We are such huge fans of the Magic Treehouse books! This edition is no exception!
This week was our first official day at our new homeschooling co-op. It meets 1x/week for a few hours (depending on how many classes you sign your kids up for). It is a good 30+ minute drive each way, and so begins a return to listening to audiobooks. We had taken a bit of a break from audiobooks in August, especially since most of our adventures in August took place within a 10-20 minute drive of our home, but with a weekly combined driving time of an hour now in our schedule, I like to take advantage of that time by adding in audiobooks for the car.
As I hope I mentioned in previous posts, DS11's first history block is Ancient Rome. We've already done a map....
....and made a cover page for the unit...
We have watched a couple of the Crash Course videos on youtube that pertain to Ancient Rome, and now we're moving a bit into the daily life of Romans, as well as an introduction to some concepts surrounding the way government worked. Some of the government bits are a bit dry, so we're breaking those bits up into smaller chunks over the course of the unit.
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This week, it seemed appropriate to begin the conversation about what happened in Pompeii. I loaded up the above audiobook (from audible.com). and at a run time of about 42 minutes, we had plenty of time to finish the entirety of the book by the time we made it back home (obviously pausing the book when we arrived at the co-op, and then finishing the book on the ride back home).
Both kids love these books, but I have to say that this book was a little scarier than some of the other books. Thankfully, the scary part didn't last very long and was saved for the very end of the book (the actual eruption of the volcano happens and the two main characters in the book need to dodge falling rocks, debris, and choking dust to get back to their tree house to escape).
Both of my kids seemed to weather the story fairly well, although my youngest (9) was a bit scared and worried that the children wouldn't make it out. So, I guess I would say that this probably better suited for ages 10 and up, depending on the sensitivity level of your unique child.
Then, when we got home, we read the Easy Reader for Pompeii: Buried Alive, which I ordered through amazon.com. I read this particular book with only DS11, since I didn't feel I should belabor the story with my more sensitive 9yo (not to mention, she isn't quite ready for this unit, and while she's fine to listen to audiobooks in the car that might be a little above her understanding, I don't want to expose her overmuch to stories and concepts that really should wait until she is in sixth grade herself.)
While DS11 was working on this Pompeii book with me, DD9 was playing with a set of Native American dolls that I got for her for her upcoming unit on Native American stories (we'll be starting that unit in about a month. I plan to do a 4-week block with her on Native American stories to coincide with getting ready for Thanksgiving).
I am just letting her play with these dolls without much context to the figures themselves. She knows that they are called Native Americans, and that we sometimes refer to them as "Indians", but we haven't gone any deeper than that right now. DD9 is the kind of girl who takes in information very slowly at times. She likes to process it in her own way before she is ready to receive more complex info about something. This is probably mainly due to her processing disorder that comes with her autism diagnosis, but it could also very well just be a "normal" phase children her age sometimes go through.
I hope your week is going well!
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