How we Homeschool: It's Greek to Me!

We are wrapping up our study on Greece, and we've had lots of fun!   Tonight was our Greek meal, and it turned out yummier than we expected!   Homemade pitas for Greek chicken gyros, Roasted potatoes with homemade Greek seasoning, veggies with tzatsiki sauce, and "honey balls," (kind of like donut holes).  We are not fans of Feta cheese, so the kids decided that we would use "chedda" instead.   ;)

Greek-seasoned chicken

Greek-seasoned potatoes

Homemade pitas are soooooo easy.  Who knew?

Surprisingly tasty!

Our stuffed "gyro."

"Honey balls," kinda like doughnut holes

With every country, we start out by coloring the flag and learning some basic facts about the country.  The kids find the country on a map and write some demographic information like population, dominant religion, famous landmarks, etc.  I try to have a slightly different focus for each country.  For Greece it was Ancient Greece as well as the storytelling passed down via myths and fables.

We read several myths during our study, and the kids each had to make one up and make a "diorama" to go with it.  The stories were kind of a "flop," but they had fun making their scenery.  My daughter's (shown below) was an explanation of why we have waves in the sea.

In connection with the myths, we studied Paul's sermon in Athens, found in Acts 17.  We talked about how the people who believed Greek myths were very religious/superstitious about their gods, and they would go to great lengths to worship and to please their gods, but that they were missing the REAL God.

We also did a short unit on Aesop and his fables, since they originated in Greece as well.  We listened to this from the library and the kids laughed almost the whole time.  Their favorite was the "Boy Who Cried Wolf,"  It is hilarious and very well done.   Brings Aesop to life for sure!



We studied about the parts of a fable, and each of the kids had to write and illustrate their own fable.  They loved that and even took their fables to the library to show the childrens' librarian, who is a big part of the reason they like reading so much!  We also watched a few short videos on youtube that were illustrated fables.

For young readers, I would recommend the HEROES IN TRAINING book series.  My son loves them and waits anxiously for the next one to be released. They are well below his level, but he still finds them interesting, and because they have some unfamiliar terminology, they keep him focused.  They move quickly and have lots of adventure.   They have a lot of "facts" about Greek myths in them, but they are much more age-appropriate, as they are taking place when Zeus and his siblings are children. (I used the term "facts" loosely since myths were all made up and not real.  We used this study to also talk about how people who believed in myths were missing out on the true Creator, God!)   The same author writes a GODDESS GIRLS series, supposedly about when the goddesses are younger.  My daughter read a few but then moved back to her fairy tales and princesses, so I don't know as much about this series. :)