Concept Unit #43: Ancient Rome

October was the month of ancient Rome.

We started with the very beginnings of Rome - a ragtag group of lands ruled over by kings - and moved on to the myth of Romulus & Remus. From there we went on to democracies and republics (comparing them and how the Roman republic was different yet similar to the Greek democracy), warfare (the Romans revolutionized warfare at the time), the military, the conquests (a god chunk of the known world), the expansion of the republic, the emperors (Julius Caesar being the first), how the common people lived, the difference between being a citizen and not, slavery and what slaves are, more conquests (again, even more of the known world which they had a hard time keeping a hold of), the expansion of the empire, the mythology (largely stolen from the Greeks), the persecution of Christians, the rise of Christianity, the barbarians (which helped lead to the downfall), and the eventual fall.

We also talked about the impact Rome still has to this day on our own culture. How their laws and system of government influence our own. How their system of military and warfare influenced all other militaries to come in that region of the world. How the title czar/tzar comes from Caesar's name. Also, the influence and popularity of Christianity both in people's personal lives and in governments all over the world.

Lastly, we also took a closer look at both Julius Caesar and Pompeii through the books "Who Was Julius Caesar?" and "What Was Pompeii".

Honestly, though, it was a huge relief that this was our final unit. I look forward to going back to weekly (or bi-weekly) concept units. And I know that Optimus Prime & Bumblebee feel the same way.

Concept Unit #42: Ancient Greece

This month we covered ancient Greece.

Democracy and city-states - each city-state was their own little country with their own customs, government, and way of life. We even talked about how Athens and Sparta were so powerful. The deities and heroes - the different gods, their myths, and how they interacted with the humans as well as the famous mythological heroes of the time. The art and theater, the architecture, the philosophy, the science and math - you name it, the Greeks pretty much invented it. The wars and armies, the famous generals and kings - the Peloponnesian war, Alexander the Great as well as his father, the different armies.

We covered EVERYTHING.

Mostly, they learned all about how ancient Greece impacted history overall and even our everyday life today. How we still use the teachings of their famous philosophers, how we still use their style of architecture, how countries today base their governments on the ancient Greek governments, etc.

It was a good unit, but like I said in the Egypt post, it was just too much for one unit and one month.

Concept Unit #41: Ancient Egypt

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee spent an entire month learning all about ancient Egypt. It was a new idea, spending an entire month on a topic, and to be honest - we hated it. It was just too much doing the same topic day after day everyday. We won't be repeating this again after this quarter. From now on we'll stick to a maximum of two weeks on a topic. A month was both too much information and too much repetition. So many topics overlapped that when we discussed topic b topic a would be brought up again.

Anyway, they learned all about the pyramids, the pharaohs, the gods, the culture, the wars. There was periods of time where Egypt was invaded and foreign rulers reigned so that was interesting. They learned about the female pharaoh Hatshepsut and how the pharaohs that followed her tried to erase her from history. They learned about Cleopatra, the last queen and pharaoh of Egypt who was really a Greek. Famous male pharaohs were covered as well including the famous "King Tut" (who got his own special look at with the book "Who Was King Tut?") who was really a nobody in his time but is famous in ours. Interactions with ancient Greece and Rome, as well as their influence and eventual rule were covered as well. We even touched briefly on Alexander the Great.

Overall it would have been a better unit - and far more enjoyable - if it had been shorter. But it was a very information packed month in the end.

Expanding the Concept Weeks

Concept Weeks are something that have been slowly evolving since they have started. It began as an additional unit the first week of each month to help us cover things that they were either interested in or things that were not covered in our workbooks but I felt were important. However, I've wanted to expand them for a while now. Then, last summer the first opportunity came about when we spent three whole months working on dinosaurs. Then, this quarter another opportunity came about with a new unit each week.

However, lately I was thinking I'm tired of doing workbooks. Then I realized that most of our Concept Weeks revolve around either science, holidays, history, or mythology. And then, a new idea popped into my head.

Starting next quarter I'll be assimilating the Concept Weeks into our regular units, starting the process of phasing out workbooks and shifting the emphasis towards more reading - whether it is me reading to them or them reading on their own.

The ultimate idea here is two-fold:

1. Come 3rd or 4th grade most of our focus is going to be on reading with less time spent on workbooks. This will help prepare them for that.
2. Concept Weeks are blended units, a single theme or idea covering a wide range of subjects. Once Concept Weeks are fully blended into our regular units this pattern will continue. For example, for 3rd grade science I have a book similar to our 1st grade Science book covering animals by continent. Once Concept Weeks are assimilated into our regular units when we do this Science book we will also be covering Geography, making that Science unit more like a Concept Week that covers multiple subjects while remaining in the same theme.

So, next quarter all of our Concept Weeks will be science based. 12 separate science units that will be treated more like Concept Weeks. The following quarter we will begin switching over more subjects that way so that by the time they are ready to begin chapter books on their own all subjects that can be switched will be switched. 

Concept Unit #13: Dinosaurs

This Concept Unit (renamed from Concept Week for the simple fact that it wasn't a week long...) lasted three whole months and covered nothing but dinosaurs! My kids were in heaven.

There was quite a few differences. Instead of worksheets they had an entire workbook, there was no set project to do because the workbook was filled with projects and games, and there was no book or storybook to go along with the unit because we had an entire 300 or so page workbook to do. No need for overkill here!

The book we used was called Science Essentials: Dinosaurs Grades 1-3. I have to admit, even though it was a 1st grade book a lot of the stuff in there was over their heads and kinda boring. Most of it consisted of page after page after page of dinosaur, Pangaea, climate, landscape, paleontology, etc. facts that you would read about and then answer questions for. There was some fun stuff (dot-to-dots, mazes, picture finds, etc) and a LOT of math pages. And, like I said, some games (dominoes, rummy, and other easy games) and projects to do (homemade dinosaur digs, making a dinosaur playset, making a macaroni dinosaur, etc.).

All in all they had a blast doing a dinosaur unit that lasted the whole summer. I just wish it had been more their level. It was really largely a level where kids can read those big words and answer those questions completely on their own. So I guess 3rd grade more than 1st... Then there were some really easy pages that were honestly more kindergarten than 1st grade. However, I suppose that's the problem with a text book that tries to cover so many grade levels in one book. Some stuff will be too easy, some stuff too hard.

Still, they had fun for their final 1st grade Concept Unit and that's really all that matters.