History has not always been my favorite subject. In high school, it was nothing more than memorizing dates and locations, never really getting into the meat of what history was. Or maybe I don’t remember the fun part of history..maybe there was never a fun part?
As I’ve grown older, and fallen in love with early American History, I’m beginning to love history more and more, especially now that I’m homeschooling. It’s my favorite time of our homeschool day, and some days, I wish it could last all week!
For part of our study on the Roman conquering of the world, we decided to have a wee toga party while we had Roman food and did a small version of the Olympics (yes, we know it’s Greek in origin, but it was a whole time period we were reviewing with a single party).
Bucket was to be the Roman Emporer Bucketus Maximus, and Beeble was to be his faithful gladiator, but that didn’t work out, so he became the Vice-President. He didn’t really get the whole gladiator thing, but being Vice President of Rome made him happy that day! If we were doing this today, they’d fight over which one of them got to be the gladiator – go figure.
Make Your Own Toga
We used what we happened to have in the house, and it worked great for these DIY togas!
Supplies
- flat twin sheets
- gold Medallion (costume jewelry will work fine)
- large safety pin (or a couple of small ones)
Directions:
- Fold sheet in half lengthwise.
- Starting with one end at the waist, wrap around, then pin at the juncture in the back.
- Bring leftover fabric back to the front
- Throw over one shoulder.
- Use large medallion to decorate shoulder (but not necessary) and secure to tshirt
How to make a Laurel Head Wreath
Supplies
- plastic headband
- glue
- scissors
- green material – we used construction paper – you could use tagboard, craft foam, etc. You’ll need at least 20 leaves, depending on how thick you make the foliage. Just free cut them
- gold spray paint if you wish to spiff it up a little for the emporer
Directions:
Place your leaves onto the headband, starting from the back and working your way to the front, slipping the new one under the old.
Allow to fully dry for about 15 min, then wear!
A little more enrichment: We ended the day wanting to watch Ben Hur. They’ve been reading the Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series (yes, again Greek but there is the Lost Hero series which combines Greek, Roman and a bit of Native American) all along with GeekDad at night, which is making history come alive in a whole new way). We did watch The Robe with Richard Burton. There was way too much character-driven talk and nowhere near enough action…but my heart lept for joy when Bucket realized the twist in the movie..and his face lit up. It was also the first time he’d seen a more realistic dramatization of the Crucifixion, and I think he began to really understand, just a little more, of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
I’m really hoping that days like this make history come alive to the boys. I can’t make them love history, but I won’t allow them to dread it by memorizing dates and locations, and never learning what history is really about (oh, sure, we’ll memorize some dates and locations at some point, but right now, we’re just living it!).
