For our Ancient Rome history presentation we welcomed extended family who flew 1500 miles to join the local family members as guests!
Ancient Roman Feast
Presenting…a family from Ancient Rome. After we gave our introductions of our belief in the one true God, we enjoyed a feast the Ancient Romans would have enjoyed.
Ancient Roman Oratory
Because the Ancient Romans made oratory famous, which became the signature presentation style of our history presentation.
We incorporated elements of what my kids learned from other curricula: Latin Road to English Grammar (LRTEG) and Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW).
Ending our first year with IEW, my kids wrote several cohesive persuasive essays (Unit 8) for their presentation.
Because of time spent with a guest staying at our house, we had less time for the usual rehearsal and preparation, so we kept things super simple.
Despite displaying every persuasive essay my kids wrote, they only chose one to read to the audience.
We printed their essays onto parchment paper, rolled them up, and laid them with the other art projects for use during the history presentation.
Latin, the Language of Rome
Since my daughter studied Latin this year, she recited The Lord’s Prayer (thanks to her Latin Road to English Grammar studies) then she read one of her papers.
Paul’s Oration to the Athenians
After my son recited Paul’s famous oratory to the Athenians in Acts 17: 22-31, he read one of his papers. He also explained how his costume signified that him as a member of the Roman Senate.
Ancient Roman Museum
Then my kids led a tour of our museum of art projects related to Ancient Roman history.
Mosaics: Roman Art
Quintessentially Roman, mosaics remain a common art style.
Easily creating the cross with tiles of their choice, the background proved massively difficult.
Finding the perfect random bits to fit randomly sized areas, then carefully cutting background tile to size proved challenging.
Today these crosses are nicely displayed in my kids’ bedroom.
With the mosaics as our primary art focus, our learning objectives were easily covered. However my kids found time to do other crafts of their choice in their free time.
Etruscan Architectural Marvels
The mysterious Etruscans invented the arch along with other marvels like aqueducts that fascinated us, so my kids wrote about them for our IEW essays.
The Romans happily absorbed the magnificence of the Etruscans, while utilizing the Greeks to create Roman art forms.
As we learned about Roman conquests, victory marches occurred under magnificent Roman arches, so the kids each construct one in different ways.
Archimedes Screw
While my son was read about Archimedes, he asked if he could make a model of the Archimedes Screw for his science lesson.
Using materials around the house like a plastic storage box, rocks, a portion of hose, and water, my son created a model of the Archimedes Screw and got it to work!
Wish I had a video of it. I don’t remember exactly how we made it, but directions are easily found on the internet.
Epilogue
Our studies of Ancient Rome, although packed, provided enjoyable learning because all the fascinating information.
Ah-ha moments abound with this classical method of study as compared to our previous method of textbook studies.
