Homeschool Project - Papyrus vs. Clay Tablets

Here is the last of the homeschool projects for a bit.  Scroll down for the others. :)

We did an experiment to see why it was that clay/stone tablets lasted longer than papyrus.  They really had fun with this one.

First we had to make our clay tablets.

Next they did some cuneiform on them.

These are Little One's initials

The "I" of Ira's initials took a lot of room so she stuck with just "I."

Next we made a papyrus scroll that they painted some hieroglyphs on with grape juice.

We left them outside for a couple of weeks and through a couple of different storms.  Our papyrus didn't hold up so well.

Next they got caught in the water when the Nile flooded.

Post flood

Finally, they were lost in the Sahara Desert for awhile.

The clay tablets won.  Still readable and almost as good as new.  The papyrus didn't fair so well. :)

Field Trip - Red Butte Gardens

Arbor Day is free to visit Red Butte every year so we braved the cold that day and went.  It had been so nice and warm earlier in the week, but it snowed that morning!  It melted by the time we went later that afternoon, but it was still pretty nippy.  We didn't stay too long because of it, but had fun nonetheless.  The girls liked seeing what all the different plants were.

I thought the texture and color of this branch was awesome!

Little One especially liked the ducks. :)

My cute girls...freezing but happy.

Homeschool Project - Sugar Cube Pyramids

These were quite fun to make too.

Little One's completed pyramid!

Ira with her pyramid!

Of course, no child's life is complete without having eaten a sugar cube.

Yum!

Homeschool Project - The Nile

After Spring Break we started a new history program and have been loving it!  So far I think our favorite section has been ancient Egypt.  Man, I want to go to Cairo!

First off we made a model of the Nile.  It didn't turn out quite like we'd wanted, but it was still very fun and the girls had a blast. :)

We made a river bed out of foil.  The delta started out easy to tell but became less so in the end.  Ah well.

Then they painted glue on the bottom so the river bottom (kitty litter) would stick.

Next was to fill the sides with dirt.

We sprouted some wheat for our grass.  Once it started to sprout we planted it.

Then we had to flood it, of course.

After a few days of flooding, we had some nice grass growing!