Crafty Monday: Our Julius Caesar Party (Rome Week 1) November 25, 2013
In this post: Our first week studying Rome and the Caesar family, Julius and Octavian (Augustus). Also links to past Thanksgiving crafts.
Hello dear ones! This will be short and to the point today. Below is a list of what’s pictured and at the end are links to last years Thanksgiving crafts.
- We ate like Romans with Pita bread and feta cheese. We also had apples with yogurt and honey.
- We read about the Caesars in The Story of the World. Then had a Julius Caesar party with Little Caesar’s Pizza, a Caesar salad, and a homemade orange Julius. I didn’t follow a recipe but I figured it was close enough. I just put orange sherbert and milk in the blender.
- We watched the movie Caesar and Cleopatra on Netflix.
- Here’s a good way to remember the order of the first Caesars. July comes before August. Julius before Augustus (a.k.a Octavian). Those months were named after the Caesars.
- We did a small lapbook on Rome from here: http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/anroexqla1.html . That’s where we found out what food they ate.
- We studied pictures of coins with Caesar on them. We couldn’t make a good enough impression so we just wrote roman numerals and Caesar’s name on clay coins.
- We attempted to make a Roman aqueduct out of Legos but didn’t have enough. So instead we made a crude aqueduct out of clay.
- We took our Greek gods mobile and just changed the names to the Roman gods. We read a story about Cupid and talked about how he shows up in Valentine’s cards etc. We also talked about how we got our planet names from the Roman gods. More found here: http://rome.mrdonn.org/index.html
- Michael drew the Roman Colosseum from his Draw and Write Through History book.
- He played this Roman Aqueduct game found here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/aqueduct.html
That’s it :). We have two more weeks of Rome after Thanksgiving Break and then plenty of free time til January. It’ll be nice to take a long holiday break for once. Last year, we studied the pilgrims and native Americans. We had many fun crafts so I hope you check them out :).
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/crafty-monday-the-pilgrims-and-the-mayflower/
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Last Week: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/crafty-monday-ancient-india-china-plus-veterans-day/
Rome Week 2: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/rome-week-2/
Rome Week 3: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/rome-week-3-chariots-pompeii-and-the-end/
My Family Rocks! Sunday: It Has Begun… November 24, 2013
Hello dear ones! How are you doing today? Do you have special Thanksgiving plans? What does your family traditionally eat during the holidays? Turkey? Pizza? Fish? Please leave me some comment love. Here’s a link to last year’s Thanksgiving post that includes my favorite Thanksgiving recipes and a play that we did.
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/happy-thanksgiving/
So I got ahead this year. Usually I wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our tree but if you remember, I decided to start Fall early in the beginning of September. Yes, I have seasonal powers. So it is now winter at our home. It was in the 30’s today in the Southern USA. So heck yeah! It’s winter ;). Although Fall is my favorite season, I must have change. I’m thankful for the seasons because it means my house gets to look different. So I was sick of Fall and decided to break out the Christmas decor before Thanksgiving. There are some that want to shoot me now…according to Facebook ;P lol. No, not me personally really but people like me. My husband was not enthused but Michael got into the holiday cheer.
We bought a fake green tree. Remember I’m allergic to real ones. I remembered this year! Yaa! I wanted a white tree but it cost too much so we got a can of fake snow and I got carried away. It looks more like the tree died than got frosted. Still it was fun and I sprayed the windows too. Chris helped me make them look authentic. I drew a couple pictures. I don’t know if we’ll have snow this year but it will feel like it dang it!
My sweet lil man helped me decorate the tree and we watched the movie “Elf”. Michael and I decorated his rooms and I let him put the Nativity in the kitchen window. I’m not going to show all of our decor today. This is just a sneak peek.
I am most excited about having a Jesse tree for the first time. I just have to find one for the table and make the ornaments. This will most likely be a smaller Christmas as far as presents etc but I’m hoping we will have more opportunities to focus on others in need.
When my guys visited Atlanta yesterday they passed cops and a bunch of yellow tape. A homeless man had died most likely from the cold. A sheet was draped on him as he sat on a bench. Michael didn’t see but Chris did. It makes me sad. It reminds me that the King of Kings came first as a poor and humble baby. Jesus wasn’t a rich man. He came to help those in need…not just physically but ultimately spiritually. There are physically rich people who have impoverished souls. Jesus took on flesh and became one of us.
Now we wait for His 2nd advent. He’s not physically here yet but we, his people, are God’s hands and feet in this world. There are dying and hungry people everywhere. You may not be able to go to the Philippines etc to help but there are ways to help those already there. I personally trust World Vision’s ministry. Also Voice of the Martyrs is helping the persecuted church in Syria and all over the world. You may not have much to give but every little bit counts.
It’s my prayer that my son will understand that he is the hands and feet of Jesus. Life isn’t about video games. It’s about Jesus and loving others as Jesus did. That is so hard to teach in this land of plenty. We are much richer than I was as a kid. I’ve experienced poverty on a small American scale but I always had a home. Still I was spoiled in many ways. My son has it worse. Somehow there has to be a way to teach gratitude, contentment, and charity. I know it has to start with me. I have to watch my words…make sure they are thankful. Anywho, that was my message for today :).
God bless, much love, and remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
PS: Please don’t forget to leave some comment love :). Even if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I’d still like to know how you celebrate your holidays whatever they might be. Do you have a big feast? If so what kind of foods do you eat? I have subscribers from all over. It’d be awesome to learn a little culture ;).
Crafty Monday: Ancient India & China Plus Veteran’s Day November 19, 2013
Hello dear ones! Last week we studied Ancient China again. We also spent a brief time on Ancient India. Here are my Pinterest links for India and China: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sowchina/
http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/india/
At the top, we’ve got
- The wall of China made out of Styrofoam blocks.
- Chinese willow vase with cherry blossoms.
- Chinese flag
- thumb print Chinese lanterns
The middle and bottom:
- Wall of China drawing from Draw and Write Through History
- a Terracotta soldier made from clay (China)
- Henna hand cookie (India)~ just a hand shaped sugar cookie with a food coloring Henna tattoo.
- Henna hand print (India)
- China lapbooks
- another view of the Styrofoam wall of China
We read about Buddha (Prince Siddhartha) for India & Confucius for China in The Story of the World. We also watched several videos and read books about the Wall of China and the Terracotta soldiers. You can find videos in the links from above.
The Great Wall was quite an undertaking. The directions are in my Pinterest link. I’m thankful Chris helped Michael make this. He did a wonderful job.
Michael practiced some calligraphy numbers.
We learned about India’s Caste system and I drew this elaborate pic to illustrate. 😉
I combined three studies for a Veteran’s Day lapbook. Here they are:
http://www.currclick.com/product/88304/Veterans-Day-Lapbook-for-Founders-Academy-Live-Class
http://www.currclick.com/product/43144/Veterans-Day-Mini-Study
http://www.currclick.com/product/65543/My-Veterans-Day-Activity-Booklet
Michael interviewed his Daddy for the Vet interview.
It was an interesting week despite all of us being sick with the Flu. Here’s when I caught Michael reading Dr. Suess to Tessa. He really likes to read to her.
Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Last week: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/crafty-monday-native-americans-carthage-study/
Next Week: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/crafty-monday-our-julius-caesar-party-rome-week-1/
My Family Rocks! Sunday: The Flu November 17, 2013
Hello dear ones! So I’ve been out of it for a week. My family caught the flu, starting with Chris and ending with me. We’re all getting better. We’ve been taking a lot of Vitamin C and Elderberry. The guys were on Tamiflu for a bit but decided to come off of it. It just has some strange possible side effects. I prefer not to take anything that could possibly make me hallucinate. The good news is that Chris had a whole week off of school/work. We’ve gotten much needed family time…even if most of it was spent watching Robin Hood episodes.
The scariest part of all this was Michael’s high fever for two days. I panicked and had Chris take him to the ER but that trip didn’t do anything for the fever. That night Michael threw up his Tamiflu. The fever went up and down all the next day too. By the third day Michael’s fever was gone. He woke up and worked on school work on his own.
Fevers can be good. They mean the body is fighting. Also kids can handle higher temps than adults. I just get a bit panicky when my one and only lil man feels bad. I was so busy taking care of my guys that I didn’t guard my own health. Thankfully Chris was starting to feel better when I was feeling the worst. He’s been a great doctor. Also my Mom dropped off some supplies on the front porch and a card to make us feel better. She’s been our over the phone doctor.
Before I got real sick I made potato soup for everyone. It’s a family tradition during illness. My Granny and Mom taught me how. It’s basically potatoes, water, a little salt and pepper, butter, and milk. It’s supposed to be somewhat bland so it’s easier on the stomach. I like more milk and salt in mine.
We were able to make up school work but NaNoWriMo is almost sunk. I don’t think it’s possible for me to get my word count. I didn’t write all week. I’m going to write anyways and see how much I can do even if I don’t reach 50,000 words. What a week…
I did manage to make some mini pecan pies yesterday. So I’m starting to get normal.
Here’s the recipe (except I used packaged pie crusts):
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
PS: Thank you for your continued prayers.
Crafty Monday: Native Americans & Carthage study November 11, 2013
In this post: We learn about the ancient North Americans from South, Central, & North America. Also we learn about Hannibal’s elephants (Carthage). Our group celebrates Chocolate Day.
Last week, we studied ancient Native Americans. We began with the Nazca in South America, then moved to the Olmecs from Central America, and ended with North American Indians. Here’s what’s in the pic above:
- Nazca Lines- Michael drew this “Nazca” monkey with chalk on black paper. The Nazca are interesting because they made these huge lines that look like ditches and roads up close but from an air plane they form all kinds of shapes.
- Tapioca pudding- it actually comes from South America. So we bought a pack.
- Olmec lapbook– The Olmecs actually came before the Nazca. They left behind these huge head sculptures. We also learned that archaeologist found traces of a chemical that’s in chocolate in Olmec potsherds. They are some of the earliest chocolate eaters.
- South American face paint & Native American necklace– I couldn’t find our paint so I had to use lipstick to draw on Michael’s face.
- North American teepee– we bought a teepee kit at Hobby Lobby.
- The Indian in the Cupboard– Michael really loved reading this book. He watched the movie once he finished reading.
- Rabbit shoots the sun leather shield– We read a North American story about why rabbits are timid and why the sun slowly rises. It was in the Story of the World. Then Michael drew it on some leather.
Above Michael is playing with his Native American figurines that we got at Hobby Lobby.
You can find the Native American ideas here: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sownative-americans/
Later that week our group celebrated chocolate day. My buddy Hannah hosted. She’s having a baby in February and I’m hosting her baby shower. Hannah read several books about chocolate, fiction and nonfiction. After learning about chocolate’s history, the kids sampled different types of chocolate. There was also M&M sorting. Lastly, the kids made candy bar pilgrims.
At the end of the week we learned a bit about Rome and the Punic wars. We learned about Hannibal, a captain from Carthage who used Elephants to defeat the Romans. We also watched a video about the elephants and Michael drew a picture from his Draw and Write Through History book. Everything was going great for Hannibal until a Roman captain named Scipio made a surprise attack on Carthage while Hannibal was attacking Rome. The Romans won the war and Hannibal fled to the mountains and later killed himself. Very sad story.
Hannibal video here: http://www.pinterest.com/doverette/sow-rome/
In other news, Michael finally got a haircut. You can see how long his hair was. The stylist had fun spiking Michael’s hair a bit. Michael also had his first eye appointment. His eyes were hurting him. He’s got great vision so far. He did really well until she had to put eye drops in. Then war broke out.
That week Nana came over. We went to our old park and it was very overgrown. Mom and Michael did his Mailbox club lesson on the trampoline. It was a beautiful week so Michael spent a good bit of time in Terabithia. We added new leaves to the loom. I really like that thing.
Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Last Week:
Next Week: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/crafty-monday-ancient-india-china-plus-veterans-day/
Happy Veterans Day!
Happy Veterans day to those in the U.S.! Thank you to all Vets for your service and to their families. Thanks especially to my husband, Chris. I love ya honey! Below is a picture from Chris’ promotion many moons ago. Michael was itty bitty and my Mom is in the pic too.
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
My Family Rocks! Sunday: Historic Westville November 10, 2013
Hello dear ones! Last week, my family visited Historic Westville , G.A.’s 1850’s living history museum. It was amazing and I took so many pictures. I’m only sharing my favorites though and maybe a few will show up in Inspirational posts down the road.
Here’s the website: http://www.westville.org/
Okay, so this is what we have pictured above:
- Bluegrass musicians
- a lady showing Michael how the cotton feels after she brushed it
- People making baskets
- a girl doing German paper cutting
- candle making
- Chris on stilts and one of me on stilts
- Chris and Michael playing tug of war
- Michael riding up front in the buggy
- A kissing picture, a Dover tradition 😉
- Blacksmith showing stuff to Michael
There were so many old buildings to explore. I couldn’t include all of the pictures (my image space is almost gone). Here are a couple. The one on the bottom left is of a courthouse.
All of the nice people we met were volunteers. They showed us how things were made in the 1850’s. Below you’ll see the surgeon, the carpenter, inside the shoemakers, and the cotton gin.
My favorite pictures are of the wagon ride. Michael got to sit up front with the driver. It was a 15 minute trot around the town. Imagine how long it’d take to get to just the city over! The mule tried to bite Michael. There’s also a pic of Michael playing with an old toy. He had a chance to throw an ax too.
Lastly, here’s the general store. I was sad that we didn’t have time to shop in the real store. Michael attempted to tap his name in Morse code.
Besides that we’ve just been recovering from October :). Here are some every day pics: my hubby doing what he does best…grilling out (he made the grill from a broken beer keg he’d been given), Michael raking leaves without being asked, our jack-o-lantern was replanted with the seeds in it, and oh by the way….we’ve got chickens.
I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you. We’ve had them over a month. The one with black tail feathers is Baby and the other one is Penny. They’re sweet babies and they’ve both been laying for weeks now. I made a coop for them under Michael’s playhouse. At night they sleep there and then they go free range during the day. We are up to our ears with eggs. The picture is of them drinking from Tessa’s water. Chris picks on me. He calls them lunch and dinner. I am very attached to my hen babies though. They are family now and the only pets that really give back. They’re quiet (except when they’re laying, Baby likes to announce when her or Penny lays) so the neighbors don’t seem to mind.
I read somewhere that in a survival situation you could live off of eggs and tomatoes and have all the nutrients you need. We just need tomatoes now :).
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Hear the Writer Roar! Tuesday: NaNoWriMo Time! November 5, 2013
Are you ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? I am and I’ve got my first Vlog to prove it :). Email sub. if you can’t see the vid please come to my site. Forgive me dear ones for the scary night time face. I figured the Hogwarts hat would help ;). God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
NaNoWriMo time video~ 1st Vlog
PS: If you are a Wrimo this year please leave me a comment. How do you prepare? What keeps you going? Do you have a chocolate stash too?
Crafty Monday: Ancient Greece Week 3 & Oktoberfest November 4, 2013
In this post: We learn about Greek culture and Alexander the Great. Our homeschool group celebrates Oktoberfest.
Hello dear ones. I hope you are well. Last week we finished our study of Ancient Greece. We also learned about Alexander the Great. It’s going to be short and sweet today. Here’s a list of what’s pictured:
- Picture of Alexander the Great’s horse, Bucephelus. Michael got this out of his Draw and Write Through History book. He used water colors.
- Bucephelus puppet
- The lighthouse at Alexandria~from Draw & Write Through History. It’s one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.
- A Greek Urn~We also watched a video about how Greek pots told stories. Michael drew the Olympics on this one.
- We learned about the top 3 Greek philosophers and talked about their philosophies. We used “S.P.A.” to remember who taught who. “Sock” to remember Socrates. Plato sounds like play dough. “Air” for Aristotle. I drew pictures so we’d remember facts about them. You can see Aristotle is teaching Alexander the Great.
- Our Indian corn sprouted :).
You can find video and craft links here:
Our homeschool group celebrated Oktoberfest and learned about Germany. Everyone brought a German food. A mom who had lived in Germany talked about it. My buddy Hannah read the kids a fairy tale by the Grimm brothers. Since it was also Halloween some of the kids dressed up and we had games after.
I made an apple pie braid. I’m not sure if it’s German. I used this pie crust recipe:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/baked-pie-shell-dessert-recipes
I doubled it and rolled it out. Then I cut both sides into strips and left space in the middle for the apples. I cooked the apples with a sugary cream cheese mix that didn’t serve it’s purpose as a frosting. Then I poured the apple mixture in the middle and braided the sides. I brushed the sugary mix on top and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar. Then I baked it for 18 minutes. It was scrumptious!
It was a busy week with all the festivals and costume fun. I was too pooped to party by Friday. Well, more next time :).
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Greece Week 2: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/crafty-monday-part-1-ancient-greece-week-2/
Next Week : https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/crafty-monday-native-americans-carthage-study/
amberdover 