Creation to the Greeks -- Share Your Experiences

[Marie]

If you have used Creation to the Greeks, we would love to hear from you. What have been some of your experiences? How has the program affected your family?

[Lucy Robertson]

I had waited to post since we had not quite finished CTG but this week we are finishing it up as we start our new school year. It has been a wonderful end since the Olympics are in Athens,Greece this year. My kids will forever know the parthenon and the beautiful landscape of Greece thanks to the beautiful photography and little stories via NBC.

I know that all of us have experienced seeing God's hand in history from day one. He has the Supremacy in all things and as we go through history we can see it. It has been awesome for me to make connections with bible history and how that all fit in to the rest of history. For my kids this will not be such a mystery as it has been for me.

I am so glad we did not skip the last 2 weeks because it really does wrap it all up. When Nehemiah recounts once more all that God has done for his people it is like a "movie" of the year and again we are reminded as we have been time and time again of God's hand in history and of his great love for His people.

I can not wait to begin Rome to the Reformation as we continue on our journey through history.

I have to say as with the last 2 years it was easy to follow and not to much to get done. We have found it easy to adjust to our weeks when we have field trips or Friday School. I would never get all this done if it were left up to me to plan it. Thanks to you Marie for your tirelesss effort and your commitment to the Lord in preparing such wonderful lesson plans. It is so complete and well thought out.

Lucy Robertson<>< <>< <>< <><

[Sue in MN]

This is only our first week with Creation to the Greeks but I wanted to say how thrilled we are with it. Each day as the program unfolds I am more and more impressed on how the subjects all fit together. This is my 20th year homeschooling and I am so contented with what we are studying this year. Thank you Marie and David for My Father's World.

[Sue in MN]

We got sidetracked for a little while but we are back on track now. This week we finished our reading of the book of Genesis. We do the Bible reading in the afternoon when my dd15 can participate with us. This week we had so much fun reading the story of Joseph. It was "just" the Bible but we were all so engaged and excited about the story even though we all have heard it before hand. We had great discussions about how Reuben lost the right of the firstborn and why was Simeon the one to be put in ward in Egypt. I give God the glory for the revival of love for The Word which He is putting in our hearts.

[Jodie]

We are into our 7th week of CTG & are learning so much! The timeline is a great help. To be able to "see" where things fit in history sure makes it easier to understand. We've placed our timeline down the wall next to the kitchen table, where we do most of our "school". Since it is visible we refer to it often. A couple of years ago I made a timeline and kept it in a 3 ring binder. We hardly ever used it as it stayed on the shelf most of the time. My fault I know, but out of sight, out of mind. Placing the timeline on the wall where we spend most of our day makes it so much easier to use. To make our timeline we cut construction paper into 1" wide strips and taped them end to end down the wall. We made a red line for our Bible study and a blue line for other civilizations then added the year markers as instructed in week 1. My boys are in 5th & 7th grade so I found some "older" looking pictures for our timeline on the internet & printed them on cardstock. The timeline has been one of the best teaching tools for us thus far.

One thing that has been to our advantage is all of the map work we did last year in ECC. Even though we are focusing on only one area, having the experience with drawing borders, labeling maps, and map terminology from last year has made the map work this year more enjoyable. I can now see why the Hazell's recommend doing ECC before CTG. I'm glad I listened!

I was really looking forward to celebrating some of the Old Testament feasts this year but it just hasn't worked out for our family. We did do the first Sabbath meal which we enjoyed. Since this hasn't worked out I decided to still teach our boys about the feasts and celebrations using "Celebrate the Feasts" and another book I found at our library titled "Jewish Holidays All Year Round." The Holidays book begins with explaining the Jewish Calendar, which we read along with what is in the TM week 2, then gives a summary of Jewish feasts & holidays starting with Sabbath. I felt discouraged when I realized that observing the feasts just wasn't going to happen, but I'm glad I didn't give up on the idea all together. Even though celebrating the feasts would be a better learning experience we are still learning quite a bit using these two books. We have tried some of the recipes from both books, and a couple of the activities from the "Jewish Holidays..." book, like building a model Sukkot. Just being made aware of these celebrations has been a great blessing to me. We serve such a Mighty God!!

Last year using ECC was our first experience with MFW and we were not disappointed. CTG has already been a great learning experience and I'm confident we will enjoy the rest of the year even more than we have enjoyed our first 7 weeks.

Thank You Marie!

[LSH in MS]

My boys have thoroughly enjoyed studying Ancient Egypt and the Biblical history. We have found a number of good DVDs to supplement as well. The Exodus Revealed is good also The Search for the Real Mt Sinai (in Saudi Arabia). They memorized Exodues 20:1-20. I am excited about the Biblical truths they are learning. Thanks for making that a central focus in the curriculum. We have done simple versions of the feasts but they have enjoyed those as well. I am learning as much as they are!

[Guest]

Hello to those of you who have use CTG, are using CTG and are considering CTG! It has been two years since our family has used CTG. Our family began with MFW in preschool and are now piloting the new coming curriculum with MFW. I have to say that CTG had to be our most impressionable year! After our Old Testament adventures and having so much fun living like jews. We still light a Menorah and do Hannukah each December. My children love the feasts! Though we are now in American history, our Thanksgiving feast was still very Old Testament. I had to share this for those of you that are looking for a future glimps of what may be to come past CTG. EACH YEAR GETS BETTER!

Blessings,
Shelly Best

[Julie in MN]

For those considering CTG for next year, I just wanted to share what a great year is in store for you!

I love that CTG is based on the most ancient of history -- the Bible. You start with the days of creation. You read about how dinosaurs could fit into the Bible. As the people of the Bible travel, you widen your circle of study. You map out where Noah's descendents are said to have gone. When Abraham (& Joseph) goes over to Egypt, you start looking at who's over there. When Israel is captured by Assyria (& Jonah is sent to Ninevah - in Assyria), of course you are learning about what this Assyrian empire is, anyways?!

Previously when homeschooling my high schooler, I realized that reading thru the Old Testament was my favorite way to get to know my Father. To see Him in action. The further I read into the Old Testament (past the really ancient stories that are so short), the more I saw God's steadfast, tender care. And I saw humans just like me - failing and falling down. Yet God does not give up on us. As my pastor once said, if you want to read lovely thoughts, read one of the other religions' books; if you want to read about real folks you know, read the Bible!

And after trying to bring all this to my daughter in high school, I am thrilled to find it all planned out for me this year, so I could spend all my time teaching my children instead of painstakingly preparing lessons!

A bonus this year was seeing how closely aligned Christ was with the OT feasts and prophecies. It has really all come together as we end our year seeing God's plan all connects...

(1) Original Passover lamb
Leaving Egypt/40 days in the desert
Receiving the Law

(2) Passover Feast commemorating the event
Counting the Omer 7 weeks
Feast of Shavuoth

(3) Christ's Passover/Last Supper
Easter/Resurrected Christ on earth 40 days
Apostles celebrate Shavuoth & receive the Holy Spirit during Pentacost
(which means "50th Day")

Now I for one was very intimidated by the feasts at first. However, I have had a complete change of heart. I have learned that there is as much variety in celebrating the Jewish feasts as there is in Christian worship. Our Feast of Booths inside our family room during a cold MN fall was just as special & holy as a formal affair - and it was the photo ds chose to put on the cover of his history notebook. We were welcomed at Messianic Jewish churches & talked with someone who had lived in Israel. The CTG instructions are an easy jump start, and then your family's possibilities are endless.

You do some great projects in CTG, like building your own model holy tabernacle - and the teacher's guide has detailed instructions & allows you a full week with no other history assigned, so you don't have to squeeze it in. Also I've always wanted to "dramatize" history with the kids but never had the energy or creative genius. Yet dramatizing just one or two events in CTG was something even I could accomplish (and was very effectual & appreciated by ds).

The memory verses were very special - Psalm 23 in the KJV especially, but all of them. Posting them on cardstock (& my son added little Google images to remind him of the meanings) was a good memory aid. And the 10 commandments - wow, I had never kept these straight myself, & here my ds has them memorized :o)

I have said before that I had used English From the Roots Up but never knew what to do with it after we made the cards - until we did CTG! The daily work with the cards was just what we needed to make this a true vocabulary program (and no worksheets!). And don't overlook that around week 17, you are given are some fun games to use for review!

After the low-key science of ECC, ds was enthused about the tons of experiments in CTG. He enjoyed & understood the conversational tone of Genesis for Kids. He really learned a lot of relevant science principles in the Pyramids book. He loved exploring how the dinosaurs fit with the Bible. And he feels like a budding science genius with all he's learning in the very readable biography of Archimedes!

And finally, this year I enjoyed bringing my son a step towards listening to better literature. We very much enjoyed languishing in picture books thru 3rd grade, and delving into easy chapter books in 4th grade. However, the Children's Homer (and Archimedes as well) was just the step up I was hoping for as we head towards 5th grade. Using words like "wooers" <LOL> my son was challenged just enough. We stopped & discussed the language a lot, since this was a big change for him. And the questions in the CTG guide were just what we needed to keep ds's attention and comprehension. And as a bonus, this book was a painless way to introduce the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aenid - all at once!


The Children's Homer was also a great opportunity to discuss the values of the world (Greek appearance, heroism), vs. the values of a Christian. I remember one particular discussion about whether the Greek concern for welcoming strangers was the same as Christ's concern for loving our neighbors. On the surface it appeared so, but upon exploring further, the Greeks were not really loving the poor & destitute - they were merely welcoming the stranger who looked poor but "just might" be a hero or goddess or something! It was a very selfish type of welcoming.

I must point out that ECC was exactly the preparation needed for CTG. Ds came into CTG already praying for the world & wanting them to find the Truth, which put the events and false beliefs of history (including those described in the Bible) right in their proper perspective. I believe ECC was exactly what was missing when I tried teaching the history cycle to my older dd. That and the careful examination of creation & the fall of man as the driving force behind history - which CTG so carefully begins with.

One more thing - probably our greatest blessing this year was following the suggestion in CTG to do the Bible reading as a family in the evenings. We are at all different places in our Bible experience at this house, and this brought us all onto the same page. It took some major effort in this family with 23 years of accumulated busy-ness. And we seemed never to catch up, sometimes doubling up or reading during the holidays. But we are now actually ahead of the CTG manual and reading extra chapters :o) What a blessing it has been for our family!

Have fun in our father's world!
Julie
P.S. Just to reassure you that plenty of general history is covered--- I received a catalog this week for an adult course on world history by the Teaching Co., and all of the people and civilizations mentioned B.C. were ones we have already "met & visited" in CTG!

[mdfriederich]

I so appreciated Julie's post! I have thoroughly enjoyed our first year using MFW's ECC with my 11dd, 9ds, and 7dd; it's been a great curriculum for our family. I just loved the content, but have wondered what CTG would be like for us; I've wondered if it would not be "as good" (I LOVE ECC!).

Julie, your post has really encouraged me with your comments about CTG. I have grown to know and love the Lord more in ECC and I am more hopeful now that this will happen in CTG too; this curriculum is as much about my learning and growing as it is my kids!

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us! And I noticed that God had you post at exactly the time (the same day) that I needed to read it; He really knows our needs and meets them. Praise the Lord!

Diana in IL

[LSH in MS]

We decided to go to an authentic Greek restaurant before we started Rome to Reformation. It was a great opportunity to review what we had learned about Greece. We had a great time. It was also a great way to practice having good manners ( we had 7 children and 3 adults). We ordered several appetizers and dishes to share and tomorrow we are going to make homemade baklava. The restaurant was decorated in blue and white and had pictures of Greece on the wall. The owner was very friendly. It almost felt like we were in Greece.

[DS4home]

This summer I did some studying on the names of God in my quiet time. As I was preparing lessons for CTG it dawned on me that we will be reading many of the stories where these names of God originated. I became excited when I saw the potential to share with the kids something I myself had just learned! So I decided to slowly put together a cute lapbook of the names of God. We did our first one this week and it was great! They simply folded a paper in half and cut out a circle, with a flat top to keep the fold intact. They drew a globe on the front (great review of the continents from last year ECC), and wrote Elohim - the creator on the inside. I'm just saving these on the shelf until we've made all of them, then we'll glue them into a lapbook. Here is my schedule for the other names I want to cover:

week 1 - Elohim
week 6 - Adoni
week 7 - El Shaddai
week 8 - Jehovah Jireh
week 12 - Yahweh
week 14 - Jehovah Rophe
week 16 - Jehovah Rohi
week 18 - Jehovah Shalom

I just thought this was so neat how God so coordinates things in our lives and connects it all together!

Having a great year in CTG,
Dawn

[Heather (WI)]

Post subject: Patricia St. John books in CTG--wonderful!!

I just wanted to say that these books are wonderful, and should not be missed!!

Thank you, Marie, for including them as read-alouds in CTG, because otherwise we would have probably missed out on them.

[Tina]

As we wrapped up our study on C to G, I wanted to share a few thoughts and experiences of this year. We completed C to G with a 3rd and 5th grader and the toddler tagging along. On average, we could be done with our school in four hours. Our whole family enjoyed the study! I had to go back and think about all that we accomplished. Wow! We really appreciated the Celebrating Biblical Feasts and how MFW used this book to incorporate memorable, biblical feasts into the study. We learned much about Jewish traditions, food and celebrations. The whole family built the sukkah; all of us adding our own little bit to it. Dad made the frame and nailed the “walls” which were old sheets; I made the food, the children put branches and leaves on the sides (hanging them up on the nails) and our daughter made fruit and vegetables out of construction paper and strung them on the chairs in the sukkah. Someone even hung a real apple from a string. The prayers and blessings over each member of the family were meaningful to us as well. We will always remember Daddy placing a blessing over each family member. We will always keep and cherish the challah coverings. All of the projects and activities were so well integrated into the study and we participated in as many as we could. Making the tabernacle was also a family affair.

Studying Egypt was fun and interesting. We visited an art museum with a model of the embalming process, Egyptian art and an actual sarcophagus. The pyramids were impressive and baffling. Even after watching several of the selected videos on building the pyramids (and building our own with sugar cubes) we still couldn’t come up with how they actually did it! We tried making several Egyptian projects, some more successful than others. We liked how the Egyptian art tied right in with the study. There were so many hands on projects; I’m forgetting some of them as I glean through. We made little jars out of clay; we made a plaster plaque from an Egyptian picture; we tried the costumes with the construction paper hair, each one came out different; we painted rocks and much more. Studying the plagues was also neat and eye-opening. We were still finding frogs throughout the year, even after the plagues had passed. We pasted the “boils” onto our arms. We enjoyed the music by Handel and the chart by MFW showing the comparison of the plagues and Egyptian gods, realizing just how supreme God is over other gods.

There is just too much to post here! That was just the beginning of the year. All activities and projects are laid out so nicely. They are easy to complete and fun; every week we knew what to expect and what materials were needed. As the year progressed we enjoyed it all. I appreciate and love how it all just flowed together. All of the classical music tying in with the art and the study itself made it enjoyable to study and learn. We all learned so much from it. The Patricia St. John books were beautiful and some of the other selected readings were awesome. We thoroughly enjoyed listening to The Cat of Bubastes on CD. Children’s Homer was anticipated everyday. We actually read ahead with it, because the kids just couldn’t wait! We had a great time with the science. We had to pick and choose which ones to do! Our family liked the Genesis for Kids and Dad was able to do a lot of the science with the kids, which was fun. Learning about Archimedes was interesting too. We also did something new this year and created a "science page" for each experiment. This was a good time for the children to review what they learned and put it in their own words. We kept up on our nature notebooks also (an improvement I wanted to make this past year.)

I really enjoyed the scripture memory this year. Towards the end of the year as we were learning Isaiah 40:21-31, I was reminded through this study just how sovereign God is, was and will always be. I thought it perfect to memorize this portion of scripture right after studying the division of the tribe of Judah; during the time of all the false gods that people believed in; after studying Egyptian gods and coming into the gods of the Greeks, what a perfect fit of scripture. Even today, this scripture comes to life. We saw this, we studied it, we believe it. We know that God is sovereign over all false gods and false religions. The mapping was key also. This land is God’s! My children remembered and quickly brought back “ET purrs in the red nile med” as soon as they saw that map and they were able to retain what was going on in that land because of the early introduction to it.

We have loved this study. I love the time-line and bible notebooks and the hands-on, integrated projects. I also like that we could complete school on an average of four hours a day. I especially appreciate the writings of this curriculum; how God-centered it is; how it reveals God’s hand throughout all of history and turns our attention constantly to who really is in control. All of it has tied together so beautifully and we look forward to what is coming for our next year. I must also mention that we did this study in the middle of a big move across the country. It was like a balm for us at times when we were in a new house, around new people and a new environment. It brought the consistency that we needed as we continued studying in the midst of something huge in our lives. As we experienced God in our lives, we were being reminded of how He has always been in control, even since the beginning of creation.

[sewardmom]

Thanks Tina - We will be starting CTG soon and this has been great to read!

[scmlg]

Wow. We start on Monday, and I can't wait!

[sewardmom]

We are doing CTG and watched a interesting video on the pyramid(s) at Giza. In the process I found the following website of a key Egyptian archaeolgosit has current info and pix of mummy type findings. It is an interesting site. One word of caution, the guy is not a Christian and some of his comments are over the edge - such as 'feeling his ancestors through the mummies....'.



http://guardians.net/hawass/

CTG is so fun!

[Jenn in NC]

We are on week 28 in CTG and as we are coming to the last few weeks of the year, I wanted to post about our experiences with this wonderful curriculum.

But... Julie and Tina and the others beat me to it!! Great informative posts. I won't try to second everything they have so aptly said.

But I will add one little point. We started looking at MFW when we "happened" to get a catalog in the mail the year that my oldest was in 1st or 2nd grade (can't remember exactly). It looked really good... but I was very concerned about one year in the cycle: CTG. Why? Mainly because of Streams of Civilization. I could just not imagine that being an appropriate resource, given the ages my children would be. I was sure they would be bored to tears.

We went ahead with the ADV program because it looked like such a great year. Had a blast. Then ECC. Even better! Time for CTG, and I wavered... and very nearly convinced dh that we needed to do something else for that year. But I just could not get a peace about it. Then there was a thread on this board about reasons why different people had switched to MFW from other curriculums; all the reasons why we had switched were there in that thread, reminding me what I had wanted in a curriculum in the first place. Isn't God good? It was just what I need to convince me to stay and give Streams a try.

So... here we are. We have loved the entire CTG program. What a wonderful, special year this has been in the life of our family. Like Tina, we did it with a 5th grader and a 3rd grader (and also a 1st grader tagging along as he wanted, which was surprisingly often). Streams of Civilization was not at all the yawn that I assumed it would be. Oldest and I absolutely loved it! He asks to read it on his own time (!). Some of the most interesting and helpful things we have learned have come straight from the pages of Streams. And my 3rd and 1st grader have no problem sitting through my summaries of the content; in fact they both retain the info very, very well. So I know they are listening. Marie has tied it so well to the other books in the program that there is almost always an interesting picture from Ancient World or something for them to look at... and the biblical perspective of Streams is unmatched. CTG would be more than lacking without this book.

So to anyone who, like me, is concerned about making CTG work for their family because of Streams, let me encourage you to just jump in and try it! The TM is so well laid out, you will know exactly which section to read to all the kids, exactly which sections to read just for yourself as the teacher, and exactly which sections are only for your olders. You won't be reading the whole book, just the pertinant sections. You don't have to read straight from the book (although I find I often do because it is so interesting). You are encouraged to preview the section and summarize as needed for your dc. This takes almost no time. And the biblical insight and perspective that is added to the CTG program because of the inclusion of Streams is indispensible.

Now we are very much looking forward to RTR!!

[LynnD]

There are so many wonderful things I could say about the year we just finished. As I read the previous posts about CtG, I just kept shaking my head "yes" I agree with all of the things that have been said; we had many of the same experiences. What a rich and wonderful year! I hope my children have learned as much as I have LOL.

I just wanted to share one defining moment from our year. It was during our study of Ancient Egypt. During one of the weeks, we were supposed to pray for modern day Egypt using Window on the World. We stopped to talk about all the times over the course of history that God's People have come in contact with Egypt and how Egyptian Jews heard Paul's sermon at Pentecost and took the message of salvation to their country. The Window on the World say that many Egyptians became Christians and Egypt was a Christian country for many years.

As we talked, I saw my boys begin to have a burden for lost souls. My then seven year old (with tears in his eyes) expressed how sad he was that some people don't know about Jesus. It was such a precious moment; one I will never forget!

[Toni@homezcool4us]

It's been a banner year in CTG. We've loved the pace, activities, and content. And I have to say, I appeciate the reality that we must help our children examine non-Christian viewpoints in the light of the scriptures. CTG has given us a full year to do just that. My 4th grader is now very aware that throughout history to present time, there are people who have worshipped false gods and/or who have made a conscious choice to reject Christ. It's a heavy lesson, but one which I'm glad we can engage in dialogue about as we move forward. So much to teach, so little time (sigh). From what we believe, to why we believe, to standing firm on what we believe. CTG has been immensely useful in helping us to move along this path.

[MelissaB]

We just finished CTG this week. Wow, what an amazing year....

The Jewish holidays - so richly blessed our family!

The awesome, amazing history of Ancient Egypt, the Babylonians and Medeo-Persian empires, the Greek civilization, Alexander the Great ---- why didn't we learn all of this in school growing up? CTG is full of rich history and world cultures. So fascinating all of the way through!

We've just finished, and already I can't wait to start Rome to Reformation.

Thank you, MFW. It's a very rich, amazing educational journey you're helping provide our two girls. We very much appreciate the organization of the curriculum. The girls are never bored, never in tears, and are learning so much more than anything we've ever experienced using other curriculums. It's wonderful.

God bless,
Melissa B.

[betancourt6]

Hi Melissa B.,
Thank you so much for sharing your enjoyment of CTG, especially since we will be heading there next month! This is our 2nd official homeschooling year as well as our 2nd year with MFW, starting with ECC that we just finished last month. We are looking forward to the History portion of this cycle, especially since we love Old Testament history. If there is anything you are willing to share by way of suggestions and such, please send them my way. God bless you and your family this new year!

Blessings, Jackie B. in TN