November 18-20

We started our week with the final excavation of our Egyptian treasure. Very Pharaoh oriented!

We learned about clipping coupons for our grocery unit. I am not sure they really understood what the deals were that they clipped BUT they did know that it was a good thing and could save you money to get more food or better things. Oh and that they expire.

Our Thanksgiving themed craft was thanks to Activity Village… A Thanksgiving Tree made using our hands! You can find the activity HERE. Anything that works to remind us how we need to appreciate what and who is in our lives is on the list for our Thanksgiving unit. Last year we worked on the actual history, this year we are working on the EMOTION behind the holiday.

That new computer set up sure is coming in handy with our new rule of no games until after 3pm. Lots of grouping together to work on games. We just need to find a way to get them some sound!

We had an amazing package show up on our doorstep from Sharon in Canada. She sent the kids all they need for a movie (Turbo) and cookie night and yours  truly some of her favourite chocolate bars – Coffee Crisp!!!!!

Our Tuesday had us separated into TWO groups – Echo and myself for our quiet morning at home with cartoons, cleaning and crochet…

And the rest with Nana and Daddy in tow went to their fieldtrip at Herb’s Service Station where Nana used to work.

They had a blast, everything from fixing tires to checking out the carwash to riding on the lift! What a treat! They ended it with hot chocolate and were home for school in the afternoon.

On the Wednesday the kids had another chance to learn with Nana and helped her make cookies from scratch. There are so many opportunities to learn from other people out there and when we have the chance we just have to grab it – not only did they read the recipe, help measure and mix but they also were able to spend special time with their Nana!

Of course we had school to do as well. Emanuel is now able to read to others some… it is amazing to see two of the kids sitting together and enjoying a good book!

I ended my day with a little festive drink. Ken and I got a mini date – a solo run to Sam’s Club for groceries and I was able to grab a small container (1L) of egg nog. I am the only adult in the house who likes it, but with a little milk added both Echo and Trinity enjoy a sip or two!

Definitely an excellent beginning half of a week! 

November 7-9

UNO was the name of the game on Thursday with Aunty Karyn. Don’t get me wrong, we ARE doing our basic schoolwork – reading (to Karyn), spelling and of course any sort of daily worksheet, but a good teacher knows when to take advantage of the distractions, and special time with their beloved Aunty is worth the memories.

I had an extra special treat in the form of Darcy having time (after an appointment with all kids in school) and I having adults to keep the kids and I was able to reintroduce Karyn to Darcy. They met at first at our wedding and then again at the twins’ baptism (Darcy and Andy are Zander’s godparents, and we are in turn Anthony’s). We went out for a lovely LONG (keyword that, long) lunch at the Green Mill with lots of chatting and girly time and ZERO kid interruptions. BLISS!

Note the Remembrance Day Poppy that Karyn brought me from Canada on my lapel!

Karyn brought with her a variety of Canadian specific chocolates and bits and bobs. I took a picture of a few of them to share.

On Friday Ken and Emanuel got to work (finally) on the final portion of our Egypt lesson. The “crafty” thing that came with Little Passports. A bit of a mini dig with his very own pyramid. They made good inroads on their first time working on it.

We had a lovely minor snow fall which the boys  took advantage of with a snow bunny and mini snowmen.

Bunny

They used every tiny bit of snow.

It was a day off school for the cousins so they joined us for the weekend.

With Aunty Karyn added to the mix it was a wonderful day of fun and hanging out and getting back in touch with each other (with a bit of sneaking out to shop of course!).

Saturday was a somewhat planned out day with a trip to the Brickmania Toyworks. A special Lego exhibit done by local people with  tons of original pieces all made out of Lego. Gift shop included.

Hmm a bit of TARDIS

There was tons to see and we did our best to see it all. So much creativity! 2 cars, 5 adults and 7 kids later and we made it there and back.

Ok, so the bullets aren’t Lego… but the water is all those tiny clear ones!!!!

What a great sign! Look for the rest of these pictures (and there are a lot!) at the end of the blog.

After that Karyn, my mother in law and I went out to Kohl’s to take advantage of sales and an added 30% off discount. Because of them I am now the proud owner of an amazing (limited addition) Little Black Dress that was on for a steal!!! Thank you Nana! Pictures to follow… eventually.

The kids rounded off their day with a tea party.

A Saturday well spent! Now enjoy the Lego themed chaos.

The originator of this group was really into war themed projects as you can tell!

A pretty amazing tree!

There was actual water flowing out of the fountain.

Hagrid and Batman!

They can play this little soccer game on the display.

Godzilla

We spotted a fairy!

The kids

We have enrolled Emanuel in the Little Passports series and one of our monthly mailings was EGYPT. We couldn’t just look at what came in the mail so it morphed into time to make a poster about this rather intriguing country! I hope our resources and findings are helpful!

BOOKS:

• Ten Little Mummies by Philip Yates HERE
• Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble by Judy Schachner HERE
• A Look at Egypt by Helen Frost HERE
• How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland HERE
• Egypt ABCs by Sarah Heiman HERE
• You Wouldn’t Want to be Tutankhamen! by David Stewart HERE
• Ancient Egypt by Cynthia Klingel and Robert B. Noyed HERE
• Eyewitness Pyramid by James Putnam HERE
• Everything Ancient Egypt by Crispin Boyer HERE
• Eyewitness Ancient Egypt by George Hart HERE
• Ancient Egypt Beyond the Pyramids by Kathleen W. Deady HERE
• Egypt in Pictures by Jeffrey Zuehlke HERE
• Miriam and Her Brother Moses by Jean Marzollo HERE
• Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures Ancient Egypt by Joanna Cole HERE
• Who Built the Pyramid? by Meredith Hooper HERE
• Mummies in the Morning – a Magic TreeHouse mystery by Mary Pope Osborne HERE

HELPFUL WEBSITES:

• Virtual Reality 3D Tomb Tours HERE though we could not get it to run on our laptop. If someone could figure it out I would love a head up on how they did it!!!
• A series of the Eye of Ra images. I needed them for my part on one of mini books HERE thanks to Waktattoos.com
• Ducksters’ Egypt Map HERE, Odyssey’s map HERE

PRINTABLES

• A mini book with the current Egyptian flag from Activity Village HERE.
• Ancient Egypt wordsearch HERE (Activity Village)
• Ancient Egypt map colouring page HERE (Activity Village)
• Current flag colouring page HERE (Activity Village)
• Sphinx colouring page HERE (Activity Village)
• Pyramids colouring page HERE (Activity Village)
• Ancient Egyptian children colouring page HERE (Activity Village)
• Egypt colouring page on Education.com HERE
• List of Ancient Egypt worksheets on Education.com HERE

CRAFTS

• Egyptian Pyramid model papercraft with Education.com HERE
• Make a Mummy papercraft HERE (Education.com)

ANSWERING QUESTIONS

• Ancient Egyptian beards… why? With Musiem HERE
• All about Egyptian gold… Live Science’s article on clues to the origins of it HERE. A comparison between Egyptian and Roman gold HERE. The Gold of the Pharaohs by Softpedia HERE.
• All about the Sphinx… why is it a half person half lion? Mentormob’s article HERE.
• Toothbrushing in Ancient Egypt! Including the use of cosmetics on The Alchemy Web Site HERE. Wiki Answers’ take HERE.
• What do Egyptians do for fun? Ask.com’s answer HERE. ThinkQuest’s answer HERE

VIDEOS
First off, CrashCourse’s Ancient Egypt: Crash Course World History #4

The History of Ancient Egypt in 2 Minutes! Vsion 1.0 by Scott Powell, the History Guy

Ancient Egypt – The Mystery of the Sphinx by Plancheman100

Mystery of the Sphinx (this is part 1 you can find the rest by the same poster) by Pharaoh3000

  SUGGESTED CRAFTS (we didn’t make it to doing these as light caught up with us)

• Salt Dough Plaque (Activity Village) HERE
• Pharaoh’s Headdress (Activity Village) HERE
• Flail Craft (Activity Village) HERE
• Ankh Fuse Bead design (Activity Village) HERE