Week 4 - Rome to the Reformation: mosaics, clay creatures, and hilariously funny 'Rotten Roman' video clips

Here are a few highlights from our week...

Art

We had hoped to complete this mosaic project last week, but the mail did not arrive in time. So, we completed it this week instead. The kids had fun and this kit made things super easy for me in keeping the kids busy while I did some of the required oral reading this week. They have several kits to choose from.

Walmart also had some cute mosaic animals in their $1-$3 bins, but when we went back to get some, they were already all out :(

Bible
We finished up the overview of the New Testament and who wrote each book. In the coming weeks, we will focus more closely on the book of Romans.


History
This week, the kids had fun creating their clay creatures while I did the oral reading for the day. Now that we are reading the Bronze Bow AND Augustus Caesar's World orally, the kiddos need to keep busy and the coloring sheets alone weren't cutting it anymore. They created the creatures one day and painted/decorated them the next day. My son opted to make a bull (instead of a pig...as it was more manly...lol!) named 'Bulldozer' and my daughter created a puppy named 'Jewel'. You can find the directions online to make these animals and many others here and here.

They did a really good job painting them as well. My poor brown-eyed girl's puppy kept falling apart every time she touched a different part though. I think she had to totally recreate it in the end. She just kept adding more and more clay, but no matter how much she added, pieces just kept falling off :(


Someone posted on a homeschool Facebook page about these video clips called "Rotten Romans". The name caught my attention and since we are learning about the Romans, we watched a few. I must say, they are pretty funny. 

Here's a link to one about Roman table manners.

One about Roman gods. I think this one nailed perfectly how ridiculous all their idol worship really was. 

And another about Julius Caesar and his rise to fame and fall to death.

Science
This was another project we were hoping to complete last week when we were learning about the brain, but my order did not arrive in time. We purchased several small scale models to put together as we learn about different topics this year: body, brain, skeleton, and heart.
All but 1 part of the brain was fairly easy when putting this model together. We could NOT figure out where the hippocampus went. I mean, we saw where it was supposed to go, but when we went to snap the parts together, it would either fall out every time or the model would fall apart b/c the hippocampus would not allow it to snap together. SO, our model is missing the hippocampus. Shhh! No one will ever know ;)

We also completed the 5 Senses activity from the Body Book. I think the kids are going to like the activities in it. Yay! More hands-on things to keep them busy during all that oral reading.

Whew! This week has been packed... We are finishing up the week with the kids having a sleepover with friends, a father-son hunting class, and a mother-daughter date :)