Mummies and Egypt

As I've mentioned before, one of the things I'm doing with L is a history of the world, starting with the Fertile Crescent and ancient Egyptians, using the textbook Story of the World. The chapter we're on is about Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt and how they were unified by the White Crown king Narmer. L wanted to make the Red Crown, so we made a very lame version out of red construction paper. We wanted to make the coil but didn't have a pipe cleaner or anything else that would hold its shape, so ended up skipping that. Maybe later I'll try again.

We also read about heiroglyphics and cuneiform. The project that I want to do next week is to get some clay and make a Sumerian clay tablet. I also went to the library and got about 8 books about Egypt and mummies. L is really into mummies and pored over the pictures. I wonder if this is too intense for her, because it led to a conversation about how bodies rot and whether she would rot when she died. I answered, "Yes, but rotting is a way for your body to become dirt and give your energy and nutrients to the earth and then become a part of trees and flowers and grass." I'm rather proud of that off the cuff response, because it seemed to satisfy her. L did stipulate that when she was dead she didn't want to be squished into a cemetery with lots of other dead bodies. She wanted to be buried in the woods where it was quiet and peaceful. It's fascinating the directions these conversations take.

We had a fairly intense school day today as we had pretty much skipped everything yesterday. So after the math and penmanship and reading and history, L and I just hung out for a bit to unwind and then I took her to afterschool where she got to play with her friends. Then I had T for the rest of the afternoon and I really tried to spend some focussed time on him, because I know he's getting so much less attention from me now that L is with me all day. I feel pretty guilty about that, but I don't know how to balance that other than keep him home too, and that's just not an option at the moment. Not till I really feel like I know what I'm doing.