Sunday, October 24, 2010

Tapestry Year 1 Unit 1 Celebration!

Last night we had a really fun time celebrating all we've learned in this first unit of Tapestry of Grace Year 1 (the ancient world). Here are some of our guests...


...and the rest of them (fyi, the tv was on to play cd's, not for tv watching! The only way we can play cd's on the main floor is in our dvd player. Just felt the need to explain that) ;-)

Since I was feeding a crowd, I made a big pot of lentil stew, served it with flatbread, and that was it (our guests may have had to eat again at home later, but it was super easy for me!). We had lentil stew because that is something Abraham very well may have eaten.

We showed our guests some of our school books and projects we'd made throughout this unit.




The Golden Goblet was a favorite literature book of both of our G children. Daughter G sketched a drawing of what she pictured the main character's house to look like.


She also made this shadow box picturing daily life in Ancient Egypt. There is a light behind the shoebox, and when you turn it off all you can see is the house. When the light comes on, it illuminates all the workers in the surrounding fields. It was a very cool project she did completely by herself!


My husband was the narrator for our program, and also shared first. He recited the poem Ozymandias from memory ~ a timely reminder of how great civilizations can eventually fall.


Little Man was Abraham, and he shared about the covenant that God had made with him. Is he not the cutest Abraham EVER??



Abraham's wife Sarah (me, alas no photo!) shared what her reaction was when she learned she would have a son in her old age. She laughed! First with unbelief, and then a year later, with joy.

We fast forwarded through the rest of the Patriarchs and arrived in Egypt during the time that Moses grew up. L played an Egyptian boy named Senmut and he read his report about Egyptian Pharoahs' tombs.


He had been growing his hair out since July so that we could give him one long lock on the side of his head just like Egyptian boys used to wear!


Next daughter G, also playing an Egyptian named Hatshepsut (not the queen), read her report on daily life in Egypt.


My husband narrated the life of Moses up until the time that God gave him the ten commandments on Mt. Sinai. Then Moses himself (son C) came and recited them for us! (he painted the Hebrew letters on the cardboard ten commandments himself!)


Lastly, Moses' brother Aaron (son G) came and shared about the duties of the High Priest.


He also explained our model of the Tabernacle, holding up each piece, telling what it was used for and who made it.


Here is our finished model (more on this later). The shape on the altar of burnt offering is a small plastic lamb being sacrificed. One of the boys had a priest figurine from an Indiana Jones play set that was the perfect size. He isn't dressed accurately but he's pretty close. :-) Daughter G made a small shofar from sculpey clay for him to blow. That's what he's holding in the picture below.


Even though this evening represented only 9 weeks of study, we learned so much during those 9 weeks that it felt as if we were barely scratching the surface. However, we and our guests had a lot of fun, and we're grateful for this chance to celebrate God's amazing grace as shown in history, and are looking forward to the next 9 weeks!

6 comments:

  1. Oh you'll scratch more of that surface next time! I'm finding that now with our second rotation. Love that tabernacle! I just called the family over to see it! Great work to all on all the projects!
    Blessings,
    Laurie...who figured out how to comment but I have to jump through hoops to do it! =)

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  2. Super cool! Wish I could be there for the next one. Everyone looked awesome! Did the other side of L's hair eventually get cut too, or is it still in an Egyptian ponytail? And I totally get the TV DVD to play a CD thing. That is the way it is in our house in the family room. So sometimes they turn it on downstairs and crank it up so we can hear it upstairs, as our upstairs kitchen CD player has been broken for four years. Blessings.

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  3. Teacher/Mom:

    I encouraged him to leave the Egyptian lock for a few days as a conversation starter, but he didn't want to go to church the next morning with it like that, so after the celebration it got cut off.

    Laurie:

    I'm glad you figured out how to comment! I have searched and searched through all my settings and can't figure out why it's so easy for some and so difficult for others.

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  4. Had fun looking through all of the pictures! All of your kids are amazing but I have to say that daughter G is unbelievably talented! Wow!

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  5. I agree. Your daughter is very talented in her drawing abilities. Have you used anything in particular to help her grow in this area? I have a daughter who likes to draw too.

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  6. what a great time - would have loved to have seen that and heard it all!!

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