The Mystery of History

Teaching history is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. I love learning right along with the kids. Frankly, I'm surprised by how much of the information seems new to me. Maybe I was never taught history in an inspiring way, maybe age and four kids have conspired and caused my memory to tarnish, or maybe I'm just more excited about learning than I have ever been in my life. Whatever it is, teaching (and learning) history with my kids is a lot of fun.

This year we are studying the ancient time period, and we are using The Mystery of History for the first time. The amount and depth of reading seems a perfect fit for the boys. There are lots of suggestions for hands on projects, as well as literature and movie selections. We have the flexibility to do as much or little as we like. Review quizzes, timeline instructions, and map working are also built into the program. It is really the most comprehensive, easy to use, and interesting program I have used to date. We are in the beginning stages, but from what I've seen so far, I think we're in for a great year.

I find that our timeline is handy for keeping track of important dates....

....or keeping track of wild boys.



The Sumerians used a wedge shaped stylus to invent a form of writing called "Cuneiform". I rolled out some sugar cookie dough and let the boys (scribes) practice writing some of the characters. There's nothing like eating your homework for dessert.

We also built a ziggurat out of Legos, and made a pop-up book. Please note Indiana Jones valiantly protecting our ziggurat. I suggested he could be a character from The Epic of Gilgamesh, so at least he would be historically appropriate, but the boys rightfully pointed out that sugar cookies may not have been precisely accurate either. Touche'.