Trojan Horse

Tree of the gods

As in family tree. Of the Greek Gods.

This was a fun activity. We have a beautiful book, D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths, that we've been enjoying throughout our study of that beautiful civilization. It not only clearly describes the relationships between the various gods in writing, but also has a chart in the front for the more visual learners. Of course, the intricacies of godliness in ancient Greek culture is rather convoluted, seeing as there were several mortal, half-god men walking the earth at that time. Of course. Take Pythagoras, for instance. To simplify things we confined our study of the gods to the more literal of the group—those who had phenomenal powers, immortality, and jobs pertaining to the (then unexplainable) processes of the natural world.

Calvin's tree took a few days to create. We went online together to find sketches of the different gods, which we then printed for him to color. He picked out a blue poster board for the background. He made Gaia out of cut paper (green for her earth body, blue for the lakes and pools that form her mouth and eyes), and sketched, then cut the tree from postal paper before gluing everything down.

Hats

It's one of the advantages to avoiding the use of air conditioning that when the cold finally starts coming around I am usually more than ready for it. Things got chilly a little earlier this year, and we didn't have the distinct return to hot weather that we usually have at least once in the weeks surrounding Halloween, but still, after the scorching, dry summer, we have welcomed the crisp fall weather. And there is a moment each fall, too, when I feel that my body has finally made the transition, when I no longer label fifty degrees as chilly, but a veritable heat wave, when even thirty degrees does not keep us from a neighborhood walk. Of course, that moment of transition might have more to do with the swapping out of short, thin clothing for longer, heavier duds and layers. And hats. Definitely hats.

The season change opens up a pretty obvious field of study. Charting and discussing the rotation and orbit of the earth is something that Calvin already has a pretty good grasp of just from discussion over the years, but this fall we have actually marked out specific time to discuss it more in depth. Fall is a good time for this because not only is the gradual change in seasons more obvious, as the cusp between daylight and dark now falls before bedtime (especially around the clock change), but in our ancient history studies we have come across numerous references to the change of the seasons, particularly in the fall, and often in myth. That is, after all, what Halloween was for many all those thousands of years ago. Last week we took a break from our march through history (which right now has us camping out in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas about three thousand years ago) to drop in on Stonehenge and the Celts. One of these years I just might try to find a turnip big enough to carve. How appropriate that next week, with the clocks turned back and the sun setting before dinner, we will be entering into the Greek Dark Ages.

#conversations I never thought I'd have with my son

Me (reading from The Story of the World about Shamshi Adad, the Assyrian king, and thinking that maybe this isn't the best reading material): "When he conquered a city, he chopped off the heads of all the leaders and put them up on stakes around the city."

Calvin: "They did the same thing in Shakespeare's time."

Me (somewhat skeptical): "Really?"

Calvin: "Yes. They cut off the heads of traitors and put them outside the Tower of London. And other places."

Me: "Where did you hear that?"

Calvin: "I read it in a book about Shakespeare. A book you gave me." (My emphasis. Because really, that needed to be emphasized).

Out of nowhere

We've all been smacked upside the head with a "spring" cold. It came out of nowhere! And we're just laying low. Calvin and I stayed in our pajamas all day today. We skipped our homeschool gathering today—the first day of new classes, too. I even took the dogs out in my pajamas (just to the front yard), and Jon came home early to rest.

Calvin and I both practiced the piano. He drew a lot of maps (I love this), read a little, and played (make-believe) Piglet and Pooh. We played a couple of math games on the computer together, and a round of Upwords, but mostly we hunkered down with history books. We hung another timeline on the last free wall in the house—3,000 b.c.e. to 100 c.e.—and started filling it in with the happenings in Mesopotamia. We read about Gilgamesh and Enkidu, about Sargon, and a little about Hammurabi.

With Jon home early we drank tea, ate snacks, played more games, and ordered pizza. We watched Michael Wood on King Arthur (In Search of Myths and Heroes) over dinner. We started reading The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, together before bed (as a side note, Juster is also the author of one of my favorite picture books, The Hello Goodbye Window).

With a little rest we're hoping to be as good as new on Monday.