Pre-Study for Homeschool Archaeology Camp Egypt in the Middle Kingdom Geof "Big Dog" Purcell offers archaeology camps to homeschoolers in the spring and fall through his company, The Archaeological Perspective. The following is an independent resource page put together by a homeschool mom. My daughter attended the Nov. 2005 camp in Great Meadows, NJ (see a group photo of Big Dog and his team of archaeologists). Spring and Summer 2006 brings another series of Big Dog's homeschool camps to New Jersey and New York, this time with the theme of Egypt in the Middle Kingdom. This site is a collection of resources homeschoolers may use to prepare in advance for the camp if they wish (it is not required).
Big Dog offers the following advice: "The Middle Kingdom is traditionally dated to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC* and is quite filled with interesting archaeological riddles to solve. Any book on Egyptian History will have a section on the chronology, history, culture and size of Egypt in the Middle Kingdom. Children may enjoy reading some historical fiction about it, followed by going through some names, dates and places. Names to watch out for would be Mentuhotep, Sesostris and Amenemhet (pharoahs all) but just general reading about the strange land of Egypt will prepare them quite nicely for the camp." *While the Middle Kingdom is mainly in the 2nd millennium BC, in some opinions it "started" at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. I am not happy with this idea of chronology but the evidence isn't exactly firm and I tend to go with the later dates (2nd millennium). (GP)
MIDDLE KINGDOM
GENERAL EGYPTOLOGY
HISTORICAL FICTION & STORIES/LEGENDS OF EGYPT My children loved The Golden Goblet by Eloise McGraw. It's fiction set in Ancient Egypt, with lots of historical facts included. We started it as a family read-aloud, but my older two absconded with it, so I ended up reading it only to my 5-year-old. At a lower level, A Place in the Sun by Jill Rubalcaba is also good. My 5-year-old enjoyed both of these. My 8-year-olds were absolutely fascinated by The Golden Goblet though. Gift of the Nile by Jan M. Mike might be doable for a 5-year-old to read on her own. (submitted by Barbara Potgieter) Day of Ahmed's Secret, by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland. New York: Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard, 1990. Ahmed, a young boy in contemporary Egypt, spends his days delivering water. The sights and sounds of Cairo are vividly described, and at the end of the day, he reveals his secret: he has learned to write his name. (submitted by Laurie Spigel) The Egyptian Cinderella, by Shirley Climo. New York: Crowell, 1989. Set in Egypt in the sixth century BCE, this Cinderella is Rhodopes, a slave girl who is chosen by the pharaoh to be queen. (submitted by Laurie Spigel) The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs, by Tamara Bower. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000. Based on a story found in an ancient papyrus scroll, this story tells of a shipwreck on the island of the soul and a happy homecoming. One line on each page has been translated into hieroglyphs. The illustrations were inspired by papyrus scrolls. (submitted by Laurie Spigel) How Djahja-Em-Ankh Saved the Day, by Lise Manniche. This out-of-print book tells a legend 4,500 years old, with portions of the original hieratic scroll alongside the translation, and published on paper simulated to look like papyrus. (submitted by Laurie Spigel) My children enjoyed a book called Croco-nile by Roy Gerrard. It is a picture book; my 4- and 7-year-olds read it quite a bit for a while. (Wallace Mohlenbrok) Tales of Ancient Egypt, by Roger Lancelyn Green. Collection of fables and legends from Ancient Egypt. (Laurie Spigel) CRAFTS & GAMES For crafts/games I highly recommend the Ancient Egypt Discovery Kit. My children had a WONDERFUL time with this. Advertised as "100% twaddle-free fun for K-6th" and that's pretty accurate. They have other history kits too. We loved the Greek and Roman ones also. (submitted by Barbara Potgieter) For craft books, Make it Work! Ancient Egypt by Andrew Haslam worked well for us. Also Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors by Marian Broida was good. We also like the Ancient Egypt Book & Treasure Chest activity kit/book — I think we got that from Rainbow Resource Center, but they have it on Amazon and a bunch of other places too. (submitted by Barbara Potgieter) Fun With Hieroglyphics, by Catharine Roehrig, a rubber stamp kit with booklet published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My boys loved making codes, and hieroglyphics, runes, Roman Numerals, everything was a potential secret code. When they were young, they used this kit and made their own hieroglyphic messages. (submitted by Laurie Spigel) Write Like an Ancient Egyptian, by Beth Levine. Plastic stencils make it easy and fun to write in hieroglyphs. (JD) VIDEO & OTHER MEDIA My 5-year old liked using Google Earth to "fly" over the pyramids and the sphinx. I think it made it "real" to her. PBS has some decent DVDs — my kids liked "Nefertiti Resurrected" a lot. The Teaching Company has some nice videos too. (submitted by Barbara Potgieter) NON-FICTION BOOKS ABOUT EGYPT For non-fiction picture books: Growing Up in Ancient Egypt by A. Rosalie David; Who Built the Pyramids (Usborne); See Inside an Egyptian Town by R. J. Unstead; Adventures in Ancient Egypt by Linda Bailey (written as a newspaper), The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Leonard Everett Fisher; Pyramid by David Macaulay; Science in Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Woods) - has some fun stuff on Egyptian mathematics too; and See Through History: Ancient Egypt by Judith Crosher. (submitted by Barbara Potgieter) The first volume of Story of the World - it has a few chapters on Ancient Egypt. My children liked it when they were around 5. It's history told as a story. (submitted by Barbara Potgieter) I, Tut, The Boy Who Became a Pharaoh, by Miriam Schlein, illustrated by Erik Hilgerdt. Written from the child's point of view for young children, this is the story of King Tutenkhamun who became pharaoh at age nine around 1350 BCE. He died young, in his teens. The illustrations are particularly lovely. (submitted by Laurie Spigel) The Blue Faience Hippopotamus, by Joan Grant. It's especially nice to read this book if you have just seen and appreciated the blue hippos in the Metropolitan's Egyptian collection. Joan Grant is also famous for other books on Egypt. Winged Pharaoh is her best and includes a lovely children's story near the beginning. (submitted by Laurie Spigel) An art book that we liked was The Art of Ancient Egypt by Shirley Glubok. (submitted by Rhonda) |
Settlers of Catan: This board game and variations on it are played in the afternoon as an integral part of the camp. How do civilizations progress and evolve? These games provide some answers. A good starting point to learn more about them is