The main focus for our Ancient Israel Unit Study was the Old Testament. This was the ideal opportunity to learn more about the Jews and their covenant with God. Israel followed very naturally from our ancient Egypt unit study, given it was Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land of Israel.
Ancient Israel Unit Study: Reading and Watching
I was pregnant with Becca the whole way through this unit study so much of it was hands off, watching and workbooks. The children knew the story of Moses well, but the film Prince of Egypt, I think, is a particularly good one:
We watched this as an introduction, before we went on to do some scripture study using Homeschool Copywork. In addition to this we were blessed with the whole set of Bible dvds which were an added benefit to studying this period in history during this period in our lives (ie pregnant!):
Even now the children love watching them. They were a real hit. Other books we used to help our studies which I read aloud (about all I could manage at this time) included the following:
We used the following geography curriculum, which whilst it had a modern slant, it was still very good:
Ancient Israel Unit Study: Note Pages and Writing
We did lots of geography note pages to go with all the watching of videos and reading of books:
Ancient Israel Unit Study: Activities
The only activity I captured on camera was the children putting on an Exodus out of our garden. They made some manna for their trip from this recipe:
And made a blanket/backpack from an old piece of cloth. It was super easy to make. The children cut a large circle out of some thick curtain fabric. They cut holes out all along the edge to thread some rope through. This rope could then be drawn tight to create a bag to carry all their bits and pieces needed for the Exodus. The blanket therefore doubled as a floor rug to sit on and a backpack to transport all of their belongings (the children made the rope out of a strip of material):
Fun times!
This is great, How do you decide what to study and when with the children? Do you use any curriculum for history or geography or have you always done your own?
I started with Creation and moved where the bible naturally took us, until the Romans. The Romans took us to Britain (where we live) and here we have stayed with European history. I don’t use a curriculum, although at the start I did. I have problems following curriculum (!) so now I just do my own thing, which is much funner and far more rewarding. HTH!
Thank you, it helps a lot
I LOVE Prince of Egypt.
Oddly enough my boys don’t like anything that requires writing (big surprise) but my daughter actually prefers workbooks and such stuff.
After ACE my guys hate workbooks!
What a great study! I think we’ll just come do school with you =-)
Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a GREAT day =-)
Beth
C’mon and join us, we’d have so much fun, what with your viking ship and all!! (LOVED that!!)