ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS: Mesopotamia, Fertile Cresent, and Gilgamesh

Today we continued our history studies by reviewing last year's SOTW Book 1 and revisiting Mesopotamia.  We worked on maps with focus on the Fertile Crescent which in Greek means, "Between the Rivers".  The area was the seat of the earliest civilizations having rivers and good soil for farming and it became a strategic location for trade.

K12 Interactive CRADEL OF CIVILIZATION game.

The British Museum has a great website with more info and links: Mesopotamia 

We began reading, 'Gilgamesh', an epic poem consisting of 12 clay tablets which were discovered on an archeological dig in 1853 by Hormuzd Rassam.  It was translated and published in 1870 and is one of the oldest pieces of world literature dating back to 2500BC.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jAMRTGv82Zo#t=9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jAMRTGv82Zo#t=9

California History Museum

First Day of School

Our table.  Math, including a child's book on money to relate real-world money numbers and functions to math (common core-lol), fiction books, California History, and historical world literature dating back 3000 years, 'Gilgamesh'.

Ahhh, a new school year kicks off today (our official calendar has us starting on Wednesday but I have us getting started today which puts us ahead and gives us a couple of flexibility days-the kids don't know ;). 
Actually, I spent last week warming the kids up for the rigor ahead by having them read, 'Will Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' at an accelerated pace and doing plenty of math review.  Additionally, we visited the the San Diego History museum because Baron is studying California History this year.

This morning was interesting as we started discussion on fermented foods and how important they are to health.  We talked about what 'anaerobic' means and how we will create that environment for the many microorganisms using a CO2 airlock on our jars when we ferment kimchee this week.  We will talk more about the microbiology of this process in more depth.

It has been interesting having the kids reading the same book at nearly the same pace.  Not only are they competitive, but I hear them talking together about the book which shows interest and comprehension.