Our Past Projects

This post was Jen's idea. She wanted me to post a list of the projects that my kids have enjoyed. Did you notice I don't have a picture for this post? That's because I'm a slacker mom when it comes to taking pictures. That's one of the best things about creating this blog; I'm taking more! So my one big piece of advice for homeschoolers (and non-homeschoolers) out there: TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR KIDS WHEN THEY ARE HAVING FUN DOING A PROJECT! Most of the history projects come from The Story of the World Activity Book One: Ancent Times. The science projects come from various books about science experiments and from the Noeo Young Scientists Club and various science books from the library.

History Projects: (Throughout these history projects there are coloring pages and map work pages for every country and geographic area we studied. My kids love their map work!)

I took them to an abandoned field to do an "archaeology dig".
I sent them out in the back yard to make a hut or shelter using whatever they could find to simulate how the nomads lived.
We made a model of the Nile River complete with grass seed, dirt, and rocks. We "flooded" it every week or so over a period of a few weeks and watched the grass (crops) grow.
We made cuneiform tablets out of clay and they wrote their names in cuneiform.
Made a Heiroglyphic scroll.
Made pyramids out of sugar cubes.
Made stained glass windows to show how the Phoenicians made glass.
Made a Moses and the Ten Plagues sticker book.
Drew pictures of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Made an erupting volcano like the one that erupted on the island of Crete.
Made a greek charm bracelet out of Shrinky Dinks. Charms included the Parthenon, a greek olympic cup, grapes, and spartan warriors.
Made comic books about the Spartans.
Made a sculpture of the Parthenon out of blocks.
Made a roman Fasces.
Ran a roman restaurant.
Made a roman aqueduct.
Played the "Ransom Caesar Game". (Like Battleship)

Still to do:
Mint our own coins
Learn the Roman Numerals
Make a mosaic calendar.
Make pendants with secret pockets (the early Christians had to keep their identity a secret).
Make a Life of Jesus Puzzle.
Make a Shabbat sand art candle holder. (the end of the ancient Jewish Nation).
Make Nero's new crown.
Make a salt dough map of italy.
Make a secret symbol like the early Christian symbol of the fish.
Make Constantine's shield.
Have a Celtic Feast.
Reassemble a Roman pot.
Read the Cat in the Hat in Latin!!!????

Science projects:
We grew bacteria!
Made a weather station.
Grew plants.
Made models of the heart and lungs.
Tested our lung capacity using straws and 2-liter bottles.
Put Alka Seltzer and water in film canisters to demonstrate how rockets take off.
Made a model of the Solar system.
Made constellation viewers out of film canisters.
Demonstrated the magnetic pull of the moon on the ocean using magnets.
Compared the size of the sun and the earth using Cheerios.

I can't overstate how effective projects are at "cementing" information into kids' brains (at least my kids). It seems like once we've done a project or experiments for that subject, they just never forget it!