they want/need to, they’ll get more out of it this way.

o   WIW Disc 1 Track 3 “Early Man” (12 min.) Replace with pgs. 33 -38

o   TT Disc 1 Track 3 “Early Man” (17 min.)

DAY 5:  2302 BC The Flood

• Watch Creation story according to Native Americans (starts after introductions minute 4:45) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NP6MGRNt_A 
• How do these stories compare to the bible? 

• Read Genesis Chapter 6-8
• ACAB Unit 1 Discussion Questions  Like the CDs, I had bought this book with the set years ago.  Unlike the CDs, I’ll probably keep using the book but I’m sorry to say, I would not recommend buying it.  There are some neat ideas but I think discussing the chapters would go fine without the questions and similar activates could be found for free online.
• Pre-measure out the distance of 450.  Take the children to the spot.  You stay at the beginning and have them walk out the 450 feet to the spot you’ve marked.  So they can get a visual of the size of the Ark. Boys enjoyed this turned out the ark was about the size of all the houses on our block put together, which is a great visual.
• Read “The Puzzle of Ancient Man” pgs.  38-43 Reading this worked better than listening, we were able to pause to discuss and skip ahead a little too.
• Mark Timeline
• Listen to Holst’s “The Planets – Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age” and discuss Boys like to watch the youtube version that shows the orchestra and close-ups of the instruments best.
• Read “In the Days of Noah” pgs. 16-21
• Watch “Noah’s Ark:  Thinking outside the box” by Tim Lovett (25 min.)  This is a great DVD (or watch on youtube) because the design came from a nautical engineer and they include some nautical history.