Ancients, Geometry, Botony, oh my!

E's blocks are flying by! This month is Ancients, which means practice at drawing maps and taking notes.

We dyed silkworm cacoons and unwound them...unfortunately our attention didn't hold up to the mile of silk thread in each cacoon, so I used scissors to find the larvae and its final shed hiding inside. Fascinating.

We also read about Ancient Chinese gods and goddesses. Very different from the Greek and Norse.

We attended a concert of the African Children's Choir, which was perfectly timed right in the middle of the week E studied Africa! So much energy and dance and beauty. E was angry about going, anxious he'd catch Ebola, and unsettled by the change in routine, which made for a difficult week....but I am still glad we went. Totally worth it.

 

We also watched a documentary about the history of the Sahara. Ocean-life fossils in the blocks that make up the Great Pyramid? Whale fossils in the dessert? Piqued his interest.

Then back to Egypt. Amenhotep caught E's attention- that was the pharoah from the book Casting the Gods Adrift! Awesome.

This was the first map I insisted he trace. I wanted him to recognize the land shapes around the Mediteranean: Italy's boot, round (future) Spain, curvy Greece. He grumbled about tracing but noticed the shapes right away. He especially likes Italy's shape, and was surprised to see Greece so close to the Nile. Next side-reading will be D'Aulairs Book of Greek Myths!

Phoenicians produced a purple dye from boiling salt, lemon juice, and snails, so we thought we'd try our hand at blueberry dye. It turned out more pink than purple...

We just can't let geometry rest. It is far too interesting!

 

And here are the Botony pages I did not share for the end of March:

 

 

Gardening has given him many opportunities to demonstrate his knowledge and power of observation, like yesterday he pointed out that taproot leaves all funnel water to the center, while fibrous root leaves scatter the rain. Hmm....

This. I took e to the doctor this morning, leaving big E alone. When we returned, he had finished his entire school and chore list and had made plans to build a paralette! I took him to Home Depot for supples, and he created this, a mini high bar, all before lunch.

 

So proud of my boy. :)