My Epiphany

Epiphany. What a great word.

Epiphany - noun - a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by somesimple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

Yesterday, I had an epiphany. We have been doing our homeschooling this year and it is actually going surprisingly well - considering the move, the transition, etc. Well, before we moved from Florida, I started getting things ready for the first of our co-op classes. We were going to be studying ancient civilizations and since we didn't know if I was going to be there long, we were going to have me and another mom teach the first session of co-op. This was where we were going to introduce Creation, the Fall, Noah's ark and then the tower of Babel as a precursor to how the different people groups spread over the face of the earth. (If you want an interesting read about the Tower of Babel and its importance as far as the different people groups around the world, see http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/03/11/tower-of-babel-am.)


I had started researching and doing lots of preparations for that co-op class. Well, as the Lord had it, we moved before the co-op year ever started. In our study of history this year in our own personal homeschool, we were also going to be studying ancient civilizations. So, I had been working on the lapbook with my kids that I had started for co-op. The lapbook I had started was basically about the Fertile Crescent and the beginning of mankind. Well, as we have been studying ancient civilizations with our Sonlight curriculum this year, we are already at Egypt. So yesterday I had my epiphany. 

I decided we are going to include all of the ancient civilizations in our lapbook, along with the creation of man through the tower of Babel. You see, I want my children to understand that study of history has a basis in reality. Not just any reality either - Biblical reality. So, we are using the things that I started to prepare for co-op and using them for our homeschool. And this week we are going to talk about how the Tower of Babel was a HUGE event in history to help explain why the ancient civilizations came into existence. Then we are going to include a small section about the tower of Babel, the confusion of the languages and how the people spread over the face of the earth.

Then we are going to do some fun activities for Egypt and include them in our lapbook. When we start into Greece and Rome, I can just incorporate those as well. Maybe we will even have room for China and India. Oh boy! I am so excited. Yesterday was a very good day. :)

Sorry, I know it is dark. It says: Cradle of Civilization and has Acts 17:26-27

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This is the inside of one of children's lapbooks. It has a family tree from Adam to Abraham (with some breaks because it was lots and lots of generations), a map of the fertile crescent and Noah's Ark. We will be adding the Tower of Babel and Egypt this week.

In our study of Egypt, we read an excellent book The Golden Goblet. Joshua and Sarah LOVED this book. Joshua enjoyed it so much that he made a LEGO creation just like the cover of the book.

It's hard to see, but the minifigure is holding a golden goblet, just like the cover of the book.  

Have I mentioned how much we love Sonlight curriculum?