Hands-On Learning: Stonehenge

We are incredibly behind in our Mystery of History lessons… like… ummm… only on Lesson 10. Does it take anyone else almost a year to get through 10 lessons in a subject?
Not that we don’t study history; we just chase it down in unconventional ways and in the middle of lessons and books about other topics.

But, because the kids LOVE this program so much, I pulled it back off the shelf, dusted it off, and picked up where we left off (months ago).

Stonehenge… around 2000 B.C. For those of you that are not familiar with this curriculum, MOH is a chronological history of the world that begins with Creation. We’re using Volume 1: Creation to the Resurrection. It’s written in a conversational, story-like tone, and the kids liken it to a read-aloud. Then, the author presents several activity options for each lesson, geared to different age groups so it can be used with the whole family, and can be restarted after it’s complete, where the kids (who are much older) can delve into some of the more difficult and deeper activities.

Today we learned that monuments made out of stone like this are called megaliths. The rock slabs weigh as much as 28 tons each, and they originally stood in a perfect circle. It’s a fascinating piece of history that makes you wonder about the intelligence of early man.

We decided, after talking about some of the activity choices, and finding others online, to build our own mini-megaliths. So, we headed to the Dollar Tree and picked up two bags of rocks and two bags of moss. Three kids, three cool-looking projects, an afternoon of mess and engagement… all for under five bucks!

All three worked hard, deciding where to place stones, and hot-gluing them down on an inverted paper plate.

Logan lost interest first, directing me as I placed four blobs of hot glue onto her plate where she wanted her rocks. Then, she added a bit of green magic marker for grass, and set her cow to graze! Mission accomplished:

Molly was the only casualty. She burned her finger on the glue as she reached for another rock before making sure the previous one was set. Let me tell you… hot glue hurts, but combine that with a heated river stone, and you can hear the screaming from a block away!  Trevor helped her get some ice, and she settled down to finish, opting for moss instead of marker to finish off her monument:

 

Usually Trevor is the one who gives up on projects like this first, but he really got into it today. He worked the glue gun like an expert, and was really creative. It was his idea to get the moss out (I’d originally purchased it with another project in mind), and inspired Molly’s creativity. I was impressed:

When Brian got home, they were all buzzing with Stonehenge facts, so I guess the hands-on part of Lesson 10, and the continued questions and discussion as they worked really helped to cement the knowledge. Give it a try! Collect some rocks from around the yard, and have the kids build their own megaliths. And then stop back to share about it!