Our Week in Review - Classical Greece

Warning: this is a long post with lots of pictures! I have fallen out of the habit of posting "our week in review" posts, so this is a combination of the last two weeks. I hope to get back in the habit because it's really encouraging to be reminded of all we did accomplish, and also a great way to share our every day school days with loved ones both near and far.

We have been studying the Classical period of Greece recently. The Archaic period (the time of Odysseus, Achilles, the Trojan War, etc) happened several hundred years before the Classical period, but the Classical period is what most people think of when they think of Ancient Greece. It's been fun to study this culture again, adding to the information we gained when we learned about the Archaic period.

I was shocked to realize that the "golden age" of Greece only lasted 47 years!! The culture itself lasted much longer and had far reaching influence on other nations and people groups, even up to the present day, but the "golden age" itself, when the culture was at its height, was very short. I don't remember ever learning that! (I love continuing to learn!)

Another amazing thing for us to learn was how the ancient Israelites, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks were all tied together. The Israelites were conquered by the Babylonians (leading to the dispursion, or diaspora, of Jews to all other parts of the Middle East). A young man named Daniel was among those Jews sent to Babylon in exile, and he is of course the same Daniel we read about in the Bible, whose friends were thrown into the fiery furnace and miraculously saved by the Lord, who could interpret dreams and who ended up in the lion's den when he was much older (and also survived!).

The Babylonians were very shortly afterward conquered by the Persians (here is where the story of Queen Esther fits in), and the Persians became so great and powerful they decided to try and conquer the Greeks. A series of battles between the Greeks and Persians (known as the Persian Wars) ended with Persia's defeat, stopping the expansion of that empire into Europe. Then there was the "golden age" of Greece, when there was relative peace and the people had time and energy to devote to the development of the arts and sciences. Then followed the Peloponnesian War, between Sparta and Athens, which Sparta won and which began the gradual decline of Greece's greatness. All of this occurred within a span of just 165 years!! This was a huge history puzzle piece that got put in place for me, personally, during our studies.

Last week for virtual co-op, both daughter G and son G had the opportunity to make short power point presentations to share in class, covering an aspect of Greek history. Daughter G, being in virtual co-op for three years now, has made several power points. But it was son G's first time. I am so thrilled for the opportunity our children have to learn these skills early and have years to practice them. He really enjoyed it! He did his presentation on the Peloponnesian War. Here he is making it:


We discussed together (all five children) the similarities and differences between the city-states of Athens and Sparta, and made Venn diagrams to illustrate what we discussed. The ability to compare is another skill I am so thrilled to teach our children early. Everyone made a Venn diagram.....


.....even our kindergartner, Little Man! He drew a picture illustrating something unique to Sparta, something unique to Athens, and something they both shared. Then he dictated to me what they were, and I wrote for him. Click on the picture if you want to see it larger.


Despite the fact that our schoolroom makeover is far from done, it has been functioning very well for us this year. I am so thankful to have more space in which to spread out! At the back of the room we have a small table which is our "extra activities" table. I put some Greek activities on it, and then put a note in each of the children's workboxes to spend time at the activities table.


Many of the activities came from this kit: The Ancient Greece Treasure Chest.


Over the course of the last two weeks, here are some of the activities the children have worked on: (trojan horse is from the Archaic period of Greece, and doesn't belong with our Classical studies, but we made him anyway!)


They each wrote their name in Greek letters, and then stamped a Greek pattern around the edges of their paper.




They also made pictures of a Greek amphora (vase) from a template I had, and decorated them with Greek looking designs and pictures.



Such great practice for Little Man in fine motor skills!



We learned that Athens was the birthplace of democracy ~ government by the people. They instituted a council, and any citizen could serve on the council multiple times during his lifetime (of course, only male non-slaves could be citizens). To vote someone off the council required a certain number of "ostrakons" cast. An ostrakon was a broken piece of pottery, on which a name had been scratched. Many ostrakons have been found by archeologists. We get our word "ostracize" from this word! We decided to make our own ostrakons. I broke up a couple of flower pots to get us started, and that was actually kind-of fun!


The children painted them black.




When the paint was dry, they used a nail to scratch out a name in Greek letters, using this letter wheel from the Ancient Greek Treasure Chest (letter wheel showed roman sounds and their corresponding greek letter).




We ended up with five ostrakons voting Obama out of office! (click on picture to enlarge and see the writing better)


This week we are learning about some specific advances in math, science and philosophy made by the Greeks. We will have another Greek meal this Friday, rather than our usual pizza, and then next week we learn about Alexander the Great conquering the Greeks! (can't believe we are almost up to the time of Christ!)